Velowander

Day 37 Ellinwood, KS oil facility tour with Greg

Top: tank battery - the taller tank is the "gun barrel" where separation of the oil and water takes place, the other tanks are the "stock tanks" which store the oil until collection; Bottom: "pumpjack" for lifting the oil artificially from the ground using secondary recovery, typical of mature wells (a "gushing well" like you see in the movies doesn't need artificial lift).

Greg works in the oil industry, so he took us to visit several operating oil production facilities, including a drilling rig, a completion rig, a tank battery (I put my finger in the tank and covered it in oil; that photo may show up on Maggie's blog; Mag also got a video of the oil pouring in the holding tank from the so called "gun barrel" that separates the oil and water; it uses a special chemical to assist separating the oil and water). He showed us how the drilling crew inserts the casing and the completion crew inserts the tubing, and showed the oil/gas separation machine and the oil/water separation machine.

We also saw some wild turkeys & quail & 3 abused puppies that had unfortunately been abandoned in the heat. Greg called the sheriff's department to help the puppies.

Labels: Bike Touring

posted by David @ 7:06 PM