As Appalachian basin drilling rapidly increases, Alpha Hunter Drilling has continued to seek methods of ensuring streamlined logistics and enhancing its total safety targeting program (TSTP). Alpha has identified these as the keystones for being a major player in these booming shale plays.

Over the years Alpha Hunter has used Schramm drilling rigs. The company’s working relationship with Schramm has created a mutual benefit. Alpha Hunter has been an instrumental resource for Schramm by offering relevant input and feedback for implementing designs and construction based on tested methods and field data.

With vital field input, Schramm’s most recently created rig – the T500XD – is tailored to the needs of the driller and therefore the operator. This evolution is essential to set a standard for being a high-level competitor in drilling. Alpha has a fleet of six rigs (five TXD 200s and one T500XD) with plans of adding an additional T500XD in the near term. With these rigs Alpha Hunter is successfully completing wells in the Appalachian basin in 2013 at a rate 66% higher than during the same time in 2012. The company expects significant increases in 2014.

The decision to invest in the new rig was made after careful consideration of projected cost savings that would be passed on to the operator. The rig’s capacities achieve Alpha’s TSTP goals along with streamlined logistics through complete automation. The company recognized the cost savings as major selling points for choosing a driller.

Streamlined logistics

Alpha Hunter determined that the use of the new rig results in a total cost savings to the operator of approximately US $2 million per year through its streamlined logistics. Some of the notable elements are the rig’s ease of mobility, ability to drastically reduce the number of truckloads for moves, quick conversion between air and mud drilling systems, and ability to drill a well from start to finish – including the top hole – all with a greatly reduced footprint.

For mobility, moving a rig alone typically would require 38 truckloads. Moving the T500XD requires only 10 truckloads. When translated into a complete site move, what would typically require 110 to 120 truckloads is reduced by half – 50 to 60 truckloads. Every operator and driller can further translate that to a drastic reduction in cost.

The T500XD is rated at a 500,000-lb hook load and offers best-in-class 35,000 ft-lbs of top drive torque, third-party directional steering interface, and 80,000 lbs of hydraulic pulldown capacity. This rig is designed for horizontal and directional drilling to a total depth of 5,791 m (19,000 ft). The rig can precisely control weight on bit without relying on drill-collars and gross string weight alone.

Limitations of moving left to right on a multiwell pad have been addressed on the new rig with its 360› Pad Walking System. The system eliminates the need to rig down and rig back up, which can take two to six days and cost $100,000 or more. The walking system operates on hydraulics, which are located within each corner of the sub-base.

Start-to-finish drilling

With 35,000 ft-lbs of top drive torque, the rig can efficiently drill the top hole and lateral to total depths. It is well suited to the Utica and other US shale plays. This enables Alpha Hunter to maximize the use of other rigs in its fleet. The T500XD has the ability to “push” or “pull” the drillstring to optimize drilling methods and acclimate tools to local geology, saving time and cutting the overall cost.

The rig can be easily switched from air to mud by closing one valve, opening another, and switching a couple of hoses. The T500XD can run any 5,000-psi mud system or multiple air packs – up to 5,000 psi.

“The T500XD requires fewer total truckloads as well as fewer permit loads, both of which are advantages for the terrain in Appalachia,” Jim Denny, president and COO of Alpha Hunter Drilling, said. “Once on a pad location, its ability to efficiently move 360° saves time and money as we move from well to well. Also, since we were heavily involved in the design of the rig and ancillary equipment, the rig transitions from air to fluid drilling easily and can of drill all of our Marcellus and Utica horizontal wells.”

Automation targets safety

The almost complete automation of what Alpha Hunter Drilling has come to call the “robotic rig” has made huge advances in Alpha’s TSTP. The LoadSafe XD pipe-handling system can handle 24-in.-diameter Range III tubular weighing up to 10,000 lbs hands-free. Drillpipe is racked in the horizontal position for easy loading and offloading.

The iron roughneck can make or break connections, also hands-free. Alpha Hunter’s commitment to safety is highlighted with Loadsafe and the hydraulic slips.

The climate-controlled control room is another component that supports and enables the hands-free drilling operations and adds one more level of protection between both the moving parts of the machinery and natural elements of the outside environment. Most drilling and tripping functions are joystick-controlled and supported by computerized displays and wireless remote connectivity.

Acclimating to the enclosed control room and complete automation requires a little recalibration for drillers. They are used to reading signs based on what they see, how the ground feels, and what the rig sounds like as it interacts with the ground. Once transitioned to relying on the displays as the primary communication between the rig and ground, benefits of the control room are fully realized.