Petrobras, GA Drilling to develop ‘next-gen’ downhole drilling system
Editor's note: This Drilling/Production column first appeared in the July/August 2024 issue of Offshore magazine.
By Bruce Beaubouef, Managing Editor
Slovakian geothermal drilling technology company GA Drilling has entered into a technical cooperation program with Petrobras to develop what the companies describe as a “next-generation downhole drilling system.”
In cooperation with Cenpes, Petrobras’ research, development and innovation center, the two companies say they will work to significantly reduce well construction costs and risk in challenging drilling applications through development of the new system.
The partnership pairs Petrobras with GA Drilling’s technology, a downhole anchoring and drive system that will form the cornerstone of an advanced autonomous reeled drilling system. The collaboration aims to enable deep and complex offshore wells to be drilled from a light well intervention vessel rather than a more costly semisubmersible rig or drillship, saving 30% of well construction cost.
GA Drilling says that its system improves drilling efficiency and enables the replacement of conventional drillpipe with reeled continuous tubing, thus minimizing pipe handling hazards, tripping times and well control risk. The new technology, the company adds, includes sophisticated drilling automation and control systems, and brings real-time wireline communications to the surface. In turn, these systems optimize and drive the drilling process downhole at the rock face rather than many thousands of feet above, says GA Drilling.
“Taken together, the benefits of our drilling technologies equal better efficiency, leading to lower costs, smaller operational footprint, and ultimately, lower risk overall,” said Igor Kocis, CEO and co-founder of GA Drilling. “Working with Petrobras and Cenpes enables us to continue development at lightning speed, utilizing their state-of-the-art testing infrastructure and environments to advance our mission of global geothermal energy adoption.”
And GA Drilling is getting support from other companies, including those in the offshore drilling market. In April 2024, GA Drilling announced it had closed on $15 million in funding from a range of sources. Investors included Houston-based oil and gas drilling contractor Nabors Industries, the newly established Underground Ventures geothermal investment fund, and Slovakian venture capital firm Neulogy Ventures.
A year earlier, GA Drilling conducted the first public demonstration of its ANCHORBIT drilling tool at a Houston test well owned by Nabors. The tool is designed to simplify and improve drilling into high-temperature hard rock formations. According to GA Drilling, the ANCHORBIT technology temporarily stabilizes BHA near the mud motors and prevents the occurrence of stick-slip, making it possible to drill using a high torque/low RPM mud motor, and fully utilize the potential of existing PDC drill bits in hard rock drilling. GA Drilling says that its lab tests proved that a low RPM/high depth-of-cut approach significantly increases footage drilled with a single drill bit, while also increasing the ROP. ANCHORBIT is the first of GA Drilling’s products, and the company says that the public demonstration at the Nabors test well in Houston marked its first successful use in an industrial setting. Working with Nabors, GA Drilling says that it can now expedite these tests using existing rigs and conventional equipment currently in use by the oil and gas industry.
Nabors Industries had already invested $8 million in GA Drilling in March 2022 to enhance its “clean energy” portfolio, a move that was seen by analysts as underscoring Nabors’ commitment to deep-drilling technologies that can tap super-hot, ultra-deep rock reservoirs.
Headquartered in Bratislava, Slovakia, GA Drilling has been characterized as a “pioneer” in the field of “plasma drilling.” This technology is designed to replace conventional drilling especially at the deeper depths required to reach geothermal temperatures. Plasma drilling uses plasma discharges to disintegrate the material being drilled, creating a hole. This discharge is directed onto the surface of the material to be drilled, where it creates breakdown within the material. Plasma drilling is commonly used in materials that are difficult to drill with conventional methods, such as ceramics, refractory metals, and composites.
GA Drilling says that by integrating its contactless PLASMABIT drilling tool into Nabors’ existing automated drilling systems, the collaboration can work to accelerate field commercialization and eliminate traditional economic barriers of ultra-deep projects, to expand global access to geothermal energy.
The ANCHORBIT system was partially derived from the original “walking” mechanism of PLASMABIT, says GA Drilling. The company therefore intends to utilize ANCHORBIT in the PLASMABIT bottom hole assembly. GA Drilling also says that the ANCHORBIT system can be commercially deployed as a stand-alone technology fully compatible with mechanical drilling.
