I spent 30 years on the drilling side of the industry in west Texas. Never learned the production side until my last 5 years. Zach has explained so well the production side of the industry. The challenges of the small independent oil producer are many and America is blessed to have many men like Zach building and producing American energy. Thank yo Zach for your series of videos. So educational.
@@TheZachLife My first job was pumping wells for an operator in south Arkansas. Love watching your videos. My family has been in the oil business for over 90 years. I’m third generation. We don’t operate anymore but still are active with taking WI deals with partners. Love these videos. Makes me proud to be an oil producer.
Amen Mr. Hamilton ! Like you, I started my "oil patch days" as a land-man putting mineral leases together for drilling prospects working for a "lazy" geologist/pet. engineer in Abilene, Tx. I quickly discovered my "duties" didn't end at the County Clerk's office/abstractors ! My "first rodeo" involved being told that TD would occur about 3:00A. one mrng on a well and "someone" needed to be there to start "catching samples" around 1:00AM and to call when they were gathered and labeled. He showed up around 6:00AM for the "brain work". Long story short, I ended up spending many a cold cold night in the mesquite brush pastures and wheat fields of west central Texas catching samples, "baby-sitting" wire line services, making roads/drill sites, overseeing the set up production equipment from well-heads, pumping units, to tank batteries. I worked about 10 counties from San Angelo all the way to Breckenridge, Tx. as far west as Colorado City and back east to Eastland and negotiated purchase contracts with crude buyers/refineries along with division order title opinions. You should have seen the "city boy dummie look" on my face when I learned that "NO, oil is not found in giant "pools" or "hollow caverns" under the ground" --- LOL ! I was equally dumb-founded when I learned about porosity and permeability from microscopic samples under a microscope ! Truly fascinating ! Loved every minute of it and learned TONS about the entire industry. Fascinating stuff for sure ! We all know what happened in the mid 80's and a lot of us ended up squeezing out a living doing something else .....sadly !
This channel is so underrated. I never worked or lived near an oilfield but you do such a good job explaining, making it interesting, and enjoyable to watch!
I cant tell if this guy is in his 20s 30s 40s or 50s but he has this aura and character of the old school guys we rarely see these days. its a breath of fresh air
It seems that the trial and tribulations of stripper well production in Oklahoma are the same ones my Dad faced in Pennsylvania! Watching your series has been a good trip back in time for me - and should be "required watching" for anyone who thinks that everyone in the oil business is a tycoon and has it easy. Thank you!
Daaang Zack, I'da "burned" that surface casing off at 200 feet, filled it with "mud" to the bottom of the casing then dumped about 10 yrd of concrete in that "trouble making nightmare" and called her 'DONE" !!! Long before the 3 rd or 4th "trip" in and outta that "dollar dump" !! My hats off to ya Pal, with all that determination and perseverance !! SAAALUTE !
These are fascinating videos. I retired from the oil/gas/power generation field and have been around oil patches for a long time. Our business was gas turbines, generators and compressors - But you get to know some things in the process of your day to day activities. All what I thought I knew has been greatly supplemented by your videos! It's a hard way to make a living. Rewarding at times and pretty darned frustrating at other times. Thanks for taking us along with you!
For a Oregon northerner, i find this very interesting as to what the oil business is about and the work involved in making a buck or two. and thanks for the explanation of how it works. Great videos, thanks
This video series has been great so far! Hopefully more people will start to find these videos and your channel because you have a wealth of knowledge you’ve been sharing through all your projects. Keep up the great work!
thanks Zach, as a Canadian I cant run wells like you. I'm in Alberta and there are abandoned wells all over the place that I am sure that the big companies decided it was too much work for not enough return. I would love to try out what you do. small independent producers such as yourself are the reason US is making so much oil and allowing you to make a living. Not my business how much you make but looks like you are getting by and I like your boss, seems like a good guy. I have learned so much since I subbed to your channel. Anyhow, cheers from Calgary , Canada.
same everywhere... in US too. the wells peter out to nothing so they are abandoned in place. someone takes the surface equipment off the well for scrap? and leaves a venting/bleeding water and oil well in the middle of the forest or the farmers field or ... without spending a little money to run a packer to seal off the fresh water sands. wireline packer cant cost that much to run/set and some cmt on top of it?
After I have 50 years in the oil patch your problems sound just very normal. I wish you good luck it's a very hard industry to make a living at. For my thinking I would get rid of those metal-to-metal pumps. Never like them would not use one on the bet
@@TheZachLife I was wondering if you could have ran a insert pump until you get the well lined out. just a thought. enjoying the videos! im retired pumper. God Bless!!
Don't be afraid to try to casing swab it. Or play it safe and swab it through the tubing with a packer. The formation sand probably swollen up with all the water on top of it when washing. I had a lease like this that was 5K to buy and it wouldn't feed in. Sat for a couple of years when we bought it and worked it over. The formation sand had plenty of time for the clays to un swell and we couldn't even circulate. We tried to wash with 33 gravity crude oil instead of field salt water to try not to disturb the formation. Formation stayed on a vacuum. We pumped a few barrels of xylene and a little 7% hcl and chased it back with crude oil to clean the perfs up. Came the next morning and swabbed all the crap back. Returns looked like black sewer water. Swabb runs cleaned up good before the end of the day. Put it back on pump and set it to tap bottom a bit so it wouldn't gas lock. Well stabilized @ 25bbls of oil a day with a trace of water. Had best I could see in a graduated cylinder a 95% cut. Got lucky, but we played it safe without using just water to wash with. Then sold the well after a few months of production for a good profit. New company had the pump go out after a year or so and the new guy in charge loaded up the well with field salt water before they pulled the well. After I told them don't. Well locked up again and has been sitting for a few years again currently. Some formations just can't take a lot of water top of them. Usually the pressure depletion ones.
great show, brings back memories of my early days, worked on a pole unit in Lindsay OK, run those sucker rods out, very hard work. then moved on to over seas oil for 30 years.
The question that comes up a lot more than once during an experience like this one --- "Are we having fun yet ???" ... there's always that one well that causes more expense and aggravation and consternation than three dozen others combined, but, yet, that's a normal day in the patch ... Keep pump'n that Texas Crude !!
I am a machinist and a tool hand. I never thought I would find something like this on RUclips. I’ve always been interested in the economics and who operates stripper wells. This is good stuff, you got a like and a subscribe.
The closest I have ever come to an oil field is to use sucker rods on top of my cattle guards. Having said this, I am fascinated by your channel. You have explained how an oil field works very clearly while being entertaining. Great videos - subscribed.
Hey man, As a petroleum geologist on the exploration side, I'm extremely far removed from this end of the business. Enjoy the videos and you've got a good presentation ability as well. Cheers!
Another great video, Zach. I love the "dinky details," that is what makes your videos so good. Have you thought about teaching oil field safety and training for new pumpers? You express yourself well and have good teaching skills....Im sure a local community college or oil company would welcome your expertise. Keep up the great work, always a pleasure to view.
@@TheZachLife So sorry you had those injuries. Yes, I see your point, however it adds to your experiences of what "not" to do to in the oil field. Its makes your experiences more real life and valuable. I would trust your safety measures any day.
I had a 400 foot water well that was 12 inches in diameter with a 13 stage centrifugal pump broken off laying in the bottom. About 100 foot of tubing and line shaft still attached to the pump. I fished it out with a piece of tubing that fit close to the ID of the casing with some old car leaf springs welded in it to latch onto the pump and related mess. It worked good and I got the mess about half out when the tubing connected to the pump broke again. When that thing dropped it felt like a small earthquake. I got it hooked again and got it out but that was another day or so on site fishing. I think just the recovery of the old pump cost about $10,000 and that was almost 20 years ago; Probably not as bad as your problem but I sure understand the difficulty of recovering junk from the bottom of a well
@@TheZachLife I have to tell you, the leaf springs welded into the ID of my fishing tube worked great. I didn't know to use the leaf springs when I started the project, but an old well driller stop by the site when he saw the crane and we got to shooting the shit and he shared that trick with me. Save me lots of time
Daaaang Joe, my hat is OFF to ya Pal !! Leaf springs off a vehicle ? Wow, pretty ingenious it sounds like to me ! Now THAT is a prime example of "oil patch CREATIVITY" or "field engineering" at its best ! SAAALUTE ! But, could you explain briefly a "13 stage pump" ? Never heard THAT one before ......
Memories of my days in East Texas oilfield but with free-flowing gas wells. Think I know about where you are in Texas as I have passed through the area many times driving truck. Not unlike a gambler at a poker table hoping for a good hand; that is the life of an independent operator in your line of work. Good luck. I do so enjoy and can still smell that sweet crude.
Great videos Zach! I used to work on Rigs in the highest tech end of the ultra deep water offshore drilling industry where we hoped to drill wells producing 20-30 thousand barrels per day, some costing 100’s of millions and had our share of economic failures. Really enjoy your hands on videos of the older land wells.
honestly I had almost the exact same thing happened to me with an old well. Unfortunately it still hasn't come back on oil and I decided not to fool with it but use the money to drill another will. But good for you for your persistency. As far as changing the speed of the well I would suggest using a variable speed drive instead of changing out pulleys. Look at KB electronics and particularly KBAC electronic box it will make your life simpler. Thanks for these videos they're incredibly helpful particularly how to test the fluids fill without using a dyno leader card for a shallow well.
I dont know squat about oil wells, but using a frequency drive to double the speed of a motor running 24/7 is not a great solution. The bearing life will be poor. Depending on the design of the motor, torque can be reduced significantly running at higher then design speeds, causing it to run hot. So added cost of the drive. Aditional failure point of another component in the system. Reduced motor service life. Keeping it simple spending 20 minutes to swap a $100 pulley is going to be the most reliable.
There are freq drives all over and they are mint. You can adjust the speed and save 25% of the energy cost. If you were to put a drive on this well you would have the bigger shiv on there and slow it down to the speed you want. They run $5-10k for just a drive.
I'm never surprised at how little I know. I love learning about everything. A Jack of all and a Master at none would describe myself. I love learning from others who are indeed Masters at their own professions. Two videos from you so far and subscribed. Looking forward to learning more from your channel. God bless.
Zach your making me cry! Independent producers must have big ones! My dad bought three shallow stripper 1960's in San Andreas. He sold them after ten years because they were "wearing" him out since he was a gas well pumper for E.P.N.G I wanted to share the tubing stuck in sand story. I came back to our sw texas town and got a chance to pump a lease. It literally had a pulling unit on a well stuck in down hole frac sand. When I arrived on location, the crew was hack sawing the rods as they came out of hole. As they were painfully cutting the rods, three trucks plus a reverse drill unit was on stand by time. I almost puked when I found out how much we were spending per hour! That night I hired the consultant with 50 yrs experience. Straight away he sent the reverse drill plus three other trucks home. Once out of hole, with rods and tubing, he placed a 'notched collar" on tubing dropping it into sand then come out of hole then back. Quickly we were pushing, with a kill truck, lease water down the annulus then up tubing next to a frac tank with a some porch screen where we caught the sand. Late that December evening it was pumping double valved pump. That was my first week at pumping! What a lesson in expenditure. Up to this point, my opinion was that pumpers had an easy life. That old man guided the lease back to prosperity. The years of education were evident when you shook his thick rock like hands. You remind me of him. God bless you and family. Thanks for the knowledge. I could learn a boatload from you. cr
9:09 That oscillation of the adjustable wrench, is due to the twist of the wire above, going up to the head. As the pump starts lifting and the tension increases, the wire rope start to untwist (giving the movement). At the top of the stroke, the load drops and the wire rope can re-twist, back to it's starting point.
This is an excellent comment, i worked with large cranes and hydraulics for many years and this is why you see tag lines (sometimes multiples) tied off to either a spotter, or even winches. As the weight increases and the size of the wire rope increase the tendency to spin becomes more aggressive.
Your not wrong BUT it's very easy to differentiate fluid pound (like slapping water) vs bridle/cable load. Most my wells are bigger and move more water (pump faster with larger diameter pump) making the fluid pound clear just driving by which is first detail I look at when I make my daily inspections so I know it's pumping correctly without opening a valve.
I worked on a pulling unit in the early/Mid 80's for Flag Redfern in the Odessa/Midland area. McCamey to be exact. Really enjoying the look back at the oil field. Thanks Zach!!
Great video Zach! You do an outstanding job explaining. I've often wondered how the pumping mechanism worked. I see something got hold of your index finger too. Ever since I got 2 of my fingers mashed off, I pay closer attention to people's hands.
While working for Fred Klingsmith outside of Sapulpa Okla, He had a pumping well next to his tanks, and one evening, for the heck of it, I mounted and rode one of those pumps. It was easier getting on than getting off LOL
man i would have just fished the tubing and everything then cleaned it to bottom with a chisel tooth, bailed it until i had clean fluid and put it on pump. you did it the expensive way. this is why i like the buycrus erie 60l i use.
I hope your teaching some young person all this knowledge, that's all hard and dirty work, I liked fixing heavy equipment but not many people do anymore.
Since you are shallow (1600?) you’d be better off running a 20 ring PA plunger so you can pump trash. It’ll wear the ID of your barrel faster than a precision tho. That can be combatted with a brass nickel carbide barrel, which is basically indestructible. Also, surprised the sheer pressure was more than 40k. Great stuff dude, love your videos.
thanks for the great vid. sounds like a lease like mine. i inject water only at 700 psi and don't think that does much to enhance the oil production. did you say you were at 1,600psi? i need to figure out how high to go then get a new psi approval. also you said for this type well it was best to have production tubing near bottom of formation as opposed to top. can you explain? thanks. John
Thanks our injection pressure runs about 250psi. I was probably referring to the depth of formation at 1600ft. These low volume, low static fluid level wells need to be pumped close to the formation because the pressure required to "push" fluid up the hole will lower the total fluid output of the well. Its not uncommon around here to see wells being pumped a joint of a few joints off of bottom but that would significantly lower production on a well like this.
We just replaced the original tubing and pumping cable and derrick on our 1895 family drilled well. Aside from how the new pump operates we have had a good start. What puzzles me is how the 1850 foot deep well accumulated 1500 feet of fluid over the 3 years of inactivity. The normal gas pressure is 150psi but I have seen 200psi. We use the gas in the cold months for heat. Any ideas? This is the only well we own and operate. We do have a partner who has wells.
Hello and thanks for all your knowledge sharing. While out west 2 years ago on vacation. I didn't see as many old standard pumps like yours. Still saw the oil and water separator tanks. But saw different pumps that looked like my jet water well pump. Is that new way to get oil?
I've learned a lot from your videos! They've answered a lot of questions I've had about how oil wells work. Have you since adjusted the pump rate to get rid of the pounding? Or is pounding okay? If you're injecting on the lease, how long does it take the water to make it back to the extraction wells? Isn't that a bit counter-productive if the water floats the oil above the pump?
Its been slowed back down some. The pound is just hard on everything. The oil is carried through the formation via the water. If the formation is effectively pumped dry theres no means to get the oil to the well bore.
The one I use is “rod pump calculator pro”. We stay away from the vfd’s because of the expense and that they blow up. Thanks for watching and good luck with your well.
So, still not really clear on what you're seeing with the wrench on the rod. Are you saying that you can feel the impact of balls seating through the handle of the wrench?
Very interesting. When you buy a lease like that does that include ownership of the land? Is the pump considered the bottom section with the check valve? When you did the first time test it looked like straight water coming from the well. Out of curiosity how deep is this well? With all this work, what about the shake down cruise? 👍Kc
I need to do video on the ownership of leases in texas because its pretty confusing. In texas the ownership of the land and the underground minerals are completely unrelated. A lease is called a lease because its a lease, like renting something, from the mineral owners. These leases can have any imaginable terms including lease termination dates, a commitment to drill a number of wells, and how much of the gross income the mineral owners get. This lease a stipulation that we can not drill deeper than 2000ft. Most leases including this one are valid indefinitely as long as there are producing wells on the property and is not a period on no production longer that X months. The mineral owners get 1/8 of the gross income from this lease as the payment of the lease. In texas by law all oil production must be under an oil and gas lease even if the lessor and lessee are the same person. The barrel, plunger, seating shoe and standing valve are all know as the pump. The barrel shown screws onto the last joint of tubing. Before the well was "pumping down" meaning removing all fluid the well would give up, the well was only making water. This is common to have to pump all the water a well will make before they will make any oil. This well is 1600'
One of my first areas to work as a petroleum geologist in the early 1980s was on the Eastern Shelf of the Midland Basin. Just curious as to where (state/county) your leases are located. I can tell from the size of your pumping units that they are probably operating in shallower areas that I was not working. I think the shallowest well that I ever had drilled was 3500 ft.
Not typically. Its usually caused by some kind of failure of the pumping unit, however I have seen on at least two occasion a pump stick down with a small junky unit that caused it to completely wad up.
just curious as i know nothing about the oil business. when you bought that do you get the whole kit n kaboodle ie tank separator ect. or do have to run it to yours?
So we're several months later. Hopefully the well is still making oil without issue. Is there such a thing as a plug that can be pushed down the well to just lock all the trash down at the bottom at the expense of a few feet of depth? Do you normally drill past the production zone for that reason?
Thanks. It's been pumping without much issue. There is usually what's called "rat hole" below the formation for trash to settle in. Small amounts usually will fall to bottom without much issue. This case was just a string of really unlucky circumstances.
You wouldn't have spent the money if you didn't feel the potential. You must want to get to the casing shoe or deeper....open up the perfs where the junk is blocking inflow. How long was the acid there before producing(maybe too much damage). Under balanced clean out with air compressors wash over and soapy, corrosion inhibitors could get to the shoe but $$$ to jar out if not freed. First time I've seen such an honest well owner.
Would you be interested in coming to Kentucky and not have to produce so much water and still get some reasonable amount of oil? I have one of the best places I have seen in 50 years for finding oil it's literally surrounded in oil and gas and less than 1500 ft deep
Sounds like this is a Shakespeare lease...... You have such with this well, even though you had to fight it at every step. You could have made an entire series of videos on this well work. Did you save the piece of tubing y'all fished out? Bet its been in there since the well was drilled. Thanks for bringing us along!!
Haha something like that. In hindsight I wish I would have videoed the complete process but at the time each aspect didn't seem all that interesting. I took pictures of everything but have given it to the scrapers. There was a gas anchor, seat nipple, AD-1 baker, and two joints of tubing.
Thanks for the video Zach, you know according to the idiots in Washington D.C. all you have to do is grab a shovel and a bucket dig a small hole in the ground and yippee "I'm rich" I hope the well pays off for you, you deserve it, thanks for the info.
I haven't seen any poc's a lot of older wells are on timer to prevent them from running in a pumped off/low pump fillage condition for extended periods of time.
Nice video and story on your lease purchase, Zach. I am guessing you are in TX somewhere? I am a petroleum engineer, but spent my whole career with SLB, so, have not seen the pumper side of the story. Very educational. Thanks, new sub.
so you actually want the water back in? to keep the oil at the top? id kinda assumed you want the water gone or your just pulling it up and then injecting it and then going round and round
If the water isn't returned to the formation the well will run out of fluid. In wells like this it takes water to carry oil around the formation and into the well bore.
So the well was producing brine and not oil because of slippage? Then increase the pump rate, drawing the brine down so the oil floating on top and it now produces oil? Nice.
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I spent 30 years on the drilling side of the industry in west Texas. Never learned the production side until my last 5 years. Zach has explained so well the production side of the industry. The challenges of the small independent oil producer are many and America is blessed to have many men like Zach building and producing American energy. Thank yo Zach for your series of videos. So educational.
Thanks!
@@TheZachLife My first job was pumping wells for an operator in south Arkansas. Love watching your videos. My family has been in the oil business for over 90 years. I’m third generation. We don’t operate anymore but still are active with taking WI deals with partners. Love these videos. Makes me proud to be an oil producer.
Amen Mr. Hamilton ! Like you, I started my "oil patch days" as a land-man putting mineral leases together for drilling prospects working for a "lazy" geologist/pet. engineer in Abilene, Tx. I quickly discovered my "duties" didn't end at the County Clerk's office/abstractors ! My "first rodeo" involved being told that TD would occur about 3:00A. one mrng on a well and "someone" needed to be there to start "catching samples" around 1:00AM and to call when they were gathered and labeled. He showed up around 6:00AM for the "brain work".
Long story short, I ended up spending many a cold cold night in the mesquite brush pastures and wheat fields of west central Texas catching samples, "baby-sitting" wire line services, making roads/drill sites, overseeing the set up production equipment from well-heads, pumping units, to tank batteries. I worked about 10 counties from San Angelo all the way to Breckenridge, Tx. as far west as Colorado City and back east to Eastland and negotiated purchase contracts with crude buyers/refineries along with division order title opinions. You should have seen the "city boy dummie look" on my face when I learned that "NO, oil is not found in giant "pools" or "hollow caverns" under the ground" --- LOL ! I was equally dumb-founded when I learned about porosity and permeability from microscopic samples under a microscope ! Truly fascinating !
Loved every minute of it and learned TONS about the entire industry. Fascinating stuff for sure ! We all know what happened in the mid 80's and a lot of us ended up squeezing out a living doing something else .....sadly !
Currently down a pump jack RUclips rabbit hole. I am pleasantly surprised to have found your channel. Thanks
Awesome. Hope you enjoy.
This channel is so underrated. I never worked or lived near an oilfield but you do such a good job explaining, making it interesting, and enjoyable to watch!
Thanks.
I cant tell if this guy is in his 20s 30s 40s or 50s but he has this aura and character of the old school guys we rarely see these days. its a breath of fresh air
I think he said 30s
Frankly for the most part, I like the voice overs of the work parts.
It seems that the trial and tribulations of stripper well production in Oklahoma are the same ones my Dad faced in Pennsylvania! Watching your series has been a good trip back in time for me - and should be "required watching" for anyone who thinks that everyone in the oil business is a tycoon and has it easy. Thank you!
Hahaha yep.
Daaang Zack, I'da "burned" that surface casing off at 200 feet, filled it with "mud" to the bottom of the casing then dumped about 10 yrd of concrete in that "trouble making nightmare" and called her 'DONE" !!! Long before the 3 rd or 4th "trip" in and outta that "dollar dump" !! My hats off to ya Pal, with all that determination and perseverance !! SAAALUTE !
Hahaha Thanks.
Alot of people who pumps wells don't know to put a wrench on the polish rod like that to tell where the pump is pounding fluid at great videos Zack
These are fascinating videos. I retired from the oil/gas/power generation field and have been around oil patches for a long time. Our business was gas turbines, generators and compressors - But you get to know some things in the process of your day to day activities. All what I thought I knew has been greatly supplemented by your videos! It's a hard way to make a living. Rewarding at times and pretty darned frustrating at other times.
Thanks for taking us along with you!
Thanks.
For a Oregon northerner, i find this very interesting as to what the oil business is about and the work involved in making a buck or two. and thanks for the explanation of how it works. Great videos, thanks
Thanks.
Damn dude, you must have the patience of Job to have dealt with that well for so long when it probably felt hopeless. Good on ya, bud.
This video series has been great so far! Hopefully more people will start to find these videos and your channel because you have a wealth of knowledge you’ve been sharing through all your projects. Keep up the great work!
Thank you.
thanks Zach, as a Canadian I cant run wells like you. I'm in Alberta and there are abandoned wells all over the place that I am sure that the big companies decided it was too much work for not enough return. I would love to try out what you do. small independent producers such as yourself are the reason US is making so much oil and allowing you to make a living. Not my business how much you make but looks like you are getting by and I like your boss, seems like a good guy. I have learned so much since I subbed to your channel. Anyhow, cheers from Calgary , Canada.
Haha he's alright some days.
same everywhere... in US too. the wells peter out to nothing so they are abandoned in place. someone takes the surface equipment off the well for scrap? and leaves a venting/bleeding water and oil well in the middle of the forest or the farmers field or ... without spending a little money to run a packer to seal off the fresh water sands. wireline packer cant cost that much to run/set and some cmt on top of it?
After I have 50 years in the oil patch your problems sound just very normal. I wish you good luck it's a very hard industry to make a living at. For my thinking I would get rid of those metal-to-metal pumps. Never like them would not use one on the bet
Thanks. They can be problematic but will run much longer than a common cups or flex out ring.Thats why I run them.
@@TheZachLife I was wondering if you could have ran a insert pump until you get the well lined out. just a thought. enjoying the videos! im retired pumper. God Bless!!
@@JB-mf1zc In hindsight that what should have happened. I was expecting to be done with it every step of the way.
Don't be afraid to try to casing swab it. Or play it safe and swab it through the tubing with a packer. The formation sand probably swollen up with all the water on top of it when washing. I had a lease like this that was 5K to buy and it wouldn't feed in. Sat for a couple of years when we bought it and worked it over. The formation sand had plenty of time for the clays to un swell and we couldn't even circulate. We tried to wash with 33 gravity crude oil instead of field salt water to try not to disturb the formation. Formation stayed on a vacuum. We pumped a few barrels of xylene and a little 7% hcl and chased it back with crude oil to clean the perfs up. Came the next morning and swabbed all the crap back. Returns looked like black sewer water. Swabb runs cleaned up good before the end of the day. Put it back on pump and set it to tap bottom a bit so it wouldn't gas lock. Well stabilized @ 25bbls of oil a day with a trace of water. Had best I could see in a graduated cylinder a 95% cut. Got lucky, but we played it safe without using just water to wash with. Then sold the well after a few months of production for a good profit. New company had the pump go out after a year or so and the new guy in charge loaded up the well with field salt water before they pulled the well. After I told them don't. Well locked up again and has been sitting for a few years again currently. Some formations just can't take a lot of water top of them. Usually the pressure depletion ones.
great show, brings back memories of my early days, worked on a pole unit in Lindsay OK, run those sucker rods out, very hard work. then moved on to over seas oil for 30 years.
The question that comes up a lot more than once during an experience like this one --- "Are we having fun yet ???" ... there's always that one well that causes more expense and aggravation and consternation than three dozen others combined, but, yet, that's a normal day in the patch ... Keep pump'n that Texas Crude !!
Worked for a pump company in High School delivered pumps to all kinds of oil leases. It's fun watching your video's
I appreciate you so much for explaining the ins and outs of oil problems with old wells.
You're a blessing to me thank you
You have the patience of a Saint!
Great job with the video and the explanations. I really like how you keep it honest and show the tips and tricks of the work. Keep them coming.
I am a machinist and a tool hand. I never thought I would find something like this on RUclips. I’ve always been interested in the economics and who operates stripper wells. This is good stuff, you got a like and a subscribe.
Awesome Thanks.
The closest I have ever come to an oil field is to use sucker rods on top of my cattle guards. Having said this, I am fascinated by your channel. You have explained how an oil field works very clearly while being entertaining. Great videos - subscribed.
Haha Awesome thanks.
Hey man,
As a petroleum geologist on the exploration side, I'm extremely far removed from this end of the business. Enjoy the videos and you've got a good presentation ability as well.
Cheers!
Another great video, Zach. I love the "dinky details," that is what makes your videos so good. Have you thought about teaching oil field safety and training for new pumpers? You express yourself well and have good teaching skills....Im sure a local community college or oil company would welcome your expertise. Keep up the great work, always a pleasure to view.
Thanks. I'm not sure if a guy that cut the same finger off twice would be qualified to teach safety anything lolol.
@@TheZachLife So sorry you had those injuries. Yes, I see your point, however it adds to your experiences of what "not" to do to in the oil field. Its makes your experiences more real life and valuable. I would trust your safety measures any day.
I had a 400 foot water well that was 12 inches in diameter with a 13 stage centrifugal pump broken off laying in the bottom. About 100 foot of tubing and line shaft still attached to the pump. I fished it out with a piece of tubing that fit close to the ID of the casing with some old car leaf springs welded in it to latch onto the pump and related mess. It worked good and I got the mess about half out when the tubing connected to the pump broke again. When that thing dropped it felt like a small earthquake. I got it hooked again and got it out but that was another day or so on site fishing. I think just the recovery of the old pump cost about $10,000 and that was almost 20 years ago; Probably not as bad as your problem but I sure understand the difficulty of recovering junk from the bottom of a well
There is as much luck in fishing stuff like that as anything else.
@@TheZachLife I have to tell you, the leaf springs welded into the ID of my fishing tube worked great. I didn't know to use the leaf springs when I started the project, but an old well driller stop by the site when he saw the crane and we got to shooting the shit and he shared that trick with me. Save me lots of time
Daaaang Joe, my hat is OFF to ya Pal !! Leaf springs off a vehicle ? Wow, pretty ingenious it sounds like to me ! Now THAT is a prime example of "oil patch CREATIVITY" or "field engineering" at its best ! SAAALUTE !
But, could you explain briefly a "13 stage pump" ? Never heard THAT one before ......
You are lucky the tubing didn’t corkscrew
You can really explain it very easy and with attention. Also your editing of the vlog is relevant! Great work!👍
Greetings from the Netherlands! 🇳🇱
Thanks.
Memories of my days in East Texas oilfield but with free-flowing gas wells. Think I know about where you are in Texas as I have passed through the area many times driving truck. Not unlike a gambler at a poker table hoping for a good hand; that is the life of an independent operator in your line of work. Good luck. I do so enjoy and can still smell that sweet crude.
A good hand, How true that is.
Zach.. you are truly gifted. If you ever reach point were your wanting something else. Teach amazing!
Great videos Zach! I used to work on Rigs in the highest tech end of the ultra deep water offshore drilling industry where we hoped to drill wells producing 20-30 thousand barrels per day, some costing 100’s of millions and had our share of economic failures. Really enjoy your hands on videos of the older land wells.
honestly I had almost the exact same thing happened to me with an old well. Unfortunately it still hasn't come back on oil and I decided not to fool with it but use the money to drill another will. But good for you for your persistency. As far as changing the speed of the well I would suggest using a variable speed drive instead of changing out pulleys. Look at KB electronics and particularly KBAC electronic box it will make your life simpler. Thanks for these videos they're incredibly helpful particularly how to test the fluids fill without using a dyno leader card for a shallow well.
I dont know squat about oil wells, but using a frequency drive to double the speed of a motor running 24/7 is not a great solution. The bearing life will be poor. Depending on the design of the motor, torque can be reduced significantly running at higher then design speeds, causing it to run hot.
So added cost of the drive. Aditional failure point of another component in the system. Reduced motor service life.
Keeping it simple spending 20 minutes to swap a $100 pulley is going to be the most reliable.
There are freq drives all over and they are mint. You can adjust the speed and save 25% of the energy cost. If you were to put a drive on this well you would have the bigger shiv on there and slow it down to the speed you want. They run $5-10k for just a drive.
Agree. You can really dial a well in with variable speed (and easily). I usually don’t see them unless a well is making 7+ barrels a day.
I'm never surprised at how little I know. I love learning about everything. A Jack of all and a Master at none would describe myself. I love learning from others who are indeed Masters at their own professions. Two videos from you so far and subscribed. Looking forward to learning more from your channel. God bless.
Awesome thanks.
Another great video! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks.
Zach your making me cry! Independent producers must have big ones! My dad bought three shallow stripper 1960's in San Andreas. He sold them after ten years because they were "wearing" him out since he was a gas well pumper for E.P.N.G I wanted to share the tubing stuck in sand story. I came back to our sw texas town and got a chance to pump a lease. It literally had a pulling unit on a well stuck in down hole frac sand. When I arrived on location, the crew was hack sawing the rods as they came out of hole. As they were painfully cutting the rods, three trucks plus a reverse drill unit was on stand by time. I almost puked when I found out how much we were spending per hour! That night I hired the consultant with 50 yrs experience. Straight away he sent the reverse drill plus three other trucks home. Once out of hole, with rods and tubing, he placed a 'notched collar" on tubing dropping it into sand then come out of hole then back. Quickly we were pushing, with a kill truck, lease water down the annulus then up tubing next to a frac tank with a some porch screen where we caught the sand. Late that December evening it was pumping double valved pump. That was my first week at pumping! What a lesson in expenditure. Up to this point, my opinion was that pumpers had an easy life. That old man guided the lease back to prosperity. The years of education were evident when you shook his thick rock like hands. You remind me of him. God bless you and family. Thanks for the knowledge. I could learn a boatload from you. cr
9:09 That oscillation of the adjustable wrench, is due to the twist of the wire above, going up to the head. As the pump starts lifting and the tension increases, the wire rope start to untwist (giving the movement). At the top of the stroke, the load drops and the wire rope can re-twist, back to it's starting point.
This is an excellent comment, i worked with large cranes and hydraulics for many years and this is why you see tag lines (sometimes multiples) tied off to either a spotter, or even winches. As the weight increases and the size of the wire rope increase the tendency to spin becomes more aggressive.
Your not wrong BUT it's very easy to differentiate fluid pound (like slapping water) vs bridle/cable load. Most my wells are bigger and move more water (pump faster with larger diameter pump) making the fluid pound clear just driving by which is first detail I look at when I make my daily inspections so I know it's pumping correctly without opening a valve.
I worked on a pulling unit in the early/Mid 80's for Flag Redfern in the Odessa/Midland area. McCamey to be exact. Really enjoying the look back at the oil field. Thanks Zach!!
Flag Redfern? Saw that name everywhere in old records at the Somerset field.
Really interesting insight on what it costs to get a well to produce. You are persistent!
Great lesson, from the ground up.
Loved the financial details of oil lease ownership. I know it was painful to go through it all, but hey - reality.
Great video Zach! You do an outstanding job explaining. I've often wondered how the pumping mechanism worked. I see something got hold of your index finger too. Ever since I got 2 of my fingers mashed off, I pay closer attention to people's hands.
Thanks.
Awesome story...What can go wrong, will go wrong...Isn't that how it goes more often than not. 👊✌️🙏
Thanks for these fantastic videos. So interesting to see someone who knows how to fix things and explain the theory. Thanks again from the UK!
Thanks.
Even the majors use these styles of pumps just bigger lol 10 years production side for me cheers brother
Thank you for teaching us the ropes.
I’m really enjoying these videos! Thank you
Thanks.
While working for Fred Klingsmith outside of Sapulpa Okla, He had a pumping well next to his tanks, and one evening, for the heck of it, I mounted and rode one of those pumps. It was easier getting on than getting off LOL
man i would have just fished the tubing and everything then cleaned it to bottom with a chisel tooth, bailed it until i had clean fluid and put it on pump. you did it the expensive way. this is why i like the buycrus erie 60l i use.
I’m enjoying your videos. Thanks
What about the wrench on the polished rod! You said you'd explain at the end of the vid - did I miss that?
Great story ❤❤❤
I hope your teaching some young person all this knowledge, that's all hard and dirty work, I liked fixing heavy equipment but not many people do anymore.
Since you are shallow (1600?) you’d be better off running a 20 ring PA plunger so you can pump trash. It’ll wear the ID of your barrel faster than a precision tho. That can be combatted with a brass nickel carbide barrel, which is basically indestructible. Also, surprised the sheer pressure was more than 40k. Great stuff dude, love your videos.
Thanks.
thanks for the great vid. sounds like a lease like mine. i inject water only at 700 psi and don't think that does much to enhance the oil production. did you say you were at 1,600psi? i need to figure out how high to go then get a new psi approval. also you said for this type well it was best to have production tubing near bottom of formation as opposed to top. can you explain? thanks. John
Thanks our injection pressure runs about 250psi. I was probably referring to the depth of formation at 1600ft. These low volume, low static fluid level wells need to be pumped close to the formation because the pressure required to "push" fluid up the hole will lower the total fluid output of the well. Its not uncommon around here to see wells being pumped a joint of a few joints off of bottom but that would significantly lower production on a well like this.
We just replaced the original tubing and pumping cable and derrick on our 1895 family drilled well. Aside from how the new pump operates we have had a good start. What puzzles me is how the 1850 foot deep well accumulated 1500 feet of fluid over the 3 years of inactivity. The normal gas pressure is 150psi but I have seen 200psi. We use the gas in the cold months for heat. Any ideas? This is the only well we own and operate. We do have a partner who has wells.
Rods needs a left handed back off on the top of the pump in a well that is a stripping well prone problem of stripping well
Hello and thanks for all your knowledge sharing.
While out west 2 years ago on vacation. I didn't see as many old standard pumps like yours. Still saw the oil and water separator tanks. But saw different pumps that looked like my jet water well pump.
Is that new way to get oil?
I've learned a lot from your videos! They've answered a lot of questions I've had about how oil wells work. Have you since adjusted the pump rate to get rid of the pounding? Or is pounding okay?
If you're injecting on the lease, how long does it take the water to make it back to the extraction wells? Isn't that a bit counter-productive if the water floats the oil above the pump?
Its been slowed back down some. The pound is just hard on everything. The oil is carried through the formation via the water. If the formation is effectively pumped dry theres no means to get the oil to the well bore.
@@TheZachLife Ah, so the water moves the oil. I always thought the oil just seeped/flowed on its own if there was no gas pressure. Thank you!
Some of us are curious about separating the water from the crude. Can you clean it good enough for agricultural use? Or do you re-inject it?
No its salty. Its injected back into the formation.
Can you provide the app that shows what the fluid should be based on strokes per minute etc.?
The one I use is “rod pump calculator pro”. We stay away from the vfd’s because of the expense and that they blow up. Thanks for watching and good luck with your well.
Harbison Fischer has a free app that calculates it for you.
So do you ck where bump on the polish rod on downstroke, and if so, should it “bump” closer to head or top of stroke? Thanks.
23:44 wasn't it making 5 or 6 before you did anything to it, after you fixed the injection pump?
So, still not really clear on what you're seeing with the wrench on the rod. Are you saying that you can feel the impact of balls seating through the handle of the wrench?
I admire your grit. I always follow the rule that a working man shouldn't take a working interest. And therefore I own royalty interests.
Very interesting. When you buy a lease like that does that include ownership of the land? Is the pump considered the bottom section with the check valve? When you did the first time test it looked like straight water coming from the well. Out of curiosity how deep is this well? With all this work, what about the shake down cruise? 👍Kc
I need to do video on the ownership of leases in texas because its pretty confusing. In texas the ownership of the land and the underground minerals are completely unrelated. A lease is called a lease because its a lease, like renting something, from the mineral owners. These leases can have any imaginable terms including lease termination dates, a commitment to drill a number of wells, and how much of the gross income the mineral owners get. This lease a stipulation that we can not drill deeper than 2000ft. Most leases including this one are valid indefinitely as long as there are producing wells on the property and is not a period on no production longer that X months. The mineral owners get 1/8 of the gross income from this lease as the payment of the lease. In texas by law all oil production must be under an oil and gas lease even if the lessor and lessee are the same person. The barrel, plunger, seating shoe and standing valve are all know as the pump. The barrel shown screws onto the last joint of tubing. Before the well was "pumping down" meaning removing all fluid the well would give up, the well was only making water. This is common to have to pump all the water a well will make before they will make any oil. This well is 1600'
One of my first areas to work as a petroleum geologist in the early 1980s was on the Eastern Shelf of the Midland Basin. Just curious as to where (state/county) your leases are located. I can tell from the size of your pumping units that they are probably operating in shallower areas that I was not working. I think the shallowest well that I ever had drilled was 3500 ft.
We are north central texas. Most of the stuff i have is about 1600'
The area looks like around petrolia
Love this stuff !👍🏻
Do they always have that much salt water mixed with the oil?
so when a well runs out of fluid, it's the plunger that seizes and "craters the pumpjack" into a pile of scrap?
Not typically. Its usually caused by some kind of failure of the pumping unit, however I have seen on at least two occasion a pump stick down with a small junky unit that caused it to completely wad up.
Do you have access to a disposal well for salt water , OR do you have to have the water hauled off from each lease ?
Yes we have at least one or more injection well on every lease.
@@TheZachLife Thank you !
What do you do with the oil? I have been distilling waste motor oil for 10 years
Awesome channel
Thank you!
Appreciate the honestly.
just curious as i know nothing about the oil business. when you bought that do you get the whole kit n kaboodle ie tank separator ect. or do have to run it to yours?
This video makes me want to go out and buy me some oil wells!
ZachLife you need to talk to your pump shop and ask them about nicarb barrels. Little expensive but acid will not hurt them.
I've actually bought couple when they were all that was available, but they never end up places where they are needed.
Hey Zach. What kind of rig are you getting for $150/hour? A workover rig runs $250 to $300 an hour, right? I'm talking about a 300 or 500 HP rig.
So we're several months later. Hopefully the well is still making oil without issue. Is there such a thing as a plug that can be pushed down the well to just lock all the trash down at the bottom at the expense of a few feet of depth? Do you normally drill past the production zone for that reason?
Thanks. It's been pumping without much issue. There is usually what's called "rat hole" below the formation for trash to settle in. Small amounts usually will fall to bottom without much issue. This case was just a string of really unlucky circumstances.
You wouldn't have spent the money if you didn't feel the potential. You must want to get to the casing shoe or deeper....open up the perfs where the junk is blocking inflow. How long was the acid there before producing(maybe too much damage). Under balanced clean out with air compressors wash over and soapy, corrosion inhibitors could get to the shoe but $$$ to jar out if not freed. First time I've seen such an honest well owner.
Hahaha it was a mess.
Would you be interested in coming to Kentucky and not have to produce so much water and still get some reasonable amount of oil? I have one of the best places I have seen in 50 years for finding oil it's literally surrounded in oil and gas and less than 1500 ft deep
Haha thanks for the offer but I think i'll hang around here. Ive got too much to do here lol.
Like they say it never hurts to ask it's either yes or no answer
Sounds like this is a Shakespeare lease......
You have such with this well, even though you had to fight it at every step. You could have made an entire series of videos on this well work.
Did you save the piece of tubing y'all fished out? Bet its been in there since the well was drilled.
Thanks for bringing us along!!
Haha something like that. In hindsight I wish I would have videoed the complete process but at the time each aspect didn't seem all that interesting. I took pictures of everything but have given it to the scrapers. There was a gas anchor, seat nipple, AD-1 baker, and two joints of tubing.
Very interesting vvideo.What state are you in?
Thanks. We are north Texas.
Thanks for the video Zach, you know according to the idiots in Washington D.C. all you have to do is grab a shovel and a bucket dig a small hole in the ground and yippee "I'm rich" I hope the well pays off for you, you deserve it, thanks for the info.
Thank you. It always cracks me up the way people see the oil industry.
Do you guys ever run down hole cameras to see whats going on down there...
How deep is this well , and how many feet of vertical pay does it have ?
It's 1600' most of these have 4-6' on top of water.
I know this older video, but I am curious as to what is the ratio of oil to water pumped up
Its probably around 10%
Not to be nosy here. But may I ask? After all your hard work and seems like never ending problems. Did it all get tight and right for you?
I always say the oil business is a perpetual disaster.
Thanks for sharing
This title of the video should be.. "So You Want To Get Into The Oil Business"😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣💵💵💰💰💵
Hahaha.
What type of pump off controller do you use on your wells if any, to prevent fluid pounding?
I haven't seen any poc's a lot of older wells are on timer to prevent them from running in a pumped off/low pump fillage condition for extended periods of time.
with hingsight would it have been easier and cheaper t drill a new well just beside the blocked one? or would that need a licence?
It would still cost more to drill a new well, however it would be less of a headache.
Fascinating!
The old adage of “there’s no such thing as a free horse” sure goes with your pump.
Really good stuff
Thanks.
Nice video and story on your lease purchase, Zach. I am guessing you are in TX somewhere? I am a petroleum engineer, but spent my whole career with SLB, so, have not seen the pumper side of the story. Very educational. Thanks, new sub.
Awesome, thanks. We are north central texas.
@@TheZachLifeI’m in that area too. Wichita and Wilbarger county.
how do you make these wells profitable? it seems your shakeouts are 90% water
IS your family the working interest owner for all these old wells you are maintaining ?
Were you pumping at??
so you actually want the water back in? to keep the oil at the top?
id kinda assumed you want the water gone or your just pulling it up and then injecting it and then going round and round
If the water isn't returned to the formation the well will run out of fluid. In wells like this it takes water to carry oil around the formation and into the well bore.
@@TheZachLife that's really interesting!
Zack who do you use for fracking? I used to be a contract driver for Schlumberger. 😉
Its depends. Theres a couple of local guys I try to use.
So the well was producing brine and not oil because of slippage? Then increase the pump rate, drawing the brine down so the oil floating on top and it now produces oil? Nice.
Yes, exactly