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Blow-Out: Trails & Errors (Page 2)
I: To The Big Cement Job

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Cal Bohme recalls the meeting that was held around the 16th or 17th of March wherein it was decided to try to shoot off the drill pipe to enable more fluid to be pumped down. K,C, "Casey'' Ball came over from Lloydminster with nitroglycerin. It was in a carrier, merely a galvanized tube that looked very similar to a down spout or drain pipe. The idea of the rubber plug was to ensure that the drill pipe was clear so that the nitro shots could be run to total depth. But the first rubber wiper plug only got to 2,700 ft. The next day they pumped in several more of these plugs and chased them down to 5,290 ft. At that time the measuring line stuck in the hole. March 19 was spent trying to free this. Then the line cutter stuck. Casey was then told he wouldn't be running his nitro because of the fish in the hole. He packed up his equipment with his torpedoes and disappeared down the road.

Big Cement Job at Imperial No. 3Now that the wire and fish were inside the drill pipe below 2,000 ft., a possible alternative was to perforate the drill pipe using a McCullough perforating gun small enough to go inside the drill pipe. This was on its way from California on March 20. Unfortunately, it could only get down as far as 1,965ft. and it was fired there.

Heavy mud was then pumped down to kill the well, but this only disappeared into the D-3 where other mud and cement plugs had gone. If the plugs had been calculated to just balance the D-3 bottom hole pressure, it might have been possible to plug off the annulus above the D-3 without blocking the perforations at 1,965 ft. in the drill pipe.

The craters developing around the well bore had now created such a fire hazard that the Atlantic No. 3 boilers had to be shut down. Steam lines were then hooked up to the boilers at the GP steam rig drilling Imperial Leduc No. 48. (This rig was later skidded a short distance east to West Relief.) Imperial Oil had already consented to the use of both the rig and the well bore for the struggle at Atlantic No. 3.

Paul Bedard tells the story of Dave Gray helping him to test a tubing line laid from Imperial Leduc No. 48 to Atlantic No. 3. This line was intended to be used for water or mud. Because it would be operating at high pressures, Halliburton was to start up the pumps and Gray was to gradually open up the well. When Gray cocked the well open, the line began to snake and lift under the pressure. Paul accused Dave of trying to kill him!

There was a severe shortage of tubular goods. In order to lay one of the lines from No. 48 to No. 3 for cement slurry and/or mud, 5 in. drill pipe was brought up from the Valley. This turned out to be in 45ft. lengths and required "the biggest set of chain tongs that were ever seen". Bill McKellar had them brought out from town and it took two men just to pick them up. Hugh Leiper and Jack Emslie thought that they could speed up the process by hiring a team of horses to pull the pipe into place. Unfortunately, this scheme didn't work; the team bolted and they were out all of $2! Back to hand- hauling the drill pipe!

Several versions of comic/tragic events have emerged over the years, invariably embellished and invariably incorrect as to the people involved and the times. As recently as 1985, Ralph Horley (more of him later) was contacted by a person who said he had the real story of the out-house. It was a tool push nicknamed "Sailor" who had gone out to the privy for a smoke.

To set the record straight on this event, here is what really happened. By March 27, smoking was strictly forbidden; those who really needed a drag were told to go over to the No. 48 boiler house. Cliff Covey was reluctant to ask his driller Bill Murray for time off for a cigarette, partly because they didn't get along too well. So he decided to sneak a smoke in the privy, which by now was also bubbling gas and oil. The results: an explosion, with Covey making a hasty departure from the premises. A desperate battle to put the fire out ensued. This was successful by spreading large quantities of dry aquagel "mud", some of the men carrying a 100 lb. sack under each arm. The steam line was hooked up and it also helped douse the flames. Hugh Leiper, who helped put the fire out by swatting at it with wet gunny sacks, states: "I don't know how we did it".3 Two people vie for the "honour" of taking Covey to Wetaskiwin: Dave Gray and Bill McKellar. Another person said an ambulance was used!

Bedard recalls having a Halliburton Waukesha gasoline engine-powered wagon on the No. 3 lease. This had an added hazard in that the exhaust pipe pointed directly downward and melted the frozen ground beneath the wagon. The boys would move the truck from spot to spot around the rig so as to try and stay on frozen ground which did not crater. Shortly after the Covey incident, Cody appeared, "How are you doing?" Well we are moving the truck around to avoid the gas." When he found out that Covey had been scorched, he ordered Pettinger to shut the Waukesha motor down immediately. "We'll winch you out", Cody roared, despite the protests of Bedard and Pettinger, who said they could drive the wagon out. Pettinger went on: "You didn't know who you were taking orders from". Cody would change his mind and, as the well became harder to handle, he became more difficult to get along with.

When the well blew out, spraying oil over several farmers' lands, the press coverage alerted the insurers to the potential for heavy surface loss claims. The following exchange of correspondence is particularly informative.

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