Technicoil's six rig fleet of hybrid coiled tubing drilling (CTD) rigs is leading the way for this new drilling industry segment with cutting edge design, innovative operations and intensive training and technical support. With rated depth capacities of up to 1800m and the ability to drill with coil sizes of 60.33mm, 73.03mm , or 88.90mm, few other CTD contractors have the flexibility or experience of the Technicoil team.

What is coiled tubing drilling?

Technicoil’s coiled tubing drilling rigs were first conceptualized in the early part of 2001. Since their inception we have drilled hundreds of wells. To date, the deepest well we have drilled was in the U.S. to a depth of 2,281 meters. In Canada we have drilled to a depth of 1,980 meters. Most of the wells drilled by our two drilling rigs since September 2004 have utilized our top drive to drill and set our own surface casing. The main hole is then drilled utilizing coiled tubing. Technicoil pioneered the design and use of the hybrid coild tubing drilling rig that is now the industry segment standard. The marriage of a conventional top drive design with the flexibility of coil tubing conveyed drilling has sparked a revolution in shallow well drilling in Canada.

Rotary drilling turns the bit on the bottom of the drill pipe in order to make the hole. The bit is lowered into the hole by adding lengths of pipe. Once the bit is on bottom the bit is rotated and some of the weight of the pipe is allowed to press down on the bit. The weight causes the bit’s cutters to bite into the formation. Instead of being a chisel, a rotary bit has several rows of metal teeth or diamond cutters. As the bit’s teeth or cutters rotate over the formation, they gouge or scrape the rock away.

By itself, rotating a bit on pipe is not any better than dropping a bit on cable. However, rotary drilling has a major advantage regardless of whether the rock is soft or hard and that is a rotary rig circulates a fluid, usually water-based, while the bit drills.

The rotary bit is attached to hollow joints of pipe that become a conduit for a powerful pump to move fluids down the pipe to the bit and back to the surface thus carrying the cuttings out of the hole. Therefore on a rotary rig you do not have to stop drilling to remove cuttings.

Coiled tubing drilling involves replacing the hollow joints of steel pipe with a continuous hollow steel tube. The disadvantage of not being able to rotate the pipe at the surface in order to spin the bit has been overcome by the development of downhole motors that rotate the bit. Diamond bits or polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC) bits are often used with downhole motors because they can endure the high rotational speeds (350 RPM) of the motor. Generally, the greater number of revolutions per minute (RPM) allows a lower bit weight than that used in conventional rotary drilling.

Coiled tubing offers other advantages such as being able to deploy and retrieve downhole tools while continuously circulating fluids, thus reducing greatly the possibility of being stuck in the hole. The body of the coiled tubing has no connections to make or break while going in and out of the hole thus increasing personnel safety due to reduced pipe handling needs. Additionally, coiled tubing drilling offers the ability to perform continuous well control operations especially with pipe in motion. The fact that you are always tied into your mud pump also gives a huge advantage to either eliminate kicks or to control a blowout.

Coiled tubing drilling has progressed a great deal since the first coiled drilled wells in southern Alberta almost three decades ago. Over the past decade drilling wells utilizing coil tubing has become more accepted with approximately 4,000 wells drilled by this method in 2003 and over 5,200 wells in 2004.

Fueled by the buoyant demand for natural gas, coiled tubing drilling rigs have gone from an unproven concept to commanding approximately 25% of the Canadian drilling market in less than 10 years.

From spud to well completion, Technicoil CTD rigs are designed for maximum efficiency without compromising safety.

The hybrid design with its top drive component is ideally suited for the drilling of surface holes and the hydraulic powered catwalk makes the running of jointed pipe less labour intensive, quick and safe.

Our rigs are compact and offer the ability for rapid mobilization and rig up/ rig down.

A CTD rig when drilling with coiled tubing offers continuous pumping giving better solids and well control.

CTD rigs have the ability to snub and strip from a well bore.

CTD rigs are statistically safer than conventional rotary drilling rigs.

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