The modern oil industry employs many safe and effective fracturing methods to enhance the flow of oil from producing wells. This was not true during the early annals of oil exploration and production.
Nitroglycerin was first used in 1867 to “shoot” a well in an attempt to enhance production. The experiment was a success and led to The Roberts Petroleum Torpedo Company obtaining a patent on the process. Independent shooters, unwilling to pay for rights to the process, often shot wells at night earning them the nickname “moonlighters.” The patent expired in 1883.
Shooting a well consisted of a shooter filling a metal canister with nitroglycerin. The canister was lowered into the borehole of a well and ignited, the resultant blast sending mud, water and oil high over the crown block. Nitroglycerin is highly explosive. A half gallon can supposedly blow a hole in the ground large enough to bury a freight train. It is also unstable and very dangerous to handle. Accidents often occurred.
Despite the risk, shooting a well greatly enhanced the flow of oil and gas and the process continued until safer more effective treatments were found. One note of interest: Clark Gable worked in the oil fields of Oklahoma before becoming an actor and reportedly sometimes assisted in the shooting of wells.
Eric's Website
Showing posts with label oil stories. Show all posts
Showing posts with label oil stories. Show all posts
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
Never Trust a Geologist
Before I became a fiction writer, I was a geologist sitting wells in Kansas. Over the years I've learned the two professions have lots in common. Both, some people might say, are paid liars.
Never Trust a Geologist
As a geologist, I often visit drilling wells. When I do, more likely than not, the mineral owner will regale me with a familiar story that usually sounds something like this:
"An oil company drilled a well on the south forty back in ‘52," the farmer might say, pointing at the rolling hill near his fence line. "They struck oil and lots of gas but plugged the well anyway."
"Why did they do that?" I always ask, even though I already know the answer.
"Probably because the crooked operator oversold the well. He didn’t have enough interest to go around so instead of going to jail he plugged it as a dry hole so no one would ever know."
I’ve heard the story many times, a rural legend told and retold by disappointed mineral owners dreaming of vast oil wealth but faced with the reality of only endless barrels of saltwater underlying their property. Years ago in a Kansas wheat field, I helped propagate the legend.
As a young exploration geologist with Cities Service Oil Company, I was sitting a well near Dighton in Lane County, Kansas. The wildcat well was running "low" with little hope of finding oil or gas. It was a gorgeous summer day, the clear Kansas sky robin egg blue. The old "double" rotary rig had just made a connection when I heard a horrible screech. A hundred feet from the rig, I turned to see what was happening.
As I watched, the pipe dropped thirty feet in less than thirty seconds. Knowing what had just occurred, I headed for the rig floor, yelling as I ran.
"Pull up! Pull up!" I screamed, out of breath after climbing the steep stairs to the doghouse.
The driller had already anticipated my orders, pulling up on the drill bit and circulating the bit in the hole.
There are no caverns at 4000 feet but we had just drilled into a thick zone so porous that the bit had virtually dropped thirty feet in thirty seconds. There is no empty porosity at that depth and I knew we had encountered a previously unknown reservoir hopefully filled with oil. I drove to the nearest phone and called for a drill stem test to find out.
A drill stem test is an open hole test to determine what kind of fluid or gas is trapped within a particular zone. It measures quantities and pressures and is a good indication of a well’s potential productivity. It is simply a tool attached to the drill pipe. It has a packer at the top of the tool that isolates the zone of interest. When the tool is rotated, it releases the hydrostatic pressure and whatever fluid or gas is in the zone rushes into the drill pipe. I liken the procedure to putting your finger on the top hole of a straw and lowering it into a glass of water. When you remove your finger, water enters the straw.
It was a clear Sunday morning as the tester prepared to open the tool. Word had spread of the potential oil discovery and many cars filled with interested Kansans faced the drilling rig. When we opened the tool, they got what they came for.
The tester had rigged a pipe that pointed out to the mud pit. If anything came out of the zone, it would flow up the pipe for all to see. I was standing on the rig floor and could hear the rumble from below as the tool was opened. Within seconds I smelled the pungent odor of crude oil. Then I heard the scream of natural gas as it exited with great velocity from the pipe. The gas subsided, followed quickly by thick black fluid shooting from the pipe into the mud pit. Oil, I thought, my heart racing. The well was flowing at a rate of at least a thousand barrels a day. We had a major discovery on our hands, possibly the biggest in a decade. My elation lasted only a moment.
The tester caught some of the fluid in a bucket. He frowned after tasting the liquid from a sample on the tip of his finger. "Saltwater," he said. "Nothing but saltwater."
Not wanting to believe him, I plunged my hand into the bucket and licked the black fluid from my palm. He was correct. The contents of the bucket held nothing but black stagnate saltwater that reeked of oil. The mineral owner was on location and asked, "Am I rich?"
"No, it’s only saltwater," I said.
He didn’t believe me. Neither did the excited Kansans exiting the location in a trail of dust to tell their friends and family of the new oil discovery they had just witnessed. We plugged the well several days later and I’m sure the mineral owner and everyone else that saw the incident thought that Cities Service Oil Company had plugged a monster oil well on purpose for some nefarious reason.
Today when I see a mineral owner approach, I just listen to their story and nod my head. I’ve heard it all before and, yes, I guess I’m part of that rural legend that somehow never seems to go away.
###
Born near Black Bayou in the little Louisiana town of Vivian, Eric Wilder grew up listening to his grandmother’s tales of politics, corruption, and ghosts that haunt the night. He now lives in Oklahoma where he continues to pen mysteries and short stories with a southern accent. He is the author of the French Quarter Mystery Series set in New Orleans and the Paranormal Cowboy Series set in Oklahoma. Please check it out on his Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and iBook author pages. You might also like to check out his website.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Drilling Caddo Lake
Geologically, Caddo Lake is situated at the highest structural point of the deep-seated subsurface feature known as the Sabine Uplift. In the early 1900’s, many high-flowing oil wells already surrounded the lake. Most oil explorers had little doubt that the strata below Caddo contained even more oil. The problem was how to get to it. When the federal government dammed the lake in 1911, returning it to a deeper depth, the problem grew even larger.
Oil leases beneath Caddo’s shallow 8,000 acres were controlled by the Levee Board. When the Levee Board put these leases up for bid, only one entity, Gulf Refining Company of Louisiana, did so.
Little is known about the discussions that must have ensued in order to convince Gulf’s management to make its last minute bid for the leases. One thing is certain; they must have been interesting and heated. What occurred is that some unknown person with vision, great foresight and an explorer’s mentality convinced Gulf to risk a lot of money and effort on a technology never before attempted.
The risk was worth it. Once Gulf had secured the leases it had a crew drive pilings into Caddo’s shallow water. A platform was constructed on the pilings. From this platform, the Ferry Lake #1 was drilled and completed in 1911. Historically, the Ferry Lake #1 was the world’s first offshore well.
If you rented a small fishing boat today and motored out across Caddo’s sleepy surface you’d find little has changed since 1911. The coffee-colored water is still shallow and you might see the head of an alligator as it peeks up from the bottom. Giant cypress trees still grow in the water, Spanish moss draping from their limbs in lazy waves. And you’d still see the remnants of many of the original wooden platforms. Some of them are operational with timeless pumping units still at work atop of them.
Books chronicle many heroes, innovators, inventors and explorers that have shaped the history of the world. But like the unknown person or persons that convinced Gulf Refining to drill the world’s first offshore oil well, many more heroes, innovators, inventors and explorers have shaped the world in ways we’ll never know and can only imagine. Although unknown, their contributions are just as important.
http://www.ericwilder.com
Saturday, June 07, 2008
Oklahoma Wildcatters
The world’s one-time largest oil field celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2005. The discovery well for the Glen Pool, located 14 miles south of Tulsa, Oklahoma, came roaring in during the early morning hours of November 22, 1905. At its peak, the field produced 117,000 barrels of oil per day. The field was so prolific that oil was stored in shallow ponds dug around the producing wells. The real story though is how the Ida Glen #1 was discovered in the first place.
Oil was first noticed in Oklahoma by Native Americans. They found oil seeps and springs that they collected and used for medicines and lubricants. News of these “medicine springs” first attracted oil explorers to the state. One of the explorers, drawn by the promise of black gold and untold riches, was Robert F. Galbreath.
Galbreath came from Ohio, drawn by earlier successful drilling in the area by others, to seek his fortune. He soon convinced a local investor, Frank Chelsey, to bankroll his dream. Drilling for oil in 1905 was very different than drilling for oil today. Leases were cheap and most of the drilling done by cable tool rigs made of wood, on location, by local rig builders. After acquiring a block of leases for no apparent geologic reason other than they were cheap and accessible, Galbreath and Chelsey had a cable tool rig built and began drilling.
Cable tool drilling was very slow, about 3’ per hour. Galbreath and Chelsey did the work themselves, each taking turns while living and sleeping on the rig floor. Oil had been discovered in commercial quantities nearby four years earlier. When they finally reached the Red Fork Sand, the producing zone at the earlier discovery, they encountered only a puff of gas. Galbreath and Chelsey had drilled below 1,400’, their money for the project all but depleted.
Little is known of the actual conversations that followed between the two men. One thing is known: their money and their energy were exhausted. They had already penetrated the deepest known producing reservoir in the area. No one at the time had any idea of what might lie below. Smart men would have packed their bags and gone home.
Galbreath and Chelsey weren’t smart men. They were something more: among the first of the breed known as wildcatters. They’d followed their hearts and guts, not their brains, to that field in northeast Oklahoma. Thankfully, they decided to drill deeper.
The next 100’ proved fortuitous. During the early morning hours of November 22, 1905, Galbreath heard a gurgling sound. He pulled out the percussive bit and lowered the bailer into the hole. When he pulled it up, he witnessed the first evidence of the black gold that he and fellow wildcatter Chelsey had sought. When pressure broke through the cumulus in the well bore and oil blew out of the hole, over the crown block, the two knew for sure.
Near destitution, Galbreath and Chelsey quickly became millionaires. The Glen Pool, to date having produced more than 325 million barrels of oil, has made more money than both the California gold rush and the Colorado silver rush. The discovery led to the founding of Tulsa, once known as the “oil capitol of the world.”
The Glen Pool is 100 years old but the real story is that of Galbreath and Chelsey – two original wildcatters and, for sure, true American heroes.
http://www.ericwilder.com
Oil was first noticed in Oklahoma by Native Americans. They found oil seeps and springs that they collected and used for medicines and lubricants. News of these “medicine springs” first attracted oil explorers to the state. One of the explorers, drawn by the promise of black gold and untold riches, was Robert F. Galbreath.
Galbreath came from Ohio, drawn by earlier successful drilling in the area by others, to seek his fortune. He soon convinced a local investor, Frank Chelsey, to bankroll his dream. Drilling for oil in 1905 was very different than drilling for oil today. Leases were cheap and most of the drilling done by cable tool rigs made of wood, on location, by local rig builders. After acquiring a block of leases for no apparent geologic reason other than they were cheap and accessible, Galbreath and Chelsey had a cable tool rig built and began drilling.
Cable tool drilling was very slow, about 3’ per hour. Galbreath and Chelsey did the work themselves, each taking turns while living and sleeping on the rig floor. Oil had been discovered in commercial quantities nearby four years earlier. When they finally reached the Red Fork Sand, the producing zone at the earlier discovery, they encountered only a puff of gas. Galbreath and Chelsey had drilled below 1,400’, their money for the project all but depleted.
Little is known of the actual conversations that followed between the two men. One thing is known: their money and their energy were exhausted. They had already penetrated the deepest known producing reservoir in the area. No one at the time had any idea of what might lie below. Smart men would have packed their bags and gone home.
Galbreath and Chelsey weren’t smart men. They were something more: among the first of the breed known as wildcatters. They’d followed their hearts and guts, not their brains, to that field in northeast Oklahoma. Thankfully, they decided to drill deeper.
The next 100’ proved fortuitous. During the early morning hours of November 22, 1905, Galbreath heard a gurgling sound. He pulled out the percussive bit and lowered the bailer into the hole. When he pulled it up, he witnessed the first evidence of the black gold that he and fellow wildcatter Chelsey had sought. When pressure broke through the cumulus in the well bore and oil blew out of the hole, over the crown block, the two knew for sure.
Near destitution, Galbreath and Chelsey quickly became millionaires. The Glen Pool, to date having produced more than 325 million barrels of oil, has made more money than both the California gold rush and the Colorado silver rush. The discovery led to the founding of Tulsa, once known as the “oil capitol of the world.”
The Glen Pool is 100 years old but the real story is that of Galbreath and Chelsey – two original wildcatters and, for sure, true American heroes.
http://www.ericwilder.com
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Wildcatter's Son
Many memorable characters searched for black gold in early-Oklahoma, but none more colorful than Tom Slick. Slick came from the oil fields of Pennsylvania to drill for oil in Oklahoma. He was a true “wheeler dealer,” finding new and innovative ways of securing leases from reluctant mineral owners and raising money from investors. Most of all, he had a special knack for finding oil.
Tom Slick, Sr. earned the title, King of the Wildcatters, when he drilled the discovery well for the giant Cushing Field in 1912. He died at the age of forty-six, but not before selling his Oklahoma holdings to Prairie Oil and Gas Company for – what was at the time – a vast sum of money. He left fifteen million dollars to his son, Tom Slick, Jr., who by all accounts was perhaps even more colorful than his father.
Tom, Jr. also led an interesting life and knew many celebrities on a first-name basis. Among them were Howard Hughes and Jimmy Stewart. During his life, he founded Slick Oil, Slick Airways, Texstar, Transworld Resources and two research institutes. His passion, however, was the study of cryptids – creatures unknown to science.
Tom, Jr. financially backed expeditions to find Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, though perhaps his search for the Abominable Snowman is the most bizarre. He financed an expedition to Tibet, supposedly in search of Yeti. The expedition coincided with the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese and the ouster of the Dalai Lama. Supposedly, Tom, Jr. worked with the CIA and helped spirit the Dalai Lama out of Tibet before the Chinese could capture him. Tom, Jr. died in a plane crash in 1962 after losing most of his fortune.
http://www.ericwilder.com
Tom Slick, Sr. earned the title, King of the Wildcatters, when he drilled the discovery well for the giant Cushing Field in 1912. He died at the age of forty-six, but not before selling his Oklahoma holdings to Prairie Oil and Gas Company for – what was at the time – a vast sum of money. He left fifteen million dollars to his son, Tom Slick, Jr., who by all accounts was perhaps even more colorful than his father.
Tom, Jr. also led an interesting life and knew many celebrities on a first-name basis. Among them were Howard Hughes and Jimmy Stewart. During his life, he founded Slick Oil, Slick Airways, Texstar, Transworld Resources and two research institutes. His passion, however, was the study of cryptids – creatures unknown to science.
Tom, Jr. financially backed expeditions to find Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, though perhaps his search for the Abominable Snowman is the most bizarre. He financed an expedition to Tibet, supposedly in search of Yeti. The expedition coincided with the invasion of Tibet by the Chinese and the ouster of the Dalai Lama. Supposedly, Tom, Jr. worked with the CIA and helped spirit the Dalai Lama out of Tibet before the Chinese could capture him. Tom, Jr. died in a plane crash in 1962 after losing most of his fortune.
http://www.ericwilder.com
Friday, May 09, 2008
Early Northwest Louisiana Oil Exploration
When oil was discovered in northwest Louisiana, rolling hills, massive pines and a few small settlements dominated the landscape, farming and cattle the two major occupations. Some thirty years before, Army engineers had blasted and methodically dismantled the natural dam known as the Great Red River Raft that had raised area water levels for decades, perhaps centuries. What were left were shallow bayous, isolated ponds and Caddo Lake.
Caddo’s coffee-colored water was also shallow, no more than 20 feet at it’s deepest. Turtles and alligators populated the sprawling lake along with miles of impenetrable cane brakes and mazes of giant cypress trees with water-gorged trunks and branches draped with Spanish moss wafting in a damp breeze. And it was hot, temperatures rarely below 100 degrees in the summer and humidity through the roof. The shallow, often stagnant water bred mosquitoes, and many early inhabitants died of malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases.
Despite the hostile environment, something began drawing oil hunters to the region — news of oil seeps and gentle rolling topography that possibly signaled subsurface closure. These explorers, drawn by the lure of black gold, pooled their money and drilled a few exploratory wells. Believing correctly that oil existed far below the shallow depths of Caddo Lake, wooden pilings were driven in shallow water and platforms built on them. The explorers constructed drilling rigs on the platforms from native timber and began drilling in Caddo Lake. This was a first, Caddo Lake the birthplace of offshore drilling.
Like the gold rushes of California and Alaska, men and their families began pouring into the area, intent upon sharing in the prize. Boom towns sprang up — Oil City, Trees City, Vivian, Rodessa.
What explorers had discovered was the giant Sabine Uplift. This single subsurface feature underlies several Louisiana parishes, and even more Arkansas and Texas counties. It not only trapped millions of barrels of oil beneath it, but formed the stratigraphic barrier for the Woodbine Sandstone, the primary reservoir of the super giant East Texas Field.
Caddo Lake sits atop the Sabine Uplift. Even with thousands of wells already drilled in the region, the deepest horizons of this giant subsurface feature still remain mostly undrilled and unexplored. What are the ramifications of this little-known fact? Possibly several hundred million barrels of untapped oil that could ultimately help the U.S. ease its dependence on foreign oil.
http://www.ericwilder.com
Caddo’s coffee-colored water was also shallow, no more than 20 feet at it’s deepest. Turtles and alligators populated the sprawling lake along with miles of impenetrable cane brakes and mazes of giant cypress trees with water-gorged trunks and branches draped with Spanish moss wafting in a damp breeze. And it was hot, temperatures rarely below 100 degrees in the summer and humidity through the roof. The shallow, often stagnant water bred mosquitoes, and many early inhabitants died of malaria and other mosquito-borne diseases.
Despite the hostile environment, something began drawing oil hunters to the region — news of oil seeps and gentle rolling topography that possibly signaled subsurface closure. These explorers, drawn by the lure of black gold, pooled their money and drilled a few exploratory wells. Believing correctly that oil existed far below the shallow depths of Caddo Lake, wooden pilings were driven in shallow water and platforms built on them. The explorers constructed drilling rigs on the platforms from native timber and began drilling in Caddo Lake. This was a first, Caddo Lake the birthplace of offshore drilling.
Like the gold rushes of California and Alaska, men and their families began pouring into the area, intent upon sharing in the prize. Boom towns sprang up — Oil City, Trees City, Vivian, Rodessa.
What explorers had discovered was the giant Sabine Uplift. This single subsurface feature underlies several Louisiana parishes, and even more Arkansas and Texas counties. It not only trapped millions of barrels of oil beneath it, but formed the stratigraphic barrier for the Woodbine Sandstone, the primary reservoir of the super giant East Texas Field.
Caddo Lake sits atop the Sabine Uplift. Even with thousands of wells already drilled in the region, the deepest horizons of this giant subsurface feature still remain mostly undrilled and unexplored. What are the ramifications of this little-known fact? Possibly several hundred million barrels of untapped oil that could ultimately help the U.S. ease its dependence on foreign oil.
http://www.ericwilder.com
Saturday, April 05, 2008
Sammie and Princess - a photo
Here is a pic of two of Ron and Shannon’s (RE: Shannon’s Wedding Video) pugs, Sammie and Princess.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)