Pain in the ### rigs

Most NOMAC rigs I've been on, you could make a lap with a tractor trailer. Absolute cakewalk with the usual straight trucks. The Patterson/UTI ones were much less neat, but could still be driven around. But then again, the pads in the Marcellus/Utica are typically packed gravel at least, and not nearly as soft as that looks.

I miss oilfield work.

 

I didn't know such a thing even existed. I've never seen a location (in the Eagle Ford, Permian Basin, or Woodbine) where you could make a lap in even a straight truck while the drilling rig was up.

Fortunately, things get a lot easier once the rig moves out and the frac crew shows up.

 

I should try that someday. Ive always loved a good rodeo.

 

Really wish I'd had the presence of mind to video a lap or two. The NOMAC PeakeRigs seemed to have the most compact layout, #71 was the last one I worked on prior to leaving the oilfield.

We had the opposite issue, plenty of maneuvering room on the pad with the rig up, but once frac set up, getting a straight truck in was often difficult. Especially considering that many of the straight trucks in the Utica (OH) are rather long wheelbase with numerous lift axles (we had several with 3 lift axles, some other locals had 4).

 

Not my video, but the movie is burned into my brain... I don't miss these days.

 

When I did Nomac rigs, we had more trouble getting to the rigs on some turns than we did in the rig sites itself