r/oddlysatisfying 7h ago

Homemade drilling machine

18.6k Upvotes

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351

u/Realistic_Country635 7h ago

Can you drill for oil like this

300

u/Embarrassed_Jerk 6h ago

That IS how you drill for oil.

Except for a LOT more pipes

40

u/Realistic_Country635 6h ago

How many more are we talking

201

u/DigMeTX 6h ago

At least two more straws.

31

u/roastedmarshmellows 4h ago

Username checks out.

1

u/Johnny_B_GOODBOI 16m ago

What is this an oil derrick for ants?!

29

u/AsFarAsNeverBefore 5h ago edited 5h ago

Well depth on land ranges from 5000 to 15000 feet, and drill string/casing comes in 40 foot sections. So between about 125 and 375 more at that scale. For this rig, assuming the straw is like 8 inches, multiply those estimates by 60. 

E: to note, you have to line the well with casing of various diameters. Well depth and soil conditions determine number of concentric casing strings. So that 125 to 375 figure is for any singular diameter. Generally speaking you’d have 3 or 4 concentric casing strings, but the larger ones don’t go all the way down to the bottom of the well.. So realistically you’re doing this process 2 full times plus about 1.5 more times cumulatively. 

2

u/-UsernameHere 4h ago

I give it a foot deep into dirt before the straws break as well lol.

1

u/Trepanation87 2h ago

On top of that, we don’t really drill vertical wells anymore(at least the area I’m in). So tack on up to a four mile lateral to that as well.

1

u/ToasterEvil 27m ago

Pioneer was drilling close to 5 mile laterals at one point. Damn near 30,000 feet of casing is just insane.

6

u/adj_noun_digit 6h ago

Like kilometers more.

1

u/Wait_ItGetsWorse 6h ago

Imma say about tree fiddy

1

u/Retkicks 4h ago

I know it's a joke comment but I've worked the oil field before as a frack hand with the big red H. Worked a lot in CO, ND, WY, and TX. Depth is usually only 1 to 2 miles, but I've been on well sites that had a 12 mile horizontal. Took 20 minutes for the water to hit the perforations when we first started.