Drilling-Systems Automation Roadmap Improves Decision Making

Abstract

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 199556, “Directional Drilling Automation: Human Factors and Automated Decision Making,” by Bill Chmela, SPE, Sarah Kern, SPE, and Tyler Quarles, Helmerich and Payne, et al. The paper has not been peer reviewed. A joint industry project has created a drilling-systems-automation (DSA) roadmap to help the industry understand and anticipate the direction of drilling systems automation. In the complete paper, the authors suggest that the transition from human action to automation in the general drilling space can occur across four cognitive functions: acquiring information, analyzing and displaying information, deciding action, and implementing action. They also suggest that value exists in partial automation. Directional Drilling: Human to Automated One of the more-important tasks of the directional driller historically has been to decide when to rotate the pipe from the surface in an attempt to drill relatively straight and when to stop rotation, point a bent sub in the desired direction, and determine how long to drill using only the downhole mud motor (sliding) and then implement that decision on the rig. While some directional drillers perform this task at a high level, others often fail to compensate properly for multiple variables including variations in rotary walk and build, motor-yield variations, tortuosity risks, target uncertainty, and deflections. Even expert directional drillers rarely account for reduced hydrocarbon production potential related to drilling accuracy on a survey-by-survey basis. The following individual tasks, detailed in the complete paper, have been automated in a bit-guidance system that operates across the four cognitive functions detailed in the DSA roadmap. - Acquire information - Analyze and display information - Decide action - Implement action