D ee P H o L e DR i LL e R 1 2013 11 the machine supplier s extensive invest ment in support and service levels around the country Ar guably the world s most successful shallow oil and gas rig in the 120000pound 53 tonne class the RD20 has become a fxture on Queensland s coal basins where coal seam gas drilling has rapidly grown in recent years More than 250 RD20 drilling rigs are operating worldwide W estcott said the highly mobile rig with its rapid setup capability is fexible enough to adapt to almost any location It has a patented carriage feed system and detachedtable design for exceptional performance and economy The table can handle up to a 30inch drill casing Overall it has the structural strength to handle tough drilling conditions I t s a v e r y g o o d m a c h i n e W e st c o t t said Y ou can run Range 3 gear on it It s got plenty of power at 120000 pounds of pull back so youre good for 3900 to 4920 foot 1200 to 1500 m holes Itll do us for just about everything we want to do at this stage It s obviously a popular rig when you look at all the coal seam gas stuf f occur ring over east Im sure there is going to be scope for that over here too at some stage This rig fts the bill for that type of drilling as well so it fts with our future direction in that perspective too David Luke water welloil and gas prod uct manager for Atlas Copco Drilling Solu tions said JSW s rapid growth had spurred orders for three TH60s and the RD20 XC over the past year or so The RD20 has built a good following over east Luke said W ere looking for some success with the rig here to promote awareness of its ca pabilities There s certainly no shortage of potential applications for it W estcott has been doing this s ort of work around Australia for 30 years or so This Hale school sort of project has become fairly commonplace so it s proven technology so to speak he said Once the hole is logged Rockwater consulting hydrogeologists works out the depth to s et the s creens that s probably the most crucial part of the project The drilling w ill take three to four months Then there s the construction si de t he pool a nd t he he a t e xc ha nge r etcwhich is not handled by us W estcott has seen s imilar projects un dertaken in W A including test work at Kalgoorlie where JSW also has operations Im thinking that geothermal drilling ac tivity is going to keep going for a while he said Geothermal use increases CSIRO a government funded Aust rali an agency has recently begun construction of a borefeld to supply cool water for the cool ing of the new Pawsey Centre supercom puter at the Australian Resources Research Centre in the Perth suburb of Kensington The Pawsey Cen tre supercomput e r e xpe c t e d t o be completed later this year will be one of the world s most powerful comput e rs f or t h e Squ a re Ki l om et re Array telescope located in W estern Australia The geothermal cooling project will use heat exchanger technology with c o o l wa t e r p a ssi n g t h r o u g h a n d c o o l ing the building The warmed water will then be reinjected back into the aquifer Savings of up to 10 million gallons 38 million L of water each year are anticipated w ith the us e of geother mal compared to a standard cooling tower solution A leading UW A geothermal scientist W inthrop Professor Klaus Regenauer Lieb said recently that the Perth Basin under the Swan Coast Plain had the ideal geological settings to aim for the goal of a zero emis sions geothermal city T he ne w CSIRO Ge ot he rm a l proj e c t will help to establish Perth as the frst geo thermally cooled city and we will work to advance the geothermal industry to make this vision a real ity the W A Mines and Pe troleum Minister Norman Moore said J e FF BRANS o N