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There is a need in the industry to advance the technology in underreaming, specifically in operations where simultaneous drilling and underreaming take place. Underreaming hurdles have existed for several years that could not be overcome by a simple reliable mechanical apparatus to activate or deactivate the tools. Activating a tool on demand offers options and underreaming techniques that can enhance the way wells are drilled. Traditional underreamers are activated or deactivated by dropping a steel ball to the tool via the drillstring. The dropped ball creates a bore restriction in the underreamer, which only allows drilling fluid to pass. RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) activation offers several key advantages; it creates an option to increase the performance of the underreamer by allowing multiple activation or deactivation without restricting the ID of the tool. The operator may elect to underream only specific sections of the well where swelling formations cause stuck drillstrings, or allow full circulation in deactivated mode to clean out sections of the wellbore. RFID tools have a full bore which enables wireline to be run through the reamer. RFID allows for multiple tools to be run in the drill string and activated or deactivated on demand. Activation is controlled by pumping small tags through the bore of the tool. RFID tags transmit commands to the underreamer as they pass through the tool; an electronic reader embedded in the tool reads the command. All commands and other RFID controller events are stored into memory and may be downloaded after the job is complete. This paper discusses the benefits and value of RFID activated underreamers. The lab and field test results of the RFID controlled underreamer will be presented.

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