Laser Oil & Gas Well Drilling: Laser Rock Drilling on the History Channel

Transcript

It's straight out of a science fiction movie: using lasers to vaporize matter. But then, again, the next generation of drilling technology got its start from the Star Wars missile defense program.

Claude B. Reed, Laser Lab, Argonne National Laboratory:
"In the mid 1990s the Star Wars Program was sort of winding down and some people in the drilling business thought that it would be a good idea maybe to experiment with those star wars lasers and see if they could be used to drill oil and gas wells. So, they went around at the [U.S.] Air Force and the [U.S.] Army and used some of their lasers and they found that, sure the lasers are powerful enough to destroy rocks or put holes in practically anything, so the idea that Star Wars lasers would be useful was demonstrated, but it was decided that really it was more appropriate to use industrial lasers."

The U.S. Government's Argonne National Lab has decided to develop the technology.

"We found that there are basically three mechanisms for heating rocks with a laser," Reed said. "The first mechanism is when you just put the beam on at a low intensity, the rock temperature rises and it sort of shatters. Like it would happen when you take a hot glass and put it in cold water: it's gonna shatter. That's the thermal fracture mechanism. If you continue to put the laser beam on for a longer period of time the rock starts to melt and if you leave it on long enough that melted rock starts to boil or vaporize."

To date, Claude Reed and his team have successfully developed the thermal fracturing method. The laser produces an invisible vertical beam the size of a mechanical pencil lead which shatters the rock fragments. An air nozzle blows the fragments off the surface.

"As each layer is removed, then the laser head would go down to the next level, remove the material and go down to the next level," Reed said. "And it just marches downward step by step, removing the heated material and taking it out of the hole. "

Laser drilling will have several advantages over conventional drilling: it's expected to cost less, work faster and be more precise. But the technology has a few more hurdles to clear before going out in the field.

"In ten years or more, laser drills could and probably will replace all oil and well gas drilling. There is no real fundamental reason why laser drills can't do that job. They can penetrate any rock material, they can melt and vaporize any material." Reed said.

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