RFID Technology for Deepwater Drilling and Completions Challenges

Deepwater operators continually face technical and environmental challenges to drilling and completing wells safely and efficiently. To address these challenges, the industry has used radio-frequency-identification (RFID) technology to reduce risk, rig time, and nonproductive time and to perform operations that traditional tools cannot. RFID technology has been integrated into drilling and completions applications. One application of RFID technology is for drilling automation and drillpipe identification. RFID tags attached to drillpipe identify individual-joint dimensions, track inspection information, and allow inventory tracking. These tags can be used also to create an automatic pipe tally as drillpipe joints are run in hole past a reader located below the rotary.