George Boyadjieff  

George Boyadjieff is a leading developer of offshore drilling technology, and has been awarded more than 50 patents over the past 30 years. He is best known as the inventor of the Top Drive Drilling system. This system has made a step-change in drilling efficiency and has been credited with enabling the construction of many wells previously believed to be undrillable.

The top drive drilling system rotates the drillstring directly from the derrick and is permanently connected to the mud circulating system and the traveling block. This allows drillpipe to be introduced in multijoint stands, resulting in greatly improved drilling efficiency and safety. Top Drives also improve operational performance while drilling highly deviated or horizontal wells and when running casing.