Energy & Mining International - Spring 2011 - (Page 101)

SPRING 2011 M C VAY D R I L L I N G C O . E M I More with Less McVay Drilling explains the beneﬁts of horizontal drilling in the oil industry, a trend it expects will continue. [ BY JAMIE MORGAN ] McVay Drilling operates six rigs throughout the Permian Basin,. which is located in Western Texas and Southeastern Mexico.. “Our family running this business has supported the community for forever.” // MIKE MCVAY, president The Permian Basin in Western Texas and Southeastern Mexico is a 300-mile stretch ample with oil, natural gas and potassium. For the last 60 years, it also has been home to the family owned and operated McVay Drilling Co., which has supported its business, family and the communities in which it operates by contracting its rigs to clients looking to leverage the basin’s resources. Headquartered in Hobbs, N.M., McVay operates six rigs in the Permian Basin. All are within 150 miles of McVay’s headquarters and within 100 miles of each other. Four of the company’s rigs have been in operation nearly as long as the company itself, but are constantly serviced, maintained and moved from site to site to drill new wells for its various clients. Its two newest rigs were added to the company’s repertoire as McVay’s demand grew. Rig ﬁve has been in operation for ﬁve years, and rig six is only a year-and-a-half old. “We opened the new rigs, and speciﬁcally rig six, because of the growth in dePROFILE McVay Drilling Co.. www.mcvaydrilling.com | Headquarters: Hobbs, N.M. | Specialty: Deep gas directional and horizontal drilling | Employees: 130 mand,” President Mike McVay says. “At the time, we were turning down work and it was unfortunate because many of the clients were offering very promising jobs.” Just as rig six was completed, the demand for oil slowed. In 2009, McVay only had two to three rigs operating at one time. In 2010, with the oil demand increasing, all of McVay’s rigs were back in the ﬁeld, and many were operating as horizontal drilling rigs. Horizontal drilling is a technique that McVay says has been steadily gaining popularity in the oil industry. He explains it’s a useful tool in drilling new plates throughout the country, but also for reentering previously drilled wells. Horizontal drilling, as opposed to vertical drilling, allows oil companies to retrieve more oil from its land. Instead of drilling downward 18,000 feet, McVay will drill vertically 8,000 to 9,000 feet and then drill horizontally another 4,000 to 10,000 feet. > emi-magazine.com 101 http://www.emi-magazine.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Energy & Mining International - Spring 2011

Energy & Mining International - Spring 2011
Contents
Clean Fuel
Satellites Are Key
Good Vibrations
News
Latin America Focus
Minera Andres
Ventana Gold Corp.
Zincore Metals
AQM Copper Inc.
Canada Focus
Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.
Fladgate Exploration Consulting Corp.
Aurizon Mines
JV Driver
Alderon Resource Corp.
Detour Gold Corp.
Prairie Machine & Parts
Pumps & Pressure Inc.
Yukon-Nevada Gold Corp.
Explor Resources Inc.
Trelawney Mining and Exploration Inc.
Advantage Valve Maintenance Ltd.
Silverman Oilfield Services
Rhino Resource Partners LP – Hopedale Mining LLC
Kimble Cos. Inc.
McVay Drilling Co.
MaXfield Inc.
Ellicott Dredges
Scientific Drilling
Becker/SMC Corp.
GasSearch Drilling Services
Crossrock Inc.
Frontier Services Inc.
Fulcrum BioEnergy Inc.
Summit Midstream Partners
Black Hills Bentonite LLC
Energy Companies
The Final Shot

Energy & Mining International - Spring 2011