Tom Miller wrote:
racking them . So you worked on a triple , me too . There were at least
four quads in Alberta working when I was there so 120 pulls . In the
south hundreds of singles 30 foot pulls and doubles 60 foot pulls . I
never worked any small rigs but guys told me they would go on long
change and have to phone the office to find the new location . Those
rigs moved weekly .


Hell ! Around Brooks and Medicine Hat they moved every second day. Most of
the time they started drilling ahead half an hour after theyfinished
cementing the surface casing. Eventually they started going a week a head
with a small rig that drilled and set casing on the surface hole. At least
then, when the damned hole blew out on them, the surface casing was well
cemented in and the BOP stopped the drill string from ending up in
Saskatchewan.

Where the big deep hole ones sat in one spot for 6

to 8 months .




South of Calgary was bad hole counrty, and they used to take 6 or seven
months to do a 12,000 ft hole. If they put any weight on the string it would
take off down the first weak spot in the formation and you'd have no idea
where it would end up. The rig crews loved it because the bits lasted for
ever with no weight on them and they'd only trip the hole about once a week.


Worked northwest of Calgary right in the mountains myself . The problem
was the folded strata . We would get 2 or 3 lengths and hit soft or hard
and need a different style bit . I remember one stretch , we tripped
every day for 48 straight . Was a bad time , leave camp and get to the
rig to see half a dozen lengths racked . Knew we had a long muddy shift
ahead . The real rub was the chart would show no drill progress for
three hours . So those guys sat and waited till the end of their shift
so the next two shifts would have to do it all . Caused several fist
fights in fact . I never once saw a BOP valve used .
Ken Cutt