jantimot...Would not the reliability of the bit and hardness of...

jantimot...

Would not the reliability of the bit and hardness of the strata be directly related issues?

The deeper you go, the harder the shales and dolomites become...might be fine while they are in the Leadville Limestones, or McCracken Sands, but gets pretty hard if they hit anything else at these depths...in which case tri-cones risk losing teeth, throwing a cone, or indeed simply ceasing up.

On a side issue, I would kill to know the down hole inclination here...I reckon the chances of it being exactly vertical are very slim, especially looking at the general lie of the strat over the last Km or so...and in fact would not be surpised to learn they are experiencing some pretty serious dip-slip, which might even help explain the deeper than expected formation intersections?

I must admit, I am suprised they don't do true-depth reporting versus drill string depth in these instances...might help explain a few things?

lol...may even be close to drilling horizontal by now?

Cheers!