Energy, Oil & Gas Issue 227 July 2025 | Page 86

BICO Drilling Tools ____________________________________________________________________________________________

BICO Drilling Tools( BICO) designs and manufactures standard and customized equipment. Its industry-leading, highperformance drilling motors are used across the oil and gas industry, as President, Troy Hill, explains:“ BICO Drilling Tools began as a utility boring company, then in the 1990s it transitioned to an oil field service company when it became apparent that our motors, which were being used for underground utility boring, could also be useful for directional drilling in the oil field.

“ Initially we started out with throughtubing and then progressed to openhole drilling motors, which are our most prevalent products today. We’ re a downhole tool provider operating in the US from five different facilities. Houston is our headquarters, but we also have facilities with a full scope of services in Casper, Wyoming as well as Oklahoma City, and Lafayette, Louisiana as well as a warehouse and shipping facility in Midland, Texas. Globally, we’ re a fullservice company in Nisku, Alberta in Canada as well as Dubai in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
“ BICO provides a full range of equipment and services to the oil and gas sector, as well as for geothermal drilling applications. Our market-leading positive displacement drilling motors are our largest offering, but we also provide friction reduction tools, through-tubing drilling motors, non-magnetic drilling collars, drilling jars, and pressure bypass tools; we provide all these to our customers worldwide.”
Troy then explains how innovative equipment like the BICOPLUS Smart Motor makes the difference for its customers:“ It’ s a market-first drilling dynamic sensor built right into the mud motor’ s drive line, located about 12 inches from the drilling bit itself. It measures shock and vibration, rotations per minute( RPM), stick-slip, and temperature. These are very important data points while drilling. Shock and vibration indicate whether the bottom hole assembly( BHA) is being subjected to harsh environments, and RPM tells you the true bit speed. Today, we measure this data from two different points: one at the rig, sometimes over 20,000 feet away from the motor. What is happening at one end doesn’ t necessarily reflect what is occurring at the other. The metal itself expands and contracts and has a spring effect where it twists and torques in the hole. As an operator, you need to know the drilling dynamics at the bit, where the BHA meets the rock formation. This sensor sits right there and provides valuable drilling data.
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