Careers - Seismic Crews - The Drilling Contract and Contractors

Jimmy Irwin, retired senior executive of General Petroleums (and Westburne) was one of his devoted hands:

This was one of the reasons Cody would often try to accomplish plish the impossible, and, with this trait, he would sometimes make matters worse. Johnny Yeo, retired chief mechanic for G.P., also a Spencer fan, quotes one of Cody's mottos: "Hurry up, every chance you get".¹⁰

It took the Leduc boom to really put General Petroleums on its feet, but in the fall of 1947, the firm was still in shaky financial condition, This was due to the latest in a series of difficulties that resulted from a disastrous drilling program in 1945 and 1946 at Cat Creek, Montana. This play was supposed to have been a "lead pipe cinch", but five dry holes later, and the fact that G.P had taken a participating interest, put the firm only one or two jumps ahead of its creditors. Jack Moore, then journeyman welder, recalled Cody warning him one Friday to cash his cheque that day for re-tubing boilers, rather than wait for Monday.

Turning now to the "contract'' (Drilling Agreement) between G P as ''Contractor'' and Atlantic as ''Owner'', it was carefully thought out Clause 5 stated ''The contractor shall supply and use adequate and efficient blow-out prevention equipment''. G.P. had been using the Hosmer button, a device which had been popular among many contractors but which had definite limitations.¹¹ In the light of what happened, did the Hosmer meet the terms of Clause 5?

Clause No 25 was also to be the subject of prolonged scrutiny, interpretation and legal skirmishing "The contractor shall insure the said rig against loss by fire and shall also carry public liability and property damage insurances".

Gene Denton: perhaps with misgivings about McMahon, but more to protect his company's position, realized there was no provision for lost circulation. He wrote an amending letter to Atlantic on September 19 with a key clause (2) inserted: "Day work to be paid to the Contractor after 72 hours of lost circulations. Clause 14 in the main contract spelled out very clearly the (downer's'' (AtIantic's) responsibility for operations after that period of time had elapsed. Despite the wording, it was to become the focus for intense dispute as to ultimate responsibility.¹² There is no correspondence indicating that McMahon/Atlantic objected to either the "Drilling Agreement" (Contract) drawn up by Porter, Allen and Millard (now Mackimmie, Matthews) or the amending letter, counter-signed by Frank and George McMahon.

When the G.P. rig at BA Pyrcz¹³ was released, it was moved over to lsd 13 Section 23 to drill Atlantic No. 1,¹⁴ ¹⁵ Application for Licence to Drill had been signed by the Minister.¹⁶

A conventional steel derrick was erected by Hislop Rig Builders, with the Kerber brothers as human flies who bolted it together girt by girt, The well and subsequent Atlantic Oil Company holes were to be under the supervision of Denton and Spencer, a consulting engineering firm.

Denton and Spencer was created in 1945 with both Spencer and Denton as directors. What was to become a matter of great controversy was whether the consulting firm acted at arm's length from the drilling contractor. The two directors stated they were ''inactive'', a point which also became a matter of some debate as conditions deteriorated at Atlantic No. 3.

The man heading up the consulting firm was J.F. (Spi) Langston. A Calgary native, ''Spi'' had graduated from the University of Alberta in 1936 (Civil Engineering, with Distinction), After a brief stint with a geophysical crew, he went to work for Lane Wells Company, Langston was rapidly introduced to the art of well surveying, experience which stood him in good stead. When Lane Wells folded their tents in Canada in 1941 (they returned in 1950), Langston contacted Gene Denton, who took him on at G,P., which was just getting started. His engineering work was interspersed with drilling and tool pushing for G.P, He also supervised well completions, acidizing and production, Spi became Managing Director in 1945 upon the formal creation of the firm. In 1947, Denton and Spencer became involved in diamond coring through the efforts of Spi, It can be said that he was a pioneer in this endeavour.¹⁷

Atlantic contracted with Denton and Spencer to locate well sites, run surface casing, core, drill stem test and, finally, run the production casing string. The well would then be kicked off and put on production through facilities which had been engineered by the firm.

Atlantic Oils at that time had a very small staff. One of those involved in Leduc was Lyle Caspell, who seems to have had an undefined role at best. Lyle had grown up in Turner Valley and had worked for the McMahon interests for some years prior on production work. His signed, undated report and two unsolicited letters give him much credit.

Unlike present day practices, where operating companies routinely assign a company or consultant drilling engineer to each well, the responsibility for all day to day operations other than drilling appears to have devolved on Denton and Spencer, Caspell's was not the job of company representative because few can recall seeing him on the site.