onstant technological innovation in the oilfield drilling sector has driven the industry forward over the years. Through advancements in PDC bits, high-specification drilling rigs, MWD, LWD and rotary steerable tools, technical changes have helped evolve drilling efficiency, performance and well placement.
Despite these advancements, the focus on a reliable solution for powered and wired drillpipe has long been a significant challenge for the drilling industry.
Even with recent technical advances within the sector, the industry continues to look for further improvements in the efficiency, quality and the overall consistency and reliability of the well construction process. With benchmarking against historic performance metrics—and greater use of digital twin models and automation—there is a growing need for higher resolution data from downhole.
Reelwell’s DualLink powered and wired drillpipe is a digital drilling technology. Wired pipe enables the real-time transfer of information from downhole to surface at a faster rate than the traditional methods. The increased transfer speed enables the operator to assess the downhole conditions instantly, optimize drilling processes and adjust to drilling dysfunctions immediately. This means that drilling time is reduced as problematic zones and time-consuming mitigation efforts can be avoided, saving rig time in the range of 7% to 15% and cutting associated rig emissions. With increased access to data, well placement within the pay zone is also improved, potentially increasing hydrocarbon recovery by 20%.
Working with its partners at Equinor, Aker BP, DNO Norge, The Research Council of Norway, Nabors Industries, DP-Master and Edge Energy, Reelwell undertook a full-scale demonstration of its powered and wired drillpipe.
Reelwell had the potential to connect downhole with surface and that’s exactly what the company was able to show.
With performance testing taking place toward the end of 2020 at the NORCE Ullrigg rig, Reelwell was able to show the drillstring, consisting of 96 joints/3,058 ft of DualLink pipe, performed without failure for more than 80 hours operating with in hole, drilling granite down to 4,213 ft.
Not only that, but the test results illustrated high-speed bi-directional telemetry at more than 61,000 bps, power transmission of up to 500 W from surface to the battery-less bottomhole assembly (BHA) downhole and 100% uptime reliability of telemetry and power transmission.
This testing included pipehandling, racking, running in hole and real-time transmission of high-speed drilling mechanics, surveying and logging data via DualLink during drilling and tripping. Compatibility to power and communicate with the BHA tool fleet of a major service company was proven during the demonstration, with runs including Reelwell’s along-string tools and direction and inclination measurement tools.

From there, the applications of multiple wires in the braid, rather than one or two in a cable, meant there was now a reliable, redundant path for power and data transmission. By making sure there was minimal impact to the threads and structural integrity of the drillpipe itself, it meant DualLink could be handled as a normal pipe while at the rig site, without technical limitations.
A key feature of the success was the introduction of robust, field replaceable connectors. This minimized the chance of damage. It also meant that if damage did occur, maintenance costs and downtime for repairing the assets would be reduced.