IADC DEC Tech Forum – “Digital Drilling Engineering”

Meeting & Venue Details

All times listed are central (08:30 Houston / 14:30 UK / 17:30 Dubai).

IADC DEC Q3 2024 Tech Forum,

“Digital Drilling Engineering”

Thursday, 12 September, 8:30am-12:00pm

Venue: NOV Tower, 10353 Richmond Ave, Houston, TX 77042

The IADC Drilling Engineers Committee (DEC) will hold its Q3 technology forum on digital drilling engineering, focusing on:

• Digitizing the execution of the well plan – specific steps to drill the well with 24-, 48-,72-hour outlook
• Enhancing communication and coordination among multiple third-party stakeholders
• Implementing digital solutions to optimize drilling efficiency and minimize overall well costs

The event will be held in person at NOV, 10353 Richmond Ave, Houston, TX 77042. An online option via Zoom will be offered for those who can’t attend in person. A light lunch will be provided for in-person attendees at the conclusion of the event by our host, NOV.

Special thanks to our event host NOV!

Agenda

08.30-08.40     Welcome – Matt Isbell, DEC Chairman, Hess; facility and safety briefing – NOV; introduction to event – Todd Fox and Marcus Howell, DEC Board members

08.40-08.55     “Streamline Drilling Processes with Advanced Digital Management,” Amir Galaby, Stimline

The digital era is revolutionizing the way that the drilling and well (D&W) operations are performed. With increasing amounts of centralized and structured data, data-driven decisions on demand are becoming the norm, which then raises the bar for experience integration. It has become a necessity for companies to tap into the digital era and exploit its full potential. By digitalizing experience management, teams can ensure that captured learnings are tagged to the risks they address and the procedures that they relate to. This ensures continuous transparency and allows the user to be guided to specific experiences when they are relevant in the process. Additionally, digitalizing experiences enables the ability to track experiences against the success of operations and identify areas of improvement for the future, improving planning efficiency and reducing mishandled risks. Closing the learning loop systematically is an effective way of integrating experience management, thus ensuring success in D&W operations and significantly reducing costs over time.

This case study evaluates how a modern cloud-based tool allows its users to capture and leverage all learnings from early planning until operational completion, while reducing time spent on manual data search and information gathering. This innovative approach has proven to enable enhanced efficiency, reduced risks, and drive continuous improvement in D&W operations.

08.55-09.10     “Does anyone really read a 200+ page drilling program?” Amr Metawie, Halliburton

Today’s execution teams require design information in the context of their current operations; new generations of engineers and the rise of automation have no use for essays worth of drilling programs but instead distilled in-context design information. This is met by a reality: Our industry is notorious for producing countless documents during the design process. At the same time, they serve a purpose for documentation and compliance with internal and external standards, but they were not built for today’s dynamic and ever-changing operations.

Last year at Halliburton, in the IADC DEC Tech Forum, we shared the start of our digital collaboration journey by connecting an operator design application to Halliburton’s internal design platform built on OSDU standards. This year, we expanded the scope from engineering to execution. In this presentation, we will share how we are taking an alternative user-centric approach to our traditional well program by creating section focused summaries “Section Montages” with in-context drilling and execution parameters, and how we are expanding the use of OSDU standards to make this data available for internal and 3rd party execution teams. This practical approach is enabling us to optimize drilling efficiency and enhance collaboration among multiple third-party stakeholders.

09.10-09.25     “Streamlining operations engineering and reporting using digital technologies,” Nasikul Islam, AI Driller

Have you ever wondered how rapid analysis can transform your drilling operations? Rapid analysis provides real-time projections, planning, and on-demand adjustments to directional plans. It effectively handles deviations, separation factors, anti-collisions, tortuosity, and geo-steering. This robust analysis supports the Directional Driller, who can oversee multiple operations from remote command centers. As a result, operations on the rig site are streamlined, minimizing the need for additional personnel and enhancing overall efficiency.

09.25-09.40     “Orchestrating rig operations based on digitalized well plan information and instructions,” Chris Rom, Horizon56

The current process for sharing drilling program information from an operator to drilling contractors and service companies remains mostly a manual, paper-based process resulting in operational inefficiencies. Drilling programs and work instructions are sent back and forth via email for review, approval and execution and there is no guarantee all stakeholders are using the latest version. The Horizon56 Digital Well Operations Suite enables a digital link between the well design information and rig operations, and in doing so connects planning with execution, thereby creating a closed loop. The operator, RTOCs and remote users can follow the well construction process in real-time, thereby reducing the need for repeated phone calls and messages to the rig crew. RigBridge is a planning solution to create, approve, and publish digital, standardized, and structured work instructions for drilling operations. Once published, the instructions are available in RigFlow for the rig team to execute, track progress in real-time and shared lessons learned. Integrations well planning software, weather, logistics and advisory systems further enables all stakeholders to view relevant information in a single platform. Having a log of all activities and steps as well as real-time comments from the rig crew allows for more efficient automated reporting and ensures critical information such as lessons learned is captured in a central repository instead of tally books and spreadsheets.

09.40-09.55     “Continuous feedback loop between surface and downhole for autonomously drilling a section,” Samba BA, Slb

Advanced AI planner and connected intelligent systems are used to obtain a continuous feedback workflow between surface and downhole. This drastically increases the consistency and efficiency of Well construction operations while minimizing human involvement and footprint, laying the path towards autonomous operations and lowering the operational carbon footprints by an order of magnitude. The proposed process includes an automated downlink detection and an AI planner to decide optimum downlinking sequence for executing directional drilling decisions. The automated downlink detection is based on an intelligent system that will constantly monitor pressure and RPM waves at surface and raise an automation event when it detects downlink patterns that matches pre-defined patterns with a certain confidence level. Once the current steering mode is clearly identified and the geometric trajectory to follow has been generated, the next step is to define optimum downlinking sequence to follow that trajectory path. This is done by the AI planner, which analyzes carefully the current state, the available downlinking map and the desired state to derive the most favorable path to the desired state. The full autonomous workflow has now been tested in the field in many different countries across the world including North America, South America, Europe, Middle East and East Asia, with plan to deploy it also in Africa and Australia.

09.55-10.15     Networking break

10.15-10.45     Panel/Q&A session #1                      

• Amir Galaby, Stimline
• Amr Metawie, Halliburton
• Nasikul Islam, AI Driller
• Chris Rom, Horizon56
• Samba BA, Slb
• Moderator: Todd Fox, H&P

10.45-11.00     “Working the Plan with Digital Roadmap,” Andy McMillan, H&P

“Plan your work, work your plan.” This saying, commonly spoken at rig sites, provides credence to the notion that our industry safely drives performance by bringing together proper planning and resolute execution. These words illustrate the need to join planning and execution; however, this advice lacks instruments to best manage or evaluate these critical components of the job. H&P’s Digital Roadmap presents customers a platform linking planning and execution to safely drive rig performance. Plan your work. Operators have more access to data than ever. Through this access, common failure modes in processes emerge. Operators construct specific processes geared toward mitigating the risk of repeated failures. These processes vary based on formation, hole geometry, BHA, etc. Through Digital Roadmap the entire drilling team can collaborate on parameter selection, tag/come off bottom processes, torque fluctuation reduction, slide setup, survey setup, stall mitigation, and stall recovery in a single interface. Work your plan. As plans are created and iteratively improved, communication required for scaling challenges drilling teams. This communication is crucial in training personnel regarding best practices. Through Digital Roadmap, setpoints and settings are automatically executed by the rig to ensure team specific processes are followed. Automatic execution of setpoints reduces the variability of outcomes and validates the original plan put in place by the drilling team.

11.00-11.15     “Optimizing Drilling Efficiency with EDGE Autopilot,” Shrey Dalal, Ensign Energy Services

The presentation explores technological advancements in the oil and gas industry. It features a detailed case study from Alberta, Canada, illustrating how the EDGE AUTOPILOT system addressed the challenges of frequent unplanned trips. The implementation of this system resulted in enhanced drilling parameters, reduced operational costs, and improved wellbore delivery, with notable savings of $1 million per well and a 38% reduction in cycle time. This session provides a comprehensive analysis of how digital solutions can optimize drilling performance and cost management, offering valuable insights for professionals in the field.

11.15-11.30     “Strategies for Successful Implementation of New Technologies to Existing Operations,” Garrett Kenney, Precision Drilling

The upstream oil and gas industry is constantly seeking ways to improve performance and reduce costs. Automated Toolface Control (ATC) allows the execution of slide instructions to be completely automated while using a conventional bent-motor drilling assembly for directional drilling. ATC produces more consistent results without heavily relying on the expertise of directional drillers; a factor that is accentuated when rig counts increase, and experienced personnel are spread thin across the industry. The technology works and has been proven in various directional applications across multiple basins. However, implementation on new rigs presents challenges that must be addressed early for the technology to be adopted successfully. A key relationship exists within this facet, technology only works as well as the humans that interact with it allow. Technology is highly dependent on the people and processes being used, maximizing potential and achieving long term integration into daily operations. This talk will discuss the strategic deployment of ATC to enable remote directional operations, with emphasis on choosing the right applications for successful integration from both technical, process, and company culture perspectives. Deployment plans for effective training and ongoing support will be shared, and attendees will hear strategies for overcoming challenges in technology adoption and integration into existing operations.

11.30-11.45     “Permian Implementation: Optimizing Well Cycles and Enhancing Crew Dynamics with Rig Execution Engine and Cloud-Edge Integration,” Patricia Zarate, Nabors Drilling Solutions

The Rig Execution Engine improves operational efficiency by providing clear objectives and protocols within a roadmap to execute tasks effectively. It transforms digital well program data into a Driller’s Roadmap, streamlining workflows and converting the process into a toursheet report. Using cloud and edge technology, it ensures data consistency, integrity, live-streaming, and high availability. The user interface features widgets and graphs for easy KPI visualization, gathering customer data to define, create, and share editable sequence templates with rig planning personnel. Authorized personnel validate these templates, compiling them into a rig action plan distributed via database replication technology. This tool gives operators a competitive edge by improving well cycle time through flat time optimization and replicating successful strategies fleet-wide. It enhances safety, promotes knowledge sharing, and reduces crew learning curves despite shift rotations. Implementation in Permian, across Wolfcamp and Bone Springs formations, showed significant improvements. Over 100 wells completed by 5 rigs with an avg depth of 19,500 ft, the operator observed a reduction in avg well cycle time from 21.5 days in Q3’23 to 14.5 days in Q2’24. Flat time decreased from 12.9 days to 6.6 days, and normalized well cycle time increased from 883.7 ft/day to 1307.2 ft/day, with flat time efficiency rising from 1474.1 ft/day to 2878.7 ft/day.

11.45-12.15     Panel/Q&A session #2

• Andy McMillan, H&P
• Shrey Dalal, Ensign Energy Services
• Garrett Kenney, Precision Drilling
• Patricia Zarate, Nabors Drilling Solutions
• Moderator: Marcus Howell, Patterson-UTI

12.15             Light lunch, provided by NOV

For more information, contact Linda Hsieh, linda.hsieh@iadc.org, +1-713-292-1945, ext 219.

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