Last time I came home for some time off, I got a strong sense of the differences in climate between North Dakota and Georgia. In North Dakota, they have four seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction. On the 31st of January, the wind chill was minus 51. That’s colder than an ex-wife. ... I’ve been in Siberia and never seen it that cold.
Hydraulic fracking has a bad reputation with some environmentalists, who think that the heavy water usage involved in fracking projects is too destructive to the environment. But one preventable environmental concern relates to excavating permanent water storage basins. Drillers can find ways to store the water they need without as much environmental disruption.
Enbridge Gas Distribution recently announced the donation of $450,000 in equipment to central Ontario’s Fleming College. The equipment, including a directional drill system, goes to the college’s Resources Drilling and Blasting program.
Canadian firm North American Energy Partners Inc. (NAEP) recently announced the sale of the company's piling division to Keller, the U.K.-based ground engineering specialist.
The United States and the state of Arkansas filed an enforcement action last week against ExxonMobil Pipeline Company and Mobil Pipe Line Company in federal district court in Little Rock. The complaint concerns the March rupture in the companies’ Pegasus Pipeline in Mayflower, Ark.
Nearly three years later, you have to know what to look for. It takes a hard look at the flood plains over the banks of the Kalamazoo River to see the effects of an incident that covered the southwest Michigan area with oil.
My awareness of water-related issues has gone up ten-fold since I joined The Driller in November. I think a lot about water, how we consume it, how we get it and how precarious it can be as a resource. So, I jumped at the chance to explore these issues in the field with the Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources (IJNR).
Once the site is prepared and the rig is on location, it gets interesting. While the rig is rigging up, additional supplies such as fuel, mud, chemicals, water, bits, mud motors and sometimes housing must be brought in. Also, additional service companies must be coordinated to arrive when needed. Mud engineers, mud loggers, cementers and directional drillers are part of most modern wells.
Remember that teacher from your early school years that always encouraged you to stay between the lines when coloring? Well, Lindsay Wadsworth never thought much of staying between the lines. So it is ironic that many years later, he earns his living not just by staying within the lines, but by creating them.
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