"Deeper" and "smarter" will likely be the watchwords of America's drilling industry in the coming years, especially as the nation's natural gas producers try to keep up with growing demands for this clean-burning fuel.

Although more than 70 percent of the natural gas produced in the United States already comes from wells at 5,000 feet or deeper, only seven percent comes from formations below 15,000 feet. Yet, at these deeper depths, an estimated 125 trillion cubic feet of natural gas is thought to be trapped.

Tapping into this resource will be both technologically daunting and expensive. For wells deeper than 15,000 feet, as much as 50 percent of drilling costs can be spent in penetrating the last 10 percent of a well's depth. The rock is typically hot, hard, abrasive, and under extreme pressure. Often, in deeper wells, it is not uncommon for the drill bit to slow to only two to four feet per hour at operating costs of tens of thousands of dollars a day for a land rig and millions of dollars a day for deep offshore formations. And it is exceedingly difficult to control the precise trajectory of a well when the drill bit is nearly three miles below the surface. 

These conditions test the limits of today's drilling technology. In September 2003, the National Petroleum Council issued a report to the Secretary of Energy that recommended actions to improve natural gas supplies over the next 20 years. The major “technology needs” identified to exploit deep drilling include equipment and sensors able to withstand high temperatures and high pressures, expandable pipe to reduce weight, lightweight composite pipe materials, and micro-technologies to allow smaller diameter wells. 

MORE INFO 03.18.02 Techline: DOE Kicks Off "Deep Trek" to Develop Deeper, Smarter Drilling Technology 05.29.03 Techline: New Tools for Deep  Gas – DOE Adds Three New Projects to Deep Trek Program

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy kicked off Deep Trek a year earlier in 2002 to help develop high-tech drilling tools that industry needs to tackle these deeper deposits. The goal is to develop a "smart" drilling system tough enough to withstand the extreme temperatures, pressures and corrosive conditions of deep reservoirs, yet economical enough to make the gas affordable to produce. The DOE awarded five Deep Trek research projects in September 2002, three in May 2003 and two more the following September with a total cost of nearly $18 million, almost $10 million of which is being contributed by research partners. These projects include advancing drilling performance, developing “smart” communication systems, instrumentation, novel drill bits and fluids, and novel pipe systems that are able to withstand the severe temperatures (over 400 degrees F) and pressures in deep horizons.

These "smart" drilling systems can report key measurements - temperature, pressure, fluid content, geology, etc. - as a well is drilled. Sophisticated electronic systems can identify potential trouble spots on a real-time basis, allowing operators to make adjustments without interruption or costly work stoppages.

Deep Trek builds on a solid track record of achievements in past drilling R&D partnerships between the federal government and private industry.  

DOE's Other Drilling Advancements

DOE’s past drilling advancements include the first system to transmit drill bit location by sending pressure pulses through drilling mud, which was developed by the Energy Department and Teleco, Inc. Today, this "mud pulse" measurement-while-drilling telemetry has become standard in the industry.

MORE INFO DOE-Funded "Smart" Drilling Prototype On Track for Commercialization DOE-Funded Technology that "Looks Ahead" of Drillbit Commercialized

More recently, the Office of Fossil Energy's drilling program produced the next major advance in downhole telemetry. A new technology system sponsored by DOE called IntelliPipe™ turns an oil and gas drill pipe into a high-speed data transmission tool capable of sending data from the bottom of a well up to 200,000 times faster than mud pulse and other downhole telemetry technology in common use today. The system has proven remarkably reliable in extensive US and Canadian field trials. Potential benefits include decreased costs, improved safety, and reduced environmental impacts from drilling. Former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham called the IntelliPipe™ "one of the most remarkable advances in drilling technology in the last 25 years." The system was developed by Novatek Engineering, Provo, Utah, and Grant Prideco, Houston, Texas, a global leader in drill pipe technology, who formed a joint venture, IntelliServ™ to market the revolutionary pipe. Grant Prideco's announcement in February of the commercial launch of its IntelliServ Network and related Intellipipe™ technology capped five years of research sponsored by DOE.

Revolutionary new drill bits are also one of the "success stories" of the Energy Department's research program. The prime example is the polycrystalline diamond drill bit, now the industry standard for drilling into difficult formations. Prior to the early 1980s, drill bit manufacturers had been unable to adhere industrial-grade diamond cutters to the bit. Scientists at the Energy Department's Sandia National Laboratories solved the problem by developing a "diffusion bonding" approach. More recently, Penn State University, working under an Office of Fossil Energy contract, developed a way to use microwaves to harden the tungsten carbide of deep drilling bits, resulting in a 30 percent increase in strength.

The drilling system of the future may also employ new advances in drill pipe materials as a result of the Energy Department's research program. In mid 2004, the Department announced the development of a new "composite" drill pipe that is lighter, stronger and more flexible than steel, which could significantly alter the ability to drain substantially more oil and gas from rock than traditional vertical wells.

MORE INFO 05.17.04 Techline: New Carbon Drill Pipe Signals Technical Achievement

The new carbon fiber drill pipe could be especially important in drilling horizontal wells that require the drill pipe to bend on a short radius. It could also play a key role in deep drilling where the weight of the drill pipe is an especially important factor. The carbon fiber drill pipe is likely to weigh less than half the weight of steel drill pipe, and the lighter the pipe, the less torque and drag is created, and the greater distance a well can be drilled both vertically and horizontally.