Today important parameters to enable a reduction of lost and hidden lost time during drilling, like hook loads for pulling and slacking off the drill string, and torque for drill string rotation, are still taken manually. Analysing torque trends during drilling and reaming is hardly done.A key to reduce lost and hidden lost time by analysing drilling data is to automatically recognize ongoing operations in real time from this data. That allows the automatic identification and picking of pulling-up; slacking-off and rotating hook loads, as well as torque values without spending extra time or work force. Relevant parameters can be sampled and analysed automatically in real time from the rig sensor data stream without interfering drilling operations. This automated process allows monitoring changing torque and drag trends for each stand of drill string moved during drilling, tripping, or reaming operations. To monitor trends in the torque and drag development in real time, parameters may be combined with simulated hook load and torque curves in a graphical way. Simulated values are imported from engineering applications. This allows the user to react immediately, not only after hand taken values are manually entered into a graph. The possibility to broadcast all the data to computers worldwide enables a great level of cooperation. Instant measures against increasing torque and drag can be taken before reaching critical ranges on a stand per stand basis. Also excessive reaming and washing can be avoided as low torque and drag may be an indication for a good hole quality. This can save wellbore treatment time. The paper presents the development of the system, its validation against live well data from recent 20,000ft wells in the Vienna basin and the planned application of the system on an extended reach field development project offshore New Zealand.

This paper describes how a major European independent Operator, with a wide range of operating assets spread across the world, each with its own set of unique drilling and logistical challenges, has made the strategic decision to implement a realtime data management architecture supporting their entire global organisation by partnering with a vendor-neutral data management specialist to deliver a bespoke enterprise-wide solution. The Operator mandated that at all stages the solution needed to be a common framework fit for purpose from Norway to New Zealand, from pastoral fields to desert war zones. The paper will cover all aspects of the project through conceptualisation and functional needs assessment, technical qualification, infrastructure at rigsites and offices, data hosting and quality assurance, use of industry standards, change management and workflow design, benchmarking and key performance indicators (KPIs), and finally deployment and integration into daily operation. Historically, the Operator had been reliant on realtime decision-making in local offices being made almost autonomously, with secondary input from the Operator's head office referenced secondarily, occasionally, and often after the event. The absence of a standard realtime data exchange solution was recognised as an impediment to efficient, collaborative use of the substantial drilling domain expertise distributed throughout the organisation. Having invested in a corporate realtime drilling data infrastructure, the Operator now derives full value of their global knowledge base being made immediately available to any operation at any time, irrespective of location. Truly collaborative, timely, informed operational decision-making now drives performance improvement, risk and cost reduction, and optimised well delivery.

Presentations on real-time drilling support activities have been focused on large-scale operators or service companies that have full-time dedicated centers serving multiple rigs. These are staffed on a full-time basis with specialist monitoring teams and are supported by an extensive integrated communications infrastructure. This paper addresses the problem faced by an operator working on a much smaller scale needing to provide a few geographically dispersed rigs with the benefits of real-time support technologies through high quality communications and a clearly defined workflow involving collaborative working between the rig, operations office and the head office in Europe. We describe how the real-time systems were implemented for a number of global drilling operations without installing a real time operation center. A case study of implementation in one area is presented. This approach enabled the decision makers in the field to access the experience of and support from the rest of the organization. The global real time collaboration environment allowed the specialists to direct their attention, as required, to operations most in need of support at any particular time. By not installing a real-time operations center, the organization saved resources and encouraged the local teams to use the analysis tools themselves to manage their operational performance. The head office organization provided technical and administrative support. It facilitated the design of the workflows and set common standards for the IT and communications architecture. The workflows were essential in order to create a structure for using the software tools within a local drilling team and to make sure that problems were detected as early as possible. The workflows aimed to strike a balance between not allowing early warning signals to be overlooked while giving the operations team the freedom to responsibly manage the operation on the rig. Through the way that the system and the workflows were used on a daily basis, the rig personnel gained confidence that the system was set up purely to support them and for their benefit. The design and the implementation of these workflows utilized industry-leading real time drilling data analysis and drilling support tools. When difficult operational problems were encountered, by acting as a knowledge broker, the central organization drew from its world-wide skill pool to organize problem-specific multi-disciplinary support for problem-solving, peer review and functional sign-off for program changes. These "on-call" teams ensured that the knowledge of the organization was leveraged and experience shared. It enabled the head office organization to provide resources to assist in following up the analysis of positive and negative events will be done properly and result in lessons learnt and updated best practice.

Summary This paper addresses the problem faced by an operator working on a much smaller scale needing to provide a few geographically dispersed rigs with the benefits of real-time support technologies through high-quality communications and a clearly defined work flow involving collaborative working between the rig, operations office, and the head office in Europe. We describe how the real-time systems were implemented for a number of global drilling operations without installing a real-time operation center. A case study of implementation in one area is presented. This approach enabled the decision makers in the field to access the experience of and support from the rest of the organization. The global real-time collaboration environment allowed the specialists to direct their attention, as required, to operations most in need of support at any particular time. By not installing a real-time operations center, the organization saved resources and encouraged the local teams to use the analysis tools themselves to manage their operational performance. The head-office organization provided technical and administrative support. It facilitated the design of the work flows and set common standards for the information-technology and communications architecture. The work flows were essential to create a structure for using the software tools within a local drilling team and to make sure that problems were detected as early as possible. The work flows aimed to strike a balance between not allowing early-warning signals to be overlooked while giving the operations team the freedom to responsibly manage the operation on the rig. Through the way that the system and the work flows were used on a daily basis, the rig personnel gained confidence that the system was set up purely to support them and for their benefit. The design and the implementation of these work flows used state of the art real-time drilling-data analysis and drilling-support tools. The setup of the infrastructure and software worked surprisingly well because of permanent communication between all stakeholders in the organization. The fully operational status was reached without the need for any capital expenditure, and the operating costs are low because of nearly no additional personnel requirements for the operator. The organizational changes to increase collaboration and support in the dispersed organization are harder to implement. Especially the development of an up-to-date skill map of the drilling-skill pool is a challenge. The methodology defining how and when to escalate a support request upward in the operator's organization was proved to work satisfactorily. When operational problems were encountered, by acting as a knowledge broker, the central organization drew from its worldwide skill pool to organize problem-specific multidisciplinary support for problem-solving, peer review, and functional sign-off for program changes. These “on-call” teams ensured that the knowledge of the organization was leveraged and experience shared. It enabled the head-office organization to provide resources to assist in following up that the analysis of positive and negative events will be performed properly and result in lessons learned and updated best practice.

The concept of enterprise level and standardised realtime data management solutions supporting drilling operations is rapidly gaining considerable recognition with dynamic and technology-comfortable Operators. Whether delivered physically in an Operations Centre or virtually via web browser, the business drivers are clear -when presented in an ergonomic fashion, the full suite of realtime drilling and geology data enables timely, informed and collaborative decision-making, leading to performance improvement and reduction in operational, and therefore financial, risk.However, there remains a common disconnect between: (i) primary measured and processed real-time data, (ii) unstructured data in the form of analytical results, and (iii) tertiary metadata from reports. Typically these three tiers of data, and the companies providing them, are isolated from each other. Once operations commence, dataflow may occur in one direction with realtime data feeding into analytics and reporting tools, accompanied by substantial subjective human input. This paper discusses how a major European independent Operator, with a diverse range of global assets and associated challenges, has worked with its various data solution providers to develop and implement a fully bidirectional 'data highway' in which realtime, analysed and reported data are seamlessly and efficiently exchanged.This holistic approach to data-driven operations support delivers a combined value far greater than the sum of the individual applications, as the various proprietary systems enhance and complement each other. Non-productive time (NPT), as well as Invisible Lost Time (ILT) analysis, is fed back into realtime monitoring, reported comments are tied to realtime curves, planned and modeled drilling optimisation recommendations are displayed and correlated alongside live drilling data. Carefully mapped dataflows drive workflows which in turn drive sophisticated deliverables that improve standard operating practices, and hence best practice. The result is improved drilling key performance indicators (KPIs) leading to performance improvement, risk mitigation and cost efficiency: All at an enterprise level and all in realtime. Involved Functions and AbbreviatonsThe following functions and nomenclature are used throughout this paper. For more efficient writing these functions are abbreviated:• Real-time drilling data service (data collection, storage, and visualization): RTS • The system for storing daily drilling reporting data: DDR • The system for automatic drilling performance analysis: DPA