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New Equipment Means Better Core Viewing at Austin CRC

August 16, 2019
CRC team

With more than 700,000 boxes of core and cuttings from wells drilled throughout Texas, the U.S., and the world, the demand for viewings at the Bureau’s Austin Core Research Center (CRC) has reached an all-time high. In anticipation of this need, the Bureau began an ambitious core facilities renovation program in 2017, adding a new core laboratory and viewing room and completely renovating the Bureau’s research laboratories and core viewing areas in Building 131 at UT Austin’s Pickle Campus. That strategic plan also now includes the addition of more than 640 linear feet of new rolling-top conveyor tables in the main core warehouse.

Viewing capacity expansion actually began in 2014, when demand for additional viewing space was met with a temporary makeshift collection of various viewing tables placed in the warehouse’s center aisle. Through the years, the demand for these viewing tables increased significantly; researchers liked being able to lay out entire sets of core for a single viewing. When viewing tables were moved from CRC 131 in 2018 for renovations, their temporary placement in the warehouse allowed a larger, better warehouse viewing configuration.

Recognizing the need, and the opportunity, Associate Director Jay Kipper and Warehouse Supervisor Nathan Ivicic acquired additional rolling-top conveyor tables—assembled solely by the Austin CRC crew of Ivicic, Rudy Lucero, Brandon Williamson, and summer employee Eric Kipper—to complete the new viewing space. Not only does the new layout provide substantially more contiguous viewing area—up to a thousand boxes of core at once—it’s also safer and more efficient. Using forklifts, the warehouse team can easily move entire palettes of core into position quickly and safely, reducing both setup times and physical stress.

As anticipated, the new viewing area has been immediately successful among researchers and the public. The new core layout tables will play a big role in helping the Austin CRC strive for excellence in service and value for years to come. To learn more about the Bureau’s Austin CRC facility and core viewing opportunities, please contact Nathan Ivicic.

Core Research Center Warehouse

Rudy Lucero, Austin CRC Manager Nathan Ivicic, and Brandon Williamson standing among more than 700,000 boxes of core and cuttings in the enlarged warehouse viewing area.


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