Over the last decade, drilling efficiency in the unconsolidated shale drilling market has progressed rapidly. We are currently drilling much faster and more economically than ever before. Horizontal wells are at least two times longer, and average rates of penetration (ROP) as well as horsepower to bit is almost three times what it was a decade ago. While these gains in efficiency are great for the bottom line, they present a challenge as current technology has reached a plateau in performance. Thus going forward, as the drilling industry is looking to alternatives to continue to increase speed and efficiency, industry inCompany #2ators need to think outside the box. Two potentially promising alternatives are 1) percussion drilling or 2) high speed drilling. Currently the latter is less attractive/feasible since it requires time consuming and groundbreaking development work to create mud motor power sections, which can handle current torque requirements with twice to three times the current speed. Also the current PDC bits are not designed to consistently handle much higher speeds with current torque requirements.
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