Oil and Gas Industry Operations 08: West Texas Derrick at Sun-up

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Drilling never stops in the "patch", but after a long, cold night's digging, the rising sun heralds a hearty breakfast, and revitalized optimism in the prospector. After close to a century of oil and gas exploration and production in the Permian Basin of West Texas and southern New Mexico, occasional oil drilling derricks can still be seen, such as this one outside Kermit Texas. Wells can be deep these days, often penetrating down to over twenty thousand feet - wells that might take upto a year to drill and complete. But the demand remains. Our society and our well-being depends entirely on reliable sources of energy and the capability of our engineers and geoscientists to study long and dig deep to insure so strategic a resource is maintained.