Fully Automated Directional Drilling for Consistency and Improved Performance

With the high rates of penetration achieved by today's
drilling contractors, directional drillers have little time to make
optimal steering decisions in a continually changing
environment. Even when proper directional drilling decisions
have been made, flawless execution of each decision can be
difficult to perform.
Performance related to drilling speed, accuracy, and
tortuosity are often inconsistent and greatly determined by the
experience, skills, and even the current state of mind of both the
directional driller and the driller. These factors lead to increased
drilling and lifting costs along with wells having inconsistent
hydrocarbon production potential.
Today, directional drilling tasks are increasingly automated
to deliver more consistent and improved performance in the
field. Before automation can control the physical equipment on
the rig, a foundation built upon automated decision-making is
critical. An automated bit guidance system provides this
foundation and has drilled more than 800 wells successfully
across all of the major unconventional plays in North America.
Building upon the decision-making foundation, the next
level of automation executes the steering decisions from the bit
guidance system automatically. Slide sequences are initiated,
executed, and terminated by directly linking the bit guidance
system with the rig's existing control system.
This integrated system is coupled with oversight from
expert directional drillers in a remote directional drilling
command center.