Steel is what drilling companies use to cut through a mile of dirt and rock to reach oil and natural gas deposits.

Often the steel doing the cutting was made in a Timken Co. mill.

Drill bits, steerable mud motors, stabilizers, tool joints and heavy wall pipe are among the products used by drilling companies that are made from Timken’s alloy steel.

Oil and gas drilling is only one energy business that uses a variety of Timken products.

The company is involved in most segments of the energy business, said Hans Landin, Timken’s vice president for business advancement. For many years Timken has provided bearings for the coal business, as well as steel and bearings for oil and gas drilling. Now the company is working with the wind turbine industry, developing bearings that help create renewable energy.

“With everything that’s moving, turning, you’re going to find a Timken product,” said Amanda Montgomery, director for marketing and product management.

DRILLING EQUIPMENT

Timken bearings are found in tri-cone rotary drill bits. The bearings are made from Timken steel. So are the three spiked bits, which spin while cutting through rock.

The bit is a prime example of Timken’s ability to help a client make a product better, said Shawn J. Seanor, vice president for oil and gas engineered steel solutions. Timken makes a clean alloy steel with a smooth surface that reduces friction and makes rolling easy. The steel also is tough enough to keep drilling without stopping to change the bit, Seanor said.

When a drilling company begins a well, the work doesn’t stop until the bit has reached the well’s total length. In the case of a horizontal well such as the those drilled into shale formations, the bit might drill a line more than two miles long.

“Not everybody makes that kind of steel,” Seanor said of the alloys produced by Timken for drill bits and bearings.

Timken steel and bearings are used below ground while drilling and above ground in the machinery and equipment on rigs, Landin said.

LONG TIME COMING

The Utica Shale is the most recent of several shale rock formations that oil and gas companies are trying to develop around the United States. Seanor said Timken expects to see increased demand from the oil and gas industry as drilling increases in the Utica formation.

Through the past decade, horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing have evolved to allow companies to penetrate the shale and break it apart to release oil and gas. Formations in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania and North Dakota have been developed, which has increased the demand for Timken’s steel and bearings.

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