Nabors launches new rig with quad drilling design

Nabors has launched its first PACE-X rig featuring the quad drilling design. The rig’s mast features an additional 31-ft section to allow for four joints of pipe in the setback. Nabors expects this to significantly reduce the number of drilling connections per well. “We think it will be a real game changer in our industry,” said Todd Fox, VP of Global Drilling Operations for the US Southern Region at Nabors. On a 20,000-ft well, he estimates that there can be 58 fewer connections. While conventional land drilling rigs have a cantilever-style mast, the quad rig uses a bootstrap technology, which rigs up the mast vertically. “Adding additional sections to this mast is easy,” Mr Fox said.

This first quad rig will be mobilizing from Nabors’ yard in Crosby, Texas, for a contract with a major operator in the Eagle Ford in South Texas. Nabors is already planning to retrofit an existing rig with quad drilling features later this year.

For more details about the rig, watch DC’s video with Mr Fox and Anish Gupta, Director of Engineering, from the Nabors facility in Crosby, Texas, on 20 July.