Preparations for Drilling – Part 2

After the preparations of the drilling-pad had been finished before Christmas, work on the rig started in earnest on Tuesday this week. It began by the watchman moving in with his RV:

The Watchman's RV

These guys are – like so many other oilfield workers – really migrating workers. With their RVs they move from one drilling-site to the other, and, at the entrance to the drilling-pad, make sure that no trespassers enter and that those with a legitimate business sign in. They get their water from a tank [on the right hand side of the picture], electricity from a generator, and usually there’s a porta potti so that they don’t have to use the facilities in their RVs, as there’s no hook-up like it is provided in the regular RV parks.

After that, the mobile homes for offices [and, maybe, for accomodation for the roustabouts] arrived:

Another Mobile Home Arrives

These, “houses on wheels”, are a frequent sight on the roads  here in the US, as quite a few people live in mobile homes and thus they’re delivered from the builders’ to the client’s place, or people just move together with their houses. Usually these transports are oversized and take up quite a bit of the road. And sometimes – when they’re the so-called “double wides” – they’ve even been cut in half lengthwise: quite an unusual sight for German eyes.

But back to the drilling-pad – more machinery is being delivered:

Only a Few Pictures on This Subject

The base frame for the drilling-rig is being put together:

The Base Frame

The drilling-rig proper – in two sections, on a flat-bed truck:

The Drilling-Rig Proper - in Two Sections Still

It’s being erected …

The Drilling-Rig Is Being Erected

… and finally it’s upright:

It's Upright - Finally

As to “finally”: I was absolutely surprised how fast that rig got up – just 48 hours from the delivery of the first machinery to the rig having been assembled and erected!

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Related articles

• They’re Drilling for Real Now (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
• Preparations for Drilling – Part I (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
• They’re Drilling (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
• They’ll Be Drilling Soon, … (pitstexasexpatblog.wordpress.com)
• Eagle Ford construction is booming (mysanantonio.com)
• Eagle Ford construction is booming – San Antonio Express-News (wpvins.wordpress.com)
• Eagle Ford luring builders (mysanantonio.com)