Challenge
Well planning often requires significant time and resources across various disciplines. Today the drilling program is normally static and with one solution with possibly a couple of back-up plans. When unexpected situations occur, there will be deviation from the plan and the plan is no longer valid. The new framework facilitates for an ensemble of possible drilling designs, using information from both the planning phase and the operational phase.
Invention
With Automated Well Planning we go from static and manually generated drilling programs to automatically generated dynamic drilling programs designed to support decision-making during well construction with advanced automation systems. This new approach shifts the drilling program’s focus to a set of adaptable strategies and tactics linked by an overarching plan. These strategies and tactics can assist decision-making during well construction when actual downhole conditions deviate from expectations. The framework captures and propagates uncertainty throughout the entire process. The method promotes collaboration among multidisciplinary teams, enabling each discipline to share, clarify, and justify its constraints. This collaborative approach allows teams to prioritize constraints and design parameters collectively.
Value
The automatic generated drilling program can be a game changer towards the industry vision “plan a well in one day and with high quality”. In addition to the time-savings in the planning phase, the value of having an automated updated and valid plan during the well construction phase, has great potential for reducing incidents. Additional value can be obtained by having seamless integration with the Automated Drilling Operational Plan and the execution phase.
Status
- The problem of generating ensemble of solutions in the context of automatic well engineering is complex. By using a microservice architecture, one has a versatile framework to generate such ensemble of solutions. A first version of the drilling program will be finalized in 2025.
Next steps
- Perform case studies with AkerBP and Conoco Phillips
Possible commercialization options
- Enable one or more players to commercialize the software.
- Make the microservices available as open-source.
Publications
- “Drilling Automation: Revisiting the Digital Drilling Program”, E. Cayeux, G. Pelfrene, R. Mihai, NORCE, IADC/SPE International Drilling Conference and Exhibition, 4-6 March 2025, doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/223774-MS
- “Assisting Directional Drilling by Calculating a Safe Operating Envelope”, L. Saavedra Jerez, UiS, E. Cayeux, NORCE, D. Sui, UiS, SPE Journal Oct 2024, https://doi.org/10.2118/217707-PA
- “Automatic calibration of systematic biases in directional drilling control for planar and non-planar curves”, L. Saavedra Jerez, UiS, E. Cayeux, NORCE, D. Sui, UiS, Geoenergy Science and Engineering, Volume 246, March 2025, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoen.2024.213642
- “Approach Uses Multidisciplinary Constraints for Automatic Well-Path Generation”, Chris Carpenter, Journal og Petroleum Technology, Sep 2024 https://doi.org/10.2118/0924-0097-JPT
- “Facilitating Directional Drilling Work to Reach the Target Entry by Calculating a Safe Operating Envelope”, L. Saavedra Jerez, UiS, E. Cayeux, NORCE, D. Sui, UiS, IADC/SPE International Drilling Conference and Exhibition, 5-7 March 2024, Galveston, USA https://doi.org/10.2118/217707-MS
- “A New Paradigm for Automatic Well Path Generation Using Multidisciplinary Constraints”, E. Cayeux; G. Pelfrene; R. Mihai; E. Dvergsnes; B. P. Tjøstheim; A. Baume; R. Khosravanian; T. G. Kristiansen, SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, Texas, USA, October 16–18, 2023, https://doi.org/10.2118/215021-MS
- Paper presented at the, SPE-208791-MS: An Ensemble-Based Solution for Automating Drilling engineering: Application to Directional Surveying by Eric Cayeux, Erik W. Dvergsnes, Liv A. Carlsen and Rodica Mihai, SPE/IADC International Drilling Conference, Galveston, Texas, USA, March 2022, https://doi.org/10.2118/208791-MS
