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the regular rig and its crews right away. Once the drilling crew
members get the regular rig ready, they rig up a pile driver and drive
the conductor casing into the ground, just as Colonel Drake did at Oil
Creek. Thus, people in the oil patch sometimes call conductor casing
“drive pipe.” After driving the casing, the rig crew begins drilling
inside it.
If the ground is too hard for the conductor pipe to be driven,
crew members can use the regular rig to drill the conductor hole.
What's more, they may also drill the rathole and mousehole, using
special equipment on the regular rig.
MOVING EQUIPMENT TO THE SITE

After the operator selects and prepares the drill site, the
contractor moves the rig to the site. Crew members move most land
rigs by loading the rig components onto trucks. The trucks then carry
the components to the site where crew members put the components
back together and begin drilling. In remote areas, such as in jungles
and arctic regions, crew members may load rig components onto
cargo airplanes or helicopters. Boats often tow offshore rigs from one
site to another. On the other hand, some offshore rigs are self-
propelled – that is, built-in units on the rig provide the means to move
it. Sometimes, especially where a rig has to be transported a long
distance, a special ship carries the rig.

Moving Land Rigs
Virtually all land drilling rigs are portable. If the rig is small
enough to be built on a truck, a person simply drives it from one place
to another. Once at the site, the rig stays on the truck and drilling
commences. Rigs too big to fit onto one truck are designed differently.
Fabricators design medium and large rigs so that a contractor’s crew
can take it apart, load its components onto several trucks, helicopters,
or cargo planes, and move it to the drilling site. At the site, crew

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