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Gold/Mining/Energy : Canadian Oil & Gas Companies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mark calgary who wrote (5779)	12/22/1998 11:12:00 PM
From: kingfisher	Respond to of 24898

Speaking of lower costs in oil patch, this in today from Tesco.Sounds like drilling costs could be sliced in half. Canada Stockwatch Shortcuts Menu Symbols Bulletins Company Participant Insiders AccountStatus NewWindow Tesco Corp - First casing drilling well successfully completed Tesco Corp TEOShares issued 31,668,3001998-12-21 close $6.05Tuesday Dec 22 1998Mr. R.M. Tessari reports Tesco has successfully completed drilling the first vertical well using the company's proprietary casing drilling process, setting the stage for full field commercial trials during the first half of 1999. Casing drilling represents Tesco's most important research project and has the potential to dramatically change the way wells are drilled in the future. With casing drilling, wells are drilled without drillpipe. Instead, the well is drilled with standard oilfield casing, which remains in the hole at all times. The drill bit and other downhole tools are retrieved and run by wireline within the casing and latched to the last joint of casing. Since casing drilling eliminates the use of drillpipe, the time required to trip, or remove and reconnect the drillpipe, is also eliminated. In addition, because the casing remains in the hole at all times, the integrity of the wellbore is preserved and many of the problems associated with unscheduled drilling events are eliminated. Tesco believes that casing drilling could have significant worldwide commercial potential. The well was drilled to 120 feet using 9-5/8 inch casing, to 577 feet using 7-5/8 inch casing and to total depth of 3,040 feet with 5-1/2 inch casing. During the drilling process two of the larger challenges for vertical well applications were overcome namely, the durability of the casing connections and the latching and unlatching of downhole drilling assembles by wireline. The well was drilled by rotating the casing and using a mud motor over 197 feet. The well was drilled through coal seams, hard sandstone and shale. A successful coring operation was accomplished over an interval of 25 feet using wireline retrievable tools with full core recovery. At the 1,732 foot level, the casing was tripped and a 79 foot section of hole was drilled using conventional drill pipe and collars. The penetration rates recorded when drilling with casing were equal to those obtained while drilling with conventional drill pipe. Tesco has commenced the construction of a trailer mounted drilling rig with top drive for casing drilling purposes. Commercial field trials are scheduled to commence in Alberta in April 1999 on a series of shallow vertical wells to further evaluate the process. In response to interest from oil and gas operators for drilling with casing in directional wells, Tesco is currently drilling and evaluating a directional well using the casing drilling process. Another well is scheduled to be drilled in January 1999 to further evaluate advanced casing drilling tools and techniques. (c) Copyright 1998 Canjex Publishing Ltd. canada-stockwatch.com old url (better for printing)