LEE LOCKHART Northern Wyoming Daily News | Posted: Monday, July 10, 2006 12:00 am
GREYBULL - When a person thinks of oil field production, a lot of images come to mind.
Way, way, way down on the list - if at all - is a miner, wearing a hard-hat with a lamp that illuminates an underground tunnel - a miner who has to drill up to reach an oil reserve.
Not a year ago, Rock Well Petroleum Inc. began site preparations for its innovative approach to recovering oil from an old, minimally producing field within the limits of the town of Greybull.
Rock Well's chief operating officer, John Hoak, said the company planned to recover more oil from oil fields by utilizing one of nature's greatest forces - gravity - as an ally.
By tunneling under a relatively shallow field, and then drilling up, Rock Well intends to let gravity pull the oil into its underground collection system.
Rock Well has married the technologies of mining and pumping and created an oilfield gathering system that is efficient, environmentally friendly, and productive, according to Hoak.
It's not a new concept, Hoak explains, but Rock Well is the first to employ the production technique on a large scale.
Hoak says the company is looking to make the marriage of mining, drilling and oil extraction methods financially beneficial on larger "old" reserves where traditional methods make it cost-prohibitive or impossible to pump the oil to the surface.
He explains that Rock Well's primary strategy is to substantially increase production from large, known oil fields that have been left behind by earlier owners.
On its web site, www.rockwellpetroleum.com, the company says, "More oil remains in onshore U.S. oil reservoirs than is expected to be produced from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela combined. While most of the 'easy' oil has been produced from U.S. reservoirs, an unprecedented opportunity exists today to apply Rock Well's Straight-up recovery technique to profitably mobilize and produce large quantities of oil from existing domestic fields."
Hoak explains that in relatively shallow oil fields, Rock Well will open an underground tunnel that is about 50 feet below the petroleum.
"We then identify where we want to drill into the reserve from below it, and let gravity bring the oil to us," Hoak explained this spring.
Gravity, he said, is a tremendous source of power, and when harnessed properly it can pull the petroleum down to the underground collection system.
"Once we collect the oil, we use traditional fluid-handling methods to bring it to the surface," Hoak said.
Rock Well properties in the Big Horn Basin include fields at Greybull, Boulder Gulch, Hand Creek, Warm Springs, and the Waugh and King Domes. In the Wind River Basin they have property in Jones Draw and Poison Spider areas. The company also acquired leases for land in the Oil Creek, Mush Creek, and the Skull Creek North areas in the Powder River Basin, according to its web site.
Besides being efficient by working with gravity instead of against it, Hoak takes pride in the company's minimal ground disturbance while collecting the petroleum.
He notes that in a 1400 acre field the company has leased, typical drilling and production methods would leave a footprint of about 800 acres disturbed on the surface.
"We estimate that we'll have a footprint of 35 acres," by mining for the petroleum. Hoak said. The company's chief operating officer has a degree in environmental science and has authored papers on wildlife management and mining. He notes that Casper area leases are on prime, undeveloped land and the land might not otherwise be available if it was not for the "marvelous environmental advantage" of oilfield mining.
Hoak said the company's philosophy of being a good neighbor to the land is matched by its commitment to being a good neighbor in the communities where Rock Well has operations.
"Our company's philosophy is to maintain a good community presence.
"We take seriously our responsibility to be good neighbors. In addition to hiring people who have technical expertise in their chosen field, we look for individuals who have personal values that are consistent with our corporate philosophy.
"When we come into an area we, as a corporation, take on a responsibility of being a good neighbor and we want our employees to feel the same way," he explained.
And, based on Hoak's prediction of recovering oil from the Greybull oilfield for 15-20 years, the company and community will have a long-term relationship that is just beginning.
Rock Well Vice President Joe McPhie started the permitting process for the Greybull field with the state of Wyoming through the Wyoming Oil & Gas Conservation Commission in August 2005, according to Hoak. By mid-October, work at the Greybull Field had begun.
"We worked with the commission staff ahead of time, making sure everything it needed to review and study was available, and we made sure we were available to answer questions," Hoak said of McPhie's efforts.
Rock Well Petroleum has had nothing but rapid growth in Wyoming since it opened its doors in Sheridan with a couple of employees in March 2005. By March 2006 the work force was near 70, including 30 in Greybull. The company also has an office in Casper and is looking to grow beyond that.
Mining for oil may sound like the mixing of two divergent processes, but Hoak and Rock Well are dedicated to the cause.
Because core activities at Greybull include mining, all of the employees at the site are classified as miners by the Federal Mine Safety and Health Administration, according to safety manager Jim Wieser. And while mining accidents in other parts of the country have heightened safety awareness of all miners, Wieser says mining is safer than most people think.
"I've always told people I'm much safer at work than commuting the 75 miles each way that I used to have to drive to get to work," Wieser said.