Drilling Rig Anchors
Sep 3, 2023 18:59:35 #
While I was Vice President and Sales Manager of WATCO in Houston, which was a company that specialized in measuring all the parameters on drilling rigs, I chose to go to western Oklahoma and visit the largest drilling rig in the world and to examine the drill line anchor, which was more than six feet tall and was being used to anchor drill line of 2 inches!
No other drilling rig had an anchor or drilling line, or cable of this size. It was in July or August and extremely hot, plus being aided by the equipment running on the rig. There were 1,000 horsepower diesel motors, quite noisy and hot which made the entire site uncomfortable.
Since this anchor was one of a kind, and measured six feet tall, I wanted to both measure and photograph it. My company was seriously considering building this monster piece of equipment. It was made of steel, round and was fixed under the rig’s floor with wire line, or cable that was 2 inches in diameter in size. Ordinarily, other rigs had their drill line at 1 ½ to 1 ¾ in size.
The other end was threaded through the crown blocks, then down through the elevator. This was done several times increasing the lifting power, or strength to lift the drill string of pipe which could reach as much as several miles in depth, thus a lot of weight. Finally, at the other end was wrapped around a drum which allowed the driller used to raise or lower the drill string into the well bore. This drum was called the draw works.
Hopefully, while all this might be confusing, but since Saudi Arabia controlled the price movements of worldwide crude, they chose to lower crude prices and which they did in the early 1980’s, causing a dramatic lowering of crude prices so much so it shut down any exploration of new fields worldwide.
So, whether it was this giant rig in Oklahoma and one anywhere else, virtually all employees found themselves out on the street unemployed. This giant rig/s operation continued but finally stopped with a dry hole.
After being unemployed for several months, I signed on with Merrill Lynch as a financial consultant, which turned out to be a good arrangement for both. I had held the belief they did not do any financial planning, but it was a convergence, since both of us were willing to move in that direction.
Later, I switched and joined Shearson Lehman, who had Managed Money, a new concept at the time. That was what I really wanted. Soon after being in production, I learned I could not do a good job of prospecting and manage the accounts I had gained.
So, for almost 25 years that is what I did with a younger partner who was a C.P.A. In 2017 I was forced to retire due to medical problems. If you have followed my activities, it is easier done in Houston, who does not question your pedigree, just whether you can do the deal! I quickly learned there’s more crude on Wall Street than in Texas and Saudi put together! Just Sayin…RJS
No other drilling rig had an anchor or drilling line, or cable of this size. It was in July or August and extremely hot, plus being aided by the equipment running on the rig. There were 1,000 horsepower diesel motors, quite noisy and hot which made the entire site uncomfortable.
Since this anchor was one of a kind, and measured six feet tall, I wanted to both measure and photograph it. My company was seriously considering building this monster piece of equipment. It was made of steel, round and was fixed under the rig’s floor with wire line, or cable that was 2 inches in diameter in size. Ordinarily, other rigs had their drill line at 1 ½ to 1 ¾ in size.
The other end was threaded through the crown blocks, then down through the elevator. This was done several times increasing the lifting power, or strength to lift the drill string of pipe which could reach as much as several miles in depth, thus a lot of weight. Finally, at the other end was wrapped around a drum which allowed the driller used to raise or lower the drill string into the well bore. This drum was called the draw works.
Hopefully, while all this might be confusing, but since Saudi Arabia controlled the price movements of worldwide crude, they chose to lower crude prices and which they did in the early 1980’s, causing a dramatic lowering of crude prices so much so it shut down any exploration of new fields worldwide.
So, whether it was this giant rig in Oklahoma and one anywhere else, virtually all employees found themselves out on the street unemployed. This giant rig/s operation continued but finally stopped with a dry hole.
After being unemployed for several months, I signed on with Merrill Lynch as a financial consultant, which turned out to be a good arrangement for both. I had held the belief they did not do any financial planning, but it was a convergence, since both of us were willing to move in that direction.
Later, I switched and joined Shearson Lehman, who had Managed Money, a new concept at the time. That was what I really wanted. Soon after being in production, I learned I could not do a good job of prospecting and manage the accounts I had gained.
So, for almost 25 years that is what I did with a younger partner who was a C.P.A. In 2017 I was forced to retire due to medical problems. If you have followed my activities, it is easier done in Houston, who does not question your pedigree, just whether you can do the deal! I quickly learned there’s more crude on Wall Street than in Texas and Saudi put together! Just Sayin…RJS
Sep 4, 2023 07:26:46 #
Robert J Samples wrote:
While I was Vice President and Sales Manager of WA... (show quote)
Good morning Mr Robert, I believe you're right there, lot's of big money people in the Market (inside the market) that was not always doing things legal, even some famous people 😂😂
Thanks for the information and if you have any pictures we'd love to see some of your life history, you are a great guy with lots of information.
Thanks Chuck 🙏
Sep 4, 2023 09:26:31 #
Sep 4, 2023 09:46:33 #
I was so tied up in telling the story I left out some facts. This rig was working for Conoco
out of Elk City, OK.
It drilled to 28,500 feet before declaring it was a dry hole. I think the footage was almost 10 miles deep. This rig and others are now in Alaska. Just Sayin...RJS
out of Elk City, OK.
It drilled to 28,500 feet before declaring it was a dry hole. I think the footage was almost 10 miles deep. This rig and others are now in Alaska. Just Sayin...RJS
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