An exploration and production (E&P) company with operations in the Midland Basin was battling over-torqued connections and trying to mitigate the resulting drillpipe damage. Between Q3 and Q4 of 2021, a considerable number of their drilling connections had to be broken with manual tongs. In addition to slowing the connection process down and reducing the life of the drillpipe, a...

H&P’s Advanced Well Engineering team was able to provide the operator with a detailed architecture as well as further recommendations to help ensure the well could withstand the potential loads it could be subjected to. This architecture will be deployed on a minimum of three upcoming wells, with a potential of six wells. The cost saving and reduction in CO2 emissions is...

A Well Site Leader working on a rig in West Texas’ Delaware Basin identified that their conventional mud motor was stalling at a much lower differential pressure than the motor was supposed to be rated for, indicating that the motor in hole was weak. Making an unplanned trip to replace the motor could cost approximately $50,000, on top of the costs of the day rate if they had to...

H&P’s DrillScan® technology team performed an in-depth post-analysis, reviewing all available data to identify what might have caused the lock-up event. The data provided was used to simulate the downhole conditions undergone by the completion with the DrillScan genuine stiff-string model. The results and conclusions pointed to string dysfunctions: suboptimal...

H&P aims to treat every customer relationship as a true partnership, which is why our Directional Team approached the operator with a bold plan to pause AutoSlide technology for the curve section of the hole where the “ceiling” seemed to exist. Their idea was to drill some of the curves manually to gain new perspective on what could be hindering optimal performance...

Performance contracts are increasingly common in the drilling industry, especially in recent years. This incentivized contract structure, established as a partnership between operator and contractor, improves both well performance and operational execution while incorporating the rig contractor as an additional stakeholder in the operational performance of the well. Many performance contract...

If you have been around Helmerich & Payne for any period of time, no doubt you have heard the term. Actively C.A.R.E.® is one of our Core Values and has been a part of H&P's culture for decades. The idea that we care for our coworkers, customers, and the communities in which we operate is a fundamental principle by which we operate across the globe today....

H&P had set the industry standard for safety as measured by Total Recordable Incident Rate (TRIR) for almost 20 years. Unfortunately, we continued to experience Serious Injury or Fatality (SIF). So, how do we simplify identifying life-altering or fatal exposures? One of the answers to that question is LifeBelts. As other industries recognize “life-saving rules,”...

Inconsistent directional drilling performance has cost the oil and gas industry billions of dollars in drilling costs, missed production potential, and increased lifting costs. While some directional drillers perform at a high-level, others often fail to properly compensate for multiple variables seen while drilling. Automation of the directional drilling service including automated...

One emerging application in geothermal energy is that of closed-loop systems, where two laterals are intersected so that a working fluid can be pumped down one wellhead and up another. These solutions are attractive because they do not rely on the natural permeability of a formation or a reservoir of heated water already in place, they simply require a high enough downhole temperature. While...

Helmerich & Payne has been named the No. 1 Land Driller in the EnergyPoint Research Contract Drillers Survey for the 14th year. In addition to its top marks overall, H&P captured the highest ratings in job quality, technology, HSE, digital and big data, Texas & Mid-continent, Onshore Gulf Coast, horizontal and directional applications, plus three additional...

Wellbore positioning comes with high levels of uncertainty due to error sources inherent in the surveying process. If not accounted for, these errors can result in loss of production, equipment failure, and non-productive time, leading to potential exposures and/or costly situations. By reducing uncertainty with better data, decision makers can have more confidence in the decisions they make...

Feedback and accountability are often met with resistance, evoking feelings of discomfort among many individuals. At Helmerich & Payne, these concepts have instead been reframed to Actively C.A.R.E.®, creating an environment built around trust, open communication between managers and employees, and peer-to-peer support. Building Trust in a New Light Recognizing the need for...

With new innovations in drilling automation like FlexFusion, we are leading the development and implementation of autonomous drilling solutions to deliver value through more cost-effective, consistent, precise and safer outcomes.

The Bit Guidance System uses task automation, forward modeling and automated decision making to guide the driller for more accurate positioning of the bit while drilling horizontal wells. AutoSlide technology receives the sliding instructions from the Bit Guidance System and automatically orients and holds toolface by controlling the rig equipment. The technology performs the slide in a true...

Development of autonomous drilling technologies requires the automated analysis and interpretation of Logging While Drilling (LWD) data to optimally land the well in the target formation and keep it in the pay zone. This paper presents a fully automated geosteering algorithm, which includes advanced LWD filtering, fault detection, correlation, tracking of multiple interpretations with...

Helmerich & Payne, the global leader in drilling rigs and technology, is expanding its partnerships in the Middle East with a customized Flex3 rig. This updated design, the newest addition to the industry standard FlexRig fleet, is uniquely enhanced for mobility and agility in Middle East terrain, without compromising unconventional pad drilling that advanced drilling programs...

H&P’s directional drilling solutions leverage proprietary technology that makes intelligent, real-time decisions so that our customer-partners can be confident in the accuracy and repeatability of their drilling operations. Complex formations require customizable solutions that can simplify and automate the directional drilling process to help drive well-informed decision...

The importance of wellbore deviation is well recognized by the drilling industry. An analysis of the directional behavior of a drilling system must include the directional characteristics of the drilling bit. A comprehensive analysis of the directional behavior of PDC bits is presented in this paper, including the effect of bit profile, gage cutters and gage length. Numerical simulations as...

Buckling of tubulars inside wellbores has been the subject of many researches and articles in the past. However, these conservative theories have always followed the same assumptions : the wellbore has a perfect and unrealistic geometry (vertical, horizontal, deviated, curved), the friction and rotation effects are ignored, conditions relatively far from actual field conditions. How do...

The ability to drill more wells without moving the drilling rig from one location to the next, using trucks and cranes, has had a tremendous influence on personnel safety and environmental impact. This is accomplished by skidding the rig (sliding it from one well to the other), or walking the rig (using a hydraulics system at the base to transport over a short distance), instead of moving the...

Our advanced draw works control system smoothly controls block velocity while regulating inputs from differential pressure, torque, and/or WOB in order to maintain smooth block veloctiy. Helps to seamlessly transfer to/from WOB and differential pressure for consistent bit engagement Does not require changing gain settings

The AutoSlide® system atomically executes the slide based on a data driven plan from the Bit Guidance System. By automating the control of surface equipment and steerable mud motors, H&P optimizes sliding in deviated and horizontal wells in order to improve your: • Slide Quality Accuracy • Wellbore Quality • ROP Performance • ROI

Our industry-leading cognitive computing system helps you make intelligent directional decisions that are based on economics so that we can help lower your drilling costs and increase your production. PROOF IS IN THE OUTCOME Reduce Drilling Time Accurate & Precise Decrease Human Error Consistent & Repeatable Increase Production Potential

Automatically manage and optimize setpoints at a much higher rate than manual driller setpoint changes to help increase ROP during rotation intervals Stick slip indication and mitigation Stringer detection and response Automated, high-frequency adjustments to WOB & RPM Automated WOB & differential pressure zeroing Configurable limits for drilling parameters Automated process to go back to...