KSC-600 Water Well Rig Drilling 600 mm Holes to 600 m in Peru

# KSC-600 Water Well Rig Drilling 600 mm Holes to 600 m in Peru In September 2024 a customer in Peru took delivery of a Kaishan KSC-600 water well drilling rig. The machine is working on 600 mm diameter holes to a depth of 600 m, for natural gas work, using a mechanical top drive with mud pump circulation. The customer reports being satisfied with how the rig has performed on site. ## The job the rig was bought for The project called for a wide bore taken to depth in ground that would not stand open on its own. Two decisions followed from that: - **600 mm diameter.** At this size the volume of cuttings coming up the hole is large, and the annulus between the drill string and the wall has to carry all of it back to surface. The hole also has to stay open long enough for the string to be run and pulled. - **600 m depth.** The rig, the string and the fluid system all have to be matched to the full depth in one configuration, not just to the top of the hole. The KSC-600 was selected as a water well rig class machine rated to the 600 m depth the project needed, and configured for the 600 mm bore. ## Mechanical top drive: rotating from the top of the string With a mechanical top drive, the rotary drive sits at the top of the mast and turns the string from above, feeding it down as the hole deepens. On a large-diameter hole that brings three practical benefits: 1. **Torque is applied directly** — the drive is coupled to the string, so the machine can keep turning a wide, heavy bit without the losses of a long kelly. 2. **Tripping is quicker** — stands of pipe are handled without breaking out every joint, which matters when a 600 mm assembly is being run and pulled repeatedly. 3. **Circulation never stops** — the top drive feeds the fluid into the string through a swivel, so the pump can keep running while the string is being worked. That third point is what usually settles the configuration at this diameter. In a 600 mm hole, stopping circulation for any length of time invites the wall to start moving, so a system that allows the pump to keep running is worth more than a marginal gain in rotary speed. ## Mud pump: one system doing two jobs The rig works on mud circulation rather than air. On a hole this wide, the fluid does two jobs at once: - It **carries the cuttings** up the annulus, which is why the pump has to be sized for the fluid velocity the largest cuttings need. - It **holds the wall of the hole open** while the bore is being drilled. That is the reason mud circulation was chosen for this project: the same fluid that clears the hole also supports it, and at 600 mm the wall needs that support. ## How it is performing The rig is running the configuration it was bought for — 600 mm holes, 600 m depth class, top drive and mud pump — and the customer is satisfied with the result on site. For projects where a wide bore has to go to depth in ground that needs support, this is the configuration we would price first. ## Talk through your hole Bore diameter, target depth and the formation you expect are usually enough to narrow the configuration down. Tell us the three and we will come back with the drive type, the fluid system and the rig class that fit.