Brage Johannessen, vice president of drilling services, speaks with Drilling Contractor associate editor Joanne Liou in an exclusive video about SureTrak, a service that is designed to drill and evaluate complex 3D wells while simultaneously installing a liner.

Baker Hughes has introduced SureTrak, a steerable drilling liner service that was among the latest technologies launched at the 2013 OTC. “With this service, we’re able to mitigate technical and economical risks associated with drilling and completing wells in depleted or low-pressure zones, unstable formations, such as shale and coal layers, or formations with variable flows and pressures,” Brage Johannessen, vice president of drilling services at Baker Hughes, stated during a press conference on 7 May.

In conventional drilling operations, it is necessary to pull the drill string before running the casing or liner into the borehole. The steerable drilling liner service uses proven rotary steerable drilling and liner-drilling technologies, including the company’s AutoTrak rotary steerable system and modular logging-while-drilling and measurement-while-drilling systems, to drill, evaluate and install a liner to total depth in one run. “The result, apart from the reduced risk exposure by eliminating the need for wiper trips and a separate casing run, this technology has proven to provide access to reservoirs that otherwise might be considered unreachable with conventional drilling technology,” Mr Johannessen said.

The SureTrak steerable drilling liner service was developed to safely and economically address operational challenges, such as narrow drilling margins, borehole collapse and lost circulation. The service enhances wellbore integrity and minimizes formation damage but does not require any additional rig equipment to be installed to run the system.

SureTrak and AutoTrak are trademarks of Baker Hughes.

With Superior Energy Services’ Complete Automated Technology System, people are removed from the rig floor and can control operations from the driller’s chair.

For onshore and offshore completion services, Superior Energy Services recently launched the Complete Automated Technology System to provide safer operations, better well performance and lower costs. Tim Bridges, vice president sales & business development for Superior Energy Services, speaks with Drilling Contractor associate editor Joanne Liou in an exclusive video about the technology, which received a 2013 OTC Spotlight on New Technology award. The system uses remote-operated or pre-programmed robotics to control various completion components, including a snubbing unit, blowout preventer, pumps, circulation tanks, top drive, closing systems and pipe-handling systems as part of one unit.

To help operators extract more petroleum from process water and reduce the need to use fresh water in the fracturing operations, OriginOil has developed a chemical-free water treatment and separation technology. The CLEAN-FRAC mobile laboratory recently made a stop in Houston during a tour that started in Los Angeles. Riggs Eckelberry, president & CEO of OriginOil, speaks with Drilling Contractor associate editor Joanne Liou in a DC-exclusive video about the technology, which completed its first field test at an oil well near Bakersfield, Calif.

Rasik Bahadur, vice president of subsurface testing services for Schlumberger, speaks with Drilling Contractor associate editor Katherine Scott about the Quartet-HT system, a high-performance downhole reservoir testing system for ultra-high temperature conditions. The company launched the system at the 2013 International Petroleum Technology Conference (IPTC) in Beijing in late March.

For more information on the Quartet-HT system, click here.

Quartet-HT is a mark of Schlumberger.

Vinay Mehta, vice president of technical excellence & innovation for Fairmount Minerals, speaks with Drilling Contractor associate editor Katherine Scott about the opening of the Santrol Technology Center in Sugar Land, Texas. The new R&D center expands the company’s proppant portfolio for hydraulic fracturing to improve reservoir conductivity and maximize oil and gas production. Equipment in the facility includes an HPHT viscometer, a helium pycnometer, a three-minute hot tensile tester, a dynamic mechanical analyzer, and a raman-infrared spectroscope. The technology center is run by Santrol, a part of the Fairmount Minerals group offering environmentally responsible proppants for a range of applications.

Schlumberger’s Ian Falconer, marketing and technology manager, introduced technologies, such as the slim-hole PowerDrive Archer rotary steerable system and the Stinger conical diamond technology, at the 2013 SPE/IADC Drilling Conference, 5-7 March in Amsterdam. Starting with the drill bit, the new technologies are a part of the company’s integrated drilling system approach.

Tony Pink, vice president of drilling automation applications for National Oilwell Varco (NOV), speaks with Drilling Contractor associate editor Katherine Scott at the 2013 SPE/IADC Drilling Conference in Amsterdam on 6 March. Mr Pink discussed the company’s NOVA initiative, which NOV considers the next generation in drilling controls and automation. Integrated within operating systems, NOVA drives well execution plans from a single source, executing automatic control and connection to drill and to respond to the well. The open-platform concept allows for greater customization. NOVA was launched at OTC last year.

Click here to read more about NOVA and other drilling automation technologies.

Drilling Contractor associate editor Katherine Scott speaks with John de Wardt, president of De Wardt and Company, at the SPE/IADC Drilling Systems Automation symposium on 4 March, jointly held by the SPE Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section (DSATS) and the IADC Advanced Rig Technology (ART) Committee. The symposium preceded the 2013 SPE/IADC Drilling Conference & Exhibition in Amsterdam. Mr de Wardt was a primary organizer of the workshop. He also served as moderator of the sessions, which featured Andrew Stokes and Eric Nettleton from Rio Tinto, an integrated mining company. Mr Stokes and Mr Nettleton talked about the company’s Mine of the Future program, a project that is pushing Rio Tinto’s mining operations to new levels of automation and remote operations.

Werner Burger, Herrenknecht, spoke at the SPE/IADC Drilling Systems Automation symposium on 4 March about a large-diameter shaft boring system that is part of Rio Tinto’s Mine of the Future program.

Dr Roland Tucks, AkerWirth, explained the benefits of his company’s Mobile Tunnel Miner 6, a tunnel boring system for underground tunneling and mining, developed in conjunction with Rio Tinto, at the SPE/IADC Drilling Systems Automation symposium on 4 March.

Also speaking at the workshop were Dr Roland Tücks from AkerWirth and Werner Burger of Herrenknecht, who each discussed specific components used in the Mine of the Future program. Dr Tücks described AkerWirth’s Mobile Tunnel Miner 6, a mechanical excavation method that he said speeds up mining development, is safer than the conventional drill and blast method and has brought about a 60% decrease in drilling and bolting, which translates into cost savings. Mr Burger discussed Herrenknecht’s mechanized shaft boring system that helps vertically access deep ore bodies with a 180° rotating head. The detailed design is finished, he said, and the equipment is currently looking for a testing site.

Click here for more information on AkerWirth’s Mobile Tunnel Miner 6.

Click here for more information on Herrenknecht’s shaft boring system.

Mine of the Future is a trademark of Rio Tinto.

Fred Florence, NOV, outgoing chairman of the SPE Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section (DSATS) discussed the group’s current and upcoming plans, including work on an interoperability pilot project.

Michael Behounek, Apache, was elected the new chairman of DSATS at the SPE/IADC Drilling Systems Automation symposium in Amsterdam.

Thomas Geehan, MI-SWACO, provided an update on activities of the IADC ART Committee, including the Business Solutions for Drilling Automation Workshop that will be held at the IADC World Drilling Conference in Istanbul, Turkey, in June.

More effective leadership will help the industry move beyond plateaued safety performance, Joe White, senior consultant for DuPont Sustainable Solutions, explained in an exclusive interview with Drilling Contractor associate editor Joanne Liou. Mr White recently spoke at the IADC HSE & Training Conference about integrating social and cognitive science to motivate an individual’s values and behaviors.

David Lewis, president of Lewis Engineering Group and IADC Jackup Rig Committee secretary, speaks with Drilling Contractor associate editor Katherine Scott on the work of the Jackup Committee. The committee was recognized with an IADC Presidential Achievement Award at the 2013 IADC HSE & Training Conference in Houston on 5 February in Houston.

By Amy Rose, director-external relations

IADC presented awards to the Jackup Rig Committee and Mike Hoyle of GL Noble Denton at the 2013 IADC HSE & Training Conference in Houston on 5 February.

The Jackup Rig Committee was recognized with the IADC Presidential Achievement Award for its contribution to the publication of the ISO standards for site-specific assessment of mobile offshore units. “This award represents a lot of hard work by some really dedicated engineers and managers in the jackup committee. I am happy that their work is being recognized,” David Lewis, president of Lewis Engineering Group and committee secretary, said in accepting the award on behalf of the committee. “On a personal level, being associated with members of the committee is one of the best experiences of my career.”

The committee was formed in 1997, with total disbursements for engineering studies and ISO meeting support exceeding $2 million over the past 15 years. Committee chairmen have included Dillard Hammett of ENSCO, Danny McNease of Rowan, David Russell of Rowan, Michael Marcom of Rowan and current chair Michael Dowdy of Rowan.

Separately, Mr Hoyle was presented with an Exemplary Service Award for his contribution to the ISO standards for site-specific assessment of mobile offshore units. “While it has been a group effort, the publication of the ISO would not have taken place without (Mr Hoyle’s) personal leadership, persistence and dogged determination. It is for this individual contribution that he is being recognized,” Stephen Colville, IADC president and CEO, said.

“This award is a reflection of all of the members of the committee as well as my own contributions. I’m grateful and thankful to IADC for recognizing this important work,” Mr Hoyle noted.

Mr Hoyle is head of advanced engineering in GL Noble Denton’s UK marine and offshore operation and chairman of its Technical Policy Board. He has more than 35 years of experience in the offshore industry and is widely recognized for his expertise in jackup engineering. From 1988 to 1994, he was technical secretary to the joint industry project, which created the international guideline and recommended practice for jackup assessment. Since its inception, Mr Hoyle has been convener of the International Standards Organization Work Group covering the Site-Specific Assessment of Mobile Offshore Units that developed ISO 19905-1 in 2012 and ISO 19905-2, which will soon be published.