October 2003
Special Focus
Real real-time drill pipe telemetry: A step-change in drilling
For over 50 years, technology has been proposed that would allow formation evaluation and borehole navigation while drilling in real-time. The savings in drilling/rig time and cost would be substantial. In 2000, Grant Prideco and Novatek formed a joint venture corporation, IntelleServ, to commercialize a high-speed drill pipe telemetry system. In 2001, US Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) partly funded the venture. The need and uses for this technology, its design, testing and status to date are discussed herein.
