Oil Gleaners

摘要

Of the 25,000 wells Weather-ford International helped drill last year, the gnarliest was in the Knotty Head prospect in the Gulf of Mexico. For nine months the ship Transocean Discoverer Spirit used 360-degree rotating propellers to hold itself steady in the 3,500-foot-deep water as diamond-tipped bits cut the deepest oil well ever-6.5 miles down. Completed in December at a cost of some $70 million, Knotty Head will generate many years of income for owners Chevron, Anadarko, BHP Billiton and Nexen. Sensors suggest a 600-foot-thick zone of spongy rock holding millions of barrels. Weatherford acquired its talent for 6-mile wells in last year's $2.3 billion cash-and-stock purchase of Canada's Precision Drilling. There is a surprising amount of research and development behind well drilling. Quartz transducers measure temperature and pressure.