Posted: Apr 22, 2010 12:34 PM
Updated: Apr 22, 2010 1:01 PM
O'Brien Energy Company's Drilling Team constantly explores ways to increase drilling efficiency. It's objective-- drill farther, faster... thereby reducing costs and increasing well profitability. The Team from OEC-- Steve Harris, Jimmy Childress, & Barb Bowman, along with consultants Richard Rodgers and Kevin McGee from our sister company, Bear Creek Services-- recently scored a major victory in its efficiency quest-- one celebrated internationally by no less than National Oilwell Varco (NOV), one of the world's oldest, largest, and most respected oil field equipment suppliers. Take a look at this:
This promotional flyer went out world-wide to sales associates in NOV's Reed Hycalog drill bit and cutter division. It bears a name and message that do us proud. The name is O'BENCO, the operational arm of O'Brien Energy Company & SEPCO II. The message we take such pride in is conveyed in two words: exceptional performance.
The ad touts the success of NOV's recently developed DuraForce cutter technology. It's what we used at our Morehead #1 well in Limestone County, Texas, OEC's first well drilled in our recently acquired North Bald Prairie Field. In ballyhooing the DuraForce performance, NOV simultaneously draws the drilling world's positive attention to the O'Brien Energy Drilling Team for selecting the cutter and using it to our best advantage. Here's how it played out.
In pre-drilling meetings during which the Drilling Team mapped out its strategy for the Morehead #1, experience told team members that we likely would encounter what OEC Production VP Steve Harris described as a "...tough, abrasive section of Lower Travis Peak and Upper Cotton Valley Sands." That projection proved right at 9,747 feet. But the Drilling Team's experience and expertise also had them prepared. They decided to switch from a previously successful Polycrystalline Diamond Cutter (PDC) to the new DuraForce cutter to penetrate the hard-to-pierce zones faster. It was clearly the right decision.
Using the DuraForce PDC, we drilled an interval of 1,787 feet in 66.5 hours, which gave us a rate of penetration (ROP) of 26.9 feet per hour. So, is that good? No, it's great! NOV ran comparisons of drilling rates at other nearby wells (see chart in ad). They verify that our ROP was remarkable. We drilled the interval 150% farther and 66% faster than the average of 11 other wells within a 5 mile radius of the Morehead #1. Steve Harris ran some other numbers that show why that increased efficiency mattered to the bottom line-- drilling 1,787 feet in 66.5 hours shaved nearly 44 hours off the average time. At our present day-rate for drilling, that translates to a savings of nearly $38,000.
The OEC Drilling Team's prior planning and proper decision making paid off big at the Morehead #1. And it's not stopping there. The Team is already recognizing other opportunities and ready to employ other methods to stay ahead of the efficiency curve. Its objective is to make our wells more profitable by consistently reducing the cost of drilling them. But let's face it, having our accomplishment cited by a major international player in the industry is a nice side benefit. It validates what we've held all along... that at O'Brien Energy, "Fueled by Experience" means we are fueled toward exceptional performance.
