Power Swivels
Big, small, shallow, deep; East, West, your money, my money or other people's money, the oil field is basically the same deal wherever in the world you go. We pretty much all use the same stuff to get ourselves out of trouble or to fix shit that needs fixin.'
When, for instance, we need to mill off the top of a fish inside casing to make it easier to latch on to and get out of the hole, a beast of a piece of iron called a power swivel will do the trick. Everybody uses power swivels. They are sort of like top drives for workover rigs. Power swivels can rotate the snot out of tubing, and drill collars; they are heavy and can produce LOTS of torque. They'll tear some stuff up, quick.
Power swivels are used all the time to drill out cement inside casing; cement that is not displaced properly, for instance, or that needs the shoe track drilled out. After a remedial squeeze that then needs to be drilled out before re-perforating, power swivels are a must.
I had a primary cement job flash set once (actually the float shoe got plugged with lost circulation material in the cement slurry) during displacement and basically left cement in 2,500 feet of production casing one time, top to bottom. The drill pipe was already laid down and the cement setting time was accelerated with calcium and salt. I had to drill all that shit out...with a power swivel. Man, that was a bitch, excuse my oily language; it took four days. I made a good well, in the end, thankfully, and Schlumberger never cemented another well for me again. Snooty bastards.
To make sure I don't leave out the shale oil gig (Gawd forbid), frac plugs in horizontal laterals are often drilled out with power swivels.
All brains on location need to be fully engaged when picking up and laying down these the damn things to avoid getting hurt. That's why they are always painted yellow, which is the roughneck color for warning, these things will hurt you. Come to think of it, everything on a well location will hurt you and should be painted yellow, but then that would make for goofy looking photographs in Wyoming or in front of West Texas sunsets.
Most power swivels leak a little circulating fluid, like water, and there is nothing quite like a shower of 150 degree hydraulic fluid when a hose breaks high over your head.
Yes, sir; power swivels are very useful. On
the other hand the best part of using a power swivel is signing the ticket on it and watching it drive out the cattle guard. It means you can then get on with the rest of your life, or, more likely, on to the next problem.
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Tuesday, 24 September 2019
@06:30 well is dead. FIH 9 jts. 2 3/8ths 8 R. EUE J-55 tbng., 4 3/4 Smith RB (SN 12496A22) bit, BS, 3) 3 1/8 DC's, X-O subs to 2569.50 ft., tag cement. NU P&T, circulate well BU. NU PS. 4.5 hrs. drlg. hard cement to 2725.89 + KB, within 3 feet of FS. 156 ft. total. Circ.1 hr. Pump sweep. Circ. BU @ 4 BPM. Clean. PBTD now 2732 ft. 1 hr. LD PS and load out. Reverse hoses, set WH slips and PE above SRB, test casing to 2000 PSI. Holds 15 minutes. OK. Circ. field water to VT, displace well with 2% KCL. POOH with 83 jts. tbng. and BHA. BO DC's and load out. GIH with 10 jts. tbng. for KS. NU WH. SI with TIW valve. SIFN @ 21:30. Perforators on LOC @ 07:00 in AM.
When you can translate this kind of stuff, above, and know exactly what it means...congratulations; you are officially a very oily person.