Drilling Tool Rentals & Sales in Permian Basin

Drilling activity in the Permian

The Permian Basin spans roughly 75,000 square miles across West Texas and southeast New Mexico and accounts for the largest share of U.S. crude production. Its defining feature is stacked pay: multiple productive intervals — the Wolfcamp, Bone Spring, Spraberry and Avalon among them — layered above one another, which lets operators drill many horizontal wells from a single pad. The basin splits into the Delaware Basin on the west (deeper, higher pressure) and the Midland Basin on the east.

Activity is dominated by pad drilling with long horizontal laterals — commonly two to three miles — and fast rig-to-rig cycle times. Operators including ExxonMobil, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Occidental and Diamondback run large, continuous programs, which puts a premium on tubular availability and rapid turnaround.

What that means for the drill string

Long Permian laterals generate high torque and drag, so 5” and 5½” S-135 drill pipe is the workhorse, often in a tapered string with heavy-weight drill pipe to add weight-on-bit and smooth the stiffness transition. Directional and horizontal sections rely on non-magnetic drill collars to isolate MWD tools, stabilizers to control the build, and drilling jars in case of stuck pipe. When a washout or twist-off happens, a complete fishing string has to be on location fast.

• Drill pipe — 5” and 5½” S-135 for long laterals
• Heavy-weight drill pipe — spiral HWDP for the transition zone
• Drill collars — including non-magnetic for the directional BHA
• Fishing tools — overshots, jars and mills for stuck-pipe recovery

Logistics and standards

Because the Permian runs at such high intensity, rental turnaround is decisive. Drillstrings works through regional partners around Midland and Odessa to inspect, serialize and truck tools to the pad quickly, with inventory inspected to DS-1 / API RP 7G-2 categories and full traceability. Sour-service (NACE MR0175) material is available for the intervals that need it.

Whether you’re spudding a new pad or recovering from downhole trouble on the critical path, send us your string and we’ll quote within the hour — day or night.