Thematic: Drilling For Oil, Gas And Water

Thanks Alexey and nethryk, I'l check those stamps in the catalogue.

Now some stamps showing drilling tools.

When drilling rock with rotary drilling methods (in contrast to percussion drilling), there are two basic principles of attacking the rock surface: exceed the limit of compressive strength and exceed the limit of shear strength.

Austria: that stamps shows a roller bit. This type of bit has 3 roller cones mounted on bearing journals, with either steel teeth (as on the stamp) or tungsten carbide cutting inserts. The weight of the drill string is momentarily resting on each tooth/insert and results in the rock being crushed when the limit of its compressive strength is exceeded.




Belgium: shows a drill bit with natural diamonds, which are of course not cut and polished like the one shown on the stamp but remain in their natural state as found. Used are industrial diamonds, i.e. diamonds with imperfections (colour, inclusions etc.). This type of bit destroys the rock by exceeding the limits of it shear strength, the diamond shears a small chip off the rock surface.





Quite some time ago drill bits with cutting elements made from polycrystalline diamonds appeared on the market. A granular mix of artificial diamonds is pressed into any desired shape and sintered at high pressure and high temperature to obtain a PDC (polycrystalline diamond compact). The PDC is then mounted to a tungsten carbide support, which in turn is mounted on the bit body. These inserts too shear small chips off the rock surface. This bit type has no roller cones but fixed blades or ribs onto which the cutting inserts are mounted (drag bit).


Venezuela: shows, according to the catalogue description, a drilling tool. To me it looks rather like a tool that is used to scrape off hard deposits off the inner walls of tube, but it could well be an early day reamer, used for enlarging an existing borehole.

A few more modern stamps with rigs




A very interesting story: Antarctic station "Vostok" («East»), named in honor of the sailing sloop "Vostok" which in 1821 Lazarev and Bellingshausen expedition discovered the Antarctic.
Lazarev also commanded the sloop "Mirny"(«Pease»)


On postage stamps souvenir sheet shows the drilling rig, which recently completed drilling to subglacial lake Vostok, and the next mark: ice cores obtained from drilling.

Northwinds stamp:

1923 Transcaucasian Federation

Oil derrick and chart, printed by lithogravure, and issued by Bolivia on December 21, 1963 to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Bolivian National Revolution of 1952, Scott No. 472, SG No.764.

- nethryk

Yugoslavia 1958

Brazil 1958

In post no. 2 of this thread (https://goscf.com/t/25197#216512) I've mentioned the casing strings inserted into the borehole.

Once the drilling is finished, the well is completed, i.e. completion equipment (tubing, pumps, particle filters etc.) is run into the well for the purpose of producing the hydrocarbons (oil, gas) or water. A production tubing string is run which goes all the way down from the surface to the reservoir, through which string the fluids are flowing to the surface.

All casing strings and the production tubing are hung in pipe hangers in the surface well head. For production a Christmas tree (see stamp) is installed on the wellhead with valves, pressure gauges, pipe connectors etc.

During production access to the well may be needed for various reasons, such as well intervention, measurements, repair. Such access may also be necessary to the annulus between the the various pipe strings in the well, that's why the Xmas-tree has so many valves: each valve provides access to one of the different annuli.

Mexican eagle and oil derrick, printed by photogravure, and issued by Mexico on August 30, 1958 as one of a set of two stamps commemorating the 20th anniversary of the nationalization of Mexico's oil industry, Scott No. 903.

- nethryk

Here are a few from Netherlands Antilles -

Issue Date: 22nd June 1965
Designed by: E C Theodore
Print Process: Photogravure
Perforations: 14.0 x 13.5



http://www.stampsoftheworld.co.uk/w...Oil_Industry

India 2006 50 Years of Oil & Natural Gas Corporation

Issue Date:14th August 2006




SOTW Link : http://www.stampsoftheworld.co.uk/w..._Corporation

Airplane over oil field, and Venezuela's coat of arms, airmail stamp engraved and printed by American Bank Note Company, and issued by Venezuela in 1938, Scott No. C100, SG No. 623.

- nethryk

Oil derrick and primitive well, designed by Hungarian artist Ferenc Bokros (1891-1974), printed by photogravure, and issued by Hungary on September 16, 1962 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Hungarian oil industry, Scott No. 1474. Bonuses: Tractor and airplane.

- nethryk

Lots of oil in Kuwait and Qatar...





...but Britain has gas!

Petroleum's often maligned, but much used cousin, coal.

Oil derricks, printed by photogravure, and issued by Japan on May 10, 1975 to publicize the 9th World Petroleum Congress, held in Tokyo, Scott No. 1213.

- nethryk