Executing the Digital Well Plan - Enhancing Process Automation
Abstract: Automation of well construction combines process and machine automation to deliver cost savings and efficiency gains, alongside safer operations and faster collaborative decision making. Integration of well planning and execution improves performance, minimizes risk, and creates the framework for batch control of well construction. Generating intuitive and standardized insights from historical and live data streams enables reducing uncertainty and driving technical limit performance at every stage, for the saf… Show more
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Cited by 4 publications
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A significant part of well construction is invested in tripping drill pipe. This type of operation is considered not productive in terms of drilled wellbore but is however necessary for the well construction process. The associated cost of tripping operations can be as high as 30% of the overall well CAPEX and poses an attractive optimization case to reduce spending by means of increasing efficiency. Furthermore, a byproduct of increased efficiency is a cleaner operation in terms of carbon emissions. Increasing efficiency for tripping operations concerns two main components: reducing connection time and optimizing the motion of the string while tripping in and out of the wellbore. The connection time can be reduced by means of machine automation to deliver repetable and safer handling of the drill pipe during connections. Optimizing the tripping parameters to move the string requires a more complex approach, where physics-based modeling plays a key role in determining a safe operating envelope (SOE) to move the string without harming the formation or the surface equipment in the process. The system described in this paper touches upon this problem and includes the concept of interfacing to automated drilling control systems (ADCS) to achieve closed-loop control of tripping operations. The solution proposed deploys a hydraulic digital twin of the wellbore that estimates the permissible axial velocities and accelerations to use when running drillstring in and out the wellbore. The same digital twin is used during pre-job modeling to verify proposed tripping plans, and later on in real-time to update the tripping limits for velocity and acceleration for every stand as the tripping process continues. The results produced in real-time are published to a data aggregation layer to serve as input for a tripping automation application to refine fit-for-purpose monitoring and control algorithms. The automation system finds optimum proposals of tripping limits and updates them directly in the rig control system in real-time. The trip monitoring system automatically and continuously publishes optimum velocity and acceleration tripping limits per stand and transmits them as set points to the ADCS to define a safe operating envelope (SOE). This approach can greatly reduce the overall tripping time in comparison to non-automated deployments. Furthermore, the reduction of invisible lost time (ILT) takes place while maintaining the integrity of the formation, and the integrity of the surface equipment. A set of case studies confirm the effectiveness of the approach and illustrate its benefits. A case study from the Middle East addresses the topic of adoption of drilling automation applications such as the tripping advisor. Another case presents the concept of interoperability using as example a deployment on a rig simulator setup in Europe to perform closed-loop control using the tripping application to write velocity and acceleration limits continuously to the ADCS.
A significant part of well construction is invested in tripping drill pipe. This type of operation is considered not productive in terms of drilled wellbore but is however necessary for the well construction process. The associated cost of tripping operations can be as high as 30% of the overall well CAPEX and poses an attractive optimization case to reduce spending by means of increasing efficiency. Furthermore, a byproduct of increased efficiency is a cleaner operation in terms of carbon emissions. Increasing efficiency for tripping operations concerns two main components: reducing connection time and optimizing the motion of the string while tripping in and out of the wellbore. The connection time can be reduced by means of machine automation to deliver repetable and safer handling of the drill pipe during connections. Optimizing the tripping parameters to move the string requires a more complex approach, where physics-based modeling plays a key role in determining a safe operating envelope (SOE) to move the string without harming the formation or the surface equipment in the process. The system described in this paper touches upon this problem and includes the concept of interfacing to automated drilling control systems (ADCS) to achieve closed-loop control of tripping operations. The solution proposed deploys a hydraulic digital twin of the wellbore that estimates the permissible axial velocities and accelerations to use when running drillstring in and out the wellbore. The same digital twin is used during pre-job modeling to verify proposed tripping plans, and later on in real-time to update the tripping limits for velocity and acceleration for every stand as the tripping process continues. The results produced in real-time are published to a data aggregation layer to serve as input for a tripping automation application to refine fit-for-purpose monitoring and control algorithms. The automation system finds optimum proposals of tripping limits and updates them directly in the rig control system in real-time. The trip monitoring system automatically and continuously publishes optimum velocity and acceleration tripping limits per stand and transmits them as set points to the ADCS to define a safe operating envelope (SOE). This approach can greatly reduce the overall tripping time in comparison to non-automated deployments. Furthermore, the reduction of invisible lost time (ILT) takes place while maintaining the integrity of the formation, and the integrity of the surface equipment. A set of case studies confirm the effectiveness of the approach and illustrate its benefits. A case study from the Middle East addresses the topic of adoption of drilling automation applications such as the tripping advisor. Another case presents the concept of interoperability using as example a deployment on a rig simulator setup in Europe to perform closed-loop control using the tripping application to write velocity and acceleration limits continuously to the ADCS.
Integration of Geosteering into an Automated Wellbore Placement System, Possibilities and Challenges
The benefits of geosteering for accurate wellbore placement in reservoirs are well documented, with an emphasis on comprehensive reservoir mapping capabilities and related well path adjustments. Similarly, drilling-related processes such as well re-design, proximity scanning, and downlinking are important. The integration of geosteering and drilling processes adds complexity and challenges to designing automated wellbore placement systems. Automated systems need to contain sufficiently robust technologies and algorithms to avoid unintended and frequent exceptions. Equally, the human element must be considered to design an automated system with a great user experience. To gain user acceptance, an automated system must have the characteristics of predictability, transparency, adaptability, and automation levels that are validated prior to utilization. Without this, the result will be wellbore misplacement by engineers who blindly trust immature automated systems. This paper provides an overview of processes and tasks within a comprehensive wellbore placement system, including the directional drilling and geosteering services as used by stakeholders who own well placement execution. We will provide an overview of the potential of automation and pitfalls to be avoided. The experience of many expert engineers from complementary disciplines has been used to develop a comprehensive concept as a framework to implement an automated wellbore placement system. The paper also provides an analogy to the automotive industry which has developed reliable and robust systems for navigation, lane and speed control over the last few decades. The comparison highlights a fundamental difference to the petroleum industry of having multiple stakeholders involved in the process of wellbore placement. Consequently, communication between all the stakeholders during operations, notably proposals and approvals, must be designed into the system from the beginning. Automation concepts to achieve great user experience are demonstrated on components of a wellbore placement process, including the illustration of lessons learned from recent development initiatives. Based on the demonstration, we conclude that an iterative development process is essential to ensure acceptance by the user community.
Closing the Loop with the Subsurface: First Deployment of Autonomous Well Placement Following Reservoir Boundaries
Industry-wide initiatives towards autonomous execution of drilling activities are maturing (Forshaw et al, 2023), and construction of wellbore sections is possible without pro-active human control. Engineers are now rather tasked to monitor the execution of the process and intervene in case of specific exceptions. While automatic drilling optimization primarily focuses on the control of rig operations, and automatic directional drilling focuses on drilling the predefined well plan, autonomous wellbore positioning focuses on maintaining wellbore position within the geologic and petrophysical environment without human intervention. It is about to become an established service by major oilfield service providers. Use of automated directional drilling in various environments (Hansen et al, 2020) has demonstrated that the system can steer a wellbore reliably and fully automatically according to plan. The automation of optimum well placement while dynamically following the reservoir is the ultimate challenge to maximize hydrocarbon recovery and production. This paper presents the results from the first deployment of an autonomous well placement system, designed to automatically navigate the reservoir. The service consists of automatic reservoir boundary mapping, automatic initiation of navigation advice (decision-making) followed by automatic well plan updates (within given constraints), and automatic calculation of optimized set points for steering within the reservoir. The control loop is closed by sending downlinks automatically to the rotary steerable system (RSS) to execute the updated trajectory without human interaction. The underlying system concept thus integrates reservoir navigation, real-time trajectory updates, and directional drilling control. Development of this well placement service was enabled by evaluation and optimization of system behavior using sophisticated, integrated model-in-the-loop simulations. These simulations are also an effective means in pre-job planning through understanding the expected system behavior for a given set of pre-well reservoir models and parameters used for navigation advice triggers and wellbore design parameters, such as dogleg severity limits. The holistic system simulation assures finding the "right" drilling parameters for maximum contact with the reservoir, allowing safe and smooth drilling operations. The first field results successfully prove the technical viability of this complex process automation approach. They reveal that the biggest added value lies in the significantly shortened response times between detecting a changing reservoir trend and actual steering action. The shortened response time in turn enables maximized reservoir contact for additional production. While legacy, manually operated workflows require frequent communication and alignment between three key stakeholders (E&P Operations Geologist, Reservoir Navigation Supervisor, Directional Driller), the integrated system enables a simple and fast check and agreement on system proposals. Of course, a manual modification of a system suggestion is always possible in case of any exceptions or undesired outcomes.
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