The development of the Marcellus Shale and now Utica Shale underneath has resulted in an unexpected economic benefit for the people in the Philadelphia area. Schramm Inc of West Chester County south of Philly got it's 15 minutes of fame when it's drilling rig rescued the miners in Chile in 2010. Schramm is in the process of delivering it's first Marcellus Horizontal Drill Rig. This $7.6 Million dollar, 102 foot high, walking rig is being delivered to Ohio as we speak. Schramm hired 50 new employees last year to reach 235 employees making drilling rigs. This is just one of a number of companies hiring employees in the area. A Lorain, OH steel mill is making pipe, countless pipeline companies are laying downstream infrastructure to get the gas from the wellhead to the processors. Compressor stations have to be built to move the gas downstream. Fractionating plants are built to separate the Natural Gas Liquids from the "wet " gas. In addition, there are proposals for "cracker" plants that further process the NGL and produce raw materials for other industries. Fabricators are building metering sleds, pig launchers and receivers, buying valves and pipe and steel. Trucking companies are moving everything from bulldozers and excavators to rigs to pipe to housing. Water trucks are hauling fresh water for fracking and produced water for disposal. Chemical companies are producing various chemicals for fracking and sand producers are supplying sand for fracking. Numerous yards are springing up for transferring sand from railcars to trucks, to store pipeline equipment and to provide housing for the employees as they move from site to site.
The basic drilling operation requires crews for construction. Site clearing and right of way clearing, pad construction which usually requires lining pad with plastic to contain any spill, covering liner with felt to prevent rock base from compromising the liner and building access roads. Once the rig arrives it consists of 6-8 truckloads of equipment including power, control room and the physical rig itself with a 102 foot boom and the equipment necessary to lift 250 tons of pipe and drill more than 15,000 feet deep. Before the drill rig is set and the BOP (Blow Out Preventer) stack is in place the "Rat Hole" crew must drill a large bore pipe down below the water table and cement in place to prevent any contamination of the local water table. Once the top casing is set and cemented the drill rig can move on site and commense drilling.
As you might imagine, all this requires billions of dollars of investment. Drilling leases on the property mineral rights, capital equipment, supplies and payroll all have to be paid before before the first piece of drill pipe begins to turn. The average well takes about 30 days to finish drilling and another 30 days to frack. Drilling crews, cementing crews and fracking crews all work 24/7 to finish the process which requires relief crews at every level.
This is no small impact on our region. We must do everything we can do to support this business and the resulting jobs it creates.
The basic drilling operation requires crews for construction. Site clearing and right of way clearing, pad construction which usually requires lining pad with plastic to contain any spill, covering liner with felt to prevent rock base from compromising the liner and building access roads. Once the rig arrives it consists of 6-8 truckloads of equipment including power, control room and the physical rig itself with a 102 foot boom and the equipment necessary to lift 250 tons of pipe and drill more than 15,000 feet deep. Before the drill rig is set and the BOP (Blow Out Preventer) stack is in place the "Rat Hole" crew must drill a large bore pipe down below the water table and cement in place to prevent any contamination of the local water table. Once the top casing is set and cemented the drill rig can move on site and commense drilling.
As you might imagine, all this requires billions of dollars of investment. Drilling leases on the property mineral rights, capital equipment, supplies and payroll all have to be paid before before the first piece of drill pipe begins to turn. The average well takes about 30 days to finish drilling and another 30 days to frack. Drilling crews, cementing crews and fracking crews all work 24/7 to finish the process which requires relief crews at every level.
This is no small impact on our region. We must do everything we can do to support this business and the resulting jobs it creates.
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