RON TOUFEEQ IS senior vice president of operations, asset management and engineering for Pride International. DC: What are some of the most critical issues facing the drilling and completion industry in terms of technology? The industry is going deeper, both in water depth and drilling depth. That introduces many new challenges. We need to have the best hydraulics down-hole, and that means having the most efficient high-pressure mud pumps. We need derricks rated for the huge loads we see. We also have to drill smartly. In other words, we have to make sure that we're making fewer trips in hole to minimize "non-drilling" time. We have to use smart technologies to control vibrations in the drillstring, monitor downhole conditions and handle drilling based on what we see down there. For example, how fast we rotate the drillstring and how much weight we put on the bit.
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