Once the drill head reaches the desired location, conduit is then connected to the drill head and the conduits are pulled back in the same horizontal hole that was bored.

While it is boring a hole horizontally, a clay compound called bentonite is often injected in as a mud to help maintain ground stability. The locator tracks the tip of the drill and can tell the operator exactly where the drill head is horizontally, at precisely what depth it is, what amount of pressure it is exerting. One worker operates the drill while the other worker uses an electro-magnetic device called a locator. Dependable rotary steerable systems, tied to an effective drilling engineering process through digitalization and automation, are the foundation of a new era in. Directional drilling changes that.ĭirectional drilling requires the use of a drilling machine that is usually no larger than 2m wide and 4 meters long and 2 workers. The process would take days or weeks and was, on the overall, highly obtrusive, and destructive. Traditionally, equipment or manpower would be required to dig up the ground to create a trench to place pipe or conduit in and then backfill, destroying the existing landscape. HDD is very attractive because it allows water lines, sewers lines, power lines, fiber optic conduits, traditional cable conduits, irrigation lines, gas lines, and telephone lines to be installed with minimal or no disruption to landscaping, driveways, sidewalks.ĭirectional drilling allows operators to drill (bore) horizontally without having to create an open trench or disturb the surface conditions across an expanse of ground. Together, let’s develop the optimal directional drilling program to deliver your well to target with greater speed, assured safety, and lower overall drilling costs.Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD), has become a viable and cost-efficient method for installing underground utilities and conduits for both homeowners and businesses alike. Monitor, collect, and interpret operational data to identify drilling and wellbore instability problems early and improve rig uptime. Safely and reliably enlarge your wellbores and eliminate rat holes with our expandable hole enlargement and downhole reamer tools. Lower drilling risks, improve hole quality and stability, and navigate through thin beds and fluid contacts-all in high resolution-with our suite of integrated logging- and measurement-while-drilling (LWD and MWD), formation evaluation, and mud-pulse and wired-pipe telemetry tools. Maximize drilling efficiency and wellbore placement with our rotary steerable systems leveraging continuous proportional steering and near-bit inclination measurement. Reach target depth more quickly with directional drilling motors that deliver higher rates of penetration (ROPs), more power and torque, greater build rates from kick off, and high reliability in high-temperature reservoirs.

Regardless of your reservoir environment, Baker Hughes has the optimal suite of integrated directional drilling services to lower your construction costs and boost production in several critical ways. Directional drilling technologies help you precisely reach your reservoir’s most productive zone.

Directional drilling technology