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Down to the last dollar: Drilling problems persist at Sweetwater Well in Williams

Sections of the drilling rig sit ready for use at the Sweetwater Well in Williams. Ryan Williams/WGCN

Sections of the drilling rig sit ready for use at the Sweetwater Well in Williams. Ryan Williams/WGCN

WILLIAMS, Ariz. - Drilling crews reported a partial collapse in the new hole at the Sweetwater Well that happened when they were replacing a worn-out drill bit.

According to United Drilling employees Pablo Altamirano and Larry Marquez, drilling had been progressing well as of Aug. 28 on the new hole. They expected to be at the desired 2,900 feet within a few days, however on Aug. 29 problems occurred.

The crew was at 2,350 feet and as the crew was removing the drill bit, they felt some resistance. After the bit was removed from the hole, a camera was sent down the shaft and the crew found the partial collapse at 1,200 feet.

"We don't have the funds anymore to find these kinds of problems," said Williams City Manager Brandon Buchanan.

Buchanan called an emergency City Council meeting Aug. 31 to discuss the latest setback with the Sweetwater Well.

Buchanan met with city council members to discuss their financial options. According to Buchanan, the city does not have enough money to finish the project.

"We had built in quite a lot of contingency money and had to increase that several times throughout the drilling," Buchanan said. "And we've just gone through all of that."

City Council members watched video footage of the well collapse along with Buchanan and consultant Pat Carpenter. The video began at about 1,000 feet, just below the casing. The video showed an approximately 13-inch hole with mostly smooth sides with an occasional fissure as it traveled down. When the video got to about 1,300 feet, a large cavern opened up and a partial collapse obscured the hole below.

"We can't get in anywhere below that," Buchanan said.

Carpenter said the problem with the cavern is that there's nothing to hold the drill bit in place and it will deviate. So with the collapse, it's difficult to know where the remaining part of the hole is located.

"You can see where the bit was drilling and then it just drops out on the top side," Carpenter said. "The whole Coconino formation has been a problem from the start."

Buchanan and Rig Manager Larry Marquez were hoping they were clear of problems since the drill had made it past the Coconino formation.

"We've done a lot of drilling up here and this one by far has been the worst one (well)," Marquez said.

Marquez said his crew has drilled many wells in northern Arizona and the surrounding area and haven't encountered problems like they have had in Williams. They drilled Dogtown Wells two and three, the Rodeo Well, six or seven wells in Flagstaff, three in Tusayan and one in the Phoenix valley.

"We haven't had one like this one," Marquez said.

In the video the cavern shows that the hole is obscured and the camera cannot continue to descend. Foam and returns are seen to the left of the video, which may mean the hole is still there but it has deviated due to the cavern.

"If the hole is still there, we can ream it out and track the old hole though," Carpenter said.

Depending on how much has collapsed will determine how much it will cost.

At the meeting, city council members, Buchanan and Carpenter discussed their next move. Buchanan said the city only had enough money to complete the drilling if they hadn't run into problems. With the latest problem, the city has only $570,000 left to reallocate to the project.

"Preserving a $2 million hole is pretty important to me," said council member Lee Payne.

Buchanan said the city can come up with the money by delaying the installation of the northside water tank and holding off on an APS reimbursement. They can also pull money from the impact fee fund.

"Hopefully it goes smooth and they spend another $20,000 or $50,000 reaming it and we cover that and we're done," Buchanan said, "But if it doesn't and we get tools stuck and everything else then we have a problem."

"We just have to go into this knowing we don't have that much more of a checkbook to throw into this," Buchanan said. "We can't deal with any more problems."

Council members decided to push through with the project and attempt to get as much of the hole cased off as possible with the money they have. They passed a motion to reallocate $250,000 from an APS reimbursement, $250,000 from the north side storage tank project and $120,000 from the impact fee fund.

The current rig has been pulled to go to Nevada for another project and United Drilling is sending in a new crew next week.

Fortunately the monsoons have helped with the water situation in Williams this summer. Buchanan said that city wells are producing adequate water for the needs of the city. He said the city is meeting water demands right now with three operating wells.

Buchanan said that one bright spot among the bad news is that the fractures seen in the video are a good indicator that there is water below.


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