Innovative thinkers

As the shale oil and gas industry continues to mature in the U.S., with burgeoning activity seen in international plays from Poland to Argentina, this resource niche is becoming less “unconventional” for some drillers. Especially in the northeastern part of the country, in the consistently productive Marcellus and Utica formations, the challenges associated with tapping into the region’s highly prized liquids-rich portions are well-known to operators there.

By state and company estimates, compiled by World Oil in February, operators plan to drill more than 3,800 wells across Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and New York this year; shale will likely comprise a healthy share of this activity. It is no wonder, then, that land-based hydraulic rig manufacturer Schramm Inc., with its home base in centrally located West Chester, Pa., has focused its most recent efforts on introducing technologies aimed at making the shale drilling process smarter, safer and stronger. And, just a little bit smaller.

Schramm recently rolled out its latest shale-targeted rig: the T250XD. As innovations go, the rig incorporates additional elements and capabilities, borrowed from, and pioneered on, previous Schramm designs, while maintaining a smaller overall footprint. Hydraulically speaking, users get more bang for their buck with the 250,000-lb-hookload-rated rig.

Like its big brother, the T500XD, which is rated to a 500,000-lb hookload and has 19 ft of under-table clearance, Schramm’s latest unit features the company’s proprietary Telemast and LoadSafe XD technologies. Together, the combination of hydraulically powered top drive technology and a hands-free pipe handling system means that the same high-torque, deep-drilling challenges can be met, but with fewer personnel on the ground. When seen in person, the system, all controlled by two operators in an above-deck control room, is miles away from the industry’s more traditional drilling model.

“The pullback is definitely something that everybody wants, especially as you start going into the horizontals. The friction really starts to increase, especially when you’re going down 6,000–8,000 feet,” said Michael Horchuck, V.P. of operations at Schramm, of the T500XD.

Both the T250XD and T500XD designs are highly mobile. Essentially, said David Hartzell, Schramm’s V.P. of engineering, the rigs can be erected and operational within a 12-hour shift. The T500XD even uses its walkability feature, which allows it to move around the wellsite without dismantling and reassembly, to self-erect, lending additional efficiency and safety to operations. The controls for the rig are electric, in place of traditional hydraulics, which provides a smoother user experience.

The decision to introduce new features, like additional floor clearance and load capacity, into these rigs models, said Hartzell, has been driven by the industry. Wellsite safety has always been a necessary and important concern. These days, companies and regulators have pushed to see added prevention and containment measures, including larger BOP stacks, onshore and offshore. Today’s land-based BOPs can weigh up to 40,000 lb, which means mobility can be limited, especially when moving in areas with a high activity. Even with the more compact T250XD, with its 13.5 ft of clearance, operators can more readily move in and access the stack, without having to relocate the rig.

Schramm has not limited its sights to the northeastern U.S. market; as many rig builders have seen over the past 10 to 15 years, the international market is not to be ignored. The company is one of the largest providers of imported drilling rigs to China, and it also has units operating in Australia and Zambia.