Oil, Oil, Oil Everywhere

I don't know if I never paid attention or if it's a common misconception, but I always thought oil is only pumped in few and far between places, it seems I was wrong.  Out here in the Permian Basin, you don't see an Oil Derrick, or Pump Jack as they're called around here, you see fields full of them as far as the eye can see. There are pumps in the middle of neighborhoods,  on lots between houses, across the street from apartment complexes,  and I even saw one in the median between the on-ramp and the highway.  There is one just west of our front door; about 500 feet away.  To get an idea; in this link here of a satellite photo of our trailer park and surrounding areas, you can see each white square is a Pump Jack station and that's what is close to town! Every drive we take I hear Zoey declare from the back seat, "There's a pump jack, doing it's work!", and there's a lot of work being done to get us more of that precious oil.

Drilling Rig by the road.

There are power-lines cris-crossing the desert to power the pumps which are painted in various colors and of all sizes.  Alongside the pumps are many natural gas pumping stations often surrounded by chain-link fences.  The little fire stacks you sometimes see in oil fields are to burn large amounts of Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S), which is a lethal toxic gas in high qualities.  In the rural areas, like the town of Goldsmith where we started, you often smell H2S in the air, which is the same as that rotten egg smell at geysers and natural hot springs. 

Not only is the large presence of Pump Jacks shocking, but the ongoing oil work. In a drive of only a single moile you are likely to come across a drilling operation, a wireline/fracing operation and a pulling unit at work; not to mention the surveyors, engineers and other people whose work is not so visible. Oil work is everywhere and it's constant.

The drilling operations look as if they have set up a large amusement park ride.  There's a drilling tower, large platform, and numerous support buildings the size of train cars.  Some of the larger units look like mini Eiffel towers and  take seven days to move from location to location.  When operating at night they look like pillars of light illuminating the desert.

Drilling Rig at Night

The wireline/fracturing operations have a wireline crane extending above a large circle of semi-trucks loaded down with massive engines which pump the thousands of gallons of water from a man made reservoir which is created onsite. There is a constant grumble of engines onsite which increases to a massive roar as the water is pumped deep into the earth.  These are the crews John works with.

John working under a pulling unit.

Finally is the pulling units which are tall metal cage towers, much like the drilling towers, but supported by multiple wires.  These are used for any operation requiring the lowering or retrieval of items and instruments from an oil well.  When in operation you can see the pulley system moving up and down inside the tower structure.  John sometimes works with a pulling unit crew when the winds are too strong to use only a crane.

I'm sure there are other machines and operations involved with oil production, but these are the ones we have seen and become acquainted with during our short time here in West Texas. One thing is for sure, oil is the reason Midland and Odessa exist and it's keeping the town booming and bringing in outsiders like ourselves.