Premier Deep Hole Drilling Limited - Exploring new depths

Exploring new depths

In 1989, the total investment in the UK oil industry was over £2.5 billion which was over 10 per cent of total UK investment in all its industry sectors. By 1992 that investment had doubled and although it is less now, it continues to rise in the 21st century and continues to have one of the highest levels of investment in UK industry. Accounting for some 25 to 30 per cent of its annual turnover, the oil and gas industry sector is also big business for St Albans-based precision engineering company, Premier Deep Hole Drilling.

Although some analysts predict a downturn in the industry sometime in the 2020's, continuing technological advances will allow oil companies to viably extract from hundreds of smaller finds which are, as yet, uneconomical. By linking them to established North Sea platforms and pipelines, a good flow will be sustained. This will greatly extend the life of the oil fields and to a certain extent this has already begun.

This ongoing development work results in far more capable equipment that is also more robust and reliable. For example, the down hole Logging-While-Drilling (LWD) data capture systems used now contain far more sophisticated electronics, which makes the housing unit machined by Premier more complex. As managing director, Stuart Grant, explains: "LWD systems are used for assessing reservoir potential and provide real-time formation evaluation data during drilling. Of course it is beneficial for oil exploration companies to obtain this functionality from their drilling tools, but in turn it makes the component parts, such as the data logging housing, more demanding to machine. They also want to extend the operational life, in terms of wear and corrosion resistance. To achieve this they specify high nickel content Inconel, which gives the desired results in the field but is very difficult to machine due to its tendency to work harden."

This creates additional heat during the machining operation which, due to the tight tolerances required, can cause problems for the inexperienced. Stuart Grant says: "These are thin walled parts which must be tightly controlled in terms of accuracy and concentricity. Fortunately we have the experience with the material and the gun drilling process to achieve the specified +/- 3 micron run out over a 1m length." Oil well condition monitoring tools are also produced by Premier from the same difficult to cut material.

Demanding in a different way are the subsea manifolds machined by Premier. These look similar to tombstone work fixtures measuring around 600 x 200 x 300 mm and are made from 316 stainless steel. With anywhere up to 90 blind, through and intersecting holes drilled into the manifolds these parts are produced on the company's four prismatic knee drilling machines.

"Our recent investment in a large ejector drilling machine allows us to machine the larger components used in the offshore industry, such as well head parts up to 4 m long. And, we have increased our CNC machining capacity up to 1.5 m to support this extension of our capabilities," concludes Stuart Grant.

Oil will be in demand for a long time to come, with our ever increasing demand for power. The efficient extraction of this 'black gold' lies with the expertise of companies such as Premier Deep Hole Drilling.