Drilling Systems Automation: Current State, Initiatives and Potential Impact

Macpherson, John; Wardt, John P. de; Florence, Fred; Chapman, Clinton; Zamora, Mario; Laing, Moray L.; Iversen, Fionn

doi:10.2118/166263-ms

Cited by 24 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 47 publications

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“…Figure 1 shows that a full automation level is defined as the level at which the computer solely takes care of the whole activity, namely monitoring and data analysis, generating the decisions, selecting the best option, and implementing the selected decision. Although Endsley et al [12] published this concept about levels of automation two decades ago, Macpherson et al [13] have adapted Endsley concept for drilling activities, proposing the same 10 levels of automation, whereas the autonomous level involves self-decisional systems such as rotary steerable systems. As of 2021, the new direction is trending towards autonomous drilling rigs that can perform drilling without direct human intervention.…”

Section: Company Enabled Drilling Solutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Outlook of Drilling Technologies and Innovations: Present Status and Future Trends

Teodoriu

Bello

2021

Energies

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The present article analyzes the technological advancement and innovations related to drilling operations. It covers the review of currently proven and emerging technologies that could mitigate the drilling operational deficiencies and instabilities that could hinder operational performance activities and the economic part of drilling development with great effort to minimize their environmental footprint. Drilling system design and operations are among the major aspects and cost-effective endeavors of the oil and gas industries, which are therefore technology dependent. They are also considered to be among the most expensive operations in the world, as they require huge expenses daily. Drilling success, depending on prevalent conditions, is a function of several general factors. These include the selection of the best technologies and tools, procedural optimization, concrete problem-solving, accurate prediction, and rapid decision-making. Consequently, any sorts of tools or advanced technologies that can improve the time-efficient operational and economic performance of drilling activities are essential and demanded. The paper provides a review of available technologies and developmental innovations based on both company-based and academic research-enabled drilling solutions over the past 5 years in the field of drilling systems and technological design. The paper further highlighted potential technologies that could be tapped in from other industries and could possibly be adopted by pushing the conventional boundaries of drilling operations.

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Section: Company Enabled Drilling Solutionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

An Outlook of Drilling Technologies and Innovations: Present Status and Future Trends

Teodoriu

Bello

2021

Energies

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“…The automated drilling system has been studied for years (Macpherson et al 2013). Different approaches have been proposed which were inspired from other engineering areas (Thorogood et al 2010), especially the aviation industry (Thorogood 2013).…”

Section: Automated Drilling Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Automated Slide Drilling System and Multi-Body Dynamics Aided Slide Drilling Simulation

Wang

Cheng

Lu³

et al. 2015

SPE Digital Energy Conference and Exhibition

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Drilling automation can replace manual operation with more predictable and consistent computercontrolled drilling process, as well as enhance the digital link between well-site and data center and enable the remote drilling. In this paper, the automation of drilling process is viewed as three hierarchical control loops: the trajectory control loop, the drilling state control loop, and the motor and actuator control loop.The drilling state control loop, which controls the bit attitude, weight on bit (WOB), etc., is pivotal to the trajectory control, and remains a focus of development. The drilling state control loop is composed of three sub-loops, i.e., the surface loop, the downhole loop and the hybrid loop. The surface loop supervises the torque, pressure, and hook load, controls the WOB, and takes actions in emergencies. This loop is being analyzed in auto driller systems, and in managed pressure drilling. The downhole loop controls the directional drilling tools, and is well realized in rotary steerable systems. The hybrid loop, which connects the prior two loops and reinforces one loop with the other, however, is not well developed. A slide drilling system is presented as an example, where no downhole loop holds the bit attitude, and the hybrid loop faces sharpest challenge to control the drilling direction from surface. A joint control of top drive and drawworks is developed to perform coupled control of WOB and toolface. The control system takes into account the desired toolface and WOB. Different operating modes of slide drilling systems are identified and applied with specific control algorithm. The shift between modes is controlled by the operator.The control system is developed and simulated with the aid of multi-body dynamics modelling of the drill string. This drill string simulation model, based on absolute nodal coordinate formulation, receives the control commands for the top drive and drawworks, and outputs the sensor data and the well trajectory. Loads and dynamic response of the drill string are also simulated. Multi-body dynamics method enables real-time full-hole drill string simulation, and is a powerful tool for automated drilling system development.

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“…OPC is a foundation that enables open connectivity via open standards. Well operations comprise many various companies and their proprietary hardware and software (Macpherson et al 2013). In 2008, SPE began a technical section which focuses on drilling systems automation (SPE DSATS) solutions for promoting the development of systems automation.…”

Section: Remote Operationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Factors Affecting Implementation of Global Remote Operations

2014

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This paper was pr epar ed for pr es entation at the S PE Intelligent E ner gy Confer ence and Ex hibiti on held in Utr ec ht, T he Netherl ands , 1-3 A pril 2014.This paper was s el ected for pr es entati on by an S PE pr ogr am commi ttee followi ng review of i nfor mati on c ontained in an abstr ac t s ubmi tted by the author(s). Contents of the paper hav e not been revi ewed by the S oci ety of Petr oleum E ngi neers and ar e s ubj ect to c orr ec tion by the author(s) . T he material does not necessarily reflec t any positi on of the S oci ety of Petr oleum E ngi neers, its officers , or members . El ectr onic r eproduc tion, dis tributi on, or st or age of any part of this paper without the written c ons ent of the S oci ety of P etr ol eum E ngineers is pr ohibi ted. P er mis sion t o repr oduc e in pri nt is r estric ted to an abstr ac t of not mor e than 300 wor ds ; illustrations may not be copi ed. T he abstr act mus t c ontain c onspic uous ack nowledgment of SPE c opyright. AbstractRemote operations are fully available today with the current technology for data storage and distribution. There are multiple industry examples of operations performed remotely, without adopting new standard workflows on a global scale.This paper examines elements that have been developed for remote operations, from the rigsite data aggregation and distribution through the real-time analysis and feedback into operations. Two main topics are covered: current functional remote operational processes, such as reservoir navigation (geosteering) and drilling optimization. Secondly are areas where change to remote operation is possible through current technology, but is not implemented.There are many reasons for not implementing complete remote operations, and often depend on geography and company strategy. Areas (described in the paper) where there is reluctance to change are divided into the following categories:-Oil field culture -Company strategy -Understanding and trust in technology -The human factor; reluctance to change -Collaboration and change in work processes between companies -Financial aspect; initial investment and return on capital -Legal aspect; data security and accessibility to experts on a global basis The paper examines each element's ability to increase the speed of implementing into the digital oil field, followed by suggestions and possibilities in overcoming each one of them.The paper evaluates oil field areas where remote operations are successfully implemented with parallels to areas where the implementation is not in place, focusing on solutions for further development of the digital oil field from current successes.Ideas are proposed for developing and increasing the use of remote operations.

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Drilling Systems Automation: Current State, Initiatives and Potential Impact

Cited by 24 publications

References 47 publications

An Outlook of Drilling Technologies and Innovations: Present Status and Future Trends

An Outlook of Drilling Technologies and Innovations: Present Status and Future Trends

Automated Slide Drilling System and Multi-Body Dynamics Aided Slide Drilling Simulation

Factors Affecting Implementation of Global Remote Operations

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