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directly or indirectly assists the bit in crushing or cutting the rock.
2. b a drilling procedure in which a sharply pointed bit attached to a
casing cable is repeatedly picked up and dropped on the bottom of the
hole.
3. bit c any of a number of liquid and gaseous fluids and mixtures of fluids
and solids used in operations to drill boreholes into the earth.
4. drilling fluid d a metal pipe or tube used as a lining for a water, oil, or gas well.
(mud)
5. e also known as stem, the weight bar used in slickline operations to
rig overcome the effects of wellhead pressure and friction at the
surface seal where the wire enters the wellbore.
6. f the revolving or spinning section of the drillfloor that provides
rotary drilling
power to turn the drillstring in a clockwise direction.
7. rotary table g a method of making hole that relies on continuous circular motion
of the bit to break rock at the bottom of the hole.
8. winch h a machine for moving loads by means of a flexible element
9. sinker bar i a lever that oscillates on a pivot and transmits power in a manner
producing a reciprocating or reversible motion; used in rock
drilling and oil well pumping
10. walking beam j the machine used to drill a wellbore.

Pre-reading and while-reading tasks

3 Scan the text and answer the following questions.
- What are the two drilling techniques?
- Why did the ancient Egyptians drill holes using hand-powered rotating bits?
- What did Colonel Drake and Uncle Billy use to drill the Oil Creek site?
- What is the walking beam?
- What makes the bit drill?
- What is a bailer?
- What problem led to cable-tool drilling’s demise?
- How do the rotary crew members put the bit on the bottom of the hole?
- What is a rotary table?
- Why does not a rotary rig crew have to bail cuttings?

Cable-Tool and Rotary Drilling
Not counting picks and shovels, two drilling techniques have been available since people
first began making holes in the ground: cable-tool drilling and rotary drilling. Both methods
originated a long time ago. Over 2,000 years ago, for instance, the Chinese drilled wells with
primitive yet efficient cable-tool rigs. (They were still using similar rigs as late as the 1940s.) To
quarry rocks for the pyramids, the ancient Egyptians drilled holes using hand-powered rotating bits.
They drilled several holes in a line and stuck dry wooden pegs in the holes. They then saturated the
pegs with water. The swelling wood split the stone along the line made by the holes.

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