Precise Drilling Components Ltd. – Drilling Tool Manufacturer, Calgary, Alberta

  403-236-2622

Precise Drilling Components Ltd. History

Precise Drilling Components Ltd. (PDC) was founded in Calgary, Alberta, in 2001 as a fixed cutter drill bit supplier to western Canada’s oil and natural gas sector.

The concept for PDC was conceived with the purchase of six custom, Texan designed bits from a supplier who no longer wanted them. Initially, PDC had the specialty bits produced to specification by Ontario manufacturers. Soon after, PDC began modifying and improving the bits it supplied. The customization progressed into a custom, in-house design, and manufacturing facility. PDC’s reputation for specialized tool making expanded and shipping began around Canada, the US, and internationally, including Nigeria, Egypt, and Sudan.

In 2004, PDC began purchasing its own computer numerical control (CNC) driven machine tools and moved into a 10,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in southeast Calgary. Initially, PDC focused on relatively standard bits for straightforward applications, particularly in shallow gas drilling, supplying a mix of in-house bits and tri-cone bits from GT Engineering, Inc. in Oklahoma.

Demand grew, and the company increased its production line of custom-designed and third-party drill bits. PDC gained a reputation for building the industry’s fastest bits.

PDC worked to reposition into new markets as western Canada’s oil and natural gas industry evolved, focusing on deeper, more technical drilling, as shallow gas drilling declined. By 2009 the company sold all of its shallow drill bits while designing new bits for deeper, more specialized tooling, with a particular focus on international drilling projects.

Also, in 2009, PDC began looking for opportunities in the hole opener business. There was a gap in the market to build a fast, large-diameter, fixed-cutter hole opener. PDC began researching to be the first to market with a product of this type. In 2009, a customer offered PDC a unique opportunity – the customer would pay the operating and repair costs to test a prototype hole opener if PDC designed, manufactured, and supplied the tool.

The result, after a three-and-a-half-year cycle of testing, evaluation, and modification, is the HydraMAX hole opener – the world’s fastest, biggest fixed-cutter hole opener.

In 2010 PDC launched another major project, initiating research, testing, and developing its Torpedo lost circulation tool.

In 2012, PDC continued growth and increased capability with the addition of plate processing equipment, another large CNC-controlled machine, and a robotic welding unit.

Also, work was underway on a new generation of mud motors for the horizontal and directional drilling (“HDD”) sector, with the objective being to roll out the world’s most powerful mud motor.

In 2018, PDC moved into a new engineering, manufacturing, and fabrication facility in Calgary, Alberta. With a focus on innovation and growth, PDC management fosters a dynamic, respectful, and diverse workforce while supplying essential tools to the energy and infrastructure industries. PDC continues to develop new products to help clients and owners develop environmental, sustainable, and governance (ESG) orientated energy delivery and necessary infrastructure.

In 2021, PDC expanded with the acquisition of a welding and fabrication shop. The facility underwent extensive renovations to modernize and match existing PDC facility standards.

With a focus on innovation and growth, PDC management fosters a dynamic, respectful, and diverse workforce while supplying essential tools to the energy and infrastructure industries. PDC continues to develop new products to help clients and owners develop environmental, sustainable, and governance (ESG) orientated energy delivery and necessary infrastructure.

PDC continues annual ISO and COR recertification processes, demonstrating its commitment and responsibility of continuous improvement.

Guiding Principles

Every Bit Canadian
We offer worldwide distribution from our research and manufacturing center in one of the world’s leading oil and natural gas cities: Calgary, Alberta, Canada. PDC has deep experience in putting quality, ESG, design, and technology at the center of customer-oriented solutions.

Innovation
Our 19-year track record of innovation includes creating and maintaining patents, inventing and rolling out the world’s fastest line of hole openers, developing an innovative lost circulation tool, and developing the largest, most powerful mud motor in the world. And we are not stopping! We continue to explore infrastructure and tunnel development and support opportunities.

Quality Assurance/Quality Control
PDC is driven to create the fastest, toughest, best-made downhole tools, which means quality is at the center of what we do. PDC is ISO 9001:2015 Certified, ensuring the quality control of every component that we build and guaranteeing that all our downhole tools are free from manufacturer’s defects.

First to Succeed
PDC provides the world’s first successful line of large-diameter, fixed-cutter, and rolling cone hole openers. Following over a decade of success in drill bit design and manufacturing, PDC spent over three years conducting Horizontal Directional Drilling (HDD) hole opener live well research and development. Today our HydraMAX and Gorgon hole openers are at work in real-world situations, setting new records for size, capacity, and drill rate as we continue to improve the design.

Technical Capabilities
Our capabilities include researching, designing, testing, building, maintaining, and improving drill bits, hole openers, and various supporting products. Our 49,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Calgary, Alberta, is equipped with CNC-driven machine tools and a robotic welding unit. Our processes utilize the finite element method (FEM) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

Compliance
We strive to comply with all applicable regulations, laws, and industry best practices and aim for continuous improvement. COR Certification – PDC operates with the health, safety, and environment always as priority one. We take pride in our Certificate of Recognition from the Alberta Occupational Health and Safety (OH&S)

Company Achievements

  • 2003

    PDC builds its first drill bit in-house on a manual machine-tool. The next year, the model S446L bit sets a shallow drilling record of 547 metres in 45 minutes – a record that still stands

  • 2009

    PDC builds first prototype hole opener in a unique testing arrangement with a customer

  • 2009

    PDC performs first commercial hole-opener job

  • 2010

    PDC rolls out Torpedo lost circulation tool

  • 2012

    PDC achieves Alberta Certificate of Recognition (COR), certifying that the company has a recognized safety management system

  • 2012

    PDC achieves ISO 9001/2008 Certification, covering its complete line of downhole tools

  • 2018

    PDC moves into a brand new engineering, manufacturing, and fabrication facility in Calgary. PDC achieves ISO 9001/2015 Certification.

  • 2020

    PDC establishes infrastructure drilling innovation R&D capabilities.

  • 2021

    PDC expanded with the acquisition of a welding and fabrication shop.