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PIPELINE NEWS September 2011
New drilling company coming out of the gates Carnduff – Retirement didn’t last long for Bob Betts. In fact, there’s now a company with his name on it. Betts had been the operations manager for Carnduff-based Totem Drilling before it was bought out by CanElson Drilling in the summer of 2010. CanElson wanted
him to stay on and work in North Dakota, but he decided to leave. Betts spent a few months off. “It’s kind of boring to be retired. It was okay for a couple months,” the 49-year-old told Pipeline News. So Betts asked his wife, Ann, who ran the office for Totem Drilling, if they should take
another go at it. “There’s six of us in the company,” Betts said of the new company’s ownership. The Thorogood family from Cochrane, Alberta, was the family behind Totem Building Supplies before it sold to Rona. It is the major backer, under the aegis of the Totem Group.
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These are the same people who were a large part of the ownership of Totem Drilling. While Betts is the general manager, Ryan Thorogood is the president. It’s no coincidence the colour on Betts’ business card is the same orange as Totem Building Supplies’ logo and the former Totem Drilling rigs. “I went back to them to see if they were interested in getting into a drilling project,” he said. Now the new company, known as Betts Drilling Ltd., is building not one, but two rigs. A little different The first rig is scheduled to be available Oct. 15, while the second is planned for Nov. 15. Both are already contracted out to different junior producers operating in southeast Saskatchewan. This time around, they are doing a few things differently in the rig design compared to
JACK!
IT’S ABOUT TIME
Bob Betts is at it again, Àring up another drilling company based in Carnduff.
the predecessor company Totem’s rigs. The substructure and derrick will be API certified to 4,000 metres. Both of those components are being built at Do-All Metal Fabricating’s new Nisku, Alberta, facility. “Not many rigs around have API-rated sub and derrick,” Betts explained. “Because of the 4,000 metre rating, we’re targeting the deeper Bakken plays. Our customers seem to want to
extend their legs longer and longer.” The rest of the rig is being built at Do-All’s Glenburn, North Dakota and Estevan facilities. The mud pump will be a 1,000 horsepower unit, powered by a Detroit Diesel 2,000 series engine, rated at 1005 horsepower. There will be a one-speed 1,000 horsepower gearbox. The package will be coming from Waterous Power Systems in Calgary. ɸ Page C17
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