Directional drilling, often known as slant drilling, is a technique for drilling non-vertical drills. Directional drilling is utilized for a variety of goals, including increasing the number of wells from a single place, gaining access to remote surface areas, and so on. Horizontal wells, multilateral wells, and extended reach wells are all examples of directional drilling.
The process of drilling a well with a chosen deviation to reach the target site is referred to as directional drilling. This form of drilling is used to accurately place the wellbore in order to maximize recovery both on land and offshore. The primary goal of this sort of drilling is to cover enormous regions with a single rig. Over the last few decades, maturing and aging onshore oilfields have prepared the way for increased directional drilling in onshore locations, complemented by offshore exploration and production activities in deep and ultra-deep regions. This is further supported by the addition of horizontal drilling services to increase the productivity of the oil and gas well.
Increased energy consumption, urbanization, industrialization, increased exploration and production activities, and a variety of other reasons have all contributed to an increase in demand and growth for the directional drilling services market. The worldwide directional drilling services industry is being held back by falling crude oil prices. Government regulations are also impeding the growth of the directional drilling services industry.
Measurement while drilling (MWD) and downhole motor (DHM) technologies have enabled the exploitation of unconventional oil and gas resources by enhancing access to the reservoir from surface sites and boosting reservoir contact. For example, Toro introduced a new horizontal directional drill operating system in April 2017 that allows pipe handling duties to be accomplished with a single joystick input in the SmartTouch operating mode. Furthermore, a horizontal well has more wellbore contact with the reservoir than a vertical well. In a horizontal well, the length of reservoir contact is limited by the length of the lateral, which is determined by the mechanical ability to extend the drill bit along the lateral.