How to Drill a Marcellus Well

Transcript

One of the biggest concerns in drilling a Marcellus Shale well is protecting water. To safeguard ground water, it's essential to know how to properly drill and encase a well. WPSU's Emily Reddy attended an event held by the Pennsylvania Ground Water Association to train those in the well drilling -- and water protecting -- worlds about the right way drill a Marcellus gas well.

"The rock chips are going to fly out of the hole to a degree. > not like missiles, but that's why we're going to get you the hard hat and the safety glasses."

That laugh's my nervous laugh. Todd Giddings of the Pennsylvania Ground Water Association is getting me protection so I can be up close to the action. More than 250 drillers and government regulators ñ mostly from the DEP ñ sit at a safe distance in rows of folding chairs. They've come to watch a demonstration on how to properly drill a Marcellus gas well. David Powell worked with Giddings to organize this event, held near State College.

"This is an opportunity for drillers to see this type of work. They may want to expand their business if they're not already doing it. It's a good opportunity for DEP regulators in the state of PA to actually see a demonstration of this and how it's supposed to be done. So they know when they're inspecting actually operations they know what they're looking at."

A group with the name, the Pennsylvania Ground Water Association might sound like an environmental group, but in fact they're more like a trade group. The members are all people who drill or construct water wells in the state. The group promotes best practices in the drilling community and does a demonstration like this one every year. Powell came up with the idea to demonstrate how to drill a Marcellus gas well this year. The group's main focus is water wells, but the techniques to properly start a Marcellus well and a public water supply well are the same. And Powell says it's important both are done right.

"If this top hole is properly installed with the casing to the right depths and properly grouted then that protects the water table."

Drilling is about to begin. The Laibe Corporation has supplied the equipment and men to do the job. They prepare for drilling as Todd Giddings grabs a microphone to narrate the process.

"What we're going to do is start this drill rig and raise the bit up so we can show it to you and talk about that part of our program that will be first."

He talks about the drilling process the crowd is about to see (the one that will send rock chips flying), the regulations that must be met, and the equipment being used.
And the drilling beginsÖ
[drilling noise]

That's the sound of a 20-inch-wide drill bit pounding the earth. The drill bit isn't pointed, but flat with little round nubs. It looks kind of like a showerhead on steroids. The drill rig towers above ñ it's maybe 40 or 50 feet tall, bright red and actually built into a truck. It may look big, but in reality, this is a small rig meant just to make the first shallow cuts into the earth.

[drilling noise]

The drillers send a solution down the hole that foams up and helps push the rock chips out. But even so, it takes over an hour to drill down about 16 feet. (It takes weeks to drill a 5-thousand foot deep Marcellus well.) When the hole is done, the drillers slide in a pipe that sticks out a couple of feet and then they pound it into place.
Now here's the most important step in protecting ground water. The pipe is 16 inches across. The hole is 20. Drillers must plug up the space between the ground and the pipe they've just put in. To do this, they pour in grout mixed in a round metal machine calledÖa grouter.

"And if you were over here standing above you could see the unyielded oatmeal like consistency. And we're ready to pump."

Bo Yordy is a training manager for the Laibe Corporation. He pumps 6 bags of bentonite grout into the gap. New regulations passed in February require Marcellus Shale gas drillers to use cement, which holds up against higher pressures. Yordy says they're using bentonite today because it dries faster for demonstration purposes.

"You can see we're starting to positively displace that foam, water. There will be a pt where we see some pretty good grout come out, but it's not the consistency we're pumping here yet. Which will tell us we still have a little more grout we need to pump."

Getting this grout right is key. It's what will either protect ground water or leave it open to contamination. After he's told the crowd about technical details like water to cement ratios, I ask Yordy for the laymen's explanation of why the grout is so important.

"Basically, Mother Nature did a really good job of making a sealant, all the soils in the ground, to filter the water as it gets back to our water tables. Drilling is very invasive. When we go in and we drill we break up everything Mother Nature has spent the last millions of years layering."

Yordy says anything from sewage to road salt could come in through this crevice if it's not properly plugged.

"Fossil fuels are great, but we need water most."

I'm Emily Reddy, WPSU.