Horizontal well drilling involves the use of specialized equipment.  Let’s start with the directional drill rig used to perform horizontal well drilling.  Key components include the directional drill unit, fluid management systems, the drill pipe itself, the directional drill bit and integrated electronics that enable the operator of the electronic tracker instrument (also called a locator) to verify the drill bit location and pitch.  

Horizontal well drilling equipment

The directional drill rig used to perform horizontal well drilling advances drill pipe retrieved from an automated carousel located adjacent to the hydraulically operated directional drill unit.  The drill pipe is another critical element that enables successful horizontal well drilling.  The drill pipe is constructed of heavy wall high tensile strength steel, which enables the pipe to flex significantly without kinking or breaking during directional drilling and steering operations.  

The carousel incorporated into Directional Technologies’ medium size rig holds 80 10-foot lengths of drill pipe.  The pipe segments are conveyed and attached to the drill stem via hydraulic manipulators remotely operated by the directional drill rig operator.  This feature significantly increases productivity and significantly reduces labor requirements associated with manual pipe handling.  

The directional drill rig used to perform horizontal well drilling both rotates and advances the drill assembly hydraulically by the operator stationed at the control and monitoring instrument panel.  If the bore path requires a divergence from the horizontal path, the operator of the horizontal well drilling rig can “steer” the drill bit.  Drill pipe rotation is halted during the steering operation and hydraulic pressure is applied to the drill pipe to push the specially shaped drill bit in the desired direction, which is monitored using the aforementioned electronic tracking device.  The steering capability of a horizontal well drilling rig enables the directional driller to avoid underground obstacles, such as buried utilities and reach targets without the need for a straight bore path.  In other words, the horizontal well can bend in the X and Y axis.  

Directional Technologies, Inc. has been in the horizontal well drilling business for over 20 years and is the nation’s expert horizontal remediation well drilling contractor.  To learn more about our capabilities, please feel free to contact us at the numbers below or  drilling@directionaltech.com