Reed Hycalog

Source: Energy Digital

Date :21/05/2007 16:04:12

Reed Hycalog: ReedHycalog’s Performance Driven by its Technology

ReedHycalog’s commitment to ‘performance driven technology’ has positioned the company as an industry leader in the provision of drilling solutions and services to the oil and gas industry

Wriiten by James Hurley & produced by Alex Smith

An international drilling solutions and manufacturing company, Reed Hycalog provides premium fixed cutter and roller cone drill bits, coring, hole opening, downhole tools and engineering services to the global oil and gas industry. As part of Grant Prideco, a major multi-national company and world-renowned premium tubulars manufacturer, ReedHycalog has an impressive pedigree.

Grant Prideco, Inc. is engaged in drill stem technology development, drill pipe manufacturing, sales and service, as well as drill bit technology and specialty tools, manufacturing, sales and service. The company is also a provider of performance engineered connections and premium tubular products and services. Its drill stem and drill bit products are used to drill oil and gas wells, while the tubular technology and services are primarily used in drilling and completing oil and gas wells. One of three business segments at Grant Prideco, Reed Hycalog has five manufacturing plants spread across three continents, with plants based in the US, the UK and Singapore, all ISO 9001 and 14001 certified. There are three sites in the UK, in Gloucestershire, Aberdeen and Great Yarmouth.

A global designer

ReedHycalog is a global designer, manufacturer and distributor of drilling technology, and its products are generally sold to the upstream oil and gas operators and, less frequently, drilling contractors on footage contracts. The Company's drill stem products wear out through a combination of friction and metal fatigue, and generally are utilized by the customers for a 3 to 5 year period assuming regular use. The drill bit market consists of two product types: fixed-cutter bits and roller-cone bits. The company manufactures and sells both product types globally.

The most popular fixed-cutter bit in the oil and gas industry is the poly diamond crystalline (PDC) bit. PDC bits have no moving parts and are therefore intrinsically more reliable than ‘roller-cone bits’, but they are considered sensitive to geological changes. PDC bits drill with a shearing action to remove rock by dragging the diamond elements through the formation as the drill bit body rotates. ReedHycalog’s ‘TReX’ and ‘Raptor’ cutter technology increases wear life without sacrificing impact resistance.

Where a more versatile cutting system is required, in harder formations or in areas where the geology is subject to change, roller cone bits are employed. These consist of three rotating cones that have cutting teeth, which penetrate formations through a crushing action as the cones rotate in conjunction with the rotation of the drill pipe. ReedHycalog manufactures roller-cone bits with milled teeth and with tungsten carbide insert teeth, which have a longer life in harder formations. The company’s roller-cone products and technology are marketed globally under various brand names, including ‘RockForce.’

RockForce roller cone bits deliver reliable, field-proven performance in demanding drilling applications. The RockForce bearing system incorporates high energy cone retention with an encapsulated ‘ball race’ design, providing lower contact stress. The precision-machined, silver-plated bearing surfaces reduce friction for longer life and can be designed to specifically suit a variety of applications.

ReedHycalog’s design strategy is founded on four key, interdependent indices which describe bit performance; Rate of Penetration (ROP), Durability, Stability and Steerability. Focus on these critical aspects of design has yielded a new range of technologies which is changing drilling practices and reducing cost-per-foot.

Anderguage acquisition

Since ReedHycalog is in the business of providing innovative products to clients that work within a fast changing industry, keeping abreast of technological advancements is vital. Drilling oil and gas wells in the current financial climate is an extremely costly business and innovative technical solutions can have a dramatic effect on reducing the cost of these operations. Providing targeted cost saving solutions that maximise performance to oil company operators is the focus for the company’s technology programme.

ReedHycalog’s addition of Andergauge Drilling Systems to the company’s portfolio in October 2006 has not only contributed to a 33 percent increase in revenue at Grant Prideco for the final quarter of 2006, but also provided an added dimension to its range of solutions in advanced drilling technology.

Over the past 18 years the name Andergauge has become synonymous with functional technological advancements such as effective ‘inclination control’ and two dimensional ‘rotary steering’. The driving force behind the company is a brief to provide inventive, productive and extremely reliable drilling tools which are easy to run and can be used in a wide variety of drilling solutions.

Andergauge entered the drilling industry with the first commercial downhole adjustable gauge stabiliser, which is still recognised as the market standard. Since 1986, this tool has provided the industry with huge cost savings by enabling more drilling to be done in rotary mode, and delivering the large range of benefits associated with rotary drilling. Andergauge has expanded its range of tools to meet the demanding requirements set by the industry. With the combined knowledge and experience of both ReedHycalog and Anderguage engineers, the company is developing a wider range of innovations for its clients.

The coring market

A crucial consideration for oil and gas companies is the cost and accuracy of retrieving core samples. ReedHycalog expanded their range of tools and expertise in this area with the acquisition of the Canadian coring company Corion Diamond Products in 1995. A recognized leader in conventional and unconsolidated coring services throughout the Western Hemisphere, Corion significantly enhanced ReedHycalog’s capabilities in the oil, gas and coal bed methane coring markets. Corion Express, a flagship Corion product that employed an innovative coring system, helped position Reed Hycalog Coring Services as an industry leader in the speciality coring market. The company can now offer solutions for difficult coring situations such as highly fractured core zones, high pressure and high temperature environments and unconsolidated formations.

This is typical of the expansion in technology and services offered by ReedHycalog in recent years. The company’s ethos and commitment to technological advancements and reduction of client operating costs is reflected in its slogan ‘performance driven technology.’ ReedHycalog’s R&D efforts increasingly extend beyond the bit to encompass the complete drilling system, providing holistic software and hardware tools that offer complete solutions for the drilling process. By doing so, the company is able to provide ever more reliable solutions to its customers’ drilling challenges. ReedHycalog is no longer solely a drill bit company; it is now able to offer a complete range of down-hole drilling services and solutions.