Encana is Learning

Encana, the company drilling our wells is new to this part of the Barnett Shale. They are trying to learn as much as possible about this area with these first wells. One of the things they will be doing on both of our wells is to drill straight down through the Barnett Shale and log the well in order to get a better understanding of what is down there. They will then plug the lower portion of the hole and drill the horizontal portion of the well into the center of the shale layer.

Today the crew at the home place was drilling with a mud motor, a type of tool that operates in the bottom of the hole and the drilling mechanism in turned by the flow of drilling mud being pumped through the drill stem to the bottom. Later they will change to another type drilling tool and use it for a while trying to see what works best in our formations here.

The formation being drilled today is a very hard rock with a highly abrasive sand content. The depth late this afternoon was 5200 feet. Drilling rate is 16 feet per hour.