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Permalink Reply by Tom Copley on May 29, 2009 at 7:14pm

Er, what is a Cactus rig?

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Permalink Reply by Vic on May 30, 2009 at 5:01am

Tom Cactus is the name of the drilling company they do alot of drilling in Texas and Oklahoma, there rigs are all triples and can drill to 25,000 foot. Hope this answers your question.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Copley on May 30, 2009 at 9:45pm

It seems odd. I looked up those rigs, and they are huge. 25,000 ft would be awfully deep for a Marcellus shale well. Marcellus rigs tend to have smaller footprints and be more mobile due to the hilly Appalachian terrain.

I've heard of an exploratory Chesapeake basement well drilled earlier this year on Vineyard Ridge southeast of Walton in Roane County, WV targeting the Conasauga Shale. It is over 20K feet deep. Could be they found something? Here's a news article.

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Permalink Reply by terry hazlett on May 31, 2009 at 11:48pm

that is why you should only lease to a certain depth, if you don't they're getting quite a deal for all they are paying, & they get to explore as far as they want.

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Permalink Reply by Vic on June 1, 2009 at 6:05am

Tom the proposed TD on the well was 22,401 feet in the Conasauga Shale. Cheasapeake and Energen Resources have a joint venture covering thousands of acres with a non-compete agreement on this shale play. The wells drilled in Alabama have an initial flow rate that has ranged from 26 mcfd to 233 mcfd in this play. I would say they found something and are keeping it quiet. There are problems drilling this shale such as lost circulation, the clays tend to swell alot, and there appears to be alot of wellbore drift.

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Permalink Reply by Bonnie Gray on June 7, 2009 at 1:15pm

I never heard of a well that could go that deep, where at in Pa is this happening?

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Permalink Reply by Rita McConnell on June 8, 2009 at 5:55am

Those depths are happening in other shale plays in other parts of the country, or in experimental wells. The Macellus is 8,000 or so max. Conasauga Shale is in Alabama.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Copley on June 16, 2009 at 1:00pm

A closer reading of the quoted Charleston Daily Mail article reveals it merely states that another reporter from a local Roane Co. journal mentioned the Vineyard Ridge well was targeting the Conasauga Shale. Rita is quite correct that this formation is in Alabama, so it can't be the right one. However, there can be little doubt Chesapeake's test well on Vineyard Ridge is going down over 20K feet deep. They're hoping for something big down there! It kinda fits with Vics info about the Cactus Rigs, but there certainly could be lots of other explanations for moving these giant rigs to the Appalachian Basin. Let's categorize this one under "Who knows?" for right now. ;-)

For Bonnie who asked about Pennsylvania, Vineyard Ridge is located in Roane County, WV.

-- Tom

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Permalink Reply by Vic on June 15, 2009 at 5:18am

This hole was drillied in West Virgina I no of two drilling contractors who each have a rig that can drill 40,000 plus feet if needed,

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Permalink Reply by Casey Kitagawa on September 9, 2009 at 2:31am

The only rigs that can drill 40,000 foot wells are the ultra-deepwater drillships they use offshore and the 13,000 horsepower rig Parker Drilling operates on Sakhalin Island in Russia. The biggest land rigs in the US are 3,000 HP Triples that can drill 30,000-32,000 feet vertically and they are absolutely massive. I really doubt you know of two contractors that can go 40,000 plus

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Permalink Reply by Vic on September 20, 2009 at 6:15am

Mr Kitaqawa if you know your rigs like you claim you do in 2005 in Casper, WY there were two rigs that each drilled one hole. one rig belonged to Greywolf Drilling Rig 558 it had a Dreco 4000-E drawworks rated 4000 hp with a capacity of 40,000 foot. The other rig belonged to Unit Drilling Rig 201 it had a Oime E-4000 drawworks rated 4,000 hp and depth capacity of 40,000 foot. Both rigs were SCR rigs. And for your infomation I have 20 years of drilling experience.

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Permalink Reply by Danny R. Watkins on September 24, 2009 at 12:53pm

those are the two biggest land rigs in the US Land Fleet The Grey Wolf rig was originally Murco 58 out of Shreveport, LA. Dreco built the 4000-E especially for Murco in 1983, the only draw work of that size at time. These rigs were both in Lysite, WY area about 7 yrs ago, the last time I encountered them.

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