US drill-bit maker launches AI-powered facility in Oman

SAMAYIL, NOV 9
US drill-bit maker opened a centre at Samayil Industrial City that uses artificial intelligence to analyse wear on drill bits, and said about 80 per cent of the work of making a bit is already done locally. The BitVision AI Centre was inaugurated under the auspices of Qais bin Mohammed al Yousef, Chairman of the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ).
Ali al Yahyai, Chief Executive Officer and MENA Director, said it is the first BitVision AI Centre outside the United States and that its opening is 'a significant step' in positioning Oman as a regional centre for innovation in the energy sector.
Dr Warren Dyer, President and CEO of Taurex Drill Bits, said at the ceremony that a 14-strong team assembles the bits at the facility.
'Really over the last year, not even a year, we've been able to do that,' he said. 'This is real technology that we use, and we've used since 2020,' Dyer said, adding that the company had been able to expand internationally 'just because of the technology that we have'.
For decades, he said, the industry has judged worn bits by eye, an approach that 'relies on subjectivity and judgment'. 'So we've taken the judgment out of that,' he said.
Taurex instead scans each bit in 3D using photography and photogrammetry, and keeps a record of its damage and wear.
The company has scanned about 12,000 bits, every bit it has run since 2020, and holds about 800,000 images, Dyer said. 'With that information, with the help of AI, we've developed the models that you can see in action today.'
Lessons from every bit the company runs around the world are applied to the bits used in Oman, he said, and each bit is scanned again once it has been prepared, to make sure everything is correct.
Dyer said Taurex chose Oman for the free trade agreement between Oman and the United States and for its location, which gives the company 'a regional market that we can address'. He also cited Oman Vision 2040, which he said 'clearly establishes a direction toward an economy' built on technology, knowledge and innovation.
Above all, he said, it was the people of Oman 'whose warmth and talent give us great confidence in what we can achieve'.
The company's plan is to take the model into the region, 'not just here', Dyer said, adding that it had won 'a lot of new contracts' and that 'things are moving well'.
'We're moving very quickly,' he said, adding that the company's technology lets it move faster than bigger companies. 'There is an advantage in that.'
Ana Escrogima, US Ambassador to Oman, told the gathering: 'When a US firm like Taurex brings this technology to trusted industry leaders here in Oman, good things happen.'
She said such investment creates jobs in both countries and builds on the two countries' free trade agreement and 'one of the oldest oil and gas partnerships in the Middle East'.
She named Oxy and Halliburton among the US companies that have brought their expertise to Oman.
'The United States wants to replicate successful investments we've had for decades in the energy sector,' she said, adding that it wanted to do so in other areas of Oman as well.
'We are committed to continue to build this capability here,' Dyer said, adding that the company would do so with Omani talent and contribute to the future of Oman's energy sector.