Thermite,
Got to correct you there. Casing hanger has nothing to do with the drill string. It's what holds up all of that casing (pipe) that lines the well after it is drilled. Could be talking about at least an million pounds of weight hanging off the casing hanger. Then throw in the hydrostatic pressures and fluids down hole, well, could be more. Offshore, this would be at the bottom of the ocean attached to the well head. Or I should say, the well head part of the casing hanger. Then comes the BOP stack. And so on. Ken
Not really a "correction", Ken, "general" advisory and all, as it were.
All I ever got personal hands-dirty on was smalltime core drilling, summer of 1961. We only "owned" mineral rights to our five gas wells, watched and spectated as they were drilled, fracked, serviced.
Also used the "free" gas allowance and banked the 1/8 share, of course! Some hillbillys are less poor than others..
Rest of the edumacation came from working with the majors on inertial transducers for ocean-floor audio monitoring of flow & c. Bev Morgan, Kirby-Morgan band-mask inventor, took one of my little hand-built gems to an alleged 58,000 PSI before it failed, early 1970's. I was told the test chamber had begun life as a US Navy 16"-50 breech, Iowa class main battery, found a new home for dry-land research use, left coast.
Point being, ALL of this s**t is heavy because it goes so deep, ergo is so damned LONG.
"million pounds", etc. 'coz it has all gotten deeper than once was.
Helluva strain on coupling it. Some just more so than others, none of it easy nor casual as to liability, time, money or well-folks well-being.
Strong folk. Strong suppliers. World-class technology. May it continue thus.
Now I shall go and put trews back on.
Cheerleader's skirt and panty-hose
itch, but yah gots to doo what yah gots to doo, settin' on several thousand shares of oil & gas equities that helps pay the bills!!!