The Conception of a Smart Twin for the Automation of Drilling Operations

The use of digital twins is an increasingly prevalent reality in the O&G industry, bringing benefits to planning, optimization, and operation monitoring. Currently, a dedicated tool is employed for drilling monitoring within a Real-time Operating Center (RTOC) with a 24/7 monitoring team. The software simulates all the relevant physical phenomena, having generated over 300 diagnostics and insights to aid decision-making in more than 600 offshore wells over the past 10 years. This paper presents the natural evolution of this robust tool, extending the software’s functionalities to in a first phase, run real-time simulations directly on the rig to suggest optimal parameters to the operation and, in a second phase, control specific drilling rig equipment (pump, top drive, draw-works), adhering to operational limits based on design criteria such as allowable casing wear, operational window, hole cleaning, and equipment envelopes. The objective is to ensure wellbore stability, safe operations, equipment integrity, and the reduction of non-productive time (NPT). Based on robust hydraulic, thermal and mechanical models, numerical simulation, decision-making heuristics, and artificial intelligence (AI), the software can identify issues while drilling before they occur and is capable of triggering optimization modules for situations that will or are already happening. It has served in the last 10 years as an essential tool for running real-time simulations, monitoring drilling operations and supporting decision-making. Thus, the software has shown a high level of maturity which enabled the expansion of its scope of application and the extension of its developments to allow drilling automation. The drilling automation initiative is divided in two phases: phase 1, advisory mode and phase 2, control mode. The advisory mode of the software has been deployed to an offshore rig and is currently running simulations in real time to suggest to the driller optimal speeds for tripping in and tripping out of hole and optimal flow rate for pump restart. Results have shown that the smart twin was able to provide optimal speeds during drilling of an offshore 8 1/2" hole section. Control mode is under development, and its objectives are to supply the drilling control system (DCS) with the simulated outputs, recognize and act to mitigate. Both advisory and control modes involve the direct implementation of dynamic pressures and torque and drag limits interconnected by the presence of cuttings and gelation aspects of the fluid. The development of a smart twin for the automation of drilling operations has also triggered enhancements to the architecture of the data transmission system. In order to reduce delays and enable running simulations in real-time, a live server was built directly on the rig to collect data from drilling operations and connect to the simulator. These modifications allowed the advisory mode to run without any latency during operations.