#Railroad spike carbon content code#

Sometimes you find them at fleamarkets and such. The rail roads don't like it, it IS ILLEGAL (tresspassing, theft). RR-SPIKES: Henry, Most folks pick them up along rail road beds.

#Railroad spike carbon content code#

I've seen the 'S' code also, but I don't remember what it stands for.Īs for finding them, I just take a walk along some railroad tracks and pick up cast offs.Ī good time is after they do track maintenance.

If there is an additional 'C' on the head, it means copper has been added to the alloy. I have been told that NON-HC spikes haven't been made since the 70's.Īll current spikes are HC, but there are variations. Non-HC spikes were about 20 points of carbon. They make better letter openers than knives.

RR spikes: HC RR spikes are 30 to 40 points of carbon. There's more (other RR steels) if you're interested. on RR spikes, I found the following somewhere online: Oil and Gas Extraction costs are operating costs and account for a smaller portion of an operator’s total well expenditure, whereas drilling and support costs tend to be the most capital-intensive part of a drilling program.RR-Spikes : Spike Material and Use To a new blacksmith with hammer and forge every RR-spike looks like raw material! :) In contrast, the Oil and Gas Extraction Index has declined since 2022, yet it is still higher than in March 2020. The PPI for Drilling Oil and Gas Wells and for Support Activities did not increase as significantly as it did for Iron and Steel Pipes and Tubes, which remains elevated. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Producer Price Index (PPI) remains significantly higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, which-because it is one of the largest factors in drilling costs-is having a lasting effect on operator costs and drilling strategies (Figure 3). Oil and natural gas casing strings are sometimes installed in descending diameters, depending on the operator’s drilling program.Īs of July 2023, the Iron and Steel Pipes and Tubes index from the U.S. The main drilling use for steel pipe is casing pipe, which is a large-diameter pipe that runs the length of the well and provides structural support to the well hole. One of the largest cost components of a drilling program is steel piping. oil producers remained elevated through 2023. We outlined this trend of rising input costs-which included drilling and other costs-in an earlier This Week in Petroleum article, which showed that the costs of goods sold for large U.S. Although deeper wells produce more oil per well-thereby increasing revenue-they are also more expensive to drill. This decline in >15,000 wells suggests a strategic change. In contrast, the rig count for wells between 10,000 feet and 15,000 feet increased by 2% (4 rigs) compared with March 13, 2020.

According to data as of September 8, 2023, the rig count for wells deeper than 15,000 feet (>15,000) decreased by 69% (58 rigs) from the March 13, 2020, pre-pandemic rig count (Figure 1). Each rig in the Baker Hughes rig count is categorized by well depth. In particular, these operators are moving away from drilling deep wells, which take longer to drill and require more materials, and are instead focusing on short- or medium-depth wells.Īgainst the backdrop of a decreasing total horizontal oil rig count in the Permian, the rig count for medium depth wells has increased compared to pre-pandemic levels. Shorter wells help mitigate higher prices for inputs such as iron and steel tubing. Permian operators are drilling shorter wells, blunting the effects of rising costs of oil and natural gas production. Permian Region operators are drilling shorter wells, decreasing effects of higher input costs