40262_American-OG-Reporter.pdf

American Oil & Gas Reporter Article Composite Drill Pipe Perfect Fit for Short-Radius Drilling By Gary L. Covatch and James Heard With much of the nation's "easy-to-produce" oil and gas gone, many U.S. companies are looking for lower cost methods to recover the oil and gas that was bypassed when many of the nation’s fields were first developed. Short-radius horizontal drilling is one technology that is being used to recover oil and gas from bypassed zones, many of which are shallow and of low productivity. However, one of the challenges facing the shortradius drilling industry is the need for reliable drill pipe that can withstand the stress of drilling through short-radius-of-curvature bends for extended periods of time. A new, lightweight, flexible drill pipe engineered from space-age composites rather than steel has the potential to fill that need, extending the life of existing wells as well as reducing the cost of drilling new horizontal wells.