Diversifying Services with a Single Rig

With two vertical and six horizontal drill rigs, Driver Inc has spent the majority of their 20 years doing work on electricity transmission lines and substation construction within a 250-mile radius of Amarillo, Texas.

“We’d had several rigs in the past doing cathodic protection for pipelines and municipal wells and wanted to move from Kelly drive rigs to top head. We were looking for a bit of the same, but something different,” Brice Graham, drilling operations manager, said. “Because of the accessibility challenges of our job sites, the footprint was a big deal. We needed a small rig with big power.”

For them, versatility and footprint were deciding factors. But finding a manufacturer they could collaborate with on rig configuration was also important in choosing a Geoprobe^® DM450 on a Western Star chassis.

“We valued the collaboration between what we knew about trucks and what Geoprobe^® engineers knew about drills to create what we needed. They were willing to work with us to achieve a common goal,” Graham said. “People at Geoprobe^® care about production and customers enough, that the product can evolve. They use the resource of people using the product in the field and are not afraid to try something new. They understand the risk and benefit of it.”

Cathodic Protection for Pipelines Plus More

The DM450 on a Western Star chassis allows Driver Inc. to diversify their services with a single rig.

“We can do test, municipal, and irrigation wells and cathodic protection for pipelines. We can get into spaces, especially on cathodic protection jobs, where no one else can do that work, so we’ve been able to grow that area of the business at a premium. That we can diversify to do cathodic protection for pipelines as well as old-school well stuff with a single rig is huge for our business and our guys,” Graham said. “Diversifying our portfolio with this one rig versus having to have multiple rigs doesn’t just benefit our business, but also our guys. We can train them on one rig versus multiple so there’s no education lapse.”

They’re also able to achieve all these revenue streams with reduced risk for injury.

“The design of the rig also makes it safer with less pinch points so there’s less opportunity to hurt themselves,” Graham said.

This includes the "tool hand" loading the rod carousel from the side without touching a rod by hand.

“You can drill and trip pipe without getting out of the rhythm of the driller,” Graham said.

The ability to safely diversify their revenue streams combines with efficient production, in part due to the performance of the twin centrifugal pumps they chose on their DM450.

“From the first time we drilled wide diameter wells with the two centrifugal pumps there’s been little complication. They’re better than most piston pumps without the wear and tear of repairs,” Graham said. “We’ve used twin pistons, and they’re great but expensive to work on. The twin centrifugal pumps out-perform piston by 10-15 percent at half the price.”

Outproduce Reverse Circulation Drill Rig

Recently, they drilled a 600-foot municipal well, 20-inches wide in rough ground.

“To make that kind of hole in those conditions is impressive. The DM450 is the only rig in our world that can do that other than a reverse circulation unit,” Graham said. “We were able to do it with a smaller rig and get twice the production of older reverse circulation drill rigs.”

In addition to performance, they appreciate the availability of parts and the helpful Geoprobe^® service department to ensure they can take care of their customers.

“If we run into problems, it’s rectified rather quickly,” Graham said. “The service we provide affects a lot of folks, and it depends on good quality equipment and good quality people. Without one or the other it doesn’t work. It takes both pieces for it to be a wonderful symphony.”