WEBVTT - Oil Drilling Tech 0:00:00.320 --> 0:00:02.880 Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve camera. 0:00:03.240 --> 0:00:08.959 It's ready. Are you get in touch with technology with 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:18.120 tex Stuff from how stuff works dot com. Hello again, everyone, 0:00:18.160 --> 0:00:20.400 Welcome to tech stuff. My name is Chris Polette and 0:00:20.400 --> 0:00:22.239 I am an editor at how stuff works dot Com. 0:00:22.640 --> 0:00:25.000 Sitting across from me, as he always does, is senior 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:28.000 writer and Jonathan Strickland. Next thing you know, Old Jed's 0:00:28.000 --> 0:00:33.440 a millionaire. I see you are ready to talk about 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:38.760 black gold. Yes, Texas t the technology of oil drilling. 0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.559 So first you get your shotgun, and then you go 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:45.920 hunting for some food, and up from the ground comes 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:50.040 a bubbling crude. You know, there are more efficient ways 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:53.080 to drill for oil than I don't know. That's pretty efficient. 0:00:53.960 --> 0:00:57.360 You just have to be insanely lucky. No, that is 0:00:57.640 --> 0:01:01.920 actually not the way one normally looks for oil or 0:01:02.040 --> 0:01:05.640 drills for oil um and the process does involve quite 0:01:05.640 --> 0:01:09.920 a bit of technology. Some of it is fairly simple 0:01:10.000 --> 0:01:11.759 tech when you look at it from you know, as 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:17.080 far as a sophistication standpoint. But without it we wouldn't 0:01:17.200 --> 0:01:19.119 be able to get to oil the way we do. 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:22.960 Our our society would be completely different. We certainly wouldn't 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:26.319 be podcasting right now. Too much of our technology is 0:01:26.360 --> 0:01:29.520 based off of oil or is powered by stuff that 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:34.080 gets his power ultimately through oil. So um, and of 0:01:34.120 --> 0:01:36.640 course it's been in the news a lot lately. And yeah, 0:01:36.680 --> 0:01:39.160 as we've been reading through some of the articles on 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:41.360 how Stuff Works dot Com, which I encourage you to 0:01:41.400 --> 0:01:44.640 do so, especially since Jonathan put all that time into 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:47.560 updating some of those. Um, we we were looking at 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:49.680 the technology and thinking, you know, this is kind of 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.480 interesting as a topic that we haven't talked about. I mean, 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:55.480 is it's kind of off our normal and beaten path. 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:59.120 But yeah, some of it's pretty amazing how they've they 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.880 can find oil and then you know the fact that 0:02:02.920 --> 0:02:05.240 they can even go down as far as they did 0:02:05.280 --> 0:02:08.880 for the deep Water Horizon, well that was pretty phenomenal 0:02:09.040 --> 0:02:11.520 create the well itself. Even though there are problems. We 0:02:11.520 --> 0:02:13.239 can talk about some of the equipment that they would 0:02:13.280 --> 0:02:15.760 use yea, and we can talk about why why it 0:02:15.880 --> 0:02:19.280 was not just the fact that you know, the blowout 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:21.720 was a huge problem with the deep Water Horizon, but 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:25.959 also why it's a problem that, uh, like, why couldn't 0:02:26.000 --> 0:02:28.200 they fix that as opposed to being able to fix 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:31.440 it on in other situations. We'll get into that UM. 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:38.680 Once we get under pressure, do do UM. So starting off, 0:02:38.720 --> 0:02:41.240 let's talk about how you would find oil before you 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:45.880 even start drilling UM. Now, in the olden days, way 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:49.200 back when people were first starting to drill for oil, 0:02:50.080 --> 0:02:54.399 you pretty much had to look around and really observe 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:58.880 the geographic features of the region you were in and 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:01.800 really needed the help of the geologists, someone who was 0:03:02.960 --> 0:03:08.080 who was learned in the ways of things like rock formations, 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:10.840 just the kinds of rocks that were in the region, 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:14.560 because you need to look for specifics sort of rocks 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:18.760 and soil that would be indicative that there, at least 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:22.000 is the potential for oil to be present. Right, Well, 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:24.960 you still need geologists, Oh yeah, you don't. They're definitely 0:03:24.960 --> 0:03:27.440 a very important part of finding oil. It's just that 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:29.720 now they have more tools at their disposal than just 0:03:29.800 --> 0:03:34.880 their eyes. That's true, because they're using they basically look 0:03:34.960 --> 0:03:39.160 for changes in the Earth's gravitational field that can indicate 0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:42.920 that there's oil nearby. That's that's one of the methods. Yeah. Really, 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:44.880 what they're what they're trying to do is they're looking 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:48.360 for oil flows. Now, when I say looking. Obviously they 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:52.760 can't see the oil because it's it's underground or underwater, 0:03:52.840 --> 0:03:54.720 well at least not in most cases. Yeah, if you 0:03:54.760 --> 0:03:57.160 can see the oil, you really don't need your geologists there. 0:03:58.080 --> 0:03:59.600 I mean, there are there are things like you know, 0:03:59.640 --> 0:04:02.640 oil sands, when there's a lot more obvious that there 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:07.160 is oil present. But in those cases you can't, you know, 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:09.040 just slurp it up. There's a lot of work to 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:10.880 be done. And we're not we didn't really at least 0:04:10.920 --> 0:04:13.200 I didn't prepare for that particular topic. But yeah, and 0:04:13.240 --> 0:04:15.840 in those cases you can actually see that there is petroleum, 0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:19.440 and I'm I would imagine, um, just a guess, you 0:04:19.440 --> 0:04:25.160 could probably smell it too. Actually, they geologists might use sniffers, 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:30.640 which are electronic sensors that can detect the presence of oil, 0:04:31.600 --> 0:04:34.000 so they could they could smell for it. They could 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:37.000 use the gravitational sensors that the PLTT was talking about. 0:04:37.000 --> 0:04:41.560 They could also use uh magnetic sensors to detect changes 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:44.200 in the Earth's magnetic field, which would be the result 0:04:44.320 --> 0:04:50.200 of oil flowing sometimes uh several thousand feet below the 0:04:50.520 --> 0:04:55.080 surface of the Earth. And then one of the most 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:59.240 common ways is they create vibrations in the earth and 0:04:59.240 --> 0:05:02.760 then listen for the It's kind of like an echo. 0:05:02.800 --> 0:05:05.760 You're listening for the reflection of the vibration you've sent 0:05:05.800 --> 0:05:08.919 into the earth to detect what kind of rock is 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:14.320 beneath you. So you are essentially thumping the earth and 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:16.800 listening to hear what kind of thing. Yeah, you're It's 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:19.359 like when you pick up a melon and you thump 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:21.279 it to see if it's right to eat, except in 0:05:21.320 --> 0:05:23.279 this case, you're thumping the earth to see if there's 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.479 any oil down there. And uh. And when I say thumping, 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:30.520 sometimes literally they are thumping the earth, except they're doing 0:05:30.560 --> 0:05:35.120 it with a massive truck, a thumber truck. A thumber truck. Yes, 0:05:35.400 --> 0:05:36.800 I think I had one of those drive down my 0:05:36.800 --> 0:05:39.960 street the other day. Yeah. I actually call them flower 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:43.760 and they tell me that he can call me flower 0:05:43.920 --> 0:05:50.000 if he wants to. It's a thumber truck. Anyway, Thumper 0:05:50.120 --> 0:05:52.640 was a rabbit, that's true. Well, I'll screw up my 0:05:52.680 --> 0:05:57.839 own joke. That's okay. Somebody will write in ye and like, listen, 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:01.520 I'm a Bambi enthusiast, and let me tell you so. Anyway, 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:07.239 the Thumber nice, the thumper truck has these big heavy 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.839 plates that they will raise and lower against the ground. 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:14.400 They hit the ground really hard, and then you have microphones, 0:06:14.480 --> 0:06:18.080 very sensitive microphones set up around the area around the 0:06:18.120 --> 0:06:21.680 region to detect the vibrations, and based upon the quality 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:23.960 of those vibrations, you can tell whether or not there's 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:28.960 oil flowing underneath the surface. Um. There's also they could 0:06:28.960 --> 0:06:31.320 also use explosives to do the same thing. So you 0:06:31.360 --> 0:06:33.600 could dig a hole and put some explosives in or 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:36.800 in the case of if you're if you're trying to 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:39.840 search for oil in the water, you may throw explosives 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:43.599 over the side of the boat. Um. Not recommended. And 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:46.720 there are other ways to to get the same effect. Well, 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:50.560 there's the compressed air gun, yes, which is much safer. Yeah, 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.040 you can use a compressed air gun. You fire compressed 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:58.080 air at the ground and that creates the the vibration 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:00.200 you need to you know, then you listen to her 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:04.279 if there's the correct frequency that would indicate that there's 0:07:04.320 --> 0:07:08.280 oil beneath the ground. Yeah. And actually, uh, I sort 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.240 of sort of misspoke when I said that we really 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.440 haven't talked about this kind of thing before. Because Boyle 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:19.640 has made a cameo appearance in another recent podcast, auto 0:07:19.640 --> 0:07:23.560 tune because some of them, right, the audio technology that 0:07:23.600 --> 0:07:26.960 they use, that's what ye. The founder of auto tune 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.040 originally was a geologist who worked on this kind of technology, yep, 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:35.120 And that that technology evolved and got used for the 0:07:35.160 --> 0:07:39.840 sound correcting gizmo that we all know and a lot 0:07:39.880 --> 0:07:43.040 of people don't love. Right. So, if you've listened to 0:07:43.080 --> 0:07:47.400 auto tune, the news is version of double Rainbow, which 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:50.800 is phenomenal. By the way, you two are experiencing the 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:53.040 joy of the technology that can help you find oil 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:58.400 in a really twisted way. So but say they find oil, 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:00.720 all right, they found oil. Now now comes the point 0:08:00.760 --> 0:08:02.920 where they have to start drilling down so they can 0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:07.120 get to the oil. Uh. And drilling is a very 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:09.200 involved process. The first thing they have to do they 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:13.239 have to, assuming that it's land based, clear the land 0:08:13.840 --> 0:08:15.480 and they have to level it off so that they 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:20.400 can build an oil rig to to start drilling. Um, 0:08:20.520 --> 0:08:23.640 they have to have water in the trilling process. Actually, 0:08:23.680 --> 0:08:26.400 water is very important. They use water to mix with 0:08:26.440 --> 0:08:29.320 dirt to create mud. They use the mud to help 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:34.240 pump or really to push the the the rock that 0:08:34.480 --> 0:08:36.880 gets broken up as the drill is drilling down into 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:42.360 the earth. So uh, they essentially are pumping mud down 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:45.920 into the hole to help clear the rock out of 0:08:45.920 --> 0:08:49.679 the way as the drill drills down. Um, So you've 0:08:49.679 --> 0:08:51.720 gotta have a water supply, So either you need water 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:53.280 in near buy or if there's not any water, you 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:56.160 need to drill the water well. But you have to 0:08:56.200 --> 0:09:01.559 have water to to two for this process. The water 0:09:01.720 --> 0:09:05.880 based rigs don't have this problem. Now there's there's usually 0:09:05.960 --> 0:09:09.640 quite a lot of water in the offshore drilling, yes, process, 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:12.520 but on land, the crew does need to dig a 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:15.800 reserve pit which they used to get rid of the 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:19.400 rock cuttings and some of the mud. Um. They line 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:21.679 it with plastic, you know, in an attempt to protect 0:09:21.720 --> 0:09:25.200 the environment, you don't want anything leaching into the water 0:09:25.280 --> 0:09:28.480 supply of the local area. And also if it's a 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:32.200 certain areas, certain protected areas, they aren't even allowed to 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:34.800 do the reserve pit. They have to actually truck all 0:09:34.920 --> 0:09:39.440 the rock that they dig up offsite. But in most 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:41.920 cases they'll just they'll dig this reserve pit and that's 0:09:41.920 --> 0:09:44.920 where they they're they're putting all the waste rock. Essentially, 0:09:45.520 --> 0:09:48.439 they also need to build a seller. Yeah, apparently to 0:09:48.679 --> 0:09:52.839 store the wine. That's exactly why they need to do that. 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:57.160 That's providing the foundation of where the rig's gonna go. Right. So, 0:09:58.280 --> 0:10:00.920 once they've got the preparations out of the way, they 0:10:00.960 --> 0:10:04.319 start to put together the rig. They ship in all 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:07.320 the stuff and they start assembling it. The rigs power 0:10:07.360 --> 0:10:12.640 supply is all well. Diesel engines provide the power. They 0:10:12.679 --> 0:10:15.840 provide power to electrical generators, which in turn provide electrical 0:10:15.880 --> 0:10:20.320 power to the mechanical systems on the rig, the rig itself. 0:10:21.080 --> 0:10:23.440 Most people are familiar with the really tall tower that 0:10:23.520 --> 0:10:28.480 you can see on oil rigs, the derrick. Um, you 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:31.520 might wonder why those towers are there. I mean, most 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:33.400 of the time we see like the old movies where 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:35.720 we'll see the oil shooting out the top of the 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:38.079 derek and you think, well, what's what the heck is 0:10:38.120 --> 0:10:41.079 the purpose of that thing? Um, it's actually there so 0:10:41.200 --> 0:10:46.640 that the oil workers can can assemble the pipe that 0:10:46.840 --> 0:10:50.040 is needed to continue to drive the drill bit down 0:10:50.080 --> 0:10:53.040 further and further into the hole. Because you know, as 0:10:53.080 --> 0:10:56.440 you make progress, the drill bit goes further down. You 0:10:56.559 --> 0:11:00.760 have to extend that that that pipe so the drill 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.000 bit can keep going down well. The tower is there 0:11:03.040 --> 0:11:05.960 so that you can put another length of pipe on 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:09.880 the end, and these links of piper about thirty feet long. UM. 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.080 This is true both for the oil for the oil 0:11:12.160 --> 0:11:14.480 for the land based and the water based oil drilling, 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:18.160 because they'll they'll have to and for the water based one, 0:11:18.200 --> 0:11:20.600 actually the pipe has to be even longer because first 0:11:20.600 --> 0:11:22.800 you have to get your drill bit all the way 0:11:22.800 --> 0:11:25.360 down to the ground, so you have to get it 0:11:25.400 --> 0:11:27.520 through all the water first, and then you have to 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:33.800 keep extending it. So the the the drill of course 0:11:33.880 --> 0:11:36.959 is based off rotation. It's a big turntable that is 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:41.280 turned by and by the generators, the electric motors that 0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:45.240 are powered by the generators rather and UH that turns 0:11:45.320 --> 0:11:49.480 the the drill string UM and the drill bit which 0:11:49.480 --> 0:11:51.040 is at the very bottom of it. There's a there's 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:54.079 a color above the drill bit. The color is a 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:57.760 thicker pipe that fits around the drill string and it 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:00.400 uh its purpose is to protect the d but it's 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:03.360 also to provide some pressure to push downwards so that 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:07.079 the drill bid is constantly digging down, not just spinning 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:12.160 of anything happening there. And and they line the the 0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:16.480 well that they're drilling with a big pipe right to 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:18.720 keep it from collapsing in on itself, because it wouldn't 0:12:18.720 --> 0:12:20.720 do any good to drill a hole if it you know, 0:12:21.080 --> 0:12:25.200 if two feet down the hole starts to collapse in 0:12:25.200 --> 0:12:30.199 on itself. So it's a it's a really involved process really, 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:34.280 I mean, it takes a lot of manual labor to 0:12:34.480 --> 0:12:37.760 get that going. And once the drill bid is is 0:12:38.000 --> 0:12:40.520 dragging up the or knocking out rock, that's when they 0:12:40.520 --> 0:12:43.560 start pumping the mud down to bring the bits of 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:45.439 rock up and they collect those off and they put 0:12:45.520 --> 0:12:48.560 in the in the pit um right. That that is 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.480 another function of the casing the liner and that goes 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.880 around is that it does help them drilling mud to 0:12:53.920 --> 0:12:57.719 circulate while they are drilling and get you know, the 0:12:57.800 --> 0:12:59.640 chips out and everything else that needs to come out 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:03.040 because uh, you know, the circulation system is responsible for 0:13:03.040 --> 0:13:07.320 forgetting the mud um and and it's you know, it 0:13:07.360 --> 0:13:10.199 helps move things in and out. It's very important that 0:13:10.240 --> 0:13:12.160 they've got and it's man up of a number of 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:14.280 different pieces. Of course, it's got a pump in it 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:17.640 and hoses. Um. There is a specific line to get 0:13:17.679 --> 0:13:20.760 the mud out of the hole. Um there's a shaker 0:13:21.040 --> 0:13:23.640 that gets the rock cuttings out of the mud so 0:13:23.679 --> 0:13:26.320 that I you know, they can recycle it because they 0:13:26.360 --> 0:13:29.600 do that. Um, they do that actually in the get 0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.400 this this is the technical term mud pit. Yes, the 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:35.200 mud pit. They also they also occasionally have to make 0:13:35.200 --> 0:13:38.680 some new mud. Um. You know, eventually they just they 0:13:38.800 --> 0:13:41.520 have to add more, especially once the holes getting deeper 0:13:41.520 --> 0:13:46.680 and deeper. Um, the as they're digging down there. What 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:48.760 the goal here is to get to the point where 0:13:48.760 --> 0:13:54.280 you you are just hitting the pocket of oil that's 0:13:54.360 --> 0:13:58.280 underneath the surface. You know, you're not the Again that 0:13:58.360 --> 0:14:02.040 image of the oil shooting up through the derek, that's 0:14:02.160 --> 0:14:04.840 what we call a blowback, and that's not a good 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:09.880 thing necessarily. It's actually very dangerous thing. Blowback or blow out, blowout, sorry, 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:13.640 blowout and yeah, there's you don't want those, that's bad. 0:14:14.559 --> 0:14:17.440 The reason for those blowouts, by the way, is because 0:14:17.880 --> 0:14:21.280 that oil is also mixed with natural gas, and both 0:14:21.280 --> 0:14:24.440 the oil and the gas are under immense pressure because 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:27.160 you've got all this these layers of rock on top 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:29.920 of them. So when you drill a hole into the 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:31.960 pocket that has all the gas and oil in it, 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:36.200 then you've got a release from that pressure and the 0:14:36.200 --> 0:14:39.840 blowout can be very dangerous. In fact, that's what happened 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:43.000 at deep water Horizons where there was a blowout which 0:14:43.120 --> 0:14:47.280 ended up causing um extensive damage. It ended up eventually 0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:51.400 sinking that rig and very tragically killed eleven of the 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:55.560 workers on board that rig um the explosion did. Uh. 0:14:55.600 --> 0:14:58.680 And so you don't you don't want those blowouts, even 0:14:58.720 --> 0:15:01.560 though they're big dramatic moments and movies, you don't want 0:15:01.600 --> 0:15:03.760 to see that happen. Yeah. And in the movies they 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.280 make it look like it's a it's a lot of fun. 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:08.360 They strike oil and it comes gushing out the top 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:10.840 of the dereck and everybody you know, throws their hat 0:15:10.880 --> 0:15:14.840 in the air and hollers and uh and does a 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:19.000 little prospect or dance. Yeah. Yeah, that's that's really the case. 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:22.120 That And and it's you know, extremely toxic. It's not 0:15:22.160 --> 0:15:23.840 the kind of stuff that you want on your skin. 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:30.160 So so, and in the environment, the the they have 0:15:30.280 --> 0:15:34.840 blowout prevent ers as they as they're digging. A blowout 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.960 preventer is a pretty simple design. It's really just a 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:43.160 clamp um. It's powered by very massive hydraulic system. Uh. 0:15:43.200 --> 0:15:46.840 That is extremely powerful. That uh, and it's at the 0:15:46.920 --> 0:15:50.640 very top of the well. It's the well cap where 0:15:50.680 --> 0:15:53.880 where that where it connects to the drilling equipment. And 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:56.160 then that may seem like a misnomer because if you've 0:15:56.200 --> 0:15:59.480 been watching the coverage of the deep Water Horizon thing, 0:15:59.480 --> 0:16:01.760 you might say, no, no, the blow up preventers at 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:03.680 things sitting on the floor of the sea. You know 0:16:03.720 --> 0:16:05.480 that's not No, that is at the top of the 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:08.560 well because the well goes down into the ground there. 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:11.160 So yes, it is at the top of the well. Yeah, 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:13.360 if it were on land, it would be right there 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:16.240 at the surface of the ground, just right red surface 0:16:16.280 --> 0:16:19.640 level rather as opposed to underneath the water. But I mean, yeah, 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.560 that's the top of the well. So uh if in 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:25.400 the case of a blowout, what you normally would have happened, 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:28.400 either you would have a sensor that would indicate that 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:32.280 something bad is happening and it would automatically, uh activate 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:35.280 the blow up preventer, or you would use a manual 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.040 system like you would actually pull a lever, press a 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:42.120 button to activate it and the clamp closes in on 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:44.360 the casing and steals it off. Yeah, it's got a 0:16:44.440 --> 0:16:48.560 hydraulic ram that just you know, slam shut and basically 0:16:48.680 --> 0:16:51.000 is supposed to cut off that flow. Unfortunately, in the 0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:54.160 case of the deep water horizon UM, the blow up 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:59.080 preventer malfunctioned and just never it never activated, so there 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:02.480 was no way to stop the the gas and oil 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:10.160 from from essentially erupting from this well. UM. So normally 0:17:10.320 --> 0:17:13.359 with the drilling process again, you wouldn't drill to that point. 0:17:13.440 --> 0:17:16.280 You would drill to the point where you were detecting oil. 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:18.200 You know that it was clear that oil was present, 0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:20.960 but you wouldn't keep going until it was just shooting 0:17:20.960 --> 0:17:23.840 out at the top of the dairy. You would replace 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:27.439 the rig with an oil production uh system, So you 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:30.680 would actually deconstruct the rig and put in a new 0:17:30.760 --> 0:17:34.639 system there to to tap and collect the oil and 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.920 in a very controlled manner, because that you know, that's 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:41.320 going to be the least dangerous way of collecting the 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:45.560 oil UM. Right. You don't want to puncture the ground, 0:17:45.720 --> 0:17:49.399 the part of the strata of rock um stratum of 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:53.000 rock that is holding the oil in until you're ready 0:17:53.040 --> 0:17:55.919 to collect it, because otherwise you're going to lose a 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:57.679 lot of it or there will be a blowout. So 0:17:57.760 --> 0:17:59.600 you want to have everything in place and ready to 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:04.240 go into you, you know, finally puncture that that rock 0:18:04.359 --> 0:18:06.439 area and then you can the oil will come up 0:18:06.520 --> 0:18:08.240 through the well. And the way the way they do 0:18:08.280 --> 0:18:11.679 that is once they've got they've reached the well depth 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:15.080 that they need to get to, they actually puncture holes 0:18:15.840 --> 0:18:18.239 in the well casing at the very base of it 0:18:18.400 --> 0:18:21.919 and uh and they use they seal it off first, 0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:23.960 and then what they do is when they deconstruct the 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:25.520 rig and then move it out of the way they're 0:18:25.520 --> 0:18:28.359 bringing up pump and the pumps are those things that 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:30.520 you see if you ever watch a movie set in 0:18:30.560 --> 0:18:33.000 like Texas or whatever, and you see those big metal 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:35.639 things that are swiveling up and down, looks like giant 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:39.520 seesaw type things. Those are the pumps. And what the 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:42.160 pumps do is they have a rod that goes down 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:47.239 into the well um that creates suction as it as 0:18:47.280 --> 0:18:49.560 it moves up and down, and that's what allows them 0:18:49.560 --> 0:18:51.800 to draw oil out of the well in a controlled 0:18:51.840 --> 0:18:58.280 manner um. And uh It's occasionally the oil itself is 0:18:58.600 --> 0:19:01.679 too heavy to pull up on its own, so what 0:19:01.680 --> 0:19:04.119 they'll do is they'll drill a second hold down and 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:09.159 they'll pump steam into that that oil pocket essentially so 0:19:09.200 --> 0:19:14.639 that they can pull the oil up out of the hole. Okay, yeah, 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:17.240 now we talked to a little bit about deep water 0:19:17.320 --> 0:19:20.679 horizon already. Um oh, I'm sorry. Were you going to 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:25.160 to add something else? I was gonna addum that the 0:19:25.160 --> 0:19:27.840 device I don't I didn't remember you saying that. The 0:19:27.920 --> 0:19:32.359 device that they used to puncture um the well and 0:19:32.400 --> 0:19:35.760 put it into production is the perforating gun. Yes, and 0:19:36.680 --> 0:19:38.800 they lower that down there. It's got a little explosive 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:43.000 charge and basically they perforate the casing and put a 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:47.760 tube in there um and then use a packer to uh, 0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:49.800 to form a seal around the outside of the tubing. 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:52.520 And then theoretically the well is complete, right right, the 0:19:52.560 --> 0:19:55.159 tubing is is the only way in and out of 0:19:55.160 --> 0:19:57.000 that well at that point. So and then they have 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:00.680 a Christmas tree. Yeah, they do. It's a that's that's 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:04.399 a structure with lots of valves on it. It's actually 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:07.399 called a Christmas tree. Pullette was not not being I 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:10.879 wasn't he wasn't goofy. Well, he was a little a 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:13.600 little goofy, but not that goofy. Yeah, it's actually a 0:20:13.680 --> 0:20:16.560 device with lots of valves at the top and uh, 0:20:16.760 --> 0:20:20.240 it's it's cemented in and it's part of it. But anyway, 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:22.960 that's that's part of the control system to allow for 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:27.560 the controlled extraction of oil. And yeah, Christmas tree, So 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.719 it's Christmas all year round on the oil rig in 0:20:30.760 --> 0:20:34.520 some ways, I suppose. So. So yeah, going back to 0:20:34.560 --> 0:20:37.800 the deep water horizon issues, so that these are if 0:20:37.800 --> 0:20:40.679 you're out in deep water, they're really only two major 0:20:40.760 --> 0:20:44.520 ways that you can um you can drill for oil. 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:48.600 One is to use a drill ship, which is pretty 0:20:48.680 --> 0:20:51.399 much what sounds like. It's a big boat that happens 0:20:51.400 --> 0:20:53.960 to have a hole in the center of it. Somebody 0:20:54.240 --> 0:20:57.760 is going right in that it's a big ship. Okay, 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:02.040 here's the definition of ship versus boat. There is no 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:05.040 clear delineation. There's that You could say that a boat 0:21:05.119 --> 0:21:06.720 is small enough to fit on a ship, and a 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:10.159 ship is big enough to hold a boat, but that 0:21:10.480 --> 0:21:12.760 is not That's like what's a mountain versus a hill. Well, 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:14.439 a hill is smaller than a mountain. That is not 0:21:14.520 --> 0:21:17.919 a good enough definition. All squares are rectangles, but not 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:21.440 all rectangles are squares. So this boat has a hole 0:21:21.480 --> 0:21:26.520 in it, and uh right in and the drill extends 0:21:26.560 --> 0:21:28.760 down through the hole and that's where they pump the 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:31.560 water and mud or whatever and down into it's it's 0:21:31.640 --> 0:21:33.960 it's just like the land based one, except you're on 0:21:34.040 --> 0:21:39.560 a boat, on a ship at sea and uh. But 0:21:39.600 --> 0:21:41.440 otherwise you would have an oil rig on the top 0:21:41.480 --> 0:21:45.720 with a derrick and everything to extend the pipe down 0:21:45.760 --> 0:21:48.040 to the sea floor bed and then further down as 0:21:48.080 --> 0:21:51.760 you drill down into the well. Uh. The other option 0:21:51.880 --> 0:21:56.560 is a semi submersible MODU, which is a mobile offshore 0:21:56.640 --> 0:22:00.280 drilling unit. Um. That's what deep Water Horizon was. It 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:04.040 was a semi submersible and uh that those float on 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:06.560 these big pontoons. They float out. They actually have a 0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:08.960 power system where you can pilot them out to the 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:12.040 proper spot in the ocean and then you use you 0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:16.000 usually use anchors, several anchors to keep you in one 0:22:16.040 --> 0:22:19.760 specific spot on the ocean, and you use a very 0:22:19.800 --> 0:22:23.320 sophisticated This is actually where sophisticated technology comes to play. 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:27.199 There's a sophisticated computer system that measures the tension on 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:31.520 each line down to each anchor and then maintains the 0:22:31.600 --> 0:22:35.480 proper tension to keep the semi submersible in place. You 0:22:35.520 --> 0:22:39.800 know what that's called. Right, what's that anchor management? I'm 0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:43.280 gonna need some of that in a second. Oh my gosh, 0:22:43.320 --> 0:22:47.600