WTF is Coring?
0:00 Welcome back to Energy 101. Today we have Courtney Rubin and we are going to be talking about Coring. You can see we got some props on the table. Very exciting. I'm very excited. I literally have
0:12 no idea what Coring is. So I was I was going to start I was going to start with that. I was going to ask you. What do you think Coring is just you hear the word? You see it. What do you what do
0:23 you think? Where do you think we're going today? Are aren't core samples a thing? Is that rock core? Ross, yes, yes, all right. That's the episode.
0:34 Yeah. So why don't you kind of just explain the industry in general? Your personal experience behind it. And yeah, it's kind of get into it. Yeah, thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here.
0:45 A lot of people don't know what Coring is. So that's why I am excited to kind of, you know, dive into the differences. So specifically my team works in conventional coring, which means we have
0:58 our own bottom hole assembly. So we're recovering core vertically in the well bore. So I'll show you like, this is a sample of the rock that you're gonna take from the well. So like this is a core
1:12 sample, depending on the whole size, four inch is kind of normal. So it's a four inch outer diameter. And then once my team brings it to surface, we ship it off to the lab for analysis. So core
1:25 is just a rock Yes, essentially, whatever rock is downhill and why do we need to know that? Right, so it's all about data and formation evaluation. So there's lots of different measurements or
1:39 methods that we have in the industry to get this data, but core, we call it the ground truth. I mean, we're literally bringing the sample to surface in order to do all this testing and depending
1:50 on the client and who wants the data, everyone has a different use for it, whether it's geologists, petrophysicists, reservoir So it's really about bringing the sample to surface and then shipping
2:05 it off to the lab and they do all the analysis. And then that data gets sent to the client and they can put it into their models or calibrate logs. So lots of different uses for it. I feel like I
2:16 have so many questions, but before we like dive super deep into that,
2:23 you started out in the field. You worked in the field I feel like not super uncommon, but you're a woman in the field, which is really cool. I always love like hearing experiences and things from
2:35 your perspective. But can you just tell us like where you're from, how you got an oil and gas and where you started? Yeah, so my father is in the oil field and he honestly tried to keep me out of
2:49 it, I think. So I'm from West Virginia, born and raised I did my undergrad and my - graduate degree studies at West Virginia University. So shout out. Wolverines. Mountaineers. Mountaineers.
3:03 That's a funny thing. I've been in Texas off and on since 2011, and a lot of people in Texas don't even realize West Virginia is a state, let alone we have a petroleum engineering department. And
3:14 I was about to say, do they have oil and gas in West Virginia? We do, yeah. So I mean, there's lots of different oil and gas operations going on in the Northeast They're a little less in the
3:25 limelight because a lot of it's gas relative to oil, but we still have oil up there too, so. The Marcellus trickles into it, right? It's Marcellus in terms of the unconventional place. So yeah,
3:36 Marcellus and Utica are the two big plays up there, but prior to the unconventional industry, you know, boom, the shale boom, lots of conventional work, shallow work, conventional in terms of
3:49 oil. And now we do a lot of storage up there as well Awesome, is that where you started out? In the field, is it in West Virginia? No, interestingly enough, I mean, yes and no, out of my
3:59 undergrad, so my undergrad was geology. I worked briefly as an operations geologist and I quickly realized like I really needed some field experience. And so I took an opportunity. They shipped me
4:11 off to South Texas. I was in my early 20s. Yeah. Around Pierce Hall, Khatula. So that was during the unconventional, so we were targeting Eagleford. Now there's still a lot of Eagleford
4:23 development, Austin Chalk, but yeah, so I cut my teeth, so to say, and in South Texas, I started out mud logging, which is analyzing the cuttings. So when you drill a well, typically what you
4:36 bring to surface is just fragments of this rock, right? That's the cuttings. So you can do a lot of analysis on cuttings, but not like you can, the solid piece of rock. So I didn't mud logging
4:48 for a while, and then I did MWD, so it's part of the directional side, measurement while drilling I really enjoyed that, that was fun. And I did some geo-steering as well, which is helping us
4:58 stay in the target zone as we go out laterally. And yeah, so it's been a wild ride. So everything. I know, I feel like we could do so many topics with you. That's a lot of experience, that's
5:11 awesome. Is mud logging just like a cheaper way of doing this? Pretty much, yeah. So a lot of, not all wells obviously core and not all wells still do cut-ins analysis. It all depends on what
5:24 the well's purpose is and what data they need. So it's very. Yeah. You're part of like the first frost, like the first stage of any kind of exploration, right? Right, so it's. Literally the
5:35 ENP exploration and, what's the ENP? Production. Production. So I feel like one of the first things that we haven't had an episode about this yet is seismic. That's kind of one of the first
5:46 things you can do where it's like, there's nothing. It's just ground and land and they shoot waves and we'll save it for another episode. And then other ways to kind of see what's down there is
5:57 there's drilling a hole and doing core samples, there's a wire line, which we just did in episode at Massielle. So like, are these all things that you do, you have to do seismic wire line coring,
6:07 or do you pick one, you do a mix of them? Like, how does that work? Yeah, it's very client dependent, every client's different. 'Cause obviously we're not coring just for oil and gas. Like
6:16 right now there's a big push in new energy, but it's all exploration based So depending on each well it's, do they need more data for that area, right? 'Cause once a rig moves in, like they've
6:31 already decided pretty much what the plan is, right? So this is all very preliminary before you figure out how to develop an asset, right? All the science and data is done first and then you start
6:44 doing, you know, the big multi-well pads and all that, that stuff that gets more attention but all of this is very in the beginning. And it's very important, but oftentimes I don't think we've
6:57 talked about it a lot. So because it's not done on every well. And so like you said, typically if you're going into a new area, you don't have any offset wells, you don't have any data, then
7:10 conventional core, wire line, open hole wire line. Like you said, I watched my CL's episode. So I know a little bit about wire line, my dad's an old wire line hand So wire line's a big part of
7:22 it. I mean, there's just various methods and it just depends on honestly what the client wants and needs and wants to pay for, right? Yeah. You know what's interesting is that you said it's like,
7:34 it doesn't even have to be oil and gas, right? So it's like, you can drill, I mean, just to take like a super layman's approach. Like you can just be a company that has the tech and workforce to
7:46 do it. You can go out in a spot you think has any kind mineral oil or whatever hydrocarbons you go 10, 000 feet and you get core samples of everything, and then you can just pick and choose who's
7:56 out there. Like, oh, we found lithium here for the people who want lithium. We found gas here. We found shale. Do you find that out from the core samples, or are you finding out how to drill
8:07 into? I mean, it's more about, so for conventional, like literally it's finding oil. So right now, we're more so in the unconventional, which is targeting shale's and so it's just, it's a very
8:20 different dynamic So back, like the corn industry has evolved a lot over the years because we used to literally have to find oil, right? But now with shale plays, we're going straight to the
8:31 source. So we're taking longer cores. Our equipment has been advancing over the years. So it's, like you said, it's very,
8:43 I think everyone just assumes oil and gas, but we're drilling wells and we're doing a lot for storage, saltwater disposal or gas storage or Lithium exploration or uranium or geothermal, carbon
8:56 capture is really big right now. That's so lots of different reasons why we're drilling these wells, but also needing the data. Yeah, just to finish my point, like if y'all are going down to get
9:08 oil or gas, like something specific that you're targeting. And on the way, one of your samples has like lithium in it. Like is that literally like, oh shit, we got lithium in here. Let's find
9:16 this. Well, not necessarily. I mean, normally when you move into an area, you already know what you're targeting I mean, there are, we call them wild cat wells. I mean, that's when it's
9:26 really have no data, right? But there's so much legacy data that typically we know what we're looking for, right? I mean, but that is how, I guess things have evolved over the years, right?
9:38 It's a simple way to look at it. Right, because we used to bypass the shells when we were looking for oil. But now we're going back and studying the shells. And the same thing, like for CCS,
9:47 we're storing carbon in the ground in these plays that we used to ignore. So it all just depends on what we're targeting, so. Okay, so how do you get the sample? Does the sample actually look
10:02 like that? Yes, so we get it out of the ground. Well, this is slabbed. Okay, so that's what my team does. It's purely bringing the core to surface. So this is an example of a core bit. Oh.
10:16 So typically your drill bit doesn't have a hole in it. Right, right. Okay, I'm like, it looks similar Right, so I mean, obviously it's bigger. An actual, this is just a model. But this is an
10:26 example. So we trip to core point. They've drilled to their section that they want to start coring. And then we trip in with our whole assembly, depending on how much core they want. And with
10:37 coring, you're essentially creating your own fish. So like any time you lose something in a well, you have to go fishing, right? You're trying to recover something out of a well. But what I like
10:49 to explain with coring you're carving out this column of rock and then you're bringing it to surface. So you're basically creating your own fish. And then you don't really know what you have until
11:00 you get to surface either. So it's really a very interesting operation. How does it get, how does it actually come up with like? Right. I know it's confusing but - The hole is this small, but
11:14 the core is this big. So what exactly? Well, this is just a model, right? So the actual core bit is much bigger. So this would fit inside. And a hole. Yes. But how does it like come up? So
11:27 this whole bottom hole assembly is in, there's a inner tube. So you fill the inner tube with the core and then there's a catcher inside here
11:39 called a spring type catcher. I called a Chinese finger trap. So basically - Oh, that's a great way of explaining It grabs the core, breaks it from the well, holds it. and that's how you get the
11:51 core to surface. Okay. And then laying it down as a whole other - Yeah, go through that. Yeah, so that's actually one of the pictures is what the core looks like. Yeah, hold on, show it a
12:03 class. Yes, so with the core in operation, there's really three parts. So there's cutting the core, which my team does, and once we get the core to surface, we lay it out here for processing,
12:13 and this is where they prepare it for shipment to the lab for analysis. How long is the core? Is that, that's not piped? That's actually, that's an inner tube that's full of core. So it's like
12:23 actually that long, the sample. So each segment is 30 feet long, and so depending on how much core they want, like this example was a 300 foot run that we did. So we were able to cut all 300 feet,
12:36 bring it to surface, you lay it out in these 30 foot sections, and then we process it, which typically means orientating it, putting a stripe on the barrel to make sure doesn't get turned around.
12:50 which, you know, making sure that it stays in its original. Yeah, they keep the puzzle pieces in order. Right, making sure it doesn't get mixed up, right? Because the whole purpose of coring,
13:02 like it's our job to bring high quality core to surface, which means we wanna try to keep it as much in its natural state as possible.
13:11 But when
13:15 you bring core to surface, things change 'cause you're bringing a rock from a very high pressure area up to surface. So it's kind of like a scuba diver. So it's interesting when you core and you're
13:23 tripping to surface to lay down the core, you actually have to slow down because if you trip too fastly, it's kind of like - The pressure in your ears? Right, so that pressure can break the rock
13:34 up. Wow. Yeah, so it's really a neat
13:40 situation where the lab will actually calculate bubble point, which is where that
13:47 the liquid. inside the rock will turn into a gas form. And that's what can cause that burst. And so we want to avoid that, right? So we slow down and allow the core to depressurize and degas so
14:01 that when you get it to surface, the core is still in its complete position. So then when you take it to testing or whatever is next, you're basically saying, okay, at this, you know, at this
14:14 section, you have all of this going on inside of the rock Right, so the lab is going to do all the testing, whether they're looking for oil or gas or lithium. Like it's all very dependent on what
14:27 type of reservoir they're targeting and, you know, what kind of testing they're going to do. So sponge coring is a neat one. So like I mentioned, whenever you trip to surface, you're
14:39 depressurizing and degassing. So you actually lose some of that formation fluid. And so this liner is going to absorb some of that oil. So we do a lot of sponge coring and EOR operations enhanced
14:54 oil recovery when they're trying to figure out how much oil is still down there and can we recover it? So sponge coring is a really interesting. That's really cool. Is that like kind of a new
15:05 technology? No, it's not, but
15:09 it's - What is it made out of? I'm not really sure what the sponge liner, but it's proprietary too. Is
15:18 adding, pass it around the class, is adding it expensive. So sponge corn is one of our more costly operations. So it's like you're adding it to like 300 feet, like you said in one run, so 300
15:31 feet of adding this, like double triples to cost perhaps. Well, sponge corn is very unique too. You can only do it in 30 foot sections because you have to actually pressurize this system. Wow.
15:43 Yeah, Spongebob or anything. So when is that? Oh, you said in EORs, they would use that. Is there another use case where they would use that? Right now, there probably is, I've only seen it
15:54 in enhanced oil recovery. So when you're trying to get a more accurate oil and place measurement, because like I mentioned, when you trip, you lose some of that fluid. So you're still not getting
16:06 an exact measurement, 'cause that's the whole point of this, is to get a true measurement. And the reason that you're gonna core versus wire line sometimes, is that all of that's called an
16:16 indirect measurement, right? You're sending tools down whole, and it's taking measurements, but you're not directly, like this is a very direct measurement, right?
16:28 You don't say. And we use this data to calibrate those logs as well, to make sure that they're as accurate as possible. Interesting, okay. I feel like I had such a different
16:40 in my head when I saw the samples, I did not think it was like. this huge operation. I was like, oh, they just pull a little, but a pretty sample will take that up there. But it makes sense
16:49 that you do the whole thing so you can know your whole well. Yeah. I mean, we're not asking the very dumb question, which is, can you look at it with your eyes and be like, oh, there's the oil.
16:59 Actually, so sometimes, yeah, I've seen samples come to surface oozing oil. So that's so cool. What about like a slither of like gold or lithium in there, anything like that? I've never seen
17:13 that 'Cause honestly, like in that picture, we don't actually get to see the core a lot of times. 'Cause they keep it in a casing. Do you ever go to the lab? I do occasionally go to the lab and
17:21 that's where I've been able to snag these samples. Yeah. Yeah, so do they take it out of the. Sometimes you do, but most of the time, the goal is to keep it as unbothered as possible, right?
17:36 Even through testing. Oh no, once they get it to the lab, then they unpack it Okay, and they. That's whenever they actually slab it because this is called slabbing where they cut it to make a
17:47 flat surface and they've taken plugs. So that's what I wanted to mention too. So wire line takes sidewall cores, which is very different from the core that we cut, right? Sidewall cores are taken
18:01 from the wall of the well bore and ours is vertically, right? So it's a different orientation, it's a smaller amount of rock, but these are still valuable information, but whole core gives you a
18:13 lot more rock to do a lot more testing with a larger surface area, especially for like geomechanics data, whole core. It's the top of the line, right? Because it's a more costly operation,
18:27 that's part of the issue. Is it the rig time associated with it? But the data that you get out of it is higher, right? But then the labs will go back and take the plugs in sections that they want
18:39 to test more also.
18:42 These can come directly from the well or from the core sample. Do they then, do y'all then take it back to the company and be like, this is your sample? Like do y'all take little samples back or
18:53 do they just get the data and the spreadsheet? Basically. Honestly, it's probably a mix. Okay. Again, I don't deal with anything past this operation. Okay, okay, okay. I have an idea of what
19:04 goes on at the labs but everyone has their specific means of what they focus on Yeah. And that's what's so interesting about it is like, this is all my team does, right? So, okay, so y'all only
19:17 do coring and then you send it to like a third party lab. That does all the testing. And they can choose their own lab. Right, the client is choosing who cuts the core and then they choose who
19:28 analyzes the core. Okay. And then the data goes back to the client and then they use it however they want. That makes sense, yeah. So if you started drilling your hole to get coring samples and
19:38 stuff like that, Is that whole technically like a starting point for. if they're like, okay, let's drill here. Like, so you're kind of like helping start. Right, so it's like you said, it's
19:49 the exploration phase. So a client's gonna decide, you know, is this reservoir, you know, is this worth developing, right? We hope it is, but sometimes it's not. So that's what's really
20:01 interesting about offshore coring. Yeah, I wanted to talk about that. Ooh. Yeah. Yeah, I didn't know that was, yeah. Every time we talk, every time we cover like some kind of small niche
20:10 industry in the oil and gas industry, it's like, okay, well, how does that work offshore? Oh, sure, right. And it's always like a slightly different answer or crazy different answer, so.
20:18 Yeah, 'cause offshore, I mean, it's a totally different animal, right? Do you have experience? I went once, right before COVID, so it was a - You actually went offshore? I didn't, I would go
20:27 into a drill ship and - Was it the golf or? The golf, yeah. Was it? How was your experience? Is it cool? It was amazing, but I learned a valuable lesson because they don't always core, which
20:38 is interesting We'll spend years planning offshore projects. and then they'll get to core point and they'll run logs and they'll say, you know, whether they want a core or not. So you're investing
20:52 lots of time and money into these exploration wells and they're not always gonna core, you know? So we - So did y'all or not? On that well, we did not. We went, we planned for years, we get out
21:04 there, we have the barrel racked back, ready to go. And then they say, no, we're not coring. Because they had already the data they needed? No, I mean, it just - Yeah, I mean, they were
21:14 like, do we save money? No, it's not, I mean, they were ready to core, but whatever they discovered down hall wasn't necessarily what they found, like they didn't wanna core it. Oh. So
21:25 whether they, you know, it's just very dependent upon, 'cause in that sense, most of your offshore operations, you are still, it's very, you're, you know, you're striking oil, you're looking
21:38 for oil. Yeah, were you disappointed? Oh yeah. Oh my gosh. I mean, it's cool that you got to go out there and like experience it though. Yeah, I was, I mean, the drill ship in itself is just
21:47 such an amazing feat of engineering. To work at, yeah. Oh yeah, it's amazing. Did you do helicopter escape training? Yes, that's fantastic. That was not fun. No. Can you freak out? I would
22:00 have freaked out. I freaked out a little bit too. What does it call? Hewitt. Hewitt. Can't remember what it stands for. Is that like a last name? And it's just they know that there's some more
22:07 - It's like Hewitt. It's like more helicopter underwater
22:11 I care what it stands for, training. Anyone who goes offshore does what happens when the helicopter crashes into the ocean and you have to escape training, basically, right? Oh yeah, it's a
22:21 whole helicopter crash simulation to where you're submerged and you have to get out and swim out. Helicopter underwater escape training. Okay. So that's underwater escape training. Yes, yes. Let
22:34 me get back into like basic core questions.
22:39 Yeah accuracy-wise? Let's say it's like, okay, we want to go, we want to go down and start a run, right? You said like 300 feet is typical, maybe? It totally depends. So let's say, okay, we
22:50 want to start exactly at 3, 750 and at 3, 000 or 4, 050, right? Like and get that perfect, like by the foot 300. Like, can y'all do that? Or does it matter? No, it all just runs off of the
23:03 EDR of typical like drilling. So we have, you know, we're tracking the depth as we're coring, yeah. And it's like by the foot accurate, pretty much. It's close, yeah. Yeah, I don't know,
23:16 yeah, I have no idea how we like even measure that or even like altitude. It's like, oh, when you're climbing a mountain and you're watching, like your iPhone tells you, like, oh, you're at 1,
23:26 322 feet. It's like how accurate is that? Yeah, but that's one thing I learned in the field. So the whole way that they track the depth of the well is by measuring the pipe. They physically go
23:36 out there and measure the pipe and the input, it's called the pipe chalet. So if those are off, then your pipe child can get off, but it's purely by measuring the joints of pipe that you're
23:48 running down. Really expensive rulers, basically. Yeah.
23:51 Another, one more core question while we're in the hole. So let's say we're, it's like you wanna start doing a run 5, 000 feet in, right? So you have to go 5, 000 feet of just drilling. Right.
24:03 Just whatever, like the rocks are garbage. Then you start, then can you go again? Yeah. Like basically, what do you do? Like you drill, pull out, put in the tool, pull out, like how does it
24:14 work? There's different technologies, but what we find the most, I guess, works best for most, yeah, efficient. You have your drilling BHA, you drilled a core point, you trip out, you pick
24:26 up the core in BHA, you core your section, trip out with the core, lay down the core. If you wanna go back in for more core, you can. Or if you need a drill, like you said,
24:37 So it's a lot of tripping, a lot of going in and out. Right, is there like some kind of advanced tool in a work where it's like, it can just drill and then like transform and so - There are tools
24:47 like that. Really, oh shit, you know what I'm saying? So it's like, you gotta drill, you gotta, you wanna go down 5, 000 feet to start getting the core, right? You gotta just kind of drill
24:56 the garbage away to get there. But once you get there, you have to pull out and go to the coring one. You gotta put the tool on and go back. What if the tool can just like transform and then you
25:07 get the core and she's saying that literally exists. Interesting, yeah. But it's costly and you can't run as much core with those assembly. So there's all different classes and minuses to all the
25:17 technologies because that's what's interesting about core too is that a lot of times we're called, it's called a recording blind, right? So we don't have a lot of downhill like MWD tools on our
25:30 assemblies. We're using parameters, just your typical wait on bit, pump pressure all to indicate what's going on down hole. So with coring, one of the most common instances of having to trip
25:43 early is called a core jam. So essentially, you're no longer coring and the rock has wedged off somewhere in the assembly and you have to trip the surface and clear the jam. So one of our solutions
25:54 for core jamming, it's called jam buster. So the way it works, there's two telescoping sleeves inside the assembly. So whenever you jam, they will activate and kind of encapsulate your jam and
26:06 move it up along. So you can keep coring instead of having to trip to clear that obstruction. So we have different technologies. Jambusters, definitely one of the ones we use a lot with these long
26:17 barrels, because that's been a whole other industry shift, because a lot of previous coring was 30, 60, 90 feet, but then with the shale boom and our tool evolution over the years, and
26:29 especially our core bits. All the technology combined is allowing us to core these longer barrels, so it saves reg time, 'cause that's what's really important, is to reduce NPT or non-productive
26:39 time, because to be honest, drilling guys really hate corn, 'cause it's a slow operation. 'Cause you have to go slower. Right. What isn't, you know. It's, but the geologists, you know, they
26:51 love it, right? So it's always, as a chlorine person, we have to play the middleman between balancing the drilling operation and what the geologist is The job normally takes. It's totally
27:03 dependent on how much core they want, but it can take a day to a few weeks. Okay. It just depends. Yeah. Do you still go out to the field? Not for job training. Lately, I used to. So the one
27:15 advantage I had was I did train with these guys. I think I mentioned, so the first year, I was just out with them, training, learning the tools, so then I could go and talk to clients about it
27:26 And so. I still, I should probably go out more to be honest. I think as we get older, we get a little more relaxed with avoiding the field - Totally, yeah. It's hard. Yeah. I can't imagine.
27:42 The field is tough, for sure. Yeah. Let's get into the horizontal side of it. 'Cause like, if you're going thousands of feet down, you're passing all kinds of layers. I mean, like, that's
27:52 literally how just geology works. Like everything stacks, like pancakes So you're passing so much information going down. And the whole point of horizontal drilling is I wanna go into this one
28:03 pancake, let's just, right? So like, is there even a point of coring sideways? 'Cause if you're in the shale zone you wanna be in, then you start going sideways, it's all gonna just be the same,
28:15 right? We think, yeah. But in reality, it probably changes, though, especially. You hit a little Yeah, so like is that with the. Horizontal drilling being so big in the last decade like is
28:29 this are we coring sideways right now? We do but it's normally from what I've seen. It's actually they're interested in Looking at the fracture. So actually it's going into an area After they've
28:41 tracked it to map how well their prop it has you know move throughout their their zone. So That's the application. I've seen for horizontal Coring But typically we are vertical. It's you know,
28:59 like you said the layers are Typically laminated. So you're collecting all the data that way and
29:08 Yeah, I don't know if there's Most of the time, you know, once you start going out laterally you are supposed to be in the same rock, right? What whether you are or not? Everyone did their job,
29:17 right?
29:19 So if you're if I don't know if you know I have experience with the fracking, but we kind of talked about this with waterline like it's mold. There's multiple uses you're not just you're going after
29:27 the fracks done. So like you're not just in an early stage, you're now in a later stage, Coring has like a new purpose, right? But if you wanna go down and check the frack, you gotta go, let's
29:37 say it's 10, 000 feet down. Like are you going on a whole next to it? Like are you drilling right on the side of it? Are you going down to the casing hole? Like how do you go down there and check
29:47 if you're going on a lot of roll? Check. You said they checked the post-fracking. Yeah, you're just, you're going in I mean, they've drilled that well for a variety of reasons, right? But the
29:59 one I can think of where we went horizontal, yeah, you just trip in like you would have the drilling assembly, but with our coring assembly and get laid out. Yeah, oh, the hole's empty. So
30:09 everyone's out, you go in, right? Okay. Well, we're making the hole, right? Because you need the rock. Oh, right, right. Right. So we're actually, we're still making hole, but we're
30:21 going slower to coring Just sounds so simple. It's like you go down there boom but it's like it's so complex. Like, you know, of course, it is, yeah. Wait, so in that example, obviously they
30:32 already have a well drilled. Do you go next to it or something? That's what I was saying. Yeah, I think that probably was a nearby well. Right, okay, yeah. I'm sure there's like a super
30:42 complex way to describe it, but I'm looking for the easy answer, and it's just, it doesn't exist.
30:49 So you get all these cores, you know, hundreds of feet.
30:54 What do you do with them? Like, what they're here right now is like an example, they're like little trophies, like little knickknacks, like what it's actually used like. Handel holders. Like,
31:04 theoretically, there are millions of feet of cores that we've taken out the ground. It doesn't like, we need to put them back, and it's not like environmentally, it's like, oh, we gotta put the
31:12 rock back. It's like, it's just rocks, like who cares? Like, what are some of the, like, is there an industry, like that helps dispose of the cores, or? I'm not sure about that. I do know,
31:22 I mean, once the core gets to the lab, some labs charge storage fees so that the core stays there for the client and they can come and retest and visit their rock or do, you know, it's their rock,
31:35 right? They could do whatever they want with it. And then it gets to a point though where they give it away, right? That's why I have. I know, I want some. I know, it's hard to get your hands
31:46 on, trust me. It's not easy, but. I bet there's like some core art where like, they have like beautiful pieces and they made like staggering They do a lot of lamps with sections of core, it's
31:57 pretty. Of course. Yeah, I,
32:01 I don't know how to explain him. Someone who used me in my life, he was like my stepdad. He gave, he was a geologist. Okay. And he gave me a big rock for my wedding gift. And I don't know what
32:12 it was. I don't know if he's a bull or what kind of rock or anything like that, but he always gave like big like designer rocks. Oh, I love it, yeah. Yes, it is, it was really heavy. I don't
32:25 think I think one time I just, I feel really bad, but I didn't bring it with me when I moved because I'm like, It's heavy. Oh, yeah, because I've had to cut down on my rock collection over the
32:34 years because I've moved so much in this industry that I'm like, I'm just tired of hauling all these rocks. Wait around.
32:42 That's hilarious. That's kind of getting to the future and the technology at all So it's like, you're grabbing a few hundred feet at a time. Do we want to grab more? Like, do we want to be able
32:57 to grab like 2, 000 foot samples? Well, it's interesting you say that because that is kind of where this industry is going, right? Like I said, we're trying to be more efficient with our rig
33:08 time and capturing longer sections per run
33:13 So like a recent record that we set in Canada was 820 feet in a single run. a recent record we set in the Permian, I think it was 630 or so per run. So it all just depends on the formation. So
33:29 that's with Corin, it's all about if your rock is user-friendly or not. So hard rock cores really well, because if you think about it, once you turn it into a column, it has to have the weight of
33:42 itself in that assembly. I mean, it's very heavy, right? Like you said, just this one piece is heavy You imagine hundreds of feet of core in this assembly, right? So that column needs to be
33:53 able to hold the weight of itself, because when you move into like CCS, which is we're targeting softer rocks commonly. And so the lower strength rocks, we core them completely differently. So
34:07 that's one thing, it's all about the rock and the strength, and whether we're expecting a lot of formation changes or fractures or faulting, Because all of those things can cause the jams. like I
34:20 mentioned, so you have to trip and clear the jam or a jam buster can save you. But what's really interesting about the soft sediment, we have a different tool for that. So it completely shuts off
34:34 the face of the core of it. And so nothing can fall out because with softer sediment, essentially it can just fall right out of the barrel. That's crazy. Like just stuff's been underground for
34:45 like millions of years and the second the pressure's gone, it can break apart. Right That's crazy. Yeah. What about like AI is like, and so for like everything you've explained, it's like, it
34:55 seems like y'all kind of know what y'all are, like, you know, kind of figured it out. It's like, we're like at peak coring, I feel like, like what can we possibly improve on and can AI even
35:04 like do anything in this industry? Yeah, so like I mentioned, there are different technologies. Like we have one called co-pilot, which is putting basically an MWD tool on top of the core barrel
35:16 so it's giving you more specific down hold. parameters to give you better decision-making about whether you're coring or you're jammed, but I Don't know what AI holds for us. I hope you know
35:27 with with all of these new introductions of data and analyzing it and like to me Pattern recognition I feel like would be really helpful to see which core Which rock core is better than others, right?
35:42 That's interesting. Yeah, so maybe I'm sure we'll get there
35:47 Let's maybe go back to some of the personal stuff or your your previous experience You mentioned online that like you've worked in ten different states. Is that about right? Yeah, probably more now.
35:59 Yeah So what I want to do is kind of like compare the culture Between like the states you've worked in and stuff, you know, like you can assume like the the culture and the vibe of like People in
36:11 Midland compared to like in Kansburg or whatever in Pittsburgh and the Marcellus and stuff like What have you experienced, and is there any like, interesting stories to share? Yeah, I mean, I
36:21 think that's what I love about this industry the most. Are there all the different people that I've worked with and met? I mean, I'm a girl from West Virginia. I had no idea what I was getting
36:32 into. And my father said that. He said, you're way too naive to go work on a drilling rig in South Texas at 21. And of course, I was like, what do you know? But of course, you know, it's true.
36:43 Like, it's a very tough environment, but most of the people are fantastic and they want to teach you and they want, you know, to see you learn. So I'd say South Texas was definitely eye-opening,
36:56 that culture. We were all not far from the border, a lot of border patrol and a lot of safety concerns around just being close to the border. So that was interesting. Louisiana, the food and the
37:10 people, if I'm my favorite part of Louisiana. We're at in Louisiana, did you work?
37:17 I can't really give too many specifics around it. South Louisiana? South, I haven't specifically worked in Northern Louisiana. Okay. Yeah, but obviously West Virginia is near dear to my heart.
37:31 The roads though in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, everyone jokes because a lot of times we get shipped to different areas, right? And even my dad has commented that he'll get crews from Louisiana
37:41 or Texas and they're driving big trucks up there and like they can't get their trucks up to location, right? Because we're cutting out roads on the sides of mountains and putting pads on top of
37:52 mountains and just building a pad up in the Northeast is way more intense than building a pad in Texas or even any other flat area. And then I did some time working up in like Colorado and Wyoming
38:07 and those areas are just so beautiful too. I was really taken aback by how beautiful the scenery is there.
38:16 and I haven't worked in is the Bakken up in North Dakota. So I've seen them all, worked in most of them, but - What's your favorite? Favorite? Yeah. I really like South Louisiana, yeah.
38:29 Probably, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Not the North Slope of Alaska, anything like that. I have not been to Alaska, no, but the offshore was really amazing. I think the drill ship, when I was out
38:39 there, I was really contemplating, I was like, Do I want to do this all over? Do I want to just go full blown back in the fieldto work on drill ships? So, and I was like, Oh, probably not.
38:48 Whoa, I'm sure, yeah. I'm sure it's cool for a little bit, and then you're like, ready to go home. Well, the main difference to land and off shores, offshore, they normally have a rotation,
38:59 some type of rotation, two weeks on, two weeks off, three weeks on, three weeks off. Land, it's kind of the Wild West. Like, I never really had a rotation. Or just on call. Yeah, so out
39:11 there until the job's done, And when I did MWD and Geo Steering, I followed a rig. So the only downtime I had was casing breaks and just getting the rig. And so, I mean, you're really immersed
39:22 in the life when you're out there. Yeah. Yeah. Did you ever get like burnt out? Oh yeah. You're like, I just wanna go home. Oh yeah, in the beginning, where I was very naive to the working
39:34 environment and being a woman there, there were many occasions where I wanted to quit. And it would have been easy too, right? I mean, at the end of the day, a lot of people still don't think
39:44 women should be in the field, regardless of how much progress we've made.
39:50 And I think one of my strengths is just using the fact that being underestimated is actually something that you can make a strength of yours, because everyone kind of underestimates a woman in the
40:04 field until you get out there and you prove your worth and you say, I can do this work and I enjoy it And so. Yeah, but there were as a few times I remember calling my dad saying I'm I want to
40:15 throw in the towel and he was like, no, hang in there. Are you
40:20 looking back? Are you, like, thankful for all the experience? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, some things I definitely, I mean, I struggle sometimes wondering if I want to promote, I guess,
40:33 there's just, there's trade-offs, right? The field is hard in general, but the wealth of knowledge you get out there is, is. The hands-on experience can't be taught anywhere else. Like, it is
40:45 so hard. I think that's why, so I'm from Midland. I feel like being raised in it and around it and seeing it, like, I should know more, but I feel like you've just, like, unless you've been
40:56 out there and you've seen the equipment you've seen, like, all the things, it's so hard to, like, grasp It is, and that's why you, yeah, you really have to stay out there, and that's why it's,
41:08 it's, Sometimes people are like, yeah, you know, you can go out and learn by selling equipment or visiting the rig. But in my experience, I think in most experience, until you're really
41:20 submerged in it and forced to learn it and then do it and teach somebody else to do it, it's like anything. It just takes a lot of time and repetition. Yeah. Yeah. Do you feel like the working in
41:33 the field gave you a hard work ethic? Or do you feel like you have to have a hard work ethic to work in the field? Oh, yeah. I mean, I think that's what I really gained from my dad was I've
41:43 always had a hard work ethic because of him. But the field taught me so much around just not only working hard, but being prepared, because when you're going out to these rigs, you have to make
41:55 sure you have all your supplies and food and water and directions and fuel. And that was a huge learning for me is just being prepared, but also when you're in the field. there's the saying like
42:09 never have the rig waiting on you, which means you better be ready when it's your time. A sense of urgency. Right, and there's always a sense, yeah. It's hurry up and wait because you're
42:19 hurrying up to do your job and then you're waiting.
42:24 But that was the biggest I think lessons I've learned working in the field was always be early, be ready, double check your tools, communicate with people and safety definitely I mean, always be
42:37 aware of what you're doing and 'cause it's definitely a dangerous environment. Of course. I have one last question. Me too. Mine's more around like, what are you excited about in the industry,
42:50 not just in quaring, but in the industry as a whole, you're a geologist, you've got a master's in petroleum engineering, like what are you excited about in this industry?
43:02 Honestly, I'm really excited for the new energy piece. Like, I know there's always this constant back and forth about energy transition. I do believe it's a mix of everything. We're gonna have
43:11 oil and gas and solar and wind and carbon capture and geothermal and lithium. Like, I do believe there's a place for all of it. And I think that's what I'm excited about is the continuation of
43:23 traditional, you know, energy methods, but enhancing other ones as well. I think, yeah, I know it's kind of, not what most people say in the world. No, I think it's, I feel like it's, I
43:37 mean, it's a much needed perspective. I think all energy is very important. The more energy we have, the better, especially with the rise of AI and technology in general. We mean more power,
43:47 more power. We'll be driving like hydrogen cars, but like wearing clothes that are still made out of control. It's gonna, that is literally what's gonna happen. And that's exactly what you're
43:56 saying. It's like everything is gonna be everywhere. So. Yeah Last question, again, kind of personal. You're reppin West Virginia today? Yeah. West Virginia, I'm a big like geography, city
44:09 nerd, I love like the US in general, like people like to go to Europe and they love to go to Asia. It's like, I love this country. I think it's beautiful to geography from every part of it. And
44:19 West Virginia is easily one of the most crapped on states. Everyone thinks it's like - This is sadly the truth. I mean, statistically infrastructure wise, yeah, like the stats don't say, you
44:33 know, whatever, but it's a beautiful state. It has a lot of great parts of it. You know, what's something you can say right now to like depress your state and let people know those doubters,
44:42 those haters know how great the state of West Virginia is. I think most people just haven't been there, right? So if you ever get the opportunity, there's so much outdoor, whether it's whitewater,
44:50 you know. Rafting. Rafting, a lot of kayaking, a lot of hiking, A lot of rock climbing. I mean, it's really an outdoor person.
45:03 What area or city would you recommend? So in kind of the armpit of West Virginia.
45:11 In between the Eastern Panhandle. So that's where the mountain range goes through. So there's area called like Seneca Rocks. Canadian Valley is a place where my family continues to go to every year.
45:22 A beautiful, beautiful area, especially around the fall time. That's really the best time to go is the foliage to catch the leaves before they fall. And yeah, yeah And I'd say the beginner's
45:34 route is Harper's Ferry, is that what it's called? I've never been to Harper's Ferry. It's on the very tip, but if you go to like DC or Baltimore, it's in that area, like you keep just driving
45:45 there. That whole area is just so beautiful. Like everything's just rocky and wavy and the foliage, the trees. It's like, it really like, it has a Northeastern vibe that I just, I love that.
45:56 Well, the Adelatin Mountains are the oldest mountain range. So that's what's so beautiful about them is that they're very rounded and eroded. from a geological point of view. But yeah, you can -
46:05 Very underrated part of the country. Well, yeah, that's pretty much it. We have some photos. Is there anything we can kind of pull up and talk about? Hey, you wanna tell us about like what's
46:16 going on in each of your year? Sure, so this was when I trained with the guys in the field. So this is me holding a sample of core. This is actually what we call the core stump. So this was where
46:27 the coreing job ended So that's the last part of the core. And we basically pulled it right out of the shoe and we're getting ready to process it. So. Was it freezing? Where were you? It was cold.
46:39 I have lots of layers of it. It was cold for sure. These are, this is another picture. This is when I was in MDD hand and it's funny 'cause a lot of our PPE does not fit women. Women, yeah. So
46:52 the joke here was that my coveralls did not fit at all. What did you, you rolled them? No, I just could not wear these.
47:01 They have like, now they should have women coveralls, right? They should. When we went to the frack spread in Midland and they had the students, half those class were women and everyone fit and
47:15 looked pretty good, so. Good, I hope it's getting better. This, the joke was in the field, I don't cook to this day, I'm not much of a cook so the guys always cook for me, but I would bake So
47:27 I used to bake, and make cake, and brownies and stuff for the guys, so. But this is an example of like where we lived on site, was just in the trailer, so. Yeah, the man camps and stuff, I
47:38 love that. Did you have your own room and everything while you were there? Yes, and I mean, that was the big thing with women being out there, I mean, there's two rooms, so you're always in the
47:47 room by yourself, but there's usually a bunk bed, so you just, you change out whoever's on tower, right? So you're sharing a room, but never ends at the same time Another field pick.
47:59 I love your heart hat. I love your heart hat. Stay calm it. It's a hard hat and then I held my heart. I know, I just broke a roll there. This was when I first started doing MWD 'cause this was
48:10 funny, all these pictures, like you just kind of selfie it because you never can get a picture of you like actually doing the job. Yeah. But after the fact, you're like, yeah, I got all money
48:19 doing my job. No, this is a, yeah, take photos when you're out in the field, like we encourage it. We're telling people to do it just
48:28 for our own platform for life, but it's like, you're gonna go out and like have this, you're gonna start off young, being a rough neck, whatever, you're gonna go to the office, be older,
48:36 you're gonna have no photos and memories of like, you're gonna have incredible stories and you didn't take one selfie, like a photographer's not going out there and taking photos, right? Right,
48:43 and I encourage selfies because it is, it's, there's still a lot of proprietary nature about taking photos on the rig and even having your phones out. So that's why it's really a no-no, I don't
48:56 know if it's changed, but. You're not. I've shot so many Briggs and high quality 4K. I got, you can see it or anything. Good. But yeah, like people don't, you know, you want to go tell your
49:08 friends or your kids growing up. It's like, they think, they don't know what the scene is like. So they're kind of picturing like. That is so true to show. Like what are they picturing when you
49:17 tell them these stories, it's like start with something. So this is very first time I was ever on a rig floor. And the company man, we were hanging out in the dog house And I was a mudlogger, so
49:28 you see, I was very clean here. I was not dirty. And he was like, come out on the rig floor. I mean, take your picture and send your dad, you know? No. Yeah, like that is, we all want to
49:39 show what we're doing, but at the end of the day, pictures are still kind of a greater. Yeah, it's like a proud moment. Yeah, great advice. And this is once I was all proud and leading, I was
49:51 a lead in WD. hands and now I was just like, yep. I'm here Here, on and in, yeah. Sweet, okay, then we already went through that one. Yeah. And I think there was this one. Yeah, so this
50:03 one's really interesting. Do you know what, do you have any idea what that is? It looks like oil, I guess. Like something cut the thing, maybe, I don't know. What do you think? You just cut
50:15 the casing opening and that's the core inside. Right, so that's the oil. Well, the oil, that's not necessarily oil from the rock. When we're drilling, we have oil-based mud, right? Okay,
50:25 okay So this pattern, I thought was really neat, the first time I saw it. So this is the top of the core. So this is actually the pattern that a PVC drill bit makes. You normally wouldn't see
50:37 that, right? Because you're, right. But this is where the core started. So we were actually able to see the pattern. That's super cool. From the PVC drill bit that drilled to that core point.
50:48 Yeah. That's awesome, yeah. Could you all just love that one? Yeah. Is that it? All right This is awesome. I love corn, I love rocks, I love geology. Before I, I wanna show you my salt core
51:02 too. Yeah, speaking of rocks, we got a couple who haven't seen. This is my favorite one, this is salt core. What's her name? I shouldn't have a name, she needs a name. Sodium. Sodium. It's
51:12 so pretty. Yeah, did it go through any kind of processing or anything? No, that's just like literally came out of the ground like this, that's so cool. So that's an example of salt core. We
51:22 core a lot of salt for storage wells, especially on the Gulf Coast So salt caverns. What's the carbon in
51:30 for CCUS? No, a lot of salt cavern wells and maybe they're evolving into CCS, but it's mostly just gas storage, I believe, or LNG. There's various reasons. There's CO2 storage too, I think.
51:40 And salt caverns perhaps, yeah. You could be very well. Yeah, we haven't had our episode yet on that, but I've learned a little bit, it's a lot. Yeah, so what salt caverns are really
51:53 interesting because you're actually leaching the salt out. and creating like a cavern down hole, right? And that's where they're storing whatever they want to store down there. But they need the
52:04 core data to make sure that the cavern has good integrity and that it's not going to possibly leak or anything like that. Right. Did we look at this? This one's also a salt core, which just shows
52:17 you like the different salts can look like.
52:23 Yeah. I think that one came from about 5, 000 feet 4,
52:27 900. Yeah. Yeah. I love just writing on it. That's so cool. If I licked it, would it taste salty? Oh my God, that was what my intrusive thoughts are saying. You get a trust video. My life
52:39 isn't a juicy thought.
52:41 Did you lick it? No. Oh my God, it's salty. It's very salty. Have you looked at before? Oh yeah. Bro, next time I'm holding it like I wouldn't want it. I need to get one of these. And every
52:52 time I'm boiling pasta, just like chisel it with a knife, that'd be such a cool thing to do. I'd be like, what is this? And then the last, is it, is there one more? These are just the samples
53:03 of sidewall cores. From the wire line. Right. Just to show you the difference in what, but those are both sandstones. So you can just tell like a sandstone, you can see basically the porosity
53:15 and permeability in these, yeah. All right. I think that's it, huh? This is so fun. Thank you so much. Thanks for coming in. I hope it made sense. No, this is perfect. I feel like I learned
53:26 a lot. Yeah. Good. You answered all the dumb questions. Yes. Lots of questions. Lots of dumb questions. All right guys, thanks for watching.
