The business of “fishing” a well bore requires skill, technology—both new and tried-and-true—and a mechanical aptitude as well. Like everything else, this trade keeps changing, too. Fish: Anything left in a wellbore. Fishing: To attempt to retrieve a fish from a wellbore. The Oilfield Glossary compiled by Schlumberger explains a complicated industry process in a […]
Heat Wave
OSHA-mandated flame retardant clothing (FRC) is an apparel trend that hasn’t caught fire—not among the hands who must wear it even during scorching summertime heat—but help is on the way. Take a typical summer day in West Texas when the thermometer hits a high of 100 degrees (and sometimes higher) and where shade trees are […]
Outside the Box: PBIOS Celebrates an Innovator
The Permian Basin International Oil Show, slated for Oct. 16-18, will celebrate an innovative and independent-minded thinker, Charles Perry, as its industry honoree. Three times during our interview, Charles R. Perry’s cell phone rang. Each time, it was someone with a technical question about Perry’s gas processors. “My title is chairman emeritus,” Perry quipped, “but […]
Making Music in the Mud Biz
Not Yet Through Mud is his metier. Music is his mainstay. Ken Goldsmith, mud dawg that he is, takes Mudsmith Ltd. into melodic new waters. Welcome to the world of Ken-isms, “green initiatives,” customer service, and “floating slabs.” It’s all here… in Mudland. Well, the song’s for you if you’re not yet through at […]
Play-by-Play Report
The Permian’s productive plays are newmaking and interesting in and of themselves, but they reveal unique and often-unexpected qualities when alongside the plays of outlying regions. Pete Stark calls them the “Big Three” of the tight oil plays. “If you look at the Bakken, the Eagle Ford, and the Wolfberry, those three plays have been […]
From the General Counsel
It Pays to Look Closely Property owners—or prospective owners—take heed: just because your county’s records do not show a lease as binding on your property does not mean that such a filing does not exist in an adjacent county. A not-often-relied-upon property code provision recently became the bane of one surface owner’s use of its […]
From the Chairman of the Board
Nothing “Lesser” about the LPC Challenge Experience could serve the PBPA well as we transition from the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard dustup to the Lesser Prairie Chicken skirmish. Well, here we go again! The ink is barely dry on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department’s ruling on the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard and the Permian Basin Petroleum […]
News Reviews
George P. Mitchell, who in the 1990s as the wildcatting boss of Mitchell Energy and Development pioneered hydraulic fracturing, favors more government regulation of fracking. “The administration is trying to tighten controls,” he told Forbes. “I think it’s a good idea. They should have very strict controls. The Department of Energy should do it.” Mitchell […]