In an industry filled with high-tech drilling gear, why are shale drillers excited about a sponge?

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Even farther afield is "The Abyss, " a sci-fi underwater adventure that takes place on a high-tech drilling rig that sits on the seafloor.

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New techniques have been developed to "sidetrack" a well when the pipe gets stuck or to control the pressures and temperatures found five miles down into the earth's crust with blow-out preventers and special purpose high-tech drilling rigs.

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And topped it off by acquiring tech-savvy Precision Drilling.

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The loss of the hi-tech equipment has focused attention on the data gathered by the tried-and-tested method of drilling through the ice by hand.

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