Case Study: Drilling Automation Delivers More Gas in Less Time at Fénix Project Offshore Argentina

_ For decades, the industry has progressively digitized to capture efficiencies, and today that investment is paying dividends. An approach that began as a “good idea” has transformed operations, improved processes, and is enabling automation at a level never before experienced in the oil and gas sector. The potential for achieving even more widespread automation is enormous, and today’s successes are paving the way forward. Applying Advanced Technology In the current well-construction landscape, digitalization is ensuring repeatability of operations by consistently meeting goals, driving efficiencies through shorter, more precise operations, minimizing well construction time and costs, enhancing production via optimally placed, quality, fit-for-purpose wellbores, and improving health, safety, and environmental performance. These goals have been achieved progressively, first by leveraging best-in-class processes, next by digitizing them, and finally, by automating them. Drilling operations were among the first to leverage data to implement automated activities and continue to lead with proven tools and sound methodology. Results from applying the capabilities of the i-Trak automated advisory and i-Trak automated directional drilling (ADD) services show that this technology improves drilling accuracy. The solutions take on repetitive tasks so drillers can focus on optimizing drilling parameters during execution. Specifically, in automated directional drilling, the predictive controller leverages artificial intelligence to monitor and adjust the well trajectory in real time. This process unburdens the directional driller, allowing for that freed-up capacity to be refocused on supervising more value-added advisory systems including borehole pressure, tripping speeds, torque-and-drag trends, hole cleaning, and rate of penetration (ROP). The result is consistent, predictable drilling performance from well to well, with minimal variance or risk of human error. Real-time data analytics is an essential component of this solution. Working alongside the automated advisory and ADD systems, Corva, a cloud-based developer of apps for optimizing drilling and completions operations, applies advanced analytics to simplify the process of capturing mission-critical data and converting it to actionable information. The approach eliminates manual tracking and the associated inconsistencies that make it difficult to understand crew performance. More importantly, real-time analytics enable immediate anomaly detection and the identification of where improvements in tripping speeds, connection times, bottomhole-assembly changeouts, and casing runs can be achieved. Integrating Automation, Leveraging Analytics Introducing new technology requires thoughtful change management, particularly where automation is concerned, because in many cases workers who are instrumental in implementing automated solutions consider the technology itself to be a threat. Therefore, helping new users grasp how the technology works is critical to getting the best value from it. And fundamental to achieving that goal is ensuring that users understand how the automated solution is meant to support them, so they do not resist adoption because of suspicions that the technology is intended to replace them.