Particularly with its historical importance to West Texas, the oil business has always fascinated me. I love reading the stories of it, whether about the Texas Rangers in boomtowns like Borger and Ranger in the early 20th century, socioeconomic discussions like "Friday Night Lights" covered to some extent, and just about any article the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram writes about the Barnett Shale.

What I really don't know much about, though, is how it all actually works. I'm currently reading (for the second time) an Elmer Kelton novel called "Honor at Daybreak", which, in an unusual turn for Elmer, is about a West Texas oil boomtown called Caprock (based loosely on his hometown of Crane. As I read this book, I am fascinated by the process of drilling for and recovering oil, but I realize I know very little about it. I know the difference between cabletool and rotary rigs, have a passing knowledge of "shooting a well", and only vaguely understand what a "walking beam" is and does.

I'd love to be able to do some reading on oil drilling in my spare time, so as to further my knowledge. Do you have any ideas of good places to find general discussions of drilling on the web, or perhaps in print? Some sort of general primer in how the business works would be outstanding.

Thanks for your help.

[This message has been edited by WestTxAg06 (edited 8/22/2006 10:52p).]

Shouldn't you be concentrating on law school?

Yes, that I should. But I have about 10 minutes of free time later this semester, and I wanted to make sure I had something interesting to read during that time.

not as detailed as you may want, but this is an excellent primer that I've shared with others several times over the years

http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling.htm

the mechanics and engineering behind a drilling rig and a pumping unit are really interesting - add to that horizontal drilling and enhanced recovery methods. Get somebody that knows what they are doing to take you out to a rig sometime.



While I was at A&M, we stopped at a rig that was drilling out by the old club Mickey's one night. It was 1am or so, kind of misting rain. Not hot but still kind of warm. It was one of A.D. Bowen's rigs from here in Abilene. I thought I might actually know some of the roughnecks. We (me and a couple of buddies) climbed up to the doghouse. It was like the scene in Apocalypse Now from the Do Long Bridge. The lights were low, The Doors or something equally trippy was blasting from an 8track. The 3 guys in the doghouse had been smoking up and were as high as a kite. The driller had on a yellow rain slicker and was gunning the draw-works engine in time with the music. He'd stuffed a sweat shirt up under a shoulder of the rain coat so he looked like a hunchback. Every one of them had long hair, were in their early 20's. No shirts, helmets on backwards and the most earrings I'd ever seen on guys in my life (at that time in the late 70's) They looked like a bunch of pirates.

They were waiting on something, so they weren't actually drilling or pulling pipe or anything, just hanging out and drawing pay.

I didn't spend much time showing my buddies around, but they still talk about their night out in the oil field.

WestTXAG06,

Have you already moved to Lubbock?

Yes. Tech Law started class Monday, a week earlier than the undergrads.

You must really want to be a lawyer

If you are interested in the history of the worldwide oil business, read "The Prize" by Daniel Yeargin (sp?). It may be my favorite book.