An Innovative Method to Process and Visualize Real-Time Data Generated in Drilling Activities

Abstract

Abstract To mitigate risks and improve performance during the drilling of an oil well and its various hole sections, it is recommended that its operational parameters and trajectory be monitored in real-time. This activity is crucial to avoid several problems during drilling campaigns, especially if the drilling specialist can have all the data and some level of automatic interpretation on hand, so quick decisions can be made. However, most current monitoring software do not have an interactive or immersive visualization of this data, only track plots with multiple curves. To improve specialist experience, a 3D visualization system has been developed to unify both the drilling monitoring and analysis process of charts, drilling trajectory, lithology, and seismic data. The Divisor system consists of a cloud platform that unifies and processes data from different sources and a digital 3D visualization application. Its visualization module can be used in two forms: a traditional desktop interface enhanced with 3D visualizations and an immersive mode using a Virtual Reality (VR) headset. Both allow the operator to view real-time or historical data in multiple ways, perform assessments and simulations. Additionally, in VR mode, it is possible to navigate through a full-scale virtual environment, interact with the drill hole tridimensional visualization, and freely position charts with the essential variables to be monitored. This allows for better data manipulation granting better insights related to the numerous data captured, improving the decision-making process and enhancing the interaction in troubleshooting activities. The visualization application connects to a database that contains both static/design information and real time data, enabling a deeper analysis of all data together and the execution of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms to generate new information and predictions according to the collected data. With both tools working in synchronization, it is possible to insert data from reports, convert them to a readable standard format, and generate visualizations customized by the user. The streamlining of consumption, analysis, and understanding of data allows for savings through the reduction in the numbers of software used as well as the time required for their implementation. The system can also be used as a training environment using historical data to operators in order to check their capacity of response in different scenarios, as well as guarantee the consistency of the operational activities. As future work, this tool will be extended with more views in VR and desktop modes, including new data generated by AI and comparison of design data (real and simulated), as well as an integration with a Digital Twin platform.