Houston Chronicle

Precision Drilling Rig Up Foreman Steve Brouwer works in a air-conditioned control room of a new drilling rig the Calgary rig contractor assembled at its plant Monday, Aug. 14, 2017, in Houston. The companyÕs first newly minted rig in years, and the only one slated for construction in 2017. In the rigÕs control room, a bank of computers allow a driller to operate a myriad of complex functions Ð that years ago were done by hand with brakes and pumps on the rig floor Ð with the touch of a few buttons. That rig is set to take a ride into West Texas later this month, joining hundreds of others drilling for crude in the hottest U.S. oil play. It will stand in stark contrast to another similar machine drilling near Orla, Texas, which still operates by a series of levers, without the process automation that oil companies in the Permian have used to make drilling a repeatable science. ( Steve Gonzales / Houston Chronicle ) (Photo by Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)