5 November 2026

• Oregon (USA): 3,150 m drilled in 15 drilling days, 80% faster than in 2025

• Košice (Slovakia): SBO’s rotary steerable system drills 2 km in a single run

• Diversification strategy: Geothermal energy is a market where SBO can deploy drilling and completion technology from across its entire product portfolio

15 drilling days instead of around 75: At Newberry Crater in Oregon, SBO technology showed how efficient next-generation geothermal drilling can be. This proves that SBO’s drilling systems from the oil and gas industry can be transferred to next-generation geothermal.

At its superhot rock Athena project, Mazama Energy drilled 3,150 m (10,350 feet) in just 15 drilling days. That is 80% fewer drilling days than on the comparable well in 2025. The project builds on Mazama’s record-setting 2025 work at Newberry, where the company created the world’s hottest engineered enhanced geothermal system (EGS) pilot at 331°C (629°F).

In the Athena project, SBO combined its Steam motor product line with the Booster Tool. The rate of penetration stayed consistently above 40 m per hour (130 ft/h). The bit covered around 1,100 m (3,578 ft) in a single run, and the drilling motors and the directional drilling system operated reliably throughout. Further deployments are planned.

The technology is also proving itself in Europe. At the Svinica-Ďurkov geothermal project near Košice in Slovakia, the OmniSteer rotary steerable system contributed to the completion of three deep wells with a combined length of almost four kilometers and drilled around two kilometers in a single run. The wells are part of a planned district heating project of roughly 90 to 100 megawatts thermal (MWt).

The entire product portfolio in use

Geothermal energy is an important part of SBO’s diversification strategy. Drilling motors, circulation tools, rotary steerable systems, well completion solutions such as high-temperature plugs, and high-precision components can all be used in geothermal applications. The industry is growing with the power demand of data centers and AI infrastructure. In addition, there is the electrification of industry and buildings, as well as the need for clean, round-the-clock energy and heat. Next-generation geothermal makes depths of 7,000 meters at 400°C realistic.

Geothermal energy is a clean, constantly available base load source for electricity and heat generation, and the rule is: deeper means hotter, and hotter means more economical. These extreme conditions are exactly where our tools are at home. We know this from the oil and gas industry, where we have been managing cycles for decades. Now we are becoming less dependent on them and applying our core capabilities where new demand is emerging. The results in Oregon and Slovakia show that our products deliver what the next generation of geothermal requires.

SBO has set the goal of achieving sales of MEUR 900 by 2030, of which MEUR 200 is to come from new business areas. In addition to geothermal energy, these include lithium and helium drilling, carbon capture & storage, flow control, and 3D metal printing.