His first day as a roughneck, Quinn Holtby nearly got knocked off the drilling rig floor by a blast of high-pressure drilling fluid. “Getting hosed” left him soaked and the rig floor dangerously slippery.

Over the next eight years, as he worked his way up from rig hand to the driller’s job, Holtby vowed to come up with something better that would keep workers safe.

That something turned out to be the Kelly/Katch Kan system, on display at the recent GO-Expo: Gas and Oil Exposition in Calgary.

Working in his garage, Holtby spent four years developing and perfecting his lightweight, portable technology. He sold real estate for seven years, learning how to talk to potential buyers and market his invention.

Photo courtesy of Manning Innovation Awards
Quinn Holtby with his innovation, the Kelly/Katch Kan system.

“My goal is to make sure this technology is on every rig in the world,” says Holtby, who now runs his own company, Katch Kan Limited in Edmonton.

The Kelly/Katch Kan is a comprehensive oil well fluid containment system that enhances worker safety and helps protect the environment on more than 400 drilling and service rigs around the world. The technology is a standard for the petroleum industry’s biggest drilling companies, including Akita Drilling, Nabors Canada Drilling Ltd. and Precision Drilling Corporation.Last year, Holtby won a prestigious Manning Innovation Award, including a $5,000 prize for his invention.

Uncontrolled discharge at the well bore, from drilling fluids or “mud” that’s used in circulating the well, has been a constant safety and environmental problem for the industry.

Since the late 1930s, the method used to contain the fluid consisted of a 117-kilogram (260-pound) steel can hung on cables above the drill floor. It took two workers to wrestle the can onto the drill pipe.

Whenever the driller happened to raise the drill pipe out of the hole too fast or the steel can’s inadequate pressure seals burst, every worker on the drill floor would dive for cover.

“A lot of injuries were just related to smashing into things when you’re trying to escape,” Holtby recalls. “If you didn’t escape, then you’re covered from head to toe in drilling fluid and it’s 40 below . . . .”

Some workers were injured trying to keep their footing on a drill floor covered by frozen fluid. Others were mangled or knocked off the drill floor by the heavy steel containment cans.

Holtby turned down a promotion to rig manager and left the oilpatch with a plan to invent a better fluid-containment system.

During his last two years selling real estate, he spent countless hours in his garage developing and testing his new containment-and-catch system. He experimented with several materials, but finally had to design his own extremely durable plastic.

He knew he had the right stuff when, in a test of a prototype, his plastic fluids-containment can remained intact after being run over repeatedly by a 50-tonne crane.

Holtby’s patented Kelly Kan weighs only 12 kilograms (27 pounds), one-tenth of the weight of the old steel drilling mud can. It takes only one worker to wrap the hinged Kelly Kan around the drill string connection and snap it into place with heavy-duty clasps.

The universal unit, equipped with pressure seals that are effective to -75° C, installs on both drilling and service rigs to handle every stage of the drilling operation.

Akita Drilling played a key role in helping Holtby test his system. The first Kelly/Katch Kan was installed on Akita drilling rig No. 38 in July 1995.

“The Kelly/Katch Kan MDS (minimum discharge system) effectively eliminated slip hazards on the drill floor,” says William George, Akita’s drilling safety supervisor. “It’s an excellent example of the improvement possible on a work site when modern technologies are applied.”

The Kelly Kan contains and directs the fluid discharge from the well bore down through the rig’s rotary table to the Katch Kan or collection tray, made of the same durable plastic.

The Katch Kan, like the Kelly Kan, is easily installed and removed in minutes without tools. The Katch Kan captures the drilling fluid for reuse or recycling, eliminating the waste and on-site treatment and disposal of mud that was common with the old steel mud can.

Holtby’s technology keeps workers dry and safe, saves money on drilling fluids and site reclamation costs, and prevents environmental damage at the wellsite.

“The Kelly/Katch Kan system is extremely important,” says Dale Leitner, field superintendent for Ensign Drilling. “When tripping (pulling the drill pipe out of the hole), we can save more than 90 per cent of our drilling fluids when using this equipment.”

The systems now in use on rigs have produced daily savings of between $150 to $1,000 on each operation, Holtby says.

By making the worksite safer and cleaner, the technology also helps lower worker accident insurance claims and reduces a company’s environmental liability in the field.

Web Watch:
www.katchkan.com