Nice question easyultra -
In one of my many conversations with the good folks at the 416 number, I asked just that question. Here's what I was told.
1. They don't appear to have access to any good rigs other than leasing them from Schlumberge.
2. When I asked about what kind of rigs came as a part of the LOI, I was told that they were work-over rigs and that they were not suitable to substitute for the ones they are having to lease from Schlumberge.
So, I suppose that, despite the fact that there are rigs in the Aug 31 LOI deal, it doesn't necessarily enable BIGN to increase the number of wells they can hydroslot.
Another thing is that I was also told in one of my telecons was that BIGN was afraid of partnering too closely with people like Schlumberge or any other drilling contractor. First off, they were afraid of having the technology that makes hydroslotting what it is serve as a schoolhouse to teach these bigger companies how to copy-cat hydroslotting. So, BIGN is having to tread lightly to preserve the value of hydroslotting itself. Second, I was told that they were repeatedly faced with property owners (and probably contractors) who wanted a piece of the action in some unspecified undesirable way. I didn't pursue this and nothing more on it was offered. The idea seemed to be that they could probably cut Schlumberge or whoever in on deals except that they might end up creating their own competition and that the chunk of flesh being demanded in exchange for a greater availability to rigs was not worth the price.
Finally, the availability of rigs is one thing but apparently there are too few trained teams to man rigs even if they had more rigs.
Imperial Whazoo
News 
Market Data 
Discover 
AI
