Light
modular drilling rigs can be deployed more easily in remote areas than conventional rigs. Fabricated from lighter and stronger materials, these rigs are built in pieces that can be transported individually and assembled on site. The lower weight of components and the rig reduces surface impacts during transport and use. The modular design also allows the rigs to be quickly disassembled and removed when drilling operations are completed.
Measurement-while-drilling
(MWD) systems measure downhole and formation parameters to allow more efficient and accurate drilling. By providing precise, real-time drilling data on bottomhole conditions, these systems reduce costs and improve the safety of drilling operations.
Combined with advanced interpretive software, MWD tools allow drilling engineers to more accurately determine formation pore pressures, and fracture pressures as the well is being drilled. Such accurate geopressure analysis can help reduce the risk of life-threatening blowouts and fires. In the event of the loss of well control, MWD tolls help engineers to quickly steer a relief well and regain control.
Improved Drill Bits
Advances in materials technology and bit hydraulics, spurred by competition between roller cone and polycrystalline diamond compact bits, have yielded tremendous improvement in drilling performance. Extensive field data indicate that, on average, a 15,000 foot well takes about 39 days to drill today, while that same well would have taken over 80 days in the 1970's. By reducing the time for the rig to be on site, advanced drill bits reduce potential impacts on soils, groundwater, wildlife, and air quality.
Advanced
completion and stimulation technology includes CO²- sand fracturing, which yields clean fractures to increase well deliverability while avoiding the waste management and well maintenance costs associated with more traditional fracturing operations. In addition, advances in hydraulic fracturing technology -- such as state-of-the-art fracture simulators and improved microseismic fracture mapping -- have improved well placement and design, and increased ultimate recovery.
American ingenuity, know-how, and entrepreneurial spirit have created the necessary technology to maintain reliable oil and gas supplies in a volatile marketplace.
Technology innovation has enabled the domestic industry to remain viable in an energy business where highly competitive global markets determine prices. The industry has developed more efficient E&P technology to enable continued exploration, development, and production through the boom and bust cycles that are characteristic of world oil markets.
