Walking oil rig solves relocation difficulties

A walking oil rig has solved relocation difficulties experienced in the US, becoming one of many innovations in the industry that have been pioneered to increase efficiency and get the most profit out of newfound oil wells.

In the harsh oil fields of North Dakota, time is money for oil companies, and they are very aware of this. Since the oil boom initially hit the region, companies have been quick to get the most out of new technologies in order to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in exploiting the rich reserves.

One such problem that hindered companies in the Bakken oil play was relocation. Moving an oil rig from one spot to another could take as long as a week, and there were significant costs encountered along the way. Now, walking rigs have cut this journey down to five or six hours, because the rigs can be moved from one well to the next on the same drilling pad.

"It`s more than just the costs of the rig and the rig move. It`s all of the rental companies and all the personnel that are also involved in it that the time is saved. And time is money," Kathleen Neset of Neset Consulting told KFYR- TV.

The number of active drilling rigs has now started to decline thanks to the productivity of walking rigs. There has been a drop of eight oil rigs in only a month in the region, falling to 192 from 200.

"We`re probably seeing what the rig count is going to look like - 200 plus or minus ten for a decade or two decades is what we`ve been predicting," said Lynn Helms, director of the Department of Mineral Resources.

Technological innovation means that it is hard to accurately predict what the future will look like for traditional rigs. However, there has also been a vast amount of money being ploughed into extending the life of wells for many years to come, which could mean that the number stays more constant.

Posted by Joseph Hutton