American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015 - 145

SpecialReport: Bits & BHAs

The diamond powder mix (highlighted in
green) on top of National Oilwell Varco's
FuseTekTM hybrid bit provides the thermal stability and impact resistance needed to drill through complex lithologies.

To show why Baker Hughes developed
the bit, Holliday cites a South Texas operator who needed to drill curves through
the Eagle Ford Shale, Austin Chalk, and
Anacacho formations. "Using PDC bits,
the operator had difficulty controlling
directional orientation and often experienced tool failure," he recalls. "The bits
created high torque fluctuations that sent
the bottom-hole assembly off its planned
trajectory, requiring at least two trips
and bits to drill the curve. These torque
fluctuations also forced the operator to reduce weight on bit, limiting ROP."
To reduce tool-face fluctuations and
gain the ability to increase weight on bit,
the operator switched to the Kymera FSR
to drill the curves in three wells. "The FSR
achieved fast, single-bit curves in each well
over an average curve distance of 789
feet," Holliday reports. "One well was
drilled in 22 hours at an average of 36
feet/hour, setting an operator speed record
in that field for drilling the curve. A subsequent well achieved even faster speeds,
reaching total depth in 17 hours at an average ROP of 46 feet/hour."
All three curve runs with the FSR were
completed with one bit, which Holliday
says had not been achieved previously on
the well pad. He adds that by using the bit,
the operator reduced the curve section's
cost per foot by at least 36 percent.
Interbedded Exemplar
In their quest for higher penetration
rates, operators are applying PDC bits to
hard, interbedded formations historically
handled by roller cone and impregnated
bits, observes Alexis Garcia, the product
line director of performance series bits for

National Oilwell Varco.
"It is usually impossible to avoid bit
trips in these applications," he allows.
"However, PDC cutters that are thermally stable and able to withstand impact and
abrasion damage can minimize the number of trips required."
To achieve that goal, NOV developed
FuseTek™, a hybrid bit that combines diamond-impregnated powder with PDC
cutter technology. "The bit's body is
composed of a tungsten carbide matrix,
and an engineered mix of impregnated material has been applied on the blades and
gauge pads to extend the cutting structure's
durability," Garcia reports.
"The impregnated material on the
blades has a cylindrical shape that allows
it to back up the primary cutting structure,
which mainly is PDC, to have better
abrasion wear and impact resistance,"
Garcia adds. "This secondary structure
comes into play once the primary cutting
structure is too damaged to drill efficiently, expanding the interval that can be
drilled at an acceptable ROP."
In applications across the globe, from
North and South America to Africa,
the Middle East, and Asia, Garcia says
the bit has demonstrated remarkable reliability and provided faster average
penetration rates. He describes it as
ideal for drilling complex, unpredictable
formations.
Nowhere is this more apparent than in
California, says Jimmy Stacey, a drilling
solutions engineer based in Bakersfield.
"How much the bit helps will vary widely from application to application, but on
average, we are seeing 30-40 percent
improvements in durability," he relates.
That is quite a feat, given California's

geology, asserts Ron Birch, district sales
manager for the West Coast. "Beyond
7,000-8,000 feet, it is hard to predict what
the bit will encounter because the rock
is a mixture of soft shale interbedded
with porcellanite, a silica deposit that is
extremely abrasive and hard," he observes.
"FuseTek works because it can drill the
softer layers at a high rate of penetration
and survive the harder layers with the impregnated diamond powder," Birch says.
"It is unique in its ability to drill through
both sets of formations."
Stacey says the bit can greatly reduce
nonproductive time. "In one of the most
exciting applications, we used a 97⁄8-inch
model in an area west of Bakersfield where
PDC bits and other hybrids had trouble
drilling more than 100 feet," he recalls.
"We were able to drill back-to-back 800foot runs, and one of them was completed in what we believe to be record time.
Ultimately, we saved the operator five
trips."
Conical Cutting Elements
With its StingBlade bits, Smith Bits,
a Schlumberger company, strategically
places conical diamond elements across
the bit face. "The conical shape applies a
significantly higher concentrated point
load to fracture high-compressive-strength
formations more efficiently than conventional PDC cutters," says Allen White,
StingBlade product champion.
He says this improves footage and
ROP in impact-prone applications, including hard interbedded formations, conglomerates, and formations with pyrite
and chert inclusions.
The Stinger element's conical shape

The conical diamond elements spread across these StingBlade bits from Smith Bits, a
Schlumberger company, easily fracture high-compressive-strength formations.

APRIL 2015 145



American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015

Contents
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