This Day in History (1975): Records set at Safaniya

From the April 9, 1975, edition of The Arabian Sun

Drilling records were made in the Safaniya field by the Loffland ST-1 drilling team in February when they drilled two directional wells in 11 days or less to take second place in the Aramco Drilling Game competition.

The 50-man team, consisting of 40 Saudis and 10 expatriates, first completed Safaniya 146 in 11 days to break the existing record, then broke their own record by drilling Safaniya 188 in 10.5 days — it usually takes 12.5 to 13 days to drill a directional well.

Both wells were drilled as part of a development program in which approximately 100 wells will be tied into six-well platforms, in which one well is vertical and the other five “directional wells” slanted or deviated about 1,000 metres in all directions from the center.

The Loffland rig ST-1 and the Reading and Bates rigs L. M. Clark and W. D. Kent are currently working in the Safaniya field, which was the first offshore field to be developed by Aramco and is the largest offshore field in the world.

Also on this date

2002 – The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The first chairman is Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa

1991 – Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union

1969 – The first British-built Concorde 002 makes its maiden flight from Filton to RAF Fairford

1967 – The first Boeing 737 (a 100 series) makes its maiden flight

1959 – Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the United States' first seven astronauts, whom the news media quickly dub the "Mercury Seven"

1955 – Bill Haley & His Comets "Rock Around the Clock" tops the billboards chart, one of the best-selling singles ever

1945 – The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed

1877 – The first-ever Wimbledon tennis championship begins

1860 – On his phonograph machine, Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest known recording of an audible human voice

1784 – The Treaty of Paris, ratified by the United States Congress on January 14, 1784, is ratified by King George III of Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War. Copies of the ratified documents are exchanged on May 12, 1784

1682 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River, claims it for France and names the area Louisiana