American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2015 - 147

SpecialReport: Bits & BHAs

With its carefully engineered,
four-blade-to-center design, the
DF611 from Drilformance can
hold tool face without depth of
cut limiters, enabling it to achieve
faster penetration rates.

for the operator," Kitagawa says, noting
only two of the six offsets managed to
get that far. He adds that the bit came out
of the hole in great condition, with a 01 dull grade.
In a Midland County well, the bit
drilled to the casing point at 5,674 feet at
103 feet/hour, Kitagawa relates. "At that
speed, the bit more than doubled the
ROP of the offset," he says.
Kitagawa attributes the bit's success
to its durability. "Instead of putting
hardfacing behind the cutters, as we did
on previous generations, we are building
the bits with a milled cutting backing that
is integrated with the steel body," he says.
"With more material around the cutters,
the shocks from impact get transferred
into the body of the bit rather than the cutter. This extends the cutter's life, which
is one reason the bit is able to make it to
TD with such excellent dull conditions
and speeds."
When one of its customers asked the
company to design a bit that would hold
tool face and drill Eagle Ford curve and
lateral sections at a high rate of speed without walking, Kitagawa says Drilformance
shifted into high gear to develop a solution fast. That solution was introduced only
four weeks later in the form of the 81⁄2-inch
DF611, he reports.
"In its first run, the bit drilled the curve
in five and a half hours, tripped to switch
to a lateral assembly, went back in to drill
the 8,526 foot lateral at 134 feet/hour, and
came out with a dull grade of 0-0," Kitagawa relates.
Since then, Kitagawa says the 81⁄2inch DF611 and its 83⁄4-inch variant have
completed more than 20 runs in the Eagle
Ford with equally impressive results. "In
a Dimmit County, Tx., well, the bit drilled
the first 3,000 feet of the lateral at 200

feet/hour, which we believe to be a speed
record," he says.
"The bit achieves such rapid penetration rates because it holds tool face by
spreading the work across extra cutters
rather than limiting depth of cut," he says.
"ROP is depth of cut times rotation speed,
so this allows the bit to go faster."

Curve and Lateral Bit
For drilling the curve and lateral sections in difficult curve applications,
Ulterra offers the 83⁄4-inch OneShot™
U516M bit. In the Bakken/Three Forks,
the bit has completed more than 200 runs
with 99 percent reliability and set multiple rig records, reports Casey Dalla Betta, Ulterra's lead engineer for the western
United States.
"We have consistently completed
curves with only 6.5-6.8 hours on bottom,"
he adds. "On a rig-by-rig basis, we are saving operators several hours of drilling time

per well."
The bit can deliver excellent build rates
and tool-face control, Dalla Betta says, noting it has enabled directional drillers to execute tight 2-D curves and complex 3-D
well plans. "We are getting great feedback
from directional drillers," he relates. "For
example, in a well for Kodiak Oil & Gas,
the directional driller reported perfect
build rates and managed to land the curve
within an inch of the desired landing
footage.
"The main feature that gives us smooth
tool-face control is the CounterForce™
cutting structure, which provides a unique
alignment of alternating side rakes on cutters that smoothes the action of shearing
the rock by countering lateral vibration,"
Dalla Betta says.
Aron Deen, the company's senior innovation and downhole tool manager, adds
that the company designed the bit with four
blades to center to keep diamond volume
high in the cone, and employed load limiters to manage depth of cut. "All these design features work together to keep the bit
from over-engaging and generating reactive torque spikes that negatively affect directional drilling performance," he states.
Because of its consistent success, Ulterra has awarded the bit OneShot™ designation for Bakken curves. "We reserve
this designation for bits that satisfy all three
customer goals of directional control,
benchmark speed and proven reliability,"
Deen emphasizes. "Only one other bit has
received that honor."
Although it was designed for the
Bakken, the 83⁄4-inch OneShot U516M has
been used in the Mississippian Lime,
Permian Basin, Eagle Ford, and North-

With its CounterForceTM cutter
configuration, Ulterra's OneShotTM U516M provides such
great tool face control that directional drillers in the Bakken and
beyond can stay on target even
while drilling at high speeds.

APRIL 2015 147



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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