GA Drilling (formerly ''Geothermal Anywhere'') is a drilling and geothermal energy company in

Bratislava, Slovakia Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approximately 140% of ...

with branches in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

(UK),

Abu Dhabi Abu Dhabi (, ; ar, أَبُو ظَبْيٍ ' ) is the capital and second-most populous city (after Dubai) of the United Arab Emirates. It is also the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the centre of the Abu Dhabi Metropolitan Area. ...

(UAE), and headquartered in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

(US). The company was founded in 1994 and rebranded as GA Drilling in August 2013. GA Drilling is also active within the drilling community through participation in several industry events.

Technology

Plasmabit

Plasmabit is a pulsed plasma drilling system. A rotating

plasma torch A plasma torch (also known as a plasma arc, plasma gun, plasma cutter, or plasmatron) is a device for generating a directed flow of plasma. The plasma jet can be used for applications including plasma cutting, plasma arc welding, plasma spra ...

uses ionized gas at 6,000 °C (10,800 °F) to crack and weaken the rock, while high-pressure water mechanically removes rock chips and flushes them to the surface.

Anchorbit

Anchorbit progressively moves the borehead deeper into the well. It consists of two stacked collar sections behind the drill bit. Each section has four ranks of pistons that can extend and grip the bore shaft. The sections can move independently. While one section grips the bore, the other moves closer to the drill bit. Then the moving section grips while the other moves down. Drilling continues throughout the cycle. The company claims that it doubles the drilling rate through hard rock while doubling drill bit lifespan.

Patent portfolio

GA Drilling owns 23+ intellectual property rights (IPR‘s) for technologies in deep drilling and material disintegration in distinct patent zones (Patents were issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office, European Patent Office, GA Drilling Intellectual Property Office of Slovak Republic)

Partner network

R&D network

GA Drilling has created or is a co-founder of the network of technology organizations in the European Union, mainly in the Central European region. Its partner network consists of Slovak (

Slovak University of Technology Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (STU) ( sk, Slovenská technická univerzita v Bratislave) is the biggest and oldest university of technology in Slovakia. In the 2012 Academic Ranking of World Universities it was ranked in the fi ...

, University of Zilina,

Comenius University Comenius University in Bratislava ( sk, Univerzita Komenského v Bratislave) is the largest university in Slovakia, with most of its faculties located in Bratislava. It was founded in 1919, shortly after the creation of Czechoslovakia. It is name ...

, institutes of the

Slovak Academy of Sciences The Slovak Academy of Sciences ( sk, Slovenská akadémia vied, or SAV) is the main scientific and research institution in Slovakia fostering basic and strategic basic research. It was founded in 1942, closed after World War II, and then reestab ...

) and European organisations ( Weatherford UK Ltd,

Imerys Imerys S.A. is a French multinational company which specialises in the production and processing of industrial minerals. It is headquartered in Paris and is a constituent of the CAC Mid 60 index. Imerys has operations in over 40 countries and ...

, EGS Energy, Altus Intervention UK). GA Drilling is also a member of European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC), European Technology Platform on Renewable Heating and Cooling (ETP-RHC), East of England Energy Group (EEEGR), Energy Industries Council (EIC), as well as European Technology Platform on Sustainable Mineral Resources (ETP-SMR).

Agreement with Schoeller-Bleckmann

In July 2013, GA Drilling announced that it has concluded a technology development and strategic investment agreement with Schoeller-Bleckmann Oilfield Equipment, a maker of components for the oil service industry. The partnership is focused on the development of PLASMABIT technology and meeting major challenges of the drilling industry. This partnership ensures component supplies are manufactured by SBO and allows GA Drilling to further develop its patented PLASMABIT technology. Investment supports the completion of 3rd generation of plasma disintegration devices and test-rig construction for drilling at deeper depths.

GA Drilling Technology Center

On 11 October 2012, GA Drilling established GA Drilling Technology Center in Bratislava, Slovakia.Pýtame sa: Tomáš Krištofič: Centrum pre hĺbkové vrty je výrazným posunom vpred
Energia.sk. October 15, 2012. Retrieved on December 29, 2012. The previous laboratory—

Research Centre for Deep Drilling Research Centre for Deep Drilling is high-tech laboratory focused on research and development of new deep drilling concept based on electrical plasma. It was established by GA Drilling, former Geothermal Anywhere company in the premises of Slov ...

—was established On 10 November 2010, by Geothermal Anywhere on the premises of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.

References

{{reflist Drilling technology Oil wells Technology companies of Slovakia Geothermal drilling Geothermal energy Mining engineering companies Companies based in Bratislava Slovak brands