Nowadays, the oil drilling company more and more find the advantages of application of slim hole drilling in the oil exploration. This type slim hole drilling technology is coming from the mining industry. From the name, we could see the slim hole drilling actually represents the small diameter coring drilling.

The slim hole drilling not only provide the cores for the drilling, it also reduce the drilling cost by nearly 30% comparing with the conventional drilling, especially for the environmental sensitive and remote area drilling projects. For remote location, the smaller core hole rig package also greatly reduces the logistics and transportation expenses.

A well with diameter that is smaller than 8 1/2 would be the most accepted criterion for the slim hole drilling. Reducing the borehole diameter can significantly cut the drilling cost as less mud and casing would be required. And the slimhole rig weighs sometimes only about one fifth of the conventional rig. In additional, the saving of slim hole drilling will also come from many sources, such as less site preparation, easier equipment mobilization, less cuttings to dispose, reduction in the amount of cosumables and smaller equipment. Besides the cost saving, there are advantages of slim hole drilling that makes the operation particularly suitable for sites demanding on a low impact to the environment.

Although, the slim hole drilling is actually increasing clearly, the concern on the safety is inhibiting the rapid spread of slim hole drilling. It is available for an operator to assemble the slim hole drilling equipment within 3 to 6 months with no previous experience. But it will not be easier to achieve for the deeper hole and offshore drilling. The application of slim hole drilling still depends on how successful this technique would be developed in the next few years.

No matter for the coring drilling and slim hole drilling for oil exploration, the rig may request a drilling fluids recycling system, if any requirement on the mud system, GN Solids America would be ideal supplier you could rely on.