"We have places in the Middle East where we're very active. Eighty percent of the water wells in that part of the world are drilled with downhole hammers. And these are large wells -- we sell bits from 17 inches down to the smallest being maybe 8 inches. They're drilling down to 2,500 feet for water. In this country, to pull a 2,5000-foot string out of the ground, you're talking about a very expensive proposition. But over there, the labor is not the factor that it is here. I see the more production-oriented contractors making that switch. It's faster, cheaper and certainly more productive," he observes.
For those contractors who strictly are rotary drillers, Torquato says that they can expect limited improvements. "If you look a traditional tri-cone bit, there's only so much you can do to make improvements. You can only make the bearings so good; you can only make it last so long. And even if you double the lifespan of the bearings, you still have that slower penetration rate."