Over the past decade, breakthroughs in digital technology have rewarded a variety of industries with a step change in productivity and efficiency. Despite this, the drilling industry has yet to benefit on a large scale from these advances and a significant amount of value remains untapped. This paper details the effort of a service company to leverage modern technology by introducing a drilling automation system in pursuit of achieving a higher degree of consistency and efficiency. The drilling automation system described in this case study was deployed in the Middle East on two onshore gas drilling rigs in 2019. The deployment was an opportunity to validate the potential of modern drilling automation technology and prove its ability to consistently deliver value. Since the company had extensive experience in the region, the Middle East was selected as the preferred location for field trials. This ensured that the value of automation could be precisely quantified as performance benchmarks were well documented and available for comparison. The automation strategy relied on an intelligent decision management system capable of dealing with constantly changing drilling conditions in order to implement efficient, consistent, and standardized well construction operations, while enhancing safety and reducing NPT. When given authority, the system would take control of the rig surface equipment to enable full automation of most drilling actions and engage optimization engines to monitor and adjust parameters to maximize performance. The system was leveraged to eliminate the variability innate to humans and deliver consistent results, while consolidating the improvements, performance gains, and lessons learned that otherwise would tend to disappear or erode over time or through personnel replacement. Throughout this document, insight is provided into the technology itself, the deployment process, implementation challenges, the agile development model, and the results achieved. In addition, as the introduction of automation is a major departure from the traditional human operated drilling process, an emphasis will be placed on the results of the change management strategies utilized.

As margins tighten, players in the modern O&G landscape are being forced to reimagine their business models and re-evaluate their strategic direction to maintain a competitive edge. This often means doing more with less and spreading ever slimmer margins across increasingly complex well operations. Fortunately, with the wave of digital innovations that are sweeping the industry, most E&P organizations have a wealth of opportunities to streamline activity and increase efficiency while reducing the resources required. However, with the increasing array of digital opportunities, the gauntlet is set: those who adopt quickly and reap early benefits will undoubtedly be tomorrow's leaders. Laggards slow to adapt will fall progressively further behind as leaders successfully navigate through the learning phase and accelerate into new standards of efficiency. This combination of urgency and opportunity will undoubtedly be the force that propels the industry into the fourth great revolution; digital transformation. As observed in a variety of industries, automation has proven to be one of these instrumental digital levers to unlocking the next level of efficiency. Across the O&G industry, we are beginning to see a number of applications in which tasks are not only becoming less labor-intensive but also faster, safer and with increased levels of precision. This ensures that repetitive tasks which often drain and distract workers are re-allocated to automated processes while ensuring that employees remain concentrated on prioritizing safety and operations integrity. The value proposition for automation in drilling is especially compelling as human operators can easily become overwhelmed with the volume of competing priorities and the pressure to make immediate decisions. By carefully delegating some of the decision-making to an intelligent drilling system, the cognitive burden on human operators is reduced resulting in a safer working environment conducive to increased performance and engagement. In this paper, a detailed case study is presented to document the effort of a major service company to deploy a full drilling automation system in the Middle East implemented to autonomously operate rig surface equipment. A detailed description of the system's intelligent management system will be provided to communicate its capacity to interpret and autonomously respond to changing well conditions. A case study approach will be used in attempt to specifically identify the areas where automation delivers a step change in results compared to manual operations. Additionally, given the complexity inherent to executing a digitalization project in drilling, insight will be shared on the strategies leveraged to navigate the intricacies of deployment and adoption. Throughout this paper, it will become evident that automation is quickly becoming a reliable solution for the consistent delivery of top quartile performance by unlocking new levels of consistency and procedural adherence.

As the oil and gas business progresses and rapidly moves to an Automation and Digital "ERA", a wide array of initiatives have been launched in pursuit of increased performance. In a demanding Deep Gas Carbonate well project in the Middle East, seven years of continuous improvement has led to a variety of technology implementations which have dramatically affected operational efficiency and drilling performance. The opportune selection and implementation of new technology and optimized practices has contributed to a significant increase in the project team's ability to exceed one of the Operator's main key performance indicators: well delivery. In this paper, a summary will be provided of the digital and automation solutions implemented to standardize drilling procedures, drill pipe connections, optimize the rate of penetration, reduce downhole shocks and vibrations, all while minimizing drill string failures. New technologies were implemented to optimize the operation without compromising well operations. Part of the success in reducing failures and non-desirable events, has resulted from the enhancement of the Real Time Monitoring resources available, through the implementation of different digital technologies, including hole cleaning monitoring, drilling fluid property controls, cementing operations monitoring, and algorithms utilized to infer the displacement plug position over the well.

Automation has been implemented in the drilling industry as a tool to; achieve procedural adherence, optimize performance and increase consistency. To capitalize its full benefits a systematic approach was taken to optimize the drilling parameters from well to well, assuring the correct execution of all lessons learned and best practices within the Drilling Automation System (DAS). This abstract will; introduce the workflow that has been implemented in an Integrated Project, a glance of the final objective of this implementation and the role of drilling automation in the continuous improvement in an already optimized drilling operation.