directional drill mud pump free sample

Mud pumps are a vital part of pipeline drilling projects. But with mud pumps, you have a decision to make: Should you use an onboard or a stand-alone mud pump? Both can get the job done well, but what’s the best option for your operation? To answer those questions, we have to look at three different factors: productivity, transportation and space.

First, you have to consider your productivity goals. To maximise the capacity and productivity of your pipeline directional drills, you need a consistent flow of drilling fluid that a mud pump can provide. However, there is a difference in size between onboard mud pumps and stand-alone ones.

For example, on the Vermeer D220x300 S3 Navigator® horizontal directional drill the maximum drilling fluid flow is 345 gal./min (1306 l/min). An onboard mud pump most likely won’t be able to reach that maximum flow but a stand-alone pump could. At 100% efficiency, the Vermeer SA400 Tier 4i (Stage IIIB) high-pressure mud pump has a maximum flow of 550 gal./min (2082 l/min), which would allow you to maximise the fluid flow on your drill.

If you lower your fluid flow, you are slowing your downhole speed and your thrust/pullback speed. You can get by with a smaller onboard mud pump, but you will have to take things slower and be patient as you drill.

“The higher the flow, the higher the productivity,” said Tod Michael, a Vermeer product manager for trenchless products. “If you are drilling a smaller diameter bore, a small onboard pump could handle the job. But if you need to increase your fluid, have a higher gal/min flow downhole or are drilling a 24 in. (60.9 cm) diameter or larger, a stand-alone mud pump is a good option.”

A stand-alone mud pump means there is more equipment to haul to the jobsite. Often, this requires an additional truck to transport it, since you also have to haul your drill, reclaimer and drilling fluid too. Another truck means extra costs and is something to be aware of beforehand.

One last thing to consider before you make a decision between onboard or stand-alone mud pumps is the space on the jobsite. Think about the typical amount of room you have for equipment. Will you have space for a stand-alone mud pump each time?

“Your jobsite space may vary from site to site, but ensuring that you will have room for a mud pump is an important factor to remember as you plan the project,” said Michael. “Usually, if contractors have the space, they will opt to have a stand-alone mud pump onsite.”

Directional drilling is a broad term used to describe any boring that doesn’t go in a straight line vertically down. In fact, even in a vertical well, it might be necessary to deviate to avoid a geological formation or a previous stuck pipe, then return to the original path. In this instance, the driller uses sidetracking techniques.

In conventional drilling for oil and gas, the drill bit, drillstring, pipe and casing all go down in a straight line. If a driller aims away from the 180-degrees down, that’s technically directional drilling. Nowadays, however, it’s more likely that there’ll be a series of one or more carefully planned directional changes along the wellbore.

Directional drilling techniques have been employed for almost 100 years now. Over the past few decades, technological improvements have meant that angles, turns and underground distances covered are amazing feats of engineering.

Techniques such as multilateral, horizontal and extended reach drilling (ERD) are enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods that can increase the yield of a downhole dramatically. It’s possible for ERD specialists to drill for more than 10 kilometers/6.2 miles. Students of petroleum engineering often get shown illustrations and diagrams that look like tree roots. If we imagine the rig as the trunk of the tree, the directional possibilities of the roots are endless. Even the branches of the roots are comparable to multilateral drilling.

Multiple down holes can be drilled from the same rig, minimising surface disturbance and environmental impact. Also, these boreholes can extend up to a mile down, and for more than five miles at shallower angles. In an oilfield with dispersed deposits, a large radius can be tapped, maximising the expensive asset which is the rig. Rigs and crews have day rates that run into the hundreds of thousands of dollars, one rig working up to five or ten square miles is very cost-effective in comparison to having a dozen or more vertical rigs, which may or may not be tapping into the same accessible reservoir deposits.

On top of this randomness related to upper, lower and outer dimensions, there are plenty of other possibilities:By drilling at an angle, more of the reservoir gets explored, since they tend to form horizontally (between formations) not vertically.

The deposit might not resemble a reservoir at all, it might be oil-saturated sand or shale. Directional drilling is especially valuable in shale, where the formation can be explored to follow richer seams.

It’s common to find deposits below salt domes or fault planes, where the driller faces increased technical risk. Horizontal drilling can avoid salt domes, and reduce pressure on equipment near fault lines.

In fact, these ‘irregular’ reservoirs are very common. Now that relatively fewer elephant reservoirs are being discovered, and technology improves, directional drilling becomes more critical each year.

Another use for directional drilling is in the event of an uncontrolled, or ‘wild well’. If you imagine a well that has broken through the blowout preventer and is gushing, how can you cap it?

This depends on the amount of underground pressure. In some instances, a second control well is drilled so that it intercepts the same point where the original wellbore meets the reservoir. Once the new directional well is completed, it can be pumped with kill fluid.

If the well pressure isn’t too severe a relief well can help to release gas so that the original gusher reduces in intensity, allowing it to be controlled. Mud and water are pumped in from a different angle, to get the first well under control and back to proper working order.

It’s not possible to see hundreds of metres underground, in fact, the drillers and engineers rely entirely on technology to ‘see’ where they are going. A directional driller has a guide that has been created by the engineers and geologists. Every 10-150 metres, (with 30-40 being typical), survey data is sent back to make sure that the original ‘blue line’ well path is being followed.

Directional drilling software receives input from multiple measurements while drilling (MWD) sensors in the drill bit, and at any branches or junctions. (Other measurement tools include Electromagnetic MWD and Global Positioning Sensors (GPS)). In addition to MWD technology, mud loggers use logging while drilling (LWD) sensors and software. The drill bit has vibration sensors that can detect the type of formation being drilled at any point. Collars can be added along the length of the well, sending back information to the surface regarding torque, weight and bending.

From the surface, electromagnetic sensors can also track the progress of the drill bit. When all of the data from the drill bit, collars, motors and the surface equipment enter the control panel, a complete representation occurs.

As well as being able to know what is going on, even a mile along the drill bore, drilling engineers can make adjustments in real-time that ensure that everything is going to plan. This is especially relevant when unexpected things occur concerning geology or severe equipment stress.

If you were to imagine the mechanics of directional drilling without seeing the technology, you might wonder how the drill could suddenly change direction. Since the motor that turns the drill is at the surface, how can the drill string continue to rotate at 360 degrees while going around a corner?

We now have downhole drilling motors, that can drive the drill bit in a completely different direction to the usual 180-degree downhole starting point. Turbodrills and rotary steering drills are employed in directional situations where they’re best suited.

The rotational speed of the drill and the weight and stiffness of the drillstring can also be used to influence direction. One of the original methods was jetting, a high-pressure nozzle shot water or drilling fluid from one edge to the drill bit, creating a weaker side in the formation.

Another traditional method was to use a whipstock. A whipstock is a type of wedge that can redirect the drill. At the desired depth the drill is withdrawn to the surface, a whipstock gets put in place, then the drill goes back down and gets redirected by the whipstock. Next, the drill is brought to the surface again, the whipstock pulled out and then drilling resumes and the bore changes path.

Drill bit sensors can tell the driller about external weight, and rotary speed that can also be used to influence the trajectory. Mud motors can also be used to change direction. With a steerable drill pipe, there’s a bend near the bit. The drillstring stops turning, and then there is plenty of time to use chosen directional techniques to reposition the bit to the desired trajectory. When it starts spinning again, it’ll start going in the direction that it’s now pointing towards. (More about steerable mud motors in the next section).

Specialised drillbits are used to improve performance and reduce the chance of failure. Schlumberger supply directional PDC drill bits for both push- and point-the-bit rotary steerable systems. Horizontal Technology, Inc. provides ‘Varel High Energy Series bits’ designed for the unique, rigorous conditions of horizontal directional drilling.

Mud Motors. Downhole steerable mud motors get positioned near the drill bit, which has a bend in it. What happens is that at the correct depth the drillstring stops rotating, then drilling fluid is pumped through the mud motor so that the drill bit starts to turn just due to the force of the liquid. This mud pressure pushes the drill bit into a different angle, and also begins to bite into the formation at a different angle to the central well trajectory. Once the sensors verify that the drill bit is pointing in the right direction, the drillstring starts to turn again.

Rotary Steerable Systems (RSS). Directional drilling by using the mud motor means that often the drill pipe needs to be slid forward while the drill is motionless. A rotary steerable system can drill and steer at the same time. This means that previously inaccessible formations can be accessed.

Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) configurations are often bent in shape so that they can make turns by using physical manipulations. The video further up the page clearly shows the bend in the drill pipe.

Multi-Shot cameras are fitted inside the drillstring. They’re set to take regular pictures on a time-lapse setting. Then these images are sent to the surface control.

Custom whipstocks that work with downhole motors don’t need removing in between drilling. These are a significant advance on the old fashioned ones previously mentioned. More time can be spent drilling, and less time removing the drill bit and conventional whipstock.

Networked or wired pipe. The Intelliserve system from National Oilwell Varco is a broadband networked drilling string system. It can transmit data from the sensors back to the surface.

These are most of the specialist directional equipment used. Plus there is the three-dimensional measuring equipment mentioned previously in this article (MWD, LWD, etc.)

Well integrity is perhaps the most crucial aspect of directional drilling. Drilling at deeper, or extended distances, and especially changing direction causes a number of additional engineering challenges and stresses on the equipment.

For example, a downhole drilling motor will always be far smaller and less powerful than one connected to a robust drilling rig above ground. It’s more likely to fail, or have insufficient torque or speed to get through challenging geological formations.

The drillstring itself will be less stressed when going in a straight line, every degree of turn add extra friction and unbalanced pressure. If drillstring integrity isn’t maintained, the drillstring can snap or get jammed. It could mean that a brand new set of equipment is needed, and a new well might need to be drilled again in a slightly different direction.

Maintaining hydraulic pressure, and wellbore cleaning is much more challenging with these types of wells. Modern directional drilling equipment is so advanced, it can cope with high pressure/high-temperature HP/HT conditions, a mile away, after the wellbore has changed direction.

There are a few different types of directional drilling. Multilateral drilling is where a downhole bore has multiple lateral (90 degrees) offshoots. For example, a well might be 1000 metres in depth but have numerous lateral wells connected to it.  Extended reach drilling (ERD) is categorised by ever longer wellbores drilled from the rig.

Land tenders offer the right to explore and extract resources from a particular square meterage of land. It’s possible to purchase a lease for an oil patch, then drill horizontally into neighbouring territory. Close to a national border, it’s been known for drillers to drill into another country.

Of course, the majority of horizontal drilling is done for good reason, not to cross borders of ownership or sovereignty. Sometimes horizontal directional drilling is the only possible way to tap a reservoir, such as the case of dilling under a town or nature reserve. Other times it’s a cost-saving exercise, to drill under a salt dome or mountain. Lastly, drilling horizontally can be the best way of maximising extraction by reaching more sections of a reservoir.

Serial Energy Entrepreneur. Webmaster at drillers.com. Founder of Out of the Box Innovations Ltd. Co-Founder of Natural Resource Professionals Ltd. Traveller and Outdoorsman, Husband, Father. Technology/Internet Geek.

I’ve run into several instances of insufficient suction stabilization on rigs where a “standpipe” is installed off the suction manifold. The thought behind this design was to create a gas-over-fluid column for the reciprocating pump and eliminate cavitation.

When the standpipe is installed on the suction manifold’s deadhead side, there’s little opportunity to get fluid into all the cylinders to prevent cavitation. Also, the reciprocating pump and charge pump are not isolated.

The gas over fluid internal systems has limitations too. The standpipe loses compression due to gas being consumed by the drilling fluid. In the absence of gas, the standpipe becomes virtually defunct because gravity (14.7 psi) is the only force driving the cylinders’ fluid. Also, gas is rarely replenished or charged in the standpipe.

The suction stabilizer’s compressible feature is designed to absorb the negative energies and promote smooth fluid flow. As a result, pump isolation is achieved between the charge pump and the reciprocating pump.

The isolation eliminates pump chatter, and because the reciprocating pump’s negative energies never reach the charge pump, the pump’s expendable life is extended.

Investing in suction stabilizers will ensure your pumps operate consistently and efficiently. They can also prevent most challenges related to pressure surges or pulsations in the most difficult piping environments.

Sigma Drilling Technologies’ Charge Free Suction Stabilizer is recommended for installation. If rigs have gas-charged cartridges installed in the suction stabilizers on the rig, another suggested upgrade is the Charge Free Conversion Kits.

The MR90 was designed with cost-efficiency in mind. It makes for a comparably quicker setup time, features remote controlled hydraulic functions and comes with an automatic pump shutoff that prevents overflow.

The self-contained mud recycler can mix and recycle drilling mud and handle spoils. Its two-screen system and six 2.5-inch hydrocyclones provide clean mud for reuse. The screens are designed to be easy to change and service, and they can be hydraulically adjusted to separate spoils.

For fast setup, the MR90 uses hydraulic leveling for the screens and hydraulic jack on the tongue of the trailer. It also features a compact cleaning package capable of meeting the demands of directional drilling jobsites.

Optional remote control of pumps makes the job easier for small crews and an automatic pit pump control utilizes a float sensor, turning the pump off when the mud recycler is not manned.

Ditch Witch brand directional drills, trenchers and other products are manufactured by The Charles Machine Works at a facility in Perry, Okla. The family-owned company, founded in 1949, focuses on three principles: honesty, hard work and giving customers the best product in the world.  For more information about the Ditch Witch MR90, visit www.ditchwitch.com.

High-pressure pump manufacturer Gardner Denver High Pressure Solutions (HPS) has launched its new GD 250HDD pump for a range of horizontal directional drilling (HDD) applications.

HDD pumps — also known as drill pumps, mud pumps, and high flow pumps — serve as an integral component to operations and provide an essential service to the HDD industry. In a release, the company calls its new product a “durable, reliable, American-made pump.”

The company says the GD 250HDD expands its pump offerings into the wider HDD space for the first time. The pump can be used to tunnel under rivers and roads and help to lay sewerage systems, water pipes, fiber optic lines and pipelines.

The pump, which Gardner Denver says is built with quality and efficiency in mind, features a high rod load rating of 50,000 pounds, making it tough and long lasting. Gardner Denver designed it to run at much slower speeds while matching or exceeding the performance of existing pumps. For example, the GD 250HDD can produce 300 gpm at 1400 psi while operating under 200 rpm. At this slow run speed, the pump can deliver the same output, flow and pressure, with less violent actions, wear and friction. Delivering fewer strokes extends consumable life.

“The weight to horsepower ratio of the GD 250HDD surpasses all other industry competitors,” says Ryan Huseman, lead engineer on the project. “The GD 250 HDD packs a huge amount of power in a very small-dimensional envelope, which makes it ideal for the HDD market. The pump runs incredibly smoothly due to the rigidity of the high strength ductile iron frame. Additionally, all the of the bearings on the GD 250HDD feature a pressurized lubrication system, so the pump can tackle the biggest projects in the industry.”

The GD 250HDD weighs under 4,000 pounds, has a maximum flowrate of 460 gpm and can reach pressures up to 3,000 psi. This triplex pump offers a 5-inch stroke, 50,000 pounds rod load rating and 250 breaking horsepower (BHP).

“For more than 160 years, Gardner Denver has been building a legacy of product innovation in pumping technology,” says Brandon Janda, product manager, Gardner Denver HPS. “With the GD 250HDD pump, our expertise is now being used to improve operations in the HDD market. The components of the new pump have been designed using Gardner Denver’s decades of experience in the industrial and petroleum industries. We have now taken this very robust field-proven technology and applied it to HDD pumps, introducing a 100% American-made, rugged, longer-lasting industrial pump — helping customers reduce downtime, extend consumable life and ultimately tackle bigger, tougher projects in less time.”

Gardner Denver’s High Pressure Solutions division designs, manufacturers and services high-pressure pumps and parts. The company says its state-of-the-art repair and service facilities across North America make it an ideal partner for high-pressure solutions. For more information, visit www.gardnerdenverpumps.com.

The mud motor is a progressive cavity positive displacement pump used in oil and gas drilling operations, fishing, etc. The global mud motor market is expected to reach USD 2028.46 million by 2026. The demand for mud motors is expected to grow due to increased fishing activities, demand for boating, and rising oil and drilling operations. In addition, demand for Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) and the development of unconventional hydrocarbons resources is expected to bolster the mud motor market.

A mud motor or a drilling motor is a positive displacement drilling motor that uses the drilling fluid’s hydraulic horsepower to drive the drill bit. Mud motors find extensive applications to reduce bearing load and provide an adjustable penetration rate, among other advantages.

It is expected that the global mud motor market will reach USD 2028.46 million by 2026. It is anticipated to register a CAGR of 4.7% during the forecast period (2021–2026).

Positive displacement and turbine are the two key motor types used in mud motors. Positive displacement motors (PDMs) find application in directional drilling projects and are primary components in bottom-hole drilling assemblies. Thus, the positive displacement segment is expected to register growth during the forecast period. Selection of the correct downhole motor is crucial in designing the buttonhole assembly (BHA) with mud motors to overcome cost-intensive challenges such as wellbore crookedness, string failures, and improper build rate. Technologically- and mechanically-advanced PDMs provide enhanced performance; for instance, a reduced-length positive displacement motor with an equidistant power section stator can provide superior motor performance and reliability at high operating temperatures.

Mud motors are available in several diameters; for the sake of this study, we have classified them as <100mm, 100mm–200mm, and >200mm. A motor’s power is inversely proportional to the square of its diameter also its torque is directly proportional to the cube of its diameter. Thus, the diameter is an important aspect in mud motor selection as it affects the motor’s torque and power.

Mud motors are classified into drilling and vertical. Lateral, curve, RSS, and air applications are included under the umbrella of vertical applications. With the applications of mud motors in metalworking, woodworking, and construction, the drilling segment is expected to gain significant traction and register a CAGR of 4.9% during the forecast period. According to Reports Monitor, the drilling segment was valued at USD 1,169.07 million in 2018, which is projected to grow to a value of USD 1,710.49 million by 2026.

Oil, natural gas, boating, and fishing are the key end-use sectors considered in this study on the mud motors market. Mud motors are used in drilling oil and natural gas wells. Thus, the demand for mud motors is expected to trail the growth of the oil and gas industry. According to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) global oil demand was pegged at 95.4 mb/d in 2016 and is projected to reach 102.3 mb/d by 2022. These figures underscore the potential that mud motors possess in the oil industry.

To better assess the global mud motors market, we have studied it across four key regions, namely North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and Latin America, and the Middle East & Africa (LAMEA)

It signals the region’s vast potential in the mud motors market expected to remain strong in the coming years. The mud motors market was valued at USD 173.37 million in 20XX and is expected to grow to USD 279.50 million by 2026 with an anticipated CAGR of 5.1% during the forecast period.

Consolidation and restructuring of South-East Asia’s oil and gas industry, alongside increasing expenditure on upstream activities will accrue a substantial share for the region’s mud motors market. For instance, in Malaysia, Petroleum Nasional Berhad (Petronas), a state-owned corporation, has allocated USD 6.6 billion for upstream expenditure.

The Latin American mud pumps market is expected to witness significant growth in the coming years as the region possesses ultra-deepwater salt formations and undiscovered oil resources. For instance, it is estimated that over 100 exploration wells are anticipated to drill in Latin America outside Brazil in the next five years due to potential undiscovered oilfields in Guyana, Trinidad, and Colombia.

National Oilwell Varco, SlimDril International, Whole Solutions Inc., Downhole Drilling Services, LLC, Enteq Upstream, Newsco International Energy Services Inc., LORD Corporation, SOKOL, Beaver Dam Mud Runners, COPPERHEAD MUD MOTORS, and TomaHawk Downhole, LLC are among the key players operating in the mud motors market.

National Oilwell Varco, SlimDril International, Whole Solutions Inc., Downhole Drilling Services, LLC, Enteq Upstream, Newsco International Energy Services Inc., LORD Corporation, SOKOL, Beaver Dam Mud Runners, COPPERHEAD MUD MOTORS, and TomaHawk Downhole, LLC are among the operating in the mud motors market.,

My first days as an MWD field tech I heard horror stories surrounding what is commonly referred to as “pump noise”. I quickly identified the importance of learning to properly identify this “noise”. From the way it was explained to me, this skill might prevent the company you work from losing a job with an exploration company, satisfy your supervisor or even allow you to become regarded as hero within your organization if you’ve proven yourself handy at this skill.

“Pump noise” is a reference to an instability in surface pressure created by the mud pumps on a modern drilling rig, often conflated with any pressure fluctuation at a similar frequency to pulses generated by a mud pulser, but caused by a source external to the mud pulser. This change in pressure is what stands in the way of the decoder properly understanding what the MWD tool is trying to communicate. For the better part of the first year of learning my role I wrongly assumed that all “noise” would be something audible to the human ear, but this is rarely the case.

In an ideal drilling environment surface pressure will remain steady and all pressure increases, and decreases will be gradual. This way, when the pulser valve closes(pulses), it’s easily detectable on surface by computers. Unfortunately drilling environments are rarely perfect and there are many things that can emulate a pulse thus causing poor or inaccurate data delivery to surface. The unfortunate circumstance of this means drilling operations must come to halt until data can once again be decoded on surface. This pause in the drilling process is commonly referred to at NPT or non-productive time. For those of you unfamiliar these concepts, I’ll explain some of the basics.

A mud pulser is a valve that briefly inhibits flow of drilling fluid traveling through the drill string, creating a sharp rise and fall of pressure seen on surface, also known as a “pulse”.

Depending on if the drilling fluid is being circulated in closed or open loop, it will be drawn from a tank or a plastic lined reservoir by a series(or one) mud pumps and channeled into the stand pipe, which runs up the derrick to the Kelly-hose, through the saver sub and down the drill-pipe(drill-string). Through the filter screen past an agitator or exciter, around the MWD tool, through a mud motor and out of the nozzles in the bit. At this point the fluid begins it’s journey back to the drilling rig through the annulus, past the BOP then out of the flow line and either over the shale shakers and/or back in the fluid reservoir.

Developing a firm grasp on these fundamentals were instrumental in my success as a field technician and an effective troubleshooter. As you can tell, there are a lot of components involved in this conduit which a mud pulser telemeters through. The way in which many of these components interact with the drilling fluid can suddenly change in ways that slightly create sharp changes in pressure, often referred to as “noise”. This “noise” creates difficulty for the decoder by suddenly reducing or increasing pressure in a manner that the decoder interprets a pulse. To isolate these issues, you must first acknowledge potential of their existence. I will give few examples of some of these instances below:

Suction screens on intake hoses will occasionally be too large, fail or become unfastened thus allowing large debris in the mud system. Depending on the size of debris and a little bit of luck it can end up in an area that will inhibit flow, circumstantially resulting in a sudden fluctuation of pressure.

Any solid form of drilling fluid additive, if improperly or inconsistently mixed, can restrict the flow path of the fluid resulting in pressure increase. Most notably this can happen at the pulser valve itself, but it is not the only possible outcome. Several other parts of this system can be affected as well. LCM or loss of circulation material is by far the most common additive, but the least overlooked. It’s important for an MWD technician to be aware of what’s being added into the drilling fluid regardless if LCM isn’t present. Through the years I have seen serval other improperly mixed additives cause a litany of pressure related issues.

This specifically is a term used to refer to the mud motor stator rubber deterioration, tearing into small pieces and passing through the nozzles of the bit. Brief spikes in pressure as chunks of rubber pass through one or more nozzles of the bit can often be wrongly interpreted as pulses.

Sometimes when mud is displaced or a pump suction isn’t completely submerged, tiny air bubbles are introduced into the drilling fluid. Being that air compresses and fluid does not, pulses can be significantly diminished and sometimes non-existent.

As many of you know the downhole mud motor is what enables most drilling rigs to steer a well to a targeted location. The motor generates bit RPM by converting fluid velocity to rotor/bit RPM, otherwise known as hydraulic horsepower. Anything downhole that interacts with the bit will inevitably affect surface pressure. One of the most common is bit weight. As bit weight is increased, so does surface pressure. It’s important to note that consistent weight tends to be helpful to the decoder by increasing the amplitude of pulses, but inconsistent bit weight, depending on frequency of change, can negatively affect decoding. Bit bounce, bit bite and inconsistent weight transfer can all cause pressure oscillation resulting in poor decoding. Improper bit speed or bit type relative to a given formation are other examples of possible culprits as well.

Over time mud pump components wear to the point failure. Pump pistons(swabs), liners, valves and valve seats are all necessary components for generating stable pressure. These are the moving parts on the fluid side of the pump and the most frequent point of failure. Another possible culprit but less common is an inadequately charged pulsation dampener. Deteriorating rubber hoses anywhere in the fluid path, from the mud pump to the saver sub, such as a kelly-hose, can cause an occasional pressure oscillation.

If I could change one thing about today’s directional drilling industry, it would be eliminating the term “pump noise”. The misleading term alone has caused confusion for countless people working on a drilling rig. On the other hand, I’m happy to have learned these lessons the hard way because they seem engrained into my memory. As technology improves, so does the opportunities for MWD technology companies to provide useful solutions. Solutions to aid MWD service providers to properly isolate or overcome the challenges that lead to decoding issues. As an industry we have come a lot further from when I had started, but there is much left to be desired. I’m happy I can use my experiences by contributing to an organization capable of acknowledging and overcoming these obstacles through the development of new technology.