When drilling like 12 km deep into the ground, how is it possible that a 12 km long pipe (drill string) is able to turn the drill bit AND be pushed down enough to drill??

Question

A 12 km long pipe seems like a ridiculous length for any of that to be possible. Isn’t it like trying to drill a hole with a 258 ft long piece of spaghetti?

In: 1335

Answer 1

It was a significant problem. The famous Howard Hughes Jr. inherited his money [from his father’s inventions:](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_R._Hughes_Sr.) downhole oil well drill bits.

Any big company with “Hughes” in it’s name probably derives it from one of the two of them.