Fifty-one years ago, American Exploration Co.'s Mark Edwin Andrews wrote in his A Wildcatter's Handbook:

To some men, sport is golf, to some fishing, yachting, horse racing or hunting.

To each his own; but, for the wildcatter, there is no thrill to compare with coring an oil sand.

The derrick stands tall and straight against the sky. The lights of the rig blink with the stars. The night air is cold and the wild goose calls at dawn. Mingled with the deep hoarse voice of the mud pump is the sharp rattle of rotary and chain; and the steady throb of the engine beating time for the turning, turning, turning.

The driller hunches over the brake, with weathered eyes on the indicator, as he feels the bit, a mile below, biting into the bowels of the earth.

And you stand there beside him, watching, listening, waiting for the screech of the draw works and sudden change in pitch and tempo all around - the sound of sand, oil sand, or water sand - who knows.
And then with the line of steel, down, down you reach to pull from below, the sand of the sea buried fifty million years ago.

The core is up, the sand is there. One glance will give the clue. You smell, you taste. It's oil! It's oil! It's true! It's oil! It's true!

Okay, that may be a little dramatic, and maybe the LWD readings and a perfect match with the drilling model mean as much as the change in the work-load pitch on the big Caterpillar these days, but the thrill of discovery still stirs the insides of the drilling crew and the company man as much as it ever did.
The call back to the home office with the good news still means as much.

The oil patch has a lot more backup these days. The bean counters take some of the thrill out of the chase, but they've saved more than one company from reaching too far, too fast.

Rig contractors drill farther, faster. Bit makers offer products that penetrate at amazing rates and last longer with the help of slicker, friendlier muds and more reliable downhole motors.

Directional drillers help reach more reservoir with a single hole and pinpoint the best targets chosen with the help of seismic acquisition and processing companies.

The service company reps have become more important allies in everything from prospect potential to well planning and drilling to formation preparation and production improvement.
Just as important as all the technology, the oil patch still serves up people who will do a deal on a handshake, and that handshake means more than a written contract. That handshake partner, whether it's someone with an operating company or a service company, will be just as thrilled as the operator when a well comes in.

When all the technology and business processes have done their work, the moment of truth still rides on the people and the tip of the drill bit. And, bringing in the successful well is just as thrilling as hitting the game winning home run, coming in first in a race or scoring the game-winning goal.



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