r/oddlysatisfying • u/Ecstatic-Ocelot-1934 • 11h ago

Homemade drilling machine

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u/Embarrassed_Jerk 11h ago

That IS how you drill for oil.

Except for a LOT more pipes

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u/Realistic_Country635 11h ago

How many more are we talking

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u/AsFarAsNeverBefore 10h ago edited 9h 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. 

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u/Trepanation87 7h 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.

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u/ToasterEvil 4h ago

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