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Gold/Mining/Energy : KOB.TO - East Lost Hills & GSJB joint venture -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Quint who wrote (1509)	2/10/1999 10:32:00 PM
From: Check	Respond to of 15703

They have a new, better and more experienced man on the job. CIO

To: Quint who wrote (1509)	2/10/1999 10:43:00 PM
From: grayhairs	Respond to of 15703

Hi Quint, Good question. I can not tell you precisely "how" they will prevent a repeat performance because I do not know definitively what went wrong the first time. Besides, I'm not a drilling engineer. But, I won't let that stop me from trying to describe what I am led to believe happened the first time and what they might do if that was in fact the case. It has been reported (on this thread I believe and months ago) that the primary reason for the failure was that the "ports" in the drill bit "plugged off" during drilling. This would have meant that the mud system could not be properly circulated through the wellbore. When circulation of the mud stopped, natural gas was entrained in the 17,600 foot mud system being returned to the surface. With no fresh mud being introduced into the well the gas contaminated mud column was likely insufficient in weight to counter the formation pressure and so the well blew wild. Now IF this is in fact what happened, there are several revisions that they might consider making to their drilling program. For example, they might use a heavier mud, or a different style drill bit, or larger ports, or they can revise the properties of the mud system with various chemical additives, or they can increase the mud circulation rate, etc., etc. While the pressures encountered at ELH are certainly "extreme" they are not impossible to deal with. Hope this helps a bit. Later, grayhairs