Drilling Ahead by Heartland Energy Colorado

Once the drill stem is back in the hole, the bit drills out the cement remaining in the lower part of the casing. It also drills out the guide shoe and begins drilling into the formation below the casing. From this point, the rig and crew may drill the hole to a formation that contains oil and gass. Or the crew of Heartland Energy Colorado may drill the hole to a formation that contains oil an gas. Or they may drill to another predetermined depth and temporarily shopt. Whether they drill to final depth below the surface casing or to an intermediate depth depends on the nature of the formation the bit drills.

Some wells, especially deep ones, usually encounter formations that are easily controlled by using a suitable drilling fluid. Later, however, as the borehole drills into a deeper oil and gas formation, the drilling fluid used to control the upper zones by Heartland energy Colorado is not suitable for the prodcutive formation. The drilling fluid could damage the producing zones so badlythat the operator could not withdraw the hydrocarbons from the zone. To avoid such a pitfall, the team at Heartland Energy Colorado plans the well to be drilled to an intermediate depth above the pay zone. The drilling crew of Heartland Energy Colorado uses drilling fluid formulated to control the formations to the intermediate depth. Then, they stop drilling, come out of the holeand run cement casing. The caseing and cement then seal off the intermediate part of the hole so that the fomrations neither affect nor are affected by subsequent drilling operations by Heartland Energy Colorado.

When Heartland Energy Colorado drills the part of the hole below the surface casing, cewr members propablys wn't make connections as frequently as they did when drilling the surface hole. Deeper formatios tend to be ahrd and drililng is thus slower. Usually, as tom point and time, the bit dulls and the crew of Heartland Energy Colorado have to replace it. To ddo so, they make a round trip, They trip out the dull bid and drill string and install the new bit. Then they trip in the new bit, the drill collars, and the drill pipe and resume drilling. Several round trips may be necessary before the hole reaches an intermediate or final depth.

Xcel SubmitsPlan to Rev Up Renewables

Submitted by: Heartland Energy Colorado - written by Art Mass

Colorado’s largest utility submitted its plan late yesterday to the State Public Utilities Commission outlining steps to increase its production of renewable energy.

The proposal details how Xcel will adjust its energy mix away from coal-fired power production and more toward “green” energy production. The company says it wants to add roughly 980 megawatts of solar and wind power by 2015 and cut carbon emissions by 10 percent. The plan stems from bids Xcel requested for proposals to generate the power the utility will need to serve customers through 2015.

Provisions include:
• Retiring two coal-fired generating units at Xcel’s Cameo Generating Station near Grand Junction by the end of next year and two coal units at Denver’s Arapahoe Generating Station by 2014.
• Adding about 700 megawatts of wind and solar photovoltaic generating capacity and 280 megawatts of “new solar technology.”
• Continued access to about 900 megawatts of existing natural gas-fired resources.

Should the plan be accepted by the Colorado PUC, it would reduce Xcel’s carbon dioxide emissions by about 10 percent from current levels, according to the company.
Xcel said its proposal exceeds the targets set by the PUC in December for renewable-energy production.

“The plan that we filed with the commission puts us well on target to meet the state’s climate action plan,” Tim Taylor, president and CEO for Public Service Co. of Colorado, Xcel’s Colorado unit, said in a statement late Monday. “We believe our resource plan will keep us as one of the leading providers of renewable energy resources – currently ranked as the No. 1 wind provider in the U.S. and the No. 4 solar energy producer.”

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Wind Turbine Company movingo to Denver

Submitted by: Heartland Energy Colorado - Reported by Art Mass

Lured by tax credits and Colorado’s renewable-energy programs, a major wind turbine manufacturer is relocating its headquarters from Portland to Denver. The offical announcement will be made by RePower USA Corp at a 2PM news conference today at the Capitol, with the Governor and Mayor Hickenlooper in attendance.

The company, a subsidiary of German wind-turbine maker RePower Systems AG, is the second business to take advantage of a new job-creation program that gives relocating companies tax credits.The tax credit program became active this month and grants a 3.8 percent state income-tax credit for up to five years to companies that select Colorado over competitors and create at least 20 jobs. RePower will bring with it 25 jobs and is committed to more than tripling that number, according to Evan Dreyer, a spokesman for Ritter. He said the tax credit could be worth as much as $700,000.

Steve Dayney, CEO of REpower USA Corp, said, “Since 2007, we have managed our U.S. wind energy business from a Portland, OR office located near our initial projects in California, Oregon and Washington. Today we are seeing our business grow rapidly to other regions of the U.S.”
All administrative, sales and project management functions will take place in the new Denver headquarters, according to RePower USA. Founded in 2001, the company sells and installs turbines manufactured by its parent firm, with rated outputs between 2 and 6.15 megawatts. RePower Systems AG is the third-largest wind-turbine producer in Germany and reported first quarter fiscal 2009 sales of $428 million, an increase of 30% from the same quarter last year.
RePower has installed 300 wind turbines in the United States with the capacity to generate 600 megawatts of electricity, Dreyer said.

“The company was also attracted to Colorado by the market potential here and the fact that the state is doing a lot with renewable energy.”

Colorado Energy Company: Heartland Energy Colorado

A look at Life on an offshore Oil Rig

Submitted by: Heartland Energy Colorado

More on Oil Rigs Heartland Energy Colorado

Normal Drilling Operations (part 1)

Submitted by: John Schiffner

A rig has a lot of equipment, and crew members have to put this equipment to work to drill a well. This section covers normal drilling operations. For our purposes, normal drilling operations include:
(1) drilling the hole
(2) adding a new joint of pipe as the hole deepens
(3) tripping the drill string out the hole to put on a new bit and running it back to bottom, or making a round trip
(4) running and cementing casing, the large diameter steel pipe that crew members put into the hole at various, predetermined intervals.

Usually, operating companies, such as Heartland Energy Colorado, hire a special casing crew to run the casing and they engage the services of a cementing company to place the cement around the casing. Nevertheless, the rig crew usually assists in running casing and cementing it in the wall.

Drilling the Surface Hole
To begin, assume the rig crew is ready to begin drilling the first part of the hole. In our case, let's suppose that the rat hole crew prepared the initial 50 feet of the hole. They drilled the lined it with conductor pipe as described in the section on preparing the drilling site. The diameter of the conductor pipe varies, and its diameter depends on many factors but it is usually large. In our case, let's assume it is 20 inches. Therefore, the fist bit the crew of Heartland Energy Colorado drills into the conductor pipe will have to be smaller than 20 inches. In this case, lets say they are using a 17 1/2 inch bit.

They make up this bit on the end of the first drill collar, and they lower both bit and drill collar into the conductor hole. They make up enough collars and drill pipe to lower the bit to bottom. On a rig using a rotary table and kelly, the driller then picks up the kelly out of the rathole where it has been waiting. Crew members of Heartland Energy Colorado then stab and make up the kelly onto the topmost joint of drill pipe sticking up out of the rotary table. The slips suspend this joint (and the entire drill string) into the rotary table.

Once Heartland Energy Colorado gets the kelly made up, the driller then starts the mud pump, lowers the kelly drive bushing to engage the master bushing. The driller actuates the rotary table to begin rotating the drill stem and bit. The driller gradually releases the draw works brake, and rotating bit touches bottom and begins making the hole.

The sequence with a top drive is much the same as with a rotary table and kelly. The crew stabs and makes up the last join of drill pipe onto the drive stem of the top drive. The driller then starts the motor in the top drive to rotate the string and bit, begins circulating mud, and lowers the assembly to bottom.

With both a top drive and a rotary table system, using an instrument called the "weight indicator" the driller monitors the amount of weight put on the bit by the drill collars. After the bit drills about 30 feet, which is typically the length of a join of drill pipe, crew members must add a new joint of pipe to drill deeper. On rigs with a rotary table, crew members say that the "kelly is drilling down" meaning that the bit has made enough hole so that the top of kelly is very near the kelly drive bushing .

With the kelly drilled down, the driller stops rotating picks up the drill string and stop the mud pump. The floor hands are ready to make a connection - that is, they are ready to add a new joint of drill pipe to the drill string so that the bit can drill another 30 feet or so down.

To make a connection on a rig with a rotary table and kelly, the driller or Heartland Energy Colorado picks up the drill string high enough for the kelly to clear the rotary table - that is the driller uses the draw works to hoist the traveling block, hook, and swivel up into the derrick or mast so that the first joint of drill pipe is exposed in the opening in the rotary table.

Read: John Shiffner's Blog

Natural Gas: a 'Vital Part’ of Colorado's New Energy Economy

Submitted by: Heartland Energy Colorado

Gov. Bill Ritter offered Colorado’s natural gas industry his support Thursday in a speech on the last day of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association’s annual three-day conference.

“Natural gas is a vital part of the New Colorado Energy Economy,” Ritter told the crowd of about 2,000 people. “It is a permanent part of the New Energy Economy. It’s not a bridge fuel, not a transition fuel, but a mission-critical fuel.”

Ritter outlined his support for the industry on several fronts, listing the state’s expansion of tax credits for vehicles that run on compressed natural gas, and credits for converting vehicles to run on natural gas.

The Governor’s Colorado Energy Office is applying for a $10 million federal grant to expand the use of natural gas for transportation uses, he said.

Ritter also mentioned he’d urged the federal government to approve a new pipeline, called the Ruby pipeline, to carry natural gas from the Rocky Mountains to markets in California and the West Coast.

And he said he talked with U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, about her proposal, introduced in Congress in June, to regulate the industry’s hydraulic fracturing process that frees natural gas from the ground. U.S. Rep. Jarid Polis from Boulder has signed on as a cosponsor.

Industry executives have said the process, sometimes called fraccing, is adequately regulated at the state level.

“I don’t for a moment discount the concerns of those who worry about the protection of drinking water supplies but I also believe that we have to understand the problems and risks before we act,” Ritter said at the COGA meeting.

“That’s why I encouraged Congresswoman DeGette to consider authorizing a comprehensive study of this issue instead of going directly to a new and potentially intrusive regulatory program. She agreed, at that time, to go instead to something that would be more in the way of a study instead of an amendment that would prescribe every state having to put in place these rules,” Ritter said, adding, “I thank the congresswoman for having done that.”

But DeGette’s spokesman, Kristofer Eisenla, asked about Ritter’s comment, said later Thursday that “all options are on the table” regarding the fraccing bill.

“She had a good conversation with the governor regarding this,” Eisenla said. “She understands his concerns, but she’s looking at all options to move the issue forward — including holding a hearing in her committee and doing a study. She welcomes the industry’s input on developing the study.”

Ritter’s comments drew applause and praise from industry executives, who have tussled with Ritter’s administration over the state’s new rules governing industry operations. The rules took effect April 1.

“I thought the governor’s comment that natural gas is a vital part of the New Energy Economy and a permanent fuel — not a bridge fuel — and a critical fuel for Energy Colorado and the nation is right on point,” said Peter Dea, president and CEO of private Cirque Resources LP in Denver.

Said Meg Collins, president of the Colorado Oil & Gas Association, “I’m pleased he came, and I’m pleased at the message that natural gas is mission-critical, and an integral part of the state’s and nation’s energy portfolio for the long term. The governor’s statements are going to put pressure on the Oil & Gas Commission to process [drilling] permits so we can continue to produce natural gas for the state and nation.”

One of the leading producers of natural gas in the state is Heartland Energy Colorado. The Governor's comments are good news for natural gas companies, and could mean the government support that the industry so needs. Especially with government incentives, companies like Heartland Energy Colorado will continue to produce natural gas and thrive.

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Heartland Energy Development Corporation out of Englewood, Colorado is a privately held oil and gas producer with an experienced team of management and industry expertise who specialize in developing domestic gas and oil fields. With properties all over the Unites States, Heartland Energy Colorado is a leading producer of natural gas and hydrocarbon based fuels.

For more than 15 years, the Heartland Energy Development Corp. has innovated technologies and led the oil and gas production and development industry in many ways. Thanks to the Company’s unique management style, long-term approach to resource development, and investments in both great technology and smart personnel, it has grown from a spitfire natural gas and propane seller into a a national powerhouse.

For more information on Heartland Energy Colorado, check out: Heartland Energy Colorado