OPTIMIZATION OF MUD HAMMER DRILLING PERFORMANCE - A PROGRAM TO BENCHMARK THE VIABILITY OF ADVANCED MUD HAMMER DRILLING

Progress during current reporting year 2002 by quarter--Progress during Q1 2002: (1) In accordance to Task 7.0 (D. No.2 Technical Publications) TerraTek, NETL, and the Industry Contributors successfully presented a paper detailing Phase 1 testing results at the February 2002 IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, a prestigious venue for presenting DOE and private sector drilling technology advances. The full reference is as follows: IADC/SPE 74540 ''World's First Benchmarking of Drilling Mud Hammer Performance at Depth Conditions'' authored by Gordon A. Tibbitts, TerraTek; Roy C. Long, US Department of Energy, Brian E. Miller, BP America, Inc.; Arnis Judzis, TerraTek; and Alan D. Black, TerraTek. Gordon Tibbitts, TerraTek, will presented the well-attended paper in February of 2002. The full text of the Mud Hammer paper was included in the last quarterly report. (2) The Phase 2 project planning meeting (Task 6) was held at ExxonMobil's Houston Greenspoint offices on February 22, 2002. In attendance were representatives from TerraTek, DOE, BP, ExxonMobil, PDVSA, Novatek, and SDS Digger Tools. (3) PDVSA has joined the advisory board to this DOE mud hammer project. PDVSA's commitment of cash and in-kind contributions were reported during the last quarter. (4) Strong Industry support remains for the DOE project. Both Andergauge and Smith Tools have expressed an interest in participating in the ''optimization'' phase of the program. The potential for increased testing with additional Industry cash support was discussed at the planning meeting in February 2002. Progress during Q2 2002: (1) Presentation material was provided to the DOE/NETL project manager (Dr. John Rogers) for the DOE exhibit at the 2002 Offshore Technology Conference. (2) Two meeting at Smith International and one at Andergauge in Houston were held to investigate their interest in joining the Mud Hammer Performance study. (3) SDS Digger Tools (Task 3 Benchmarking participant) apparently has not negotiated a commercial deal with Halliburton on the supply of fluid hammers to the oil and gas business. (4) TerraTek is awaiting progress by Novatek (a DOE contractor) on the redesign and development of their next hammer tool. Their delay will require an extension to TerraTek's contracted program. (5) Smith International has sufficient interest in the program to start engineering and chroming of collars for testing at TerraTek. (6) Shell's Brian Tarr has agreed to join the Industry Advisory Group for the DOE project. The addition of Brian Tarr is welcomed as he has numerous years of experience with the Novatek tool and was involved in the early tests in Europe while with Mobil Oil. (7) Conoco's field trial of the Smith fluid hammer for an application in Vietnam was organized and has contributed to the increased interest in their tool. Progress during Q3 2002: (1) Smith International agreed to participate in the DOE Mud Hammer program. (2) Smith International chromed collars for upcoming benchmark tests at TerraTek, now scheduled for 4Q 2002. (3) ConocoPhillips had a field trial of the Smith fluid hammer offshore Vietnam. The hammer functioned properly, though the well encountered hole conditions and reaming problems. ConocoPhillips plan another field trial as a result. (4) DOE/NETL extended the contract for the fluid hammer program to allow Novatek to ''optimize'' their much delayed tool to 2003 and to allow Smith International to add ''benchmarking'' tests in light of SDS Digger Tools' current financial inability to participate. (5) ConocoPhillips joined the Industry Advisors for the mud hammer program. Progress during Q4 2002: (1) Smith International participated in the DOE Mud Hammer program through full scale benchmarking testing during the week of 4 November 2003. (2) TerraTek acknowledges Smith International, BP America, PDVSA, and ConocoPhillips for cost-sharing the Smith benchmarking tests allowing extension of the contract to add to the benchmarking testing program. (3) Following the benchmark testing of the Smith International hammer, representatives from DOE/NETL, TerraTek, Smith International and PDVSA met at TerraTek in Salt Lake City to review observations, performance and views on the optimization step for 2003. (4) The December 2002 issue of Journal of Petroleum Technology (Society of Petroleum Engineers) highlighted the DOE fluid hammer testing program and reviewed last years paper on the benchmark performance of the SDS Digger and Novatek hammers. (5) TerraTek's Sid Green presented a technical review for DOE/NETL personnel in Morgantown on ''Impact Rock Breakage'' and its importance on improving fluid hammer performance. Much discussion has taken place on the issues surrounding mud hammer performance at depth conditions.

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