I N NOVATI N G WH I LE DR I LLI N G
Extended-reach drilling has become more common and more extreme in recent years as operators seek to generate more
production out of each well, but drilling long laterals comes with significant challenges, like excessive torque and damaging
lateral vibrations. Last year H&P launched its Failure Prevention Package to address problems often encountered in long later-
al s. The company says it has already seen fewer unplanned trips and more footage drilled between unplanned trips.

The two points of contact that a standard torque wrench has
with the drill pipe can create a slight bowing effect on the drill
pipe, and the wrench can sometimes relax its grip on the pipe
as it moves downhole. These two variables increase the likeli-
hood of inaccurate readings of the torque value on each connec-
tion, which can lead the driller to apply an excessive amount
of torque. “If you over-torque downhole, you’re having to rig up
manual tongs to break your connections, which slows the whole
well cycle down. Additionally, you’re damaging pipe and making
it unusable. That’s added costs and added time we need to avoid,”
Mr Jones said.

To combat this challenge, H&P worked with a third-party
equipment manufacturer to develop the HexGrip 120 automated
floor wrench , which can handle higher torques than a con-
ventional torque wrench. Rather than using two dies to make
contact with the drill pipe like a conventional wrench, the new
wrench contains six dies, creating a concentric gripping effect
where the dies grip around the circumference of the drill pipe.

The improved gripping of the six-point torque wrench also
translates to less connection deformation on the tool makeup
and improved torque accuracy.

The new wrench also contains sensors so it can provide an
exact reading of the back-off torque inputs, or the torque needed
to break a given drill pipe connection. This gives the driller a
more accurate view of how much torque is being applied to the
drill pipe at any given time.

“With the type of downhole environments we see, there will
be sections where you’re adding torque, so you need to know
exactly how much is going to break out,” Mr Jones said. “If
you’re not correct, you’re going to see a lot of problems when you
have to go downhole and break the connections loose. Having
that functionality to adjust and make sure our torque loads are
exactly what we want them to be and what we need for the hole
conditions – that helps to avoid a lot of the problems we face.”
H&P has been field-testing the floor wrench on a Permian rig
since early 2022, and a second wrench was added to a rig in
Oklahoma this year. The company foresees adding more of these
tools across its rig fleet this year.

The extreme torques seen in extended laterals can also
increase the possibility of encountering damaging lateral vibra-
tions, resulting in stick-slip, whirl and overall downhole tool
failure. This can lead to longer drilling times, higher costs
D R I L L I N G C O N T R AC T O R • M A R C H/A P R I L 2023
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