Doyon Rig 26: tapping 154 sq. mile of reservoir from a 14-acre pad

Doyon

ConocoPhillips-reach

To achieve an Extended Reach Drilling of 37,000 ft from a 14-acre pad with a 154 sq. mile reach, Doyon started designing and building Rig 26 in 2016. It was manufactured in Alberta. Starting in July 2019, they took it apart and shipped it to the Alaska North Slope with 267 truckloads. The last truckload should arrive in Nov 2019 and the rig should do its "first drill" in Apr 2020. "Doyon 26 is the largest mobile land rig in North America and some 1.5 to 2 times as powerful as existing rigs." Even though it is significantly larger, this self-propelled rig can move as fast as existing rigs. [ConocoPhillips-move]

Note one of the sets of wheels on the right side of the rig.

Society of Petroleum Engineers
I don't know how anyone could see a sight like this rig and not marvel at its sheer size, design, ingenuity, and engineering excellence. One of the largest land rigs ever built, Doyon 26—aptly nicknamed "The Beast"—is going to drill some of the longest ERD wells in the world in an extremely technically challenging Arctic environment. What an awesome experience to visit this rig firsthand and see everything up close.

I noticed that the "garage doors" cover compartments that hold more wheel sets. The rig travels as seven separate modules. [ConocoPhillips] Their web site has not been updated recently because it does not include Rig 26. Here is a description of Rig 25, which travels as six modules.

ConocoPhillips

The Alaskan Pipeline was moving two million barrels per day in the last 1980s, but it is moving only 508,000 bpd this year. [ADN] I read a book on corrosion, and one of the chapters was about the Alaskan Pipeline. If the pipeline is not kept full, it is harder to fight corrosion. It explained that the oil companies had planned in the 1980s for the initial fields to slow down. But they thought off-shore drilling would be online by now to help keep the pipeline full. Unfortunately, BP demonstrated once again that Big Oil can't be trusted to do things safely. So off-shore drilling in the neighborhood of polar bears, etc. has been significantly delayed. This big rig will allow the development of a more remote land-based reservoir that was discovered in 1996.

Judy Patrick / ConocoPhillips via ADN
The new Doyon 142 drilling rig operates on the Kuparuk Drill Site 2S pad in August. 

ConocoPhillips operates five drilling rigs on the North Slope. The new Doyon 142 arrived early this year. A new coiled-tubing drilling rig arrived this month at the Kuparuk River oil field, the second-largest field in Alaska.
The newly ordered rig will be able to circulate drilling fluids known as mud at high speeds, and a high derrick rating means the rig will be able to support long, heavy strings of pipe, Lowman said. Also key is the use of stronger drill pipe, higher-capacity pumps and a more powerful top drive that will provide the torque to drill long distances horizontally.
[ADN]

On the day I wrote these notes, this shows up in my Facebook feed. It is a couple of the modules for Rig 25.

John W. Coke posted
Oil Field Equipment up north.

Lampson International, LLC posted
Lampson Crawler Transporter at work in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
[Looks rather top-heavy to me. Or do they have wheels under the side supports?]

(new window)   This video helps one appreciate the fact that Rig 26 is self propelled. The text "It's a balmy -8f today" explains why the Rig 25 description mentioned that each module remains heated during a move.