Making Hole

“A good cable-tool man is just about the most highly skilled worker you’ll find.
Besides having a feel for the job, knowing what's going on thousands of feet under
the ground just from the movement of the cable, he's got to be something of a
carpenter, a steam-fitter, an electrician, and a damned good mechanic. A cable tool
driller knows more knots and splices than any six sailors you can find.” – From a
1939 interview in “Voices from the Oilfield” by Paul Lambert and Kenny Franks

A decade before the birth of the petroleum industry, Samuel Kier sold 50-cent,
half-pint bottles of Pennsylvania oil proclaiming its "Wonderful Medical
Virtues." His advertisements featured cable tool derricks drilling brine wells.

D rilling or “making hole” began long before oil or

natural gas were anything more than flammable
curiosities found seeping from the ground. For centuries,
digging by hand or shovel was the best technologies that
existed to pry into the earth’s secrets.
Then the spring pole harnessed the resiliency of a bent tree
to assist in pummeling a hole into the ground to find water.
Ancient histories record the technique, which is still used in
some corners of the world. While repeatedly kicking down a
stirrup was primitive and slow, the spring pole’s rope and
chisel were practical drilling technologies.
Salt was an essential commodity for preserving food and
extracting it from brine was a simple process. In 1802 in
what is now West Virginia, salt brine drillers David and
Joseph Ruffner took 18-months to drill through 40-feet of
bedrock to a total depth of 58-feet using a spring pole.
The Ruffner brothers drilling ingenuity and innovation made
the Kanawha River Valley a major salt manufacturing and
distribution center in the early 1800s. Many early drilling
technologies were developed there.
Although there was money to be made from salt brine wells,
sometimes a good well would be fouled with the intrusion of
unsought and unwanted oil. The rainbow sheen and pungent
smell of oil was bad news to brine drillers.
The Cable Tool Rig
The advent of cable tool drilling introduced the wooden
derrick into the changing American landscape.
Using the same basic notion of chiseling a hole deeper and
deeper into the earth, but adding the miracle of steam power
and clever mechanical engineering, wells could be drilled far
more efficiently. Frequent stops were needed to remove the
chipped-away rock and other material, bail out water – and
sharpen the bit.
Bull wheels and hemp rope repeatedly hoisted and dropped
heavy iron drill strings and a curious variety of bits deep into
the borehole. Oil was still an adversary to those in search of
either fresh water or brine. However, savvy businessmen like
the Ruffner brothers and Samuel Kier of Tarentum, Pa.,
learned to profit from this oil.

It had long been recognized that oil could be collected and

The “spring pole,” a used as a medicine, lubricant, and even a foul-smelling, smoky
simple but highly illuminant. American Indians gathered oil by using blankets to
effective technology soak it up from natural seeps. The Ruffner brothers sold their
for drilling shallow oil to marketers of patent medicines and lubrication products.
water wells, dates
back thousands of Samuel Kier sold his Petroleum or “Rock Oil” in half-pint
years. bottles as a guaranteed curative for all manner of aches and
pains. His advertisements prominently featured cable tool
derricks drilling for brine, water saturated with salt.

6 T HE PETROLEUM AGE VOL . 3, N O . 3 SEPTEMBER 2006 T HE A MERICAN O IL & G AS H ISTORICAL S OCIETY

The fishtail bit (pictured above) was one of the first rotary bits used. Fishtail bits became obsolete in 1909 when Howard Hughes Sr.
introduced the twin-cone roller bit (center). Rather than scraping the rock, a milled tooth bit drilled by gouging, crushing and powdering the
rock as it turned. By 1934, Hughes had patented a three-cone bit, an enduring design that remains much the same today. Rotary drilling
revolutionized the search for oil by allowing deeper wells through harder rock formations.
When a Yale chemist, Benjamin Silliman, found that oil could
be distilled into a kerosene illuminant, the world changed
forever. Inspired entrepreneurs formed the Pennsylvania
Rock Oil Co. with the notion of using cable tool drilling to
extract large volumes of oil they hoped to find near
Pennsylvania’s best known oil seep at Oil Creek. It worked,
and the petroleum age was born.
Samuel Kier of Pittsburgh, Pa., soon abandoned patent
medicine and went into the kerosene refining business, buying
all the oil he could get.
“Colonel” Edwin Drake’s 1859 discovery brought the oil
boom. Soon, cable tool rigs were everywhere, pounding into
the earth, searching for oil. In June 1860, J.C. Rathbone, used
a steam engine to power a rig and produced a 100-barrel-per-
day gusher at only 140 feet. In Pennsylvania, West Virginia
and Ohio, the soft soil yielded to cable-tool drilling. But
further west, oilmen found resistant rock strata that made
drilling far more difficult.
The Rotary Rig
A new technology answered the call of necessity and the lure
of opportunity. Rotary drilling is most often associated with
the spectacular Spindletop Hill discovery near Beaumont,
Texas, in 1901.
Instead of the repetitive lift and drop of heavy cable-tool bits,
rotary drilling introduced the hollow drill stem which enabled
broken rock debris to be washed out of the borehole with re-
circulated mud while the rotating drill bit cut deeper.
Rotary drilling uses fluids (drilling mud) to circulate out the
rock as it is chipped away. The fluid washes out the drill hole
as it goes, making the process more efficient. Drilling mud
also stops an oil well from bursting forth unexpectedly –
T HE A MERICAN O IL & G AS H ISTORICAL S OCIETY
gushers. Meanwhile, grinding their way through layers of rock
rather than pounding, the heavy fishtail bits made history.
Rotary rigs soon became the preferred means of drilling for
oil, although to this day they still share the oil patch with a
few cable tool rigs. The record depth recorded for a cable tool
rig is 11,145 feet. On Russia’s Kola Peninsula, a rotary rig
reached than 40,000 feet after ten years of drilling.
Fishtail bits became obsolete in 1909 when Howard Hughes
Sr. introduced the twin-cone roller bit. History remembers
several men who were trying to develop better drill bit
technologies, but it was Hughes who made it happen. The
Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) notes that about the
same time Hughes developed his bit, Granville A. Humason
of Shreveport, La., patented the first cross-roller rock bit, the
forerunner of the Reed cross-roller bit.
More innovations followed. Frank Christensen and George
Christensen developed the earliest diamond bit in the 1940s.
The tungsten carbide tooth came into use in the early 1950s.
The company Hughes founded would merge in 1987 with one
founded in 1927 by Carl Baker (Baker Oil Tool).
In 1990, Baker Hughes purchased the Christensen company,
which in 1992 resulted in the industry’s first rolling cone bit
company and first diamond bit company becoming today’s
Hughes Christensen, a Baker Hughes Company.
Editor’s Note – Biographers note that Howard Hughes Sr.
met Granville Humason in a Shreveport, La., bar, where
Humason sold his roller bit rights to Hughes for $150. The
University of Texas’ Center for American History has a 1951
recording of Granville Humason’s recollections of that
chance meeting. Humason recalled he spent $50 of his sale
proceeds at the bar during the balance of the evening.
Another oilfield legend was born.
VOL . 3, N O . 3 SEPTEMBER 2006 T HE P ETROLEUM AGE 7
DRILLING WELLS TODAY

Drilling an oil or gas well involves much more than making a hole in the
ground. It entails the integration of complex technologies, requiring the
producer to make decisions about unexpected pressures and rock formations.
The well will be the only conduit to move the oil or gas from the reservoir to the
surface; it must be a conduit that will last at least 50 years and be flexible
enough in design to allow for the application of future technologies.
Drilling operators must confront and solve extremely difficult technical
and safety problems as they bore through layers of subsurface rock to
access the strata that contain oil and gas. In addition, the drilling must be
performed in a way that protects the geologic formation, the production
capacity of the well, and the surface environment.
Problems that arise during drilling must be diagnosed using the data that is transmitted from the bottom of
the well to the surface, where the information is collected on the rig floor. Depending on the depth of the well,
valuable time can be lost before the problem is addressed, leading to the possibility that the situation worsens
and drilling operations must be halted. The greatest economic risk occurs when drilling is stopped after much
time and work have been invested.

Dealing with serious unforeseen problems is the greatest challenge during the drilling process and the
primary reason for developing advanced drilling technologies. The U.S. Department of Energy has formed
partnerships with industry, national laboratories and universities to conduct research and develop new
technologies to reduce the costs and risks of drilling, reduce potential damage to geologic formations, and
protect the environment. Drilling research goals include:
Drilling Faster…This element addresses the need for increased efficiency during the drilling phase. Drilling rig
time is the most expensive part of the operation, comprising 30-35 percent of total cost. Technologies are
being developed to reduce equipment failure, extend the life of drill bits, and reach the target area with as few
course corrections as possible.
Drilling Deeper…This aspect addresses the complex geologic environments that affect the drilling phase.
Technologies and strategies are being developed that use the specific characteristics of a geologic formation
itself to help drill the well. An example of this is the deeper, harder rock formations that contain natural gas.
The most efficient strategy is to focus on the brittle nature of the rock itself, which breaks into large chips when
hit. It is more efficient to break up the rock by hitting it than to crush and grind it into powder, as is usually
done.
Drilling Cheaper…There is still no substitute for drilling. The goal of this aspect, then, is to develop drilling
technology that is cost effective. Costs are measured in terms of impact on the environment, lifespan of the
well and its machinery, and long-term productivity of the well. This requires drilling wells that will last a long
time in the precise location needed to achieve maximum recovery of oil and gas, without damaging the
environment.
Drilling Cleaner…An important objective of today’s research is minimizing the environmental impact of drilling
activities. This includes reducing the amount of surface disturbance and responsibly disposing of wastes
generated by the drilling. The development of small bore wells has lead to a 75 percent reduction in the
amount of surface disturbed and waste generated. Operating costs are also reduced by 50 percent. The goal is
to develop drilling technologies that are environmentally neutral, or even friendly.
Drilling for the 21st Century…The focus of this research is the development of ‘smart well’ technologies that
will enable drilling without rigs—systems that will leave no footprint. There is also research into advanced
drilling systems that anticipate problems and make adjustments automatically. Using lasers for drilling is
another focus of the research—high-power laser technology developed by the military for national defense
could possibly be adapted to drilling for oil and gas and NASA is currently running five separate projects using
petroleum industry technology in drills designed to be used in unmanned planetary space expeditions.
For more information on new drilling technologies, go to the Fossil Energy website of DOE at www.fe.doe.gov.
DRILLING IN THE FUTURE

Petroleum Engineers in Space?

Did you know that NASA is going to Mars? Currently NASA has quite a few space projects that involve drilling
on the planet Mars using leading-edge petroleum industry technology. NASA scientists have just returned from
testing a prototype drill in the Canadian Artic in 2006 (the DAME project is part of the Mars Instrument
Development Project within NASA's Mars Exploration Program.)

Industry Drilling Technology Used in Space Exploration

NASA is currently running five separate projects using petroleum industry technology in drills designed to be
used in unmanned planetary space expeditions. A Mars prototype drill will be controlled by artificial intelligence
and is designed to drill into ice layers and permafrost that are similar to the imagined sub-surface in Martian
polar regions. The goal of a 2006 summer artic test was to see if synthetic brainpower could control a rig on
Mars for many hours of drilling without human intervention.
 NASA Mars Prototype Drill

Drilling Automation for Mars Exploration (DAME) project

ƒ Developed by the Mars Instrument Development Project, part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program

Test Goal
ƒ Can synthetic brainpower control a rig on Mars for many hours of drilling without human intervention?

The Drill
ƒ Automated inter-planetary drill
ƒ Lightweight, no lubricants, low power
ƒ Controlled by artificial intelligence

The Test
ƒ Complete robotic control of drill
ƒ Fault diagnosis
ƒ Downhole diagnosis of different rock and ice strata
ƒ Bit wear detection
ƒ Dynamic replanning capabilities when unexpected failures or drilling conditions
are discovered

The Test Environment

ƒ Designed to drill into ice layers and permafrost similar to the imagined sub-
surface in Martian polar regions.
ƒ Tested this summer at the Haughton Crater in the Canadian Arctic
ƒ Operated in the regolith-like fallback breccia inside crater

The Future
ƒ Robotic drills designed to be used in unmanned planetary space expeditions
ƒ NASA currently running five different projects incorporating petroleum industry technology

NASA Test Parameters

Task: Automated Drilling for Subsurface Sample Acquisition

We are developing enabling technologies for planetary subsurface exploration

through the iterative implementation and field testing of drilling instrumentation,
automation and diagnostics. The drilling automation will help to:

1) Demonstrate diagnostic technology on the drill that runs in real-time under

the computational restrictions expected on a mission.

2) Perform diagnosis in a dynamic setting where the system being diagnosed

changes over time. The issue here is that diagnosing the drilling operation
involves building a model of the geological features encountered by the drill.
These features affect subsequent diagnoses, and potentially the control of drill
itself.

3) Demonstrate an onboard executive that can control the drill in real-time,

interacting with the diagnosis system to identify the conditions present in the
drill hole and provide control actions that are responsive to those conditions.

4) Determine remedial action that can be taken to ensure that the drill remains functional and that useful
science data can be extracted from the core it produces.