Greg Raven wrote:If I am remembering correctly, there is a pipeline connecting which travels some distance from Chama to an oilfield.
I would be interesting to trace its path and see if anything remains at the oilfield. I gotta believe there are capped wells and maybe some storage tanks still visible.
Greg
Once an individual oil well is abandoned they will remove any pipe (production tubing and casing (long string)),that is not permanently cemented (grouted) in the ground for reuse or salvage. The long sting pipe (5 1/2 inch or larger) usually has to be shot off with a jet charge or physically be backed off before it can be pulled. Then cement plugs are set in the well. Usually 200 sacks of cement per plug above the production zone and near the surface.
Sometimes when the surface owner owns the minerals and the surface land, they will not set a surface plug. They perforate the surface casing to give access to a fresh water formation that the landowner can use.
The surface casing is usually set through the water table and cemented in place and cannot be removed in most cases. This is usuallly a minimum of 200 feet to 700-800 feet from the surface. When the abandonment work is nearly done the well head is removed and the surface casing is cut off 5-6 feet below plow depth and the casing is then welded shut (capped).
There is not much left to see unless the pump jack had a concrete foundation or there are concrete foundations for the rig that drilled the well. Sludge pits or mud pits, if they existed, were filled in and recontoured after they dried out. Sometimes it took a few years or more for vegitation to reclaim the landscape.