By now, you know about #AskCabot Thursdays. You send us questions via Twitter or email with the tag #AskCabot, and we’ll do our best to answer in 140 characters or less. Today, we’ll recap last week’s question from @Oil_Gas_Retweet, a handle dedicated to supporting and growing the oil and gas industry, which read, “How many rigs do you currently operate in the Eagle Ford.”We answered with, “Cabot currently has three rigs running in South Texas and all three are drilling Eagle Ford wells at present.”  For those who don’t know, the Eagle Ford Shale, located in Eagle Ford, Texas, is “quite possibly the largest single economic development in the history of the state of Texas,” according to www.eaglefordshale.com. The site also reports that “the play had more than a $25 billion dollar impact on the local South Texas economy in 2011.”Cabot created this 3D Rig Animation so that our readers and followers can see what goes on during the drilling process. The visual explains the different parts of a drilling rig, including everything from the crown block, or the device composed of pulleys at the top of the mast, to the Company Man’s quarters.Quick Facts about Rigs:

  • The rig is typically only erected for 15 to 20 days.
  • The men and women who work on the rig live on site for two weeks at a time.
  • The part of the rig that is visible to the public is called the mast, which is a portable metal tower that is raised into a working position as a unit.
  • The same rig can be used multiple times on one well pad.
  • Cabot and other oil and gas companies are developing technology to make the transportation of the fully constructed rig across the well pad easier and safer.
  • Those heavy pipes and casings we use to cement wells for optimal environmental safety? We use hydraulic hoists, or “air hoists” to lifts pipes and other equipment to the traveling block.
  • The “mouse hole,” which is a hole in the drilling floor used to store a piece of drillpipe until it is pulled up and attached to the drillstring, is only 7 to 10 inches wide.

We’d like to give a big thank you to @Oil_Gas_Retweets for taking the time to participate in #AskCabot Thursday. If you would like to be featured in next week’s recap, send us a question today. It’s not too late; simply tag the question with #AskCabot.

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Bill serves as an External Affairs Coordinator for Coterra Energy. He is focused on building community knowledge and support for the organization and industry at large.

Before his time with Coterra Energy, Bill was the original Field Director for Energy in Depth’s Northeast Marcellus campaign. Within this two-year position, Bill worked to engage, educate, and mobilize supporters of Marcellus Shale development across New York and Pennsylvania. Bill received his B.S. in Management, a B.A. in History, and an MBA from Misericordia University.