American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015 - 117

SpecialReport: Tubulars Technology
form wall thickness and heavy-wall coupling stock for premium connections,"
Scott concludes. "In addition, we are installing computer-controlled threading
machines to maintain the tighter tolerances
required when threading premium connections. All these investments will
strengthen our R&D projects and allow
us to develop new products."

Expanding Product Lines
Although market conditions have forced
Tejas Tubular Products to delay plans to
build a seamless tubular mill in Norfolk,
Ne., Vice President of Marketing and
Sales Darrell Ballinger says the company
is moving ahead with other plans. "For
example, we are continuing to develop
technology for our horizontal and directional

drill pipe product lines," he reports.
"We also are expanding our connection
line," he adds. "Over the past year, we
have increased the outer diameters for
our TTRSI connection up to 95⁄8 inches.
That connection is designed specifically
for shale drilling and horizontal work,
and we have more than 17 million feet in
the ground."
Ballinger says the company is developing the next generation of its flush
joint connection. "We are continuing to
work on our sour service products and
offerings as well," he reports. "We have
completed the chemistry for our T95 sour
service grade, and we are working with
our steel manufacturers on a sour service
C110 grade."
Tejas now offers 41⁄2-inch tubing at its

plant in Stephenville, Tx., which previously
produced 2, 27⁄8-, and 31⁄2-inch tubing.
"Over the past year, we have upgraded
some of our inspection equipment and
tightened our standard operating procedures
for weld line inspections," he comments.
The company is working more closely
with distributors to improve forecasting,
and is partnering with operators to gain a
better understanding of their needs and
develop products for critical service applications, Ballinger says. "We try to be
a company that both distributors and endusers want to work with," he remarks.
"Although demand is down, we have
been able to continue to operate all four
of our production facilities, thanks largely
to the support from end-users and distributors."
❒

Inventions Speed Drilling, Cut Costs
By Colter Cookson

How can operators increase drilling
performance and streamline costs as extended-reach and horizontal wells get
longer and more complex? What can
they do to make sure casing gets run to
bottom at the planned trajectory? And
how can they reliably and efficiently
keep production flowing to the sales line?
These questions may be old, but the
answers are not. They change as inventors
from both inside and outside the oil and
gas industry develop new technologies
and refine old ones to boost safety and
efficiency while reducing operating costs.
Today, these solutions include:
* Wired drill pipe that improves drilling
efficiency by increasing the speed of communication to and from the surface;
* A flexible casing shoe that guides
casing to its destination; and
* Nylon line pipe designed to reduce
production costs.
National Oilwell Varco has developed
the wired drill pipe (WDP) technology.
Brian Van Burkleo, the technology's director of business development, says IntelliServTM WDP generally takes two or
three days off drilling times.
"The biggest time saver is faster telemetry," he says. "Drilling teams rely on
downhole data such as tool face orientation
to stay on the desired well path and ensure
effective hole cleaning. Acquiring that
information takes time using conventional
technology, such as mud-pulse telemetry.

The data transmissions only take a few
minutes, but they occur frequently enough
that those minutes add up."
WDP enables faster transmission of
this same data, reducing drilling time by
multiple days per well, Van Burkleo says.
"For example, suppose a driller needs to
send a downlink to the rotary steerable
tool. With conventional telemetry, that
would require a change in flow rate to
send the command to the tool to change
direction, then waiting for confirmation
from the tool that the command was received. That could take 5-10 minutes.

With WDP, it can be done with a push of
the button in two seconds."
Faster communication gives drillers a
more accurate understanding of downhole
conditions, Van Burkleo adds. "Mudpulse and electromagnetic telemetry have
transmission rates between two and 12
bits a second, so the driller might need to
wait as long as five minutes between
data points related to reservoir navigation,
drill string shock and vibration, and bottom-hole pressures. These data are critical
to drilling safely and staying on target,
so data transmission speed can limit pen-

By sending data to and from downhole equipment at lightning speeds, IntelliServ™ wired
drill pipe from National Oilwell Varco can unlock faster penetration rates, NOV says.

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American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015

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