Energy Secretary Abraham cites advance in ‘smart’ oil, gas drilling

Petroleum News Alaska

A major innovation, turning a drill pipe into a high-speed data transmission tool, was announced Sept. 30 by government and industry officials.

The new system, trade marked as IntelliPipe, was developed by the engineering team of Grant Prideco, Houston, Texas, and Novatek Engineering, Provo, Utah, with U.S. Department of Energy funding.

Officials said the new technology, a transmission tool capable of sending data from the bottom of a well 100,000 times faster than technology in common use today, “could revolutionize the way companies probe for oil and gas.”

The new drill pipe has built-in telemetry and can transmit large amounts of data to the surface as fast as 1 million bits per second, DOE said, and also allows data to be sent the other way, “giving drillers the first-ever capability to almost instantaneously direct and control the movement of a drilling tool that is thousands of feet below the surface.”

“The Intellipipe is one of the most remarkable advances in drilling technology in the last 25 years,” said U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham in a statement. “President Bush, in the National Energy Policy, directed me to pursue advanced technology in energy production. I think the Intellipipe is exactly the type of technology we need to move our domestic production capabilities into the new century.”

DOE said the “smart pipe” had had several field tests and is expected to be introduced commercially sometime next year. Grant Prideco and Novatek have formed a joint venture called IntelliServ (trademark) to market the technology.

Current speeds for down-hole drilling data are three to 10 bits per second, DOE said.