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The different well drilling methods include the cable, or percussion, pole tool, hydraulic rotary, core drill and hydraulic jetting. In some localities the combination cable and hydraulic rotary system is employed.

Geology plays an important part in well drilling and a study of the rock formation and stratification, in the locality where the well is to be drilled, is necessary to determine the type of drilling outfit best adapted to the purpose. For drilling hard sandstones and limestones the cable tool outfit is suitable equipment, while soft formations are more successfully penetrated with the rotary outfit. In localities where soft formations and hard rock alternate, a combination cable and hydraulic rotary outfit may be the best equipment. The author has undertaken in this volume to cover the processes of drilling wells by the two methods now most generally used: the cable tool and the hydraulic rotary, including the building of the derrick, drilling, handling casing, fishing for lost tools and the completion of the well according to the best practice of present day expert drillers.

Specifications here shown of material for building the several types of derricks and for complete outfits of drilling tools have been carefully worked out and are believed to be accurate according to modern practice.

Different fields present their own drilling problems. It is obviously impossible within the limits of a single volume to treat in detail the drilling peculiarities of every field, but it has been the aim of the author to cover the whole subject as completely as possible in a general way.

The author hopes that this book, the work at odd moments of many years, may find a place both as a guide to the student or the inexperienced and as a handbook of information and reference for the practical driller, and he asks the reader's indulgence for any errors or omissions.

Toledo, Ohio, March 3, 1921.

WALTER H. JEFFERY.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

For illustrations and for valuable information furnished for this volume the author is indebted to Mr. George Otis Smith, Director, Mr. Philip S. Smith, Acting Director, Mr. A. E. Fath and Mr. W. S. W. Kew, of the U. S. Geological Survey, Washington, D. C.; The U. S. Bureau of Mines, Washington, D. C.; Mr. Eugene F. Coste, E.M., Calgary, Alberta; The National Supply Co., Toledo, Ohio; The Oil Well Supply Company, Pittsburgh, Pa.; The Lucey Mfg. Co., New York; The Carnegie Steel Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.; The National Tube Co., Pittsburgh, Pa.; The John A. Roebling's Sons Co., Trenton, N. J.; The Columbian Rope Co., Auburn, N. Y.; The Sanderson-Cyclone Drill Co., Orrville, Ohio; The Union Tool Co., Torrance, Calif.; The Norwalk Drilling Tool Co., Norwalk, Ohio; The Waverly Oil Works, Pittsburgh, Pa.; The Hope Natural Gas Company, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Hughes Tool Co., Houston, Texas; Parkersburg Rig & Reel Co., Parkersburg, W. Va.; Metric Metal Works, Erie, Pa.; The Eastern Torpedo of Ohio Co., Tulsa, Okla.; Mr. F. H. Hillman, Vice-President, The Standard Oil Co. of California, San Francisco, California; Prairie Oil and Gas Company, Independence, Kas.; Perkins Oil Well Cementing Co., Los Angeles, Calif.; Mr. Harry Hillman, Mr. C. S. Wright, Mr. John F. Tucker, Mr. Geo. J. Vollmayer, and Mr. R. F. Hill, of The National Supply Co.; Mr. A. G. Heggem, Tulsa, Okla.; Gunn Bros., Humble, Texas; Larkin Packer Co., Bartlesville, Okla.; Mr. D. D. Wertzberger, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Mr. W. R. Martin, Medicine Hat, Alberta; Mr. A. H. Brandon, Toledo, Ohio; Mr. G. H. Ashley, State Geologist of Pennsylvania; Mr. Chas. M. Boughton, of the Geological Survey of Kansas, for assistance in preparing manuscript to Miss Beth Price and to many others.

6

CHAPTER I

GEOLOGY-ORIGIN OF PETROLEUM AND
NATURAL GAS-BIBLIOGRAPHY

Petroleum, natural gas and artesian water occur in many of the stratified rocks forming the earth's crust. The thickness of these strata varies in different localities. In California the sedimentary rocks from the Quaternary to the granites and metamorphics lie in massive beds, aggregating a thickness of more than 25,000 feet. In Northern Ohio, where the more recent formations are absent, the Trenton limestone, lying at nearly the base of the one hundred or more producing formations, is reached at depths of 1,200 to 1,500 feet from the surface. A glance at the accompanying chart of producing horizons in North America will illustrate this.

The older the formation, for example the Trenton limestone of the Ordovician age, the harder will the rocks be found. Hard limestones, while they cannot be drilled rapidly, present few drilling difficulties. The rocks of later periods, as the shales and sandstone of Wyoming and California of Cretaceous and Tertiary age, are usually soft and caving and must be drilled by a process of under-reaming. The more recent alluvial deposits of the Gulf Coastal Plain and some parts of California and Mexico can only be successfully penetrated by the rotary system. Thus a study of the geological formations in the locality to be drilled is essential to determine the type of drilling outfit best suited to the work.

The United States Geological Survey and the Canadian Geological Survey have studied and reported upon large areas of the North American Continent, and in the United States many of the state geologists have much valuable data upon the stratified rocks of their respective states. When, therefore, it is desired to drill in localities where doubt may exist regarding the nature of the formations to be penetrated, it would be well to consult the geological publications reporting on the region to be prospected. The

authorities are usually glad to furnish such information if it is a matter of record, otherwise to offer valuable suggestions.

Surface indications of oil or gas occur in but few localities. In broken or mountainous regions, as in Wyoming, an occasional oil seepage is found, and in California there are many such seepages. In Mexico asphalt springs occur, and in the Island of Trinidad we have the famous pitch lake. Along the Athabasca River in Northern Alberta for a distance of several miles the so-called tar sands crop out and asphalt oil seeps from them. At one point on this river, where it flows over a fault line, escaping natural gas forms many bubbles on the surface of the water. Yet considerable drilling has been done in that locality without developing a paying oil field. Oil sands sometimes are located where they crop out or are exposed, due to erosion, the folding of the structure, or to mountain uplift. Oil and gas fields usually are located by searching for geological structures favorable for the accumulation of these deposits.

ANTICLINAL THEORY FOR ACCUMULATION OF

OIL AND GAS

The basis of the anticlinal theory is that oil and gas, being lighter than water, naturally find their way to the highest point in the water bearing stratum in which they may be present. Thus in drilling along the axis of an anticline or on the crest of a dome, gas may be found but no oil. Lower down on the dome or on the flanks of the anticline, oil may occur and little or no gas, while near the base of the anticline or dome, or in the syncline (the reverse structure of the anticline), water may be encountered, with usually no trace of oil or gas.

The anticline is an arch or fold in the stratified rocks that form the earth's crust, (See Fig. No. 1. There are several types of the arch or fold, the most common of which are the anticline, the dome and the anticlinal dome. The anticline is a long fold with the dips of its sides inclining away from a line called the axis. Thus in describing an anticline geologists use the terms "strike" and “dip"; the strike being the general direction along the crest

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