Roosevelt Standard | 1956-10-18 | Page 1 | Drilling Equipment Being Set up in Duchesne Area

Drilling Equipment Being Set Up In Duchesne Area Equipment is being moved in to start drilling on the first well on more than 12,000 acres of leases north and east of Duchesne. S. D. Wheeler, president and general manager of the Cal-Neva Oil Co., Inc., has arrived in Duchesne Du-chesne to supervise operations. Mr. Wheeler, whose firm is in-corpated in-corpated in Nevada, said he will drill at least 12 wells in the next 30 months, ranging dwon to the 2,000 foot and 4,500 foot levels, the latter being the Green River sand formation which is believed to ban abundant oil producing sand. The company's chief equipment is a combination rotary-cable tool rig ideal for the peculiarities of Uintah Basin formations. The wells will be drilled in with the rotary equipment, operating with a geared "bit" at the end of a continuous shaft of steel drilling drill-ing pipe. Once the sands are reached, the unit is switched over to a cable too, which employs a heavy bit on the er.d of a cable. The bit pounds out the tricky sands. Cable drilling is the pioneer method of oil producton and is considered superior to rotary rigs for sandy formations. Mr. Wheeler has spent many months secuing leases and having geological work done in the Duchesne Du-chesne end of the Uintah Basin. Terms of his leases call for an extended program of drilling over a period of several years.