This rig ‘baby’ is kickin’

Posted May 31, 2012

Another supposedly worthless patch of prairie miraculously became valuable.

It’s officially on now as the derrick has been in the air for nearly a week and drillers are well on their way to forcing miles of pipe into the earth. Life is short and the development of an oil well has drastically become shorter. Back in the day they dug straight down and hoped that seismographers were right. These days they nonchalantly bore sideways and depend on a fracking crew to seal the deal. Oil production companies used to have doubts about always successfully finding crude in western North Dakota, but now it’s a given. There’s probably a good chance that the infant mortality rate is higher than the potential of a dry hole. I’m quite certain it is and that fact might be a source of comfort to mineral owners?

Yet another tower of power has risen above the Little Muddy River Valley to root out more of the substance that our species just can’t seem to rid our dependence on. I use the word “power” because rigs truly do make a difference for those who will monetarily benefit from their functionality. Much like newborn children, fresh fossil fuel wells are viewed as sources of instant gratification that will bear fruit for decades to come. The cycle of life has definitely changed in a once struggling farm and ranch community. Although there isn’t much wrong with the profitable strides being made by geologists, let’s hope that genetic engineers aren’t someday allowed to similarly give us exactly what we want.

Very little is left to chance in digging oil wells and babies could soon follow.

Liudahl is one of several bloggers writing about life in the Oil Patch at patchlife.areavoices.com

Tags: news, oil, energy