Onshore Drilling1
Canadian drilling contractors and service companies provide services worldwide. Canada is a leader in the development of innovative drilling technologies such as:
- top drive drilling systems
- casing drilling
- coiled tubing drilling
- underbalanced drilling
- slant rig drilling
- horizontal drilling
- multi-well drilling pads
- automated drilling rigs
Drilling Equipment
Canadian companies have developed drilling equipment for specific operating conditions including shallow oil sands, shallow gas, and Arctic and tropical climates. New tools are improving the speed, safety and reach of drilling operations on rigs throughout the world, such as:
- Rigs designed for drilling in shallow oil and gas fields can be moved quickly to new locations, resulting in improved rig utilization and reduced labour costs.
- Underbalanced drilling uses gasified mud to reduce mud weights. This minimizes formation damage and maximizes flow rates and recoverable resources.
- Slant rigs are being used in oil sands areas where a large number of wells are drilled, often from the same drilling pad. These rigs minimize land surface impacts and drilling completion and operating costs.
- Automated drilling rigs have performed well in the 600-metre shallow gas market and are capable of drilling up to 2 000 metres in one bit run. The latest automated drilling rigs can accommodate both larger coiled tubing and conventional jointed drill pipe.
- Automated casing-while-drilling uses standard oilfield casing to drill and case the well. It has been updated to reduce drilling-crew time in the most hazardous work area on a rig and to increase efficiency through central controls.
Measurement-while-drilling techniques have been refined and extended to specialized applications including:
- compact memory logging
- improved bit steering for horizontal and parallel well applications
- improved electromagnetic communication with surface decoder/display systems
