Weatherford to Dedicate RipTide® RFID Drilling Reamer Model to George Bush Presidential Library and Museum

April 11, 2014

College Station, TX—The George Bush Presidential Library and Museum will celebrate the grand opening of its newest exhibit, “Offshore Drilling: The Promise of Discovery” with the RipTide RFID (radio frequency identification) donated by Weatherford International. The grand opening reception will take place on April 10, 2014 at 6:30 p.m. CDT at the museum. The exhibit will tell the whole story behind offshore drilling including the search for oil offshore, exploration of the Gulf of Mexico, and the past, present and future of offshore drilling. Additional features on display will be a video wall that highlights life on a rig, platforms, and model parts of various technologies used in the field by companies such as Weatherford. 

Offshore drilling involves complicated offshore logistics, technically challenging wells, numerous high tolerance casing strings, and most importantly the sensitive marine environment. The RipTide RFID was developed to help combat these challenges. RipTide RFID is the drilling industry’s most advanced concentric underreamer and is used to enlarge the wellbore diameter during the drilling operation to make casing running, cementing and other completion operations easier and more successful. For example, drillers are able to activate and deactivate cutter blocks on demand multiple times while drilling or tripping out of the well. This saves the operator several days of rig time that would otherwise be spent tripping the drilling assembly out of the well to replace BHA (bottom hole assemblies) components. The ability to program a small RFID tag to control equipment such as the RipTide RFID has revolutionized the oil and gas industry. 

“We are honored to be a part of this exciting new exhibition. The vision of the product was to make drilling in deepwater more efficient by drilling deeper, faster, and in less trips,” said Weatherford Global Line Product Line Manager, Eddie Valverde. “It’s inspiring to see the history of the offshore drilling industry and the technology that drives the future and where we will be.” The exhibit is expected to run from Mar. 31, 2014 through Feb. 1, 2015. The Bush Presidential Library and Museum’s educational mission is to inform and enrich learning about American history, the role of the presidency with special focus on the administration of George Bush, and to benefit the educational community. The Bush Library and Museum opened to the public Nov. 7, 1997 and is located on Texas A&M University's west campus. 

About Weatherford

Weatherford is one of the largest multinational oilfield services companies. Our product and service portfolio spans the life cycle of the well, and includes capability in drilling and formation evaluation, well construction, and completion. The Company provides innovative solutions, technology, and services to the oil and gas industry, and operates in over 100 countries. For more information, please visit www.weatherford.com.

Weatherford Contact

Kelley Hughes, Corporate Communications Manager
+1.713.836.4193

Sandra Pham, Communications Coordinator
+1.713.836.7467