To date, the practice of drilling shows that the use of compressed air to clean the bottom of the cuttings is the most effective in difficult and unfavorable conditions for the use of drilling mud: when drilling in absorbing zones of flushing fluid, when it is impossible or difficult to supply water, when drilling in areas with negative ambient temperature. However, when drilling with bottomhole cleaning with air, the fuel and energy costs of drilling operations are significantly increased due to the use of compressor units, the drive energy costs of which are greater than pumps used in similar conditions. An analysis of the operation of mobile compressor units shows that a significant part of the energy losses falls on the internal combustion engine of the compressor drive, since not all of the combustible fuel is converted into useful power. Most of the thermal energy is removed from the engine to the cooling system and carried away with the exhaust gases. In this article, the energy losses of the internal combustion engine of the compressor are investigated and the possibility of increasing the energy efficiency due to the use of the recovered heat of the compressor drive and secondary energy resources is presented.