HELI-PORTABLE DRILLING

It seems that Heliportable drilling is more popular in BC vs Alberta – this might be due to the
different land terrain differences between BC & Alberta. Drill sites are easier to access in AB.
BC is mountainous, hilly, and sounds like a pain….

Heli-portable seismic (http://www.capp.ca/getdoc.aspx?DocId=81307&DT=NTV)

 Generally considered to cause the lowest habitat impact.
 Helicopters used extensively on the project for deployment of equipment and personnel.
 Shot holes are drilled using lightweight heli-portable drill rigs.
 Lines are usually hand-cut or minimal cut (under canopy cutting), with foot access only.
 Minimal ATV access.
 Distance between drill sites varies depending on program parameters. Typical spacing between
source points are approximately 100 m. Drill sites (drop zones) require 4-7m diameter clearings,
depending on the tree canopy. Natural open areas or existing clearings are used when possible,
but some new drop zones may be required.
 Heli-pads are required for drop-off/pick-up and safety of personnel. Heli-pads are approximately
35m in diameter and are located every 1 km. Natural open areas or existing clearings are used
when possible, but some new heli-pads may be required.
 Costs approximately 150% – 300% higher than conventional.
 Formally defined in Alberta (GFR Policy and Procedures, January 2002).

* Following infor from: http://www.saboteursandbigoil.com/Oil&Gas_Industry_AB.pdf

Relative cost of various seismic techniques in northern Alberta in 2000.

Technique Cost per meter1

Truck-mounted drills $3-5

Enviro-drills $10-14
Heli-drills $40 and up2
1Estimates provided by Western Geco, Calgary, AB.
2Cost is highly dependent on flying distance and terrain.

List of some companies that are involved in the Heliportable Drilling industry:
 Airborne Energy Solutions Ltd.
o www.ptac.org/drl/dl/drlf0501p04.pdf (Airborne power point presentation on Heliportable
Drilling)
 Bertram Drilling Corp.
 Logan International Inc.
 Terroza Exploration Services Inc.
*The above list was generated from: http://www.esourcecanada.com/search.asp?
stype=3&svalue=4312653

http://www.skylinehelicopters.ca/control/uploaded_docs/current_news/Vertical.pdf (Dec ’04 - Jan ’05)

The jist of this publication:
- Heliportable drilling is better for the environment, as they support low-impact seismic (LIS)
methods. LIS is now predominantly used in Canada, and exclusively used when park and
protected areas are being explored.
- Need to know where you are going: Being able to identify the best and quickest route is
becoming evidently critical so as to trim down the cost of heliportable drilling.
 - The availability of qualified ‘flyers’ is low.
- Skyline Helicopters is one of the industry leaders, they have/are worked with major industry
players such as Shell, ExxonMobil, TransCanada, CAPP
o Skyline Helicopters is located in Kelowna, British Columbia.

November 13, 2006: Safety Alert and Injury due to Heliportable drilling; this publication outlines the
dangers associated w/ heliportable drilling and contains recommendations on how to avoid incidents like
this in the future.
https://www.cagc.ca/_files/safety/20061116080823.pdf

Heliportable Drilling Feasibility Study prepared for BC Ministry of Sustainable Resource

Management.
http://www.llbc.leg.bc.ca/public/pubdocs/bcdocs/365974/2555_intro_rep.pdf

Heliportable exploration drilling has been undertaken by numerous companies internationally, and to a
lesser extent in North America for socio-economic and environmental reasons. Although the total number
of heliportable wells drilled internationally has not been determined, Columbia Helicopters Inc. of
Portland, Oregon has been involved in over 150 heliportable drilling programs (Peterson pers. comm.).
Within North America, relatively few heliportable exploration drilling programs have been undertaken. In
the 1970s, Shell Canada completed several wells in the Mackenzie Delta in the 3,000 m plus range using
“heli-hoist rigs” provided by Ideco Drilling, a subsidiary of Parker Drilling (Hunley pers. comm.). Sikorsky
S-58T and Sikorsky S-61 helicopters were used to move both rigs and camps in the Mackenzie Delta
area. All fuel, cement, pipe and other supplies were flown in by medium lift helicopters. Subsequent to
that, Marathon Canada Limited conducted a heliportable drill in Cody, Wyoming in 1985 and Chevron
USA Inc. completed a well near Teton National Park in Wyoming in 1992 (US Forest Service and Bureau
of Land Management 1992). Both locations were considered to have potential for high concentrations of
sour gas.

Concerns on Heliportable drilling:

 economics: heliportable drilling is expected to be more expensive in most cases, and potentially
negatively affect exploration drilling economics;
 safety: emergency evacuation in the event of a medical emergency and/or blow-out; and
 equipment availability: there is a limited availability of deep drilling capability rigs in North America.

Higher altitude sites pose a further constraint on heliportable operations as a result of the reduced lifting
capacity of helicopters with increasing altitude, though this is not an overriding constraint on heliportable
operations.

Heliportable drilling avoids most of the long-term physical impacts of road development such as
landscape modification and increased conventional access.

Heliportable drilling is generally more costly than traditional

While total road costs and helicopter costs tend to go up with increasing distance, road related costs are
much more variable due to specific terrain differences, assessment and engineering requirements,
reclamation challenges from site to site and the potential significant influence of short-term and seasonal
weather patterns. For heliportable drilling there is a relatively linear relationship between distance and
cost. The influence of weather on heliportable transport cost is projected to be minor.

Mobilizing a medium to large heliportable local rig may cost in the vicinity of $500,000
A conventional drilling rig can be converted to a heliportable rig, at a cost ranging from $2 million
to $5 million CDN and would take perhaps four to six months.

Costs to build a heliportable rig capable of drilling to 3,400 m were estimated at $6 million to $7
million CDN.

Wildlife can be significantly affected by both roads and helicopter activity though these impacts
tend to be site-specific. In general, much greater and more prolonged impacts are typically
associated with roads. Displacement effects related to roads and helicopters appears to be a function of
their proximity to key habitats, the level of activity and the manner in which species are exposed to that
activity. Where alternate low impact road access is not available, heliportable drilling operations provide a
much greater opportunity to avoid long-term impacts to wildlife habitat and wildlife, particularly for lower
success rate exploration drilling. However, there remains some potential that heliportable operations
could result in significant short-term stress and displacement of wildlife.

At least four heliportable rigs are available in North America and are reported to have capability to drill to
3,400 m depth. Heliportable rigs with capability to drill sour wells in excess of 5,000 m are working in
other parts of the world and can be mobilized via heavy transport aircraft if rapid delivery is required
(assuming they are free to be released).

Additional Links:
Petroleum technology Alliance Canada presentation on Heliportable Drilling:
www.ptac.org/env/dl/envf0804p12.pdf

Nice to know stuff….

Methods and system for helicopter portable drilling:

There is provided a system for helicopter portable drilling comprising: a drill frame, a drill mast affixed a
first end of the drill frame, a drill operatively coupled to the drill mast and operable using one of
compressed air, pressurized hydraulic fluid and both compressed air and pressurized hydraulic fluid and a
unified power source for providing compressed air and pressurized hydraulic fluid coupled to the drill, the
total operating weight of the system being approximately 3000 pounds for allowing a single-pick move by
a helicopter. A method of seismic line drilling comprising the steps of placing a first single-pick drilling
system at a first location with a single pick, placing a second single-pick drilling system at a second
location with a single pick, when finished drilling, moving the first single-pick drilling system to a third
location with a single pick, when finished drilling, moving the second single-pick drilling system to a fourth
location with a single pick.