American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015 - 146

SpecialReport: Bits & BHAs

The MegaDiamond PDC cutters in Atlas Copco bits outlast standard PDC cutters two
to one, making them ideal for
directional drilling in unconventional plays.

and thick diamond layer give it twice the
impact strength and 30 percent greater
wear resistance than a standard premium
PDC cutter, White adds. "Over 600 runs
in 21 countries, including runs in the
Williston, Permian, Anadarko and Uinta
basins, StingBlade bits have averaged a 55
percent increase in footage with a corresponding 30 percent ROP increase, compared with offset bits," he reports.
Laboratory tests suggest the conical diamond elements drill with 26 percent less
torque than conventional PDC cutters,
White continues. "By reducing torque fluctuations when drilling through formations with varying compressive strengths,
this quality lets directional drillers set toolface angle and drill ahead with fewer adjustments, improving build rates and toolface control," he says.
When placed across the bit face,
Stinger elements have a more balanced
force response compared with conventional PDC cutters, which White says reduces
lateral force per cutting element, enabling the bits to drill with less shock and
vibration. "The reduction in lateral vibration allows the bits to achieve longer runs
at higher ROPs while extending the operating life of expensive downhole measurement and steering tools," he relates.
"The Stinger's higher concentrated
point loading on the formation yields significantly larger cuttings," White adds. "In
field tests, the bits produced a significant
amount of 2.0-millimeter cuttings. These
help well site geologists measure formation mineralogy, porosity, permeability and
hydrocarbon content, and accurately determine wellbore positon and trajectory."
Progress Energy had great success
deploying the bits in a demanding application in the Montney Shale in the Julienne
Field of British Columbia, White says. To
reach the reservoir, Progress needed to drill

through a formation with alternating
lithologies of hard and abrasive sandstone,
shale, chert, limestone, dolomite, anhydrite
and silt. This type of formation often causes vibration-induced cutter damage, abrasive wear and slow ROP, White notes.
Using a StingBlade bit developed for
the application, Progress drilled 803 feet
through the difficult alternating rock column at 21 feet/hour, White reports. Compared with 20 offsets within a 6.2 mile radius, the StingBlade bit drilled 181 percent
more footage and increased ROP 95 percent. It also came out of the hole in good
dull condition, White adds. He says the reduced rig time saved the operator $178,500
on the well.
Deep-Leech Cutters
To provide PDC bits with the durability required for horizontal and directional drilling in unconventional plays, Atlas
Copco has partnered with MegaDiamond,
a Schlumberger company, to offer deepleach cutters.
Jason Palmer, an application engineer
for Atlas Copco Secoroc based in Salt
Lake City, says deep leaching increases
cutter thermal stability and therefore
longevity by selectively removing cobalt
from the diamond table of the cutter.
"Cobalt acts as a catalyst to sinter diamond-to-diamond bonds and unitizes
the diamond layer to the tungsten carbide
substrate, resulting in a tough and highly
abrasion-resistant cutting edge," Palmer
notes. "However, because cobalt has a
higher thermal expansion rate than diamond, it can reduce cutter durability.
During drilling, heat causes the cobalt between the diamond crystals to expand and
break the diamond-to-diamond bonds,
eventually resulting in cutter failure."
Atlas Copco's partnership with MegaDiamond gives it access to a patented,

146 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

four-step process for removing cobalt
from the cutters to several hundred microns. According to Curtis Larson, another application engineer with Atlas Copco
Secoroc, internal laboratory tests using a
wet vertical turret lathe suggest the resulting cutters will perform on par with deepleach products made using conventional
methods. "Field tests have confirmed
that," he assures.
"One such confirmation came in a direct comparison run against deep-leach
cutters in a Williston Basin application,"
he relates. "The bit went in the hole at
2,221 feet and was pulled at 9,430 feet for
a total of 7,209 feet drilled. The cutters'
dull condition was rated at 1-2, matching
the dull condition of the conventional
deep-leach cutters."
A test in Colorado on an S-curve directional well offers further evidence. The bit
went into the hole to drill the 83⁄4-inch section at 1,225 feet and drilled 4,379 feet before being pulled in response to a motor
failure at 5,604 feet, about 1,000 feet short
of the targeted depth, Palmer relates. He
says the bit performed comparably to bits
with conventional deep-leech cutters,
coming out of the hole with minimal cutter wear and an official dull grade of 1-1NO-A-X-I-NO-HP.
"The customer reported the bit was
comparable to others in the upper, softer
formations and steadier when drilling the
harder formations, and the directional
driller noted the bit was easy to steer and
slid well," Palmer comments.
Palmer and Larson say they have seen
similar results in runs in West Texas, South
Texas and Oklahoma, with the Atlas
Copco deep leach PDC bit often outperforming standard deep leach cutters.
Hard Rock Hero
Drilformance has introduced the 121⁄4inch 616X bit line for hard rock and transition drilling. According to Casey Kitagawa, the company's global applications
engineering director, the bit has completed more than 100 runs, mostly in the Permian Basin, but also in the Eagle Ford and
Marcellus. "The 616X and 616X2 are
making it farther than many of the offsets,
and in some cases, they are even reaching
total depth where others have not," he reports.
In a Permian Basin well in Glasscock
County, Tx., a 616X2 drilled from 536
feet to a target depth of 6,070 feet at an
average ROP of 86.5 feet/hour. "That
was the fastest run to TD on this asset



American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015

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

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