Show ICE HANDICAPS HAM CONTROL OF WILD WYOMING GAS WELL editors note the following article irom the pen of G E hatton devils slide who recently paid a v visit isit to the wild gas well near big piney wyo will be read with interest b by our readers in as much as the structure in which this well wm was drilled Is a direct parallel to the LCM long wall petroleum company seiti lure now drilling at Co coalville alville photos taken fatten by him shows an 84 foot steel derrick completely encased by a block of ice sprayed from the well witt gas and water for five weeks before it could be brought onder control another photo showed the acie cut out of the passage to control the well the article avith fl ith the described appeared in the oil weekly houston texas tem s under date of feb 20 1939 although Althou fth severely handicapped by the far matlon of a heavy coating coatina of ice that completely encased twe the dx rijk a wild gas well was successfully brought under control the lew lewis is well a wildcat located in the northwest corner of section 10 an on the budd ranch nine miles west of big piney wyo blev in the latter part of december when a gas bearing sand was penetrated only 12 2 inches the well got out of control and ran wild tor for nearly five beeks not being successfully cess fully brought under control until january 27 the well fulch is being drilled by wyoming petroleum corporation of big piney blew in at 1695 feet when a finger 0 sand in the wasatch formation was encountered another four foot gas bearing sand was struck at feet and it Is believed I 1 that the well was making gas if from rom both sands while the well was running wild it made 75 million cubic feet of gas at a pressure of pounds per square inch it contained no oil was dry and had a fairly high heat value the well nell was brought under control by circulating heavy drill drilling inu mud in the hole affecting a shutoff in the sands since light rota rotary ry equipment driven by gasoline motor was being used in the drilling it was necessary to install two steam boilers several hundred feet back from the well to handle the mud under sufficient pressure to bump pump it into the hole the regular pumps could not be used because they were too light there was too much danger of fire and they were too thickly covered with lee ice the work was further handicapped due to the fact that the well was making some water which was shot into twe the air with the gas as a spray low temperatures immediately froze the spray which completely encased the derrick and engine house and built large terraces of ice on the lee side ot of the rig A sheet of ice averaging from six to eight inches in thickness covered nearly 15 acres adjacent to the well from 30 to 60 days will be required to clean up around the rig and clear the ice away the company then plans to drill deeper and when spring weather opens up to drill two more wells nearby using gas from rom this well as aa fuel |