By Franklin L. Foster 

When Bob Hayes, then a Dowell Incorporated Engineer and the service rig crew from Bevan’s Well Servicing Ltd. were perforating a new heavy oil well, Fargo Oils Ltd. # 90, in the snowy days of late February 1954, they could never have imagined that almost 50 years later they would be back at that lease to take part in the subject well’s reactivation.
 

The well, previously known as Fargo # 90, is now known as Petrovera Resources Lone Rock A16-03-047-27W3M. A16-03 was originally drilled to depth & rig released February 6 - 11, 1954. The subject well was initially perforated by Schlumberger Well Surveying in the GP Sands formation on February 20^th, 1954 with a 4" Gun with shaped charges & subsequently Bob Hayes with Dowell Incorporated perforated the Sparky Sands formation on February 23^rd, 1954 with GG2 Expendable Glass Jet Gun shots. The GP Sands were cement squeezed off October 23^rd, 1956 & the Sparky Sands were later plugged back in May 1966. At the time Fargo Oils Ltd. required fuel gas to support it’s expanding infrastructure in the area hence the heavy oil was plugged & abandoned & A16-03 was recompleted to a Colony Sands Fuel Gas Source Well on May 16^th, 1966. The Colony Sands well was shut-in June 14^th, 1986.

 During the shut-in well review process, Dustin recovered a copy of the original Dowell Incorporated receipt with the signature of the Dowell Engineer on site, none other than Bob Hayes. The old receipt dated February 23, 1954 showed the well had been perforated @ 4 GG2’s/ft, with a total of 16 GG2 Expendable Glass Gun shots. 

 During recent sand bailing operations on two Lone Rock well locations Petrovera screened and examined the debris once at surface & recovered several old perforating bullets. One well was perforated January 15th, 1951 & the other was perforated July 5th, 1960, some 51 & 42 years earlier. Bullets were phased out of the industry in the late 1950’s early 1960’s as new shaped charge technology developed in World War II for armour piercing took hold. 

 Several others who had worked on the original well were located again through the service rig tower sheets located in the well file.  The plan became to involve Bob Hayes & the original service rig crew in the subject well’s reactivation and this culminated in the August 12, 2002 event. PVR describes the event as a "unique opportunity" to recognize a generation who worked so hard, to develop the area’s heavy oil resources. 

 Other 1954 vintage oil workers located include: Ron MacDonald, Rene Jervais, Harold Kenyon, Al Kissack, Paul Yeoman, Archie Ramsay and August Hartel.  It was decided to bring the veterans out to the well site to take part in this special reactivation.  Bob Hayes was "thrilled" to be involved in the reactivation and see the original perforating record used alongside modern gamma ray & casing collar logs to help verify the location of collars and positioning of today’s expendable scallop guns across the proposed Sparky & GP perforations.

The reactivation illustrates the collaborative approach of the oil patch through the use of technology & local heavy oil expertise.  Petrovera involved a wide range of service companies to supply proficiency and the necessary equipment for the various phases of the subject well’s reactivation, including: J-Max Well Servicing, Eugene Smith Trucking, Wells Rig Anchors Services, Diamond B Transport Ltd., Corlac Equipment, Tartan Controls Inc., Top Gun Sand Pumps, Kirby Hayes Incorporated, Tubescope Inspection Services, Quinn Pumps, IPS Wireline, Tryton Tool Services Ltd., Classic Oilfield Services, and Hurricane Industries.

What was most unique about this particular occasion was the involvement of the local oilfield veterans. Even though equipment has changed, the basic techniques are similar enough that the generation gap was bridged, the 1954 crew and the 2002 crew shared the excitement of correlating the logs and of overcoming the challenges of reactivating Lone Rock A16-03/Fargo # 90.  

Showing that he is still a true oilman, Bob Hayes concluded with the hope the newly reactivated well will prove to be a "most excellent producer".   

This has been the constant goal of now over 75 years of local heavy oil production – to creatively draw on a wide range of local resources to overcome the challenges of producing the petroleum products needed to sustain our way of life.  Hats off to Petrovera Resources and all who worked to organize this event for recognizing that our most important resources are our people and the past.