spools

Date 03-10-2010 00:38

so i made a spool last week. 24'' o/d. used 10'' pipe ( i cant remember) sch 40 (way undersize). i told the hand in charge that this would not work, and he would take all liabilty. any way welded it up they came and picked it up in the morning, and again i told him that this wasn't right, but the company man was in a rush. so they pressured the stack to 5k psi and the pipe split in two(my welds held the flanges to the pipe). so now all hell is breakin loose. but i put on my ticket that i was not liable for the wrong size of casing used to make the spool. so the company that i made the spool for is having to pay rig down time 27K per day .. what a day...

By NMWELDING (**)

Date 03-10-2010 02:24

I know just how you feel,seems like when welding on a drilling rig a welder is expected to make anything work from nothing. I`ve had instances nearly as ridiculous as that. An instance that didn`t involve me, but a couple of welders I know, cost a local company a lot of money a few years back. The two guys were welding surface casing on a 10,000 foot well. This is what the company man wanted,they weren`t using screwed together joints. The guys were ACE welders having welded pipe and welded on drilling rigs for over 30 years. Well they were welding the pipe and then lowering it through the rotary table{the two of them were welding brother-in-law}. They told the company man that the pipe needed to cool before lowering it into the hole,and thus into the water. He was in a rush and said no,lower it down and keep welding. They said the pipe will likely brake off eventually because of the sudden shock from the cold water. After welding all the surface pipe and eventually the head, they started drilling and the pipe ended up breaking off 160 foot down. The result, the rig had to be skidded,and drilling had to be started all over again,at a cost of an additional $70,000 for that well. This was about 25 years ago. Sometimes whether its a rig hand,company man,or a toolpusher,you just can`t tell them anything no matter how much experience we have,they know everything.

By weaver

Date 03-10-2010 03:05

whats happening there oil field wise (welding)? busy?

By NMWELDING (**)

Date 03-10-2010 17:24

There`s not a lot going on. North Dakota,where you are at has a lot more work. Michigan only has 20 drilling rigs that operate in the state,and for some time now about only 8 rigs per week have been drilling,the rest have been stacked. But now,with the frost laws on only 2 rigs are drilling. I`m in the east central part of the state and at times don`t see a lot of drilling rig work or wellheads. Most of the activity is in northern and southern Michigan and the rig welders in them areas pick up the work. I work mainly for 2 small production companies that give me a fair amount of work at times. These 2 companies don`t spend any money on new equipment[stock tanks,treaters,gas seperators]which means constant patchwork. But I guess if they bought new I wouldn`t have much work from them. At times I get facility hookups in my area when a new well is drilled,especially if it is a sour well because some companies want all welded lines, no screwed together pipe. There is some heightened interest in the Trenton Black River formation in central Michigan,if that pans out,that could mean more work.Southern Michigan has renewed interest and drilling in this same formation.I`d like to see work pick up like it is in your area,but I`ll just have to wait and see.