Payne

Contract drillers Helmerich & Payne Inc. (H&P) and Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. are feeling the effects of producers’ migration from dry gas to oil and liquids-rich drilling targets. Pressure pumping operations are facing market challenges, and rigs are getting more of a workout as deeper holes are being drilled more quickly, executives from the companies told financial analysts during earnings conference calls.

Contract drillers Helmerich & Payne Inc. (H&P) and Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. are feeling the effects of producers’ migration from dry gas to oil and liquids-rich drilling targets. Pressure pumping operations are facing market challenges, and rigs are getting more of a workout as deeper holes are being drilled more quickly, executives from the companies told financial analysts during earnings conference calls.

A former Helmerich & Payne Inc. (H&P) drilling manager has been charged with making false statements to the Department of Interior’s Office of Inspector General regarding a key safety device on a Gulf of Mexico drilling rig. Donald Hudson, 49, of Walnut Grove, MS, was employed by H&P as the drilling rig manager for Rig 206 from Oct. 14, 2009 until May 27, 2010. Rig 206’s blowout preventer (BOP), like other BOP systems, has to be pressure tested at regular intervals prior to continued drilling operations, and results of the tests, including any problems or irregularities, also are to be recorded. On March 30, 2011 Hudson allegedly lied to investigators about instructing the rig’s crew to falsify BOP testing results, according to U.S. Attorney Jim Letten, who oversees the Eastern District of Louisiana. Testimony by other crew members revealed that Hudson had told the crew to close valves on the BOP choke manifold to prevent leaks, said Letten. In May 2011 H&P indicated in a regulatory filing that it suspended operations on an offshore rig after an employee reported possible “testing irregularities” and said “certain employees” were fired. No environmental or other harm occurred and the BOP system ultimately was repaired, Letten noted. If Hudson is found guilty, he faces up to five years in prison, as well as a fine of up to $250,000 and up to three years of supervised release following a prison term.

Federal prosecutors in New Orleans have charged a former Helmerich & Payne Inc. (H&P) drilling manager for making false statements last year to the Department of Interior’s Office of Inspector General regarding a key safety device on a Gulf of Mexico drilling rig.

The dry natural gas market is in a “dire state,” according to Tulsa-based contract driller Helmerich & Payne Inc. (H&P). However, it and competitor Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. are making the most of the industry’s migration to liquids-rich and oil plays.

The natural gas market may be in a “dire state,” but Tulsa-based contract driller Helmerich & Payne Inc. is poised to benefit as customers migrate to oil and liquids-rich shale plays where its high-performance AC-drive rigs are well suited to the more complicated work, CEO Hans Helmerich said Tuesday.

The natural gas market may be in a “dire state,” but Tulsa-based contract driller Helmerich & Payne Inc. is poised to benefit as customers migrate to oil and liquids-rich shale plays where its high-performance AC-drive rigs are well suited to the more complicated work, CEO Hans Helmerich said Tuesday.

Walter H. Helmerich III, chairman of Tulsa-based Helmerich & Payne Inc., the largest active provider of land drilling rigs in the United States, died Tuesday. Helmerich joined the company that his father co-founded in 1950 and became president in 1960. He led the company as CEO for 22 years until 1989 when his son Hans was named CEO. Helmerich is survived by his wife, Peggy, his five sons and 12 grandchildren. Services are to be held Friday at Boston Avenue United Methodist Church in Tulsa.

Contract driller Helmerich & Payne Inc. has been repositioning its rig fleet or the last 10 years, well in advance of the shale revolution that has swept the oil and gas patch. Back then it wasn’t known how well suited the firm’s FlexRigs would be to horizontal drilling in the shales. As it turns out, they work quite well, H&P CEO Hans Helmerich told financial analysts during a fiscal fourth quarter earnings conference call.