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Gold/Mining/Energy : Strictly: Drilling and oil-field services -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dfloydr who wrote (49522)	8/19/1999 1:49:00 PM
From: CommanderCricket	Respond to of 95453

Excellent news!! Isn't Osprey 1 a rank wildcat well! "So, what does "encountered a flow of hydrocarbons to surface" imply to you oil hands?" I believe this means that hydrocarbons have been found in the drilling mud.

To: dfloydr who wrote (49522)	8/19/1999 2:16:00 PM
From: Aggie	Respond to of 95453

D.Floyd Russell, Good Afternoon. This means that they have taken a "kick", which is defined as an "unscheduled flow of hydrocarbons into the wellbore". Not a huge deal, although we go to great pains to avoid this because it usually means that drilling must cease, the blowout preventers get closed, and the gas or oil is circulated out of the hole before drilling resumes. Shutting down drilling for any reason increases costs, so we generally try to eliminate hydrocarbon flows unless we're testing. We do this by circulating a column of "mud" in the hole which is heavy enough to compensate for formation pressures, thus keeping the gas or oil safely in the formation. There are some drilling techniques which actually encourage the formation to flow during drilling operations (using foam, aerated mud, or air), I've been on a couple of these and they're quite exciting. This one sounds like they're drilling conventionally, however. Don't read too much into this. While it is encouraging that they have encountered hydrocarbons, it's a rare well indeed that encounters absolutely nothing during the drilling process. The gas detection equipment used today is capable of taking readings down to the one hundredth of a percent, they are very sensitive. And of course, this kick says absolutely nothing about commerciality. Only the well test will tell for sure. Regards and Good Luck, Aggie