Word: driller
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...fact, Project Independence has mainly yielded a barrel of complaints about equipment shortages that are delaying new production. Driller George Mitchell, head of a large Houston exploration company, voices a typical wildcatter's lament: "We've got six good prospects offshore Texas that we've had to defer for six to eight months already for lack of equipment." Another independent oilman, A.V. Jones of Albany, Texas, estimates that he could increase his company's new drilling by 50% if he had the necessary material. As it is, he says, "if all the wells...
...more common, but rights to them are selling for as low as $1 an acre. Since exploration techniques are still rudimentary, the best way to get at the hot water is to drill and pray for success. Sinking a 5,000-ft. well costs about $125,000. If a driller hits, he still can be disappointed by the mixture of steam and briny water that hisses to the surface. Sometimes it is too cool to use efficiently; often it is laden with minerals and impurities that "crud up" turbine blades and even clog the bored hole itself. The steam...
...Some still live in log cabins heated by wood stoves. When new safety laws went into effect last May, scores of men at nearby coal mines were permanently laid off. Unfortunately for the locals, workers on the 25 new oil wells are mostly skilled outsiders brought in by independent drillers. (The big oil companies have not yet come to Scott County.) At least one driller, however, is starting to train Cumberland men for the jobs...
...boom, currently at 22,400 barrels of crude a week, shows no signs of abating. A freelance driller, Clarence ("Squeak") Collins, happily exhibits a geologist's map that shows 17 more underground oil pools in the county, all a mere 1,200 ft. to 1,700 ft. down. "Nearly all the wells in the county are drawing from a single pool now," he rhapsodizes. "Think what's still down there!" Oil experts estimate the area's reserves at 10 million barrels. Another independent producer, George Sakellaris, predicts that the natural gas that forces oil right into...