Award winners – (backrow) Joseph Graham, Corin Lewsey, Alan Beattie, Mark Graham, Andy Churchill, Mike Churchill, Jamie Pratt, Ricky Simpson, (frontrow) Jenny Bamford, Ailsa Churchill, Abbie Smith (photo: Churchill Drilling Tools)

Churchill Drilling Tools, an oil and gas engineering company specialising in dart activated string technology, is celebrating after winning the acclaimed Grampian award for innovation at the 2016 Elevator Awards.

The company won the award for the development of its HyPR HoleSaver™ hydraulic pipe recovery tool. The tool represents the world’s first hydraulic pipe and hole recovery system – offering a fast and dependable insurance technology against stuck pipe situations, in turn enabling maximum recovery of hole and drill string.

Since launch in late 2014, the HyPR HoleSaver™ has been recognised as an innovative contingency solution for drilling operations and has been utilised as an insurance against stuck pipe in several challenging territories, including the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Middle East.

Utilising ordinary drilling mud, the user-operated HyPR™ jetting dart can cut through a full strength sub in under two hours. Drilling engineers have the option of using either a Cementing Dart which allows for rapid side-tracking after cementing operations or if an attempt to fish the BHA is preferred, a Fishing Dart can be pumped down, leaving a clean box to fish once the dart has cut the string free; the dart is then carried back to the surface as the cut pipe is withdrawn.

The tool was developed in house by Churchill Drilling Tools, a family owned firm led by Chairman Andy Churchill and CEO Mike Churchill. Aware of the time consuming traditional methods of cutting stuck pipe and mindful of industry demand for a safer, more reliable, cost effective, user operated technology, Churchill Drilling Tools devised the HyPR™ HoleSaver™ concept in 2013. Development proceeded at pace and after several iterations, intensive proof of concept and rig testing, the tool came to market in the last quarter of 2014.

The Grampian Award for Innovation has enhanced Churchill Drilling Tools’ reputation as a technology leader in drilling, completions and abandonment tools.

Andy Churchill says, “It is an honour for Churchill Drilling Tools to win in this category because it recognises our team’s continued commitment to innovation and technical excellence – coinciding with a time where the industry is being urged to adopt new methods and support new technology. The HyPR HoleSaver™ reflects the demands of the industry for cost effective answers to the challenges it faces. The product and the award is further evidence of Churchill’s commitment to developing specialist tools which continue to save operators time and money in new and exciting ways.”

The Elevator Awards seek to encourage entrepreneurship and business excellence by selecting and rewarding entrepreneurial companies and individuals that are capable of leading the future prosperity of their local area and international places of business.

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