Drilling Technologies the future is here?

Drillers around the world are constantly battling with nature forces. The drilling industry is an around the clock activity and the trend is to work with nature and not against it while drilling the oil and gas wells. Since the early days of the industry drillers learned to increase productivity and safety of the drilling operations. Rotary drilling was introduced in 1860 by french inventors and become popular in the US in 1880 after Captain Anthony Lucas drilled the Lucas I well at Beumont, TX. During those days a gusher of oil was the indication of a discovery. The Texas gusher began the US oil boom.
Since those days the rigs did not change radically, we still using the same rotary drilling methodology.  Safety was enhanced with new drilling engineering methods weighted drilling mud and Well control equipment which prevented reservoir fluids to reach surface.
New down hole tools were created to measure reservoir properties in real time. And new rig improvements and downhole equipment materials helps drill deep and deviated wells such as the top drives and iron roughnecks,etc.
But essentially the rotary rigs did not change much, other industries have more dramatic evolution of their processes and equipment.

See ya!

Driller