National Oilwell Varco 2010 Annual Report Download - page 8

Instrumentation. The Companys Instrumentation business provides drilling rig operators real time measurement and monitoring of critical
parameters required to improve rig safety and efficiency. In 1999, the Company introduced its RigSense ® Wellsite Information System, which
combines leading hardware and software technologies into an integrated drilling rig package. Access of drilling data is provided to offsite
locations, enabling company personnel to monitor drilling operations from an office environment, through a secure link. Systems are both sold
and rented, and are comprised of hazardous area sensors placed throughout the rig to measure critical drilling parameters; all networked back to a
central command station for review, recording and interpretation. The Company offers unique business integration services to directly integrate
information into business applications that improves accuracy and assists drilling contractors in managing their drilling business. Reports on
drilling activities and processes are now provided from the rig site as a part of the DrillSuite business solution to allow contractors to streamline
administration by eliminating manual entry of data, promotes accurate payroll processing and invoicing, and includes asset tracking and
preventive maintenance management through its RigMS solution. The real time information provided also allows the Company to advance the
drilling process using advanced drilling algorithms and electronic controls such as our Wildcat Auto Drilling System for better execution of the
well plan, enhanced rates of penetration, reduced program costs, and improved wellbore quality. Complementing the Companys surface
solutions is a portfolio of Down-Hole Instrumentation (DHI) products for both straight-hole and directional markets. Key advancements in this
area include the introduction of the Companys time saving ETotco Electronic Drift Recorder, which serves as an electronic equivalent to the
traditional mechanical drift tool that the Company has offered since 1929.
Coiled Tubing Equipment. Coiled tubing consists of flexible steel tubing manufactured in a continuous string and spooled on a reel. It can extend
several thousand feet in length and is run in and out of the wellbore at a high rate of speed by a hydraulically operated coiled tubing unit. A coiled
tubing unit is typically mounted on a truck, semi-trailer or skid (steel frames on which portable equipment is mounted to facilitate handling with
cranes for offshore use) and consists of a hydraulically operated tubing reel or drum, an injector head which pushes or pulls the tubing in or out of
the wellbore, and various power and control systems. Coiled tubing is typically used with sophisticated pressure control equipment which permits
the operator to perform workover operations on a live well. The Rig Technology segment manufactures and sells both coiled tubing units and the
ancillary pressure control equipment used in these operations. Through its acquisition of Rolligon in late 2006, the Company enhanced its
portfolio by adding additional pressure pumping and coiled tubing equipment products.
Currently, most coiled tubing units are used in well remediation and completion applications. The Company believes that advances in the
manufacturing process of coiled tubing, tubing fatigue protection and the capability to manufacture larger diameter and increased wall thickness
coiled tubing strings have resulted in increased uses and applications for coiled tubing products. For example, some well operators are now using
coiled tubing in drilling applications such as slim hole re-entries of existing wells. The Company engineered and manufactured the first coiled
tubing units built specifically for coiled tubing drilling in 1996.
Generally, the Rig Technology segment supplies customers with the equipment and components necessary to use coiled tubing, which the
customers typically purchase separately. The Rig Technology segments coiled tubing product line consists of coiled tubing units, coiled tubing
pressure control equipment, pressure pumping equipment, snubbing units (which are units that force tubulars into a well when pressure is
contained within the wellbore), nitrogen pumping equipment and cementing, stimulation, fracturing and blending equipment.
Wireline Equipment. The Companys wireline products include wireline drum units, which consist of a spool or drum of wireline cable, mounted
in a mobile vehicle or skid, which works in conjunction with a source of power (an engine mounted in the vehicle or within a separate power
pack skid). The wireline drum unit is used to spool wireline cable into or out of a well, in order to perform surveys inside the well, sample fluids
from the bottom of the well, retrieve or replace components from inside the well, or to perform other well remediation or survey operations. The
wireline used may be slick line, which is conventional single-strand steel cable used to convey tools in or out of the well, or electric line,
which contains an imbedded single-conductor or multi-conductor electrical line which permits communication between the surface and electronic
instruments attached to the end of the wireline at the bottom of the well.
Wireline units are usually used in conjunction with a variety of other pressure control equipment which permit safe access into wells while they
are flowing and under pressure at the surface. The Company engineers and manufactures a broad range of pressure control equipment for wireline
operations, including wireline blowout preventers, strippers, packers, lubricators and grease injection units. Additionally, the Company makes
wireline rigging equipment such as mast trucks.
Turret Mooring Systems. The Company acquired Advanced Production and Loading PLC (APL), in December 2010. APL, based in Norway,
designs and manufactures turret mooring systems and other products for FPSOs and other offshore vessels and terminals. A turret mooring
system consists of a geostatic part attached to the seabed and a rotating part integrated in the hull of the FPSO, which are connected and allow the
ship to weathervane (rotate) around the turret. 8