Intelligent Drilling Advisor

• US 20090132458A1
• Filed: 10/30/2008
• Published: 05/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/30/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: BP Corporation North America Incorporated (BP PLC)
• Original Assignee: BP Corporation North America Incorporated (BP PLC)
• Inventors: McNeill, John, McGriffy, David, Tolleson, Chris, Wight, David, Gongora, Cesar A., Tyer, Ganesh, Edwards, Michael L., Shafer, Donald F.
• Granted Patent: US 8,121,971 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 706/50
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 44/00 Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a drilling operation without intervention of a human operator, e.g. computer-controlled drilling systems; Systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 5/025 Extracting rules from data

Abstract

A method, apparatus, and program storage device for integrating and implementing rule-based, heuristic, wellbore key performance rate of penetration indicators advising drilling operations personnel based on the situational awareness of trended earth properties and real time wellbore sensor data, is disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of intelligently assisting the drilling of a borehole at a drilling site, comprising:

forwarding signals, corresponding to sensed physical measurements related to the drilling, to a client system at a drilling site;

selecting at least one software agent having one or more formulations applicable to the drilling site derived from a knowledge base, the knowledge base storing formulations according to which a drilling recommendation is identified responsive to sensed drilling conditions, in combination with a selected parameter indicative of a layer of the earth and a selected parameter indicative of at least one item of drilling equipment;

executing one or more selected software agents at the client, the software agents configured to include one or more applicable formulations for the drilling site, the client for executing at least one software agent to determine information corresponding to a current drilling recommendation from the received signals; and

displaying the information corresponding to the current drilling recommendation on a visual display coupled to the client.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the knowledge base stores formulations according to which a drilling state is identified responsive to sensed drilling conditions;

wherein the executing step is performed by the client executing a software agent to determine information corresponding to a current drilling state;

and wherein the displaying step also displays information corresponding to the current drilling state.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the selected parameter indicative of a layer of the earth is provided from a lithology model applied to the drilling site.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

forwarding, to a server, signals corresponding to well parameters stored at the client system, wherein the well parameters comprise links to a database in which parameters indicative of items of drilling equipment and the lithology model are stored; and

accessing the database to obtain parameters indicative of items of drilling equipment and the lithology model;

wherein the selecting step comprises configuring one or more software agents with formulations corresponding to the parameters indicative of items of drilling equipment and the lithology model.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

converting the forwarded signals to digital data corresponding to the sensed physical measurements;

processing the digital data corresponding to sensed physical measurements from a first sensor at the drilling site, the extent of processing depending on a noise level within the digital data.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the processing step also processes the digital data corresponding to sensed physical measurements from a second sensor at the drilling site;

wherein the processing of the digital data corresponding to sensed physical measurements from the second sensor is also performed to an extent depending on a noise level within the digital data;

and wherein the extent of processing of the digital data corresponding to sensed physical measurements form the first sensor differs from the extent of processing of the digital data corresponding to sensed physical measurements from the second sensor.

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

selecting the extent of processing of the digital data based on a formulation derived from the knowledge base, the formulation applicable to the digital data from the first sensor.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the formulation applicable to the digital data from the first sensor is selected responsive to the identity of the first sensor and according a noise level in the digital data.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

converting the forwarded signals to digital data corresponding to the sensed physical measurements from a plurality of sensors at the drilling site;

combining the digital data to derive an estimate of a drilling parameter, the combining performed responsive to a formulation stored in the knowledge base selected as applicable to the drilling site;

forwarding the estimate to a selected software agent for display at the visual display.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the forwarding step comprises forwarding the estimate to a selected software agent for displaying a trend of one or more drilling parameters at the visual display.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein the forwarding step also comprises forwarding the estimate to a selected software agent for determining information corresponding to the current drilling recommendation.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

processing the digital data corresponding to sensed physical measurements from first and second sensors at the drilling site;

wherein the processing of the digital data corresponding to sensed physical measurements from the first and second sensors is performed to an extent depending on a noise level within the digital data;

wherein the extent of processing of the digital data corresponding to sensed physical measurements form the first sensor differs from the extent of processing of the digital data corresponding to sensed physical measurements from the second sensor;

and further comprising;

selecting the extent of processing of the digital data based on a formulation derived from the knowledge base, the formulation applicable to the digital data from the first sensor.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing a data acquisition software agent at the client to acquire data corresponding to at least one of the sensed physical measurements, for forwarding to a server;

executing a software agent at the server to receive acquired data from the client; and

selecting another software agent for the client system responsive to the acquired data, and sending the selected another software agent to the client system.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

instantiating the data acquisition software agent in response to the executing step identifying a predetermined condition indicated by the sensed physical measurements; and

storing the forwarded measurement data into a database residing in a memory resource.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the knowledge base stores formulations according to which a drilling state is identified responsive to sensed drilling conditions;

wherein the executing step is performed by the client executing a software agent to determine information corresponding to a current drilling state;

wherein the displaying step also displays information corresponding to the current drilling state;

and wherein the instantiating step is performed responsive to the executing step identifying a predetermined drilling state as the current drilling state.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

after the step of executing the data acquisition software agent at the client to acquire data, terminating the data acquisition software agent.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more selected software agents operate in a network of persistent, autonomous, goal-directed, sociable, reactive, non-prescriptive, adaptive, heuristic, distributed, mobile and self-organizing agents for providing recommendations toward drilling optimization.

18. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

devising at least one formulation to be configured into software agents, by accessing one or more of a data base of sensed physical measurements, a data base of well properties, drilling hardware types, and a knowledge base of previously generated formulations; and

storing the formulated at least one formulation.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving inputs from the client system in response to the displaying step;

wherein the devising step uses the inputs in combination with one or more of the data base of sensed physical measurements, the data base of well properties, drilling hardware types, and the knowledge base of previously generated formulations, to formulate one or more current formulations.

21. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

storing the one or more current formulations in the knowledge base.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

instantiating one or more software agents configured according to at least one of the current formulations devised in the devising step.

23. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

after the devising step, communicating information corresponding to the devised formulation to a remote administrator station;

receiving an input from the remote administrator station indicating verification or non-verification of the devised formulation;

responsive to receiving non-verification, repeating the devising step.

24. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

devising at least one formulation to be configured into software agents, by accessing one or more of a data base of sensed physical measurements including the inputs, a data base of well properties, drilling hardware types, and a knowledge base of previously generated formulations;

wherein the one or more formulations correspond to a best well ontology, the best well ontology comprising encapsulated formulations of steps to be taken to drill a best well in response to drilling site parameters;

and further comprising;

storing the at least one formulation in the knowledge base.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the devising step also applies measurement data corresponding to sensed physical measurements related to the drilling.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein the well parameters comprise links to a database in which parameters indicative of a lithology model are stored;

further comprising;

accessing the database to obtain parameters indicative of the lithology model;

wherein the devising step also applies parameters indicative of the lithology model.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the lithology model represents a plurality of layers in the earth at the drilling location by way of metalayer representations in the data base;

wherein the metalayer representations comprise information regarding material properties of a given layer, values indicating a top depth and a bottom depth of the layer at the drilling location, and information regarding a method of drilling through the layer.

28. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

executing one or more selected software agents at the client, the software agents configured to include applicable formulations for the drilling site, the client for executing the software agent to detect the presence or absence of a drilling dysfunction from the received signals;

wherein, responsive to the software agent detecting the absence of a drilling dysfunction, the displaying step displays a recommendation for improving drilling efficiency.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein the recommendation includes increasing the weight-on-bit and increasing the revolutions per minute of the drill string.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein the executing and displaying steps determine and display information corresponding to the current drilling recommendation without human input.

31. The method of claim 28, wherein, responsive to the software agent detecting the presence of a drilling dysfunction, the visual display displays a first recommendation for resolving the dysfunction.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising:

then repeating the forwarding, executing, and displaying steps;

wherein, responsive to the software agent detecting the presence of a drilling dysfunction, the visual display displays a second recommendation for resolving the dysfunction.

33. The method of claim 32, further comprising:

repeating the repeated forwarding, executing, and displaying steps until the software agent detects the absence of a drilling dysfunction.

34. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

executing one or more selected software agents configured to include applicable formulations for the drilling site, the software agent for detecting the presence of a loss of circulation event from the received signals;

wherein, responsive to the software agent detecting the presence of a loss of circulation event, the displaying step displays a first recommendation for resolving the loss of circulation event.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the step of executing one or more software agents for detecting the presence or absence of a loss of circulation event comprises:

evaluating a fluid loss model at a current depth of drilling, to return a maximum limit on expected fluid loss;

estimating a current fluid loss in the drilling;

responsive to the estimated current fluid loss exceeding the maximum limit, indicating the presence of a loss of circulation event.

36. The method of claim 34, further comprising:

then repeating the forwarding, executing, and displaying steps;

wherein, responsive to the software agent detecting the presence of a loss of circulation event, the displaying step displays a second recommendation for resolving the circulation loss.

37. The method of claim 36, further comprising:

repeating the repeated forwarding, executing, and displaying steps until the software agent detects the absence of a loss of circulation event.

20. The method of claim 20, wherein the inputs from the client system include an input indicating a decision to ignore the displayed current drilling recommendation.

38. A system for assisting the drilling of a borehole at a drilling site, comprising:

one or more remote memory resources for storing parameters indicative of the drilling site, such parameters comprising parameters indicative of a plurality of layers of the earth and parameters indicative of drilling equipment, and for storing a knowledge base including formulations according to which a drilling state or drilling recommendation is identified responsive to sensed drilling conditions, in combination with a selected parameter indicative of a layer of the earth and a selected parameter indicative of at least one item of drilling equipment;

a server for selecting at least one software agent having one or more formulations applicable to the drilling site derived from the knowledge base;

a client located at the drilling site, the client coupled to receive signals from a plurality of sensors at the drilling site, and coupled to the server to receive one or more selected software agents configured to include applicable formulations for the drilling site, the client for executing the one or more software agents to determine a drilling recommendation from the received signals; and

a visual display, coupled to the client, for displaying the information corresponding to the current drilling recommendation.

39. The system of claim 38, further comprising:

an inference engine, coupled to the memory resource, for deriving formulations from the stored parameters indicative of the drilling site and from measurement data acquired from the sensors, and for storing the contents of the knowledge base in the memory resource.

40. The system of claim 39, wherein the formulations stored in the knowledge base include formulations according to which a drilling state is identified in response to measurement data;

wherein a software agent executed by the client determines a current drilling state;

and wherein the visual display is also for displaying the current drilling state.

41. The system of claim 39, further comprising:

at least one remote administrator client, coupled to the inference engine, for receiving inputs indicating verification or non-verification of a derived formulation;

wherein the inference engine derives formulations also in response to inputs from the at least one remote administrator client.

42. The system of claim 39, wherein the inference engine is also coupled to the client, and derives formulations also in response to inputs from the client indicating a decision to ignore the displayed drilling recommendation.

43. The system of claim 39, wherein the inference engine comprises:

a computing resource programmed to derive one or more formulations corresponding to a best well ontology comprising encapsulated formulations of steps to be taken to drill an optimum well, at the drilling site, in response to sensed drilling conditions, the formulations derived responsive to the parameters indicative of one or more layers of the earth at the drilling site and to parameters indicative of at least one item of drilling equipment at the drilling site.

44. The system of claim 43, wherein the computing resource also derives the one or more formulations corresponding to the best well ontology responsive to sensed drilling conditions.

45. The system of claim 44, wherein the parameters indicative of layers of the earth are stored in a remote memory resource in the form of a lithology model representing the plurality of layers in the earth at the drilling site by way of metalayer representations in the data base;

wherein the metalayer representations comprise information regarding material properties of a given layer, values indicating a top depth and a bottom depth of the layer at the drilling location, and information regarding a method of drilling through the layer.

46. The system of claim 38, wherein the client further comprises a memory resource storing well parameter links to the locations, in the remote memory resource, of parameters indicative of drilling equipment at the drilling site.

47. The system of claim 38, wherein the client is also for processing digital data corresponding to the signals from the sensors to an extent depending on a noise level within the digital data.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein the extent of processing for digital data corresponding to signals from a first one of the plurality of sensors differs from that for digital data corresponding to signals from a second one of the plurality of sensors, according to one or more formulations stored in the knowledge base.

49. The system of claim 47, further comprising:

a trendologist computing resource coupled to receive digital data corresponding to signals from the plurality of sensors, and programmed to combine digital data from a plurality of the sensors responsive to a formulation stored in the knowledge base, and selected as applicable to the drilling site, into an estimate of a drilling parameter.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein the trendologist computing resource is coupled to the client at the drilling site, and is also programmed to forward the estimate of the drilling parameter to a software agent at the client, the software agent for displaying a trend of one or more drilling parameters on the visual display.

51. The system of claim 38, wherein one or more of the at least one software agents selected by the server, and executed by the client, acquire digital data corresponding to the received signals;

wherein the server executes one or more software agents to receive the acquired digital data;

and wherein the server selects a software agent to be executed at the client responsive to the acquired digital data.

52. The system of claim 51, wherein the at least one software agent selected by the server form a network of persistent, autonomous, goal-directed, sociable, reactive, non-prescriptive, adaptive, heuristic, distributed, mobile and self-organizing agents for providing recommendations toward drilling optimization.

53. The system of claim 38, further comprising:

an agent engine, coupled to the memory resource, for deriving software agents configured to include applicable formulations corresponding to various combinations of layers of the earth and at least one item of drilling equipment, the agent engine coupled to the server and for communicating at least one derived software agent to the server.

54. The system of claim 53, wherein the client is also for forwarding, to the server, data corresponding to the signals from the plurality of sensors.

wherein the server is also for forwarding data received from the client to the inference engine, the inference engine also for updating the contents of the knowledge base from the forwarded data, and for storing the contents of the knowledge base in the memory resource.

55. The system of claim 38, further comprising:

a user input coupled to the client, for receiving an ignore input from a user; and

wherein the client executes a software agent to determine a secondary drilling recommendation in response to receiving one or more instances of the ignore input.

56. The system of claim 38, further comprising:

a user input coupled to the client system, for receiving an ignore input from a user; and

an inference engine, coupled to the memory resource, for deriving contents of the knowledge base including formulations derived from the stored parameters indicative of the drilling site, and for storing the contents of the knowledge base in the memory resource.

wherein the server, upon notification of one or more instances of the ignore input, is for instantiating a software agent to acquire data from the client corresponding to signals sensed by the plurality of sensors, and for forwarding that acquired data to the inference engine for appropriate updating of the knowledge base.

57. The system of claim 38, wherein the client is for executing at least one software agent, including formulations applicable to the drilling site, to detect the presence or absence of a drilling dysfunction from the received signals;

wherein, in response to detecting the absence of a drilling dysfunction, the software agent causes the visual display to display a recommendation for improving drilling efficiency.

58. The system of claim 57, wherein the displayed recommendation includes increasing the weight-on-bit and increasing the revolutions per minute of the drill string.

59. The system of claim 57, wherein, in response to detecting the absence of a drilling dysfunction, the software agent causes the visual display to display a recommendation for resolving the dysfunction.

60. The system of claim 38, wherein the client is for executing at least one software agent, including formulations applicable to the drilling site, to detect the presence of a loss of circulation event from the received signals;

wherein, in response to detecting the absence of a drilling dysfunction, the software agent causes the visual display to display a first recommendation for resolving the circulation loss.

61. The system of claim 60, wherein the client executes the software agent to perform a plurality of operations comprising:

evaluating a fluid loss model at a current depth of drilling, to return a maximum limit on expected fluid loss;

estimating a current fluid loss in the drilling;

responsive to the estimated current fluid loss exceeding the maximum limit, indicating the presence of a loss of circulation event.

62. A computer readable medium encoded with a computer program that is executable by one or more computers, including one or more of a client located at a drilling site, and a server, to perform a plurality of operations comprising:

forwarding signals, corresponding to sensed physical measurements related to the drilling, to a client system at a drilling site;

selecting at least one software agent having one or more formulations applicable to the drilling site derived from a knowledge base, the knowledge base storing formulations according to which a drilling recommendation is identified responsive to sensed drilling conditions, in combination with a selected parameter indicative of a layer of the earth and a selected parameter indicative of at least one item of drilling equipment;

executing one or more selected software agents at the client, the software agents configured to include one or more applicable formulations for the drilling site, the client for executing at least one software agent to determine information corresponding to a current drilling recommendation from the received signals; and

displaying the information corresponding to the current drilling recommendation on a visual display coupled to the client at the drilling site.

63. The medium of claim 62, wherein the plurality of operations further comprises:

converting the forwarded signals from at least a first sensor and a second sensor to digital data corresponding to the sensed physical measurements;

selecting the extent of processing of the digital data for each sensor based on a formulation derived from the knowledge base, the formulation applicable to the digital data from the first sensor.

processing the digital data corresponding to sensed physical measurements from first and second sensors at the drilling site, the extent of processing depending on a noise level within the digital data.

64. The medium of claim 62, wherein the plurality of operations further comprises:

converting the forwarded signals to digital data corresponding to the sensed physical measurements from a plurality of sensors at the drilling site;

combining the digital data to derive an estimate of a drilling parameter, the combining performed responsive to a formulation stored in the knowledge base selected as applicable to the drilling site;

forwarding the estimate to a selected software agent for displaying a trend of one or more drilling parameters at the visual display; and

forwarding the estimate to a selected software agent for determining information corresponding to the current drilling recommendation.

65. The medium of claim 64, wherein the plurality of operations further comprises:

processing the digital data corresponding to sensed physical measurements from first and second sensors at the drilling site; and

selecting the extent of processing of the digital data based on a formulation derived from the knowledge base, the formulation applicable to the digital data from the first sensor;

wherein the processing of the digital data corresponding to sensed physical measurements from the first and second sensors is performed to an extent depending on a noise level within the digital data;

66. The medium of claim 62, wherein the plurality of operations further comprises:

instantiating a data acquisition software agent in response to the executing step identifying a predetermined condition indicated by the sensed physical measurements; and

executing the data acquisition software agent at the client to acquire data corresponding to at least one of the sensed physical measurements, for forwarding to a server;

executing a software agent at the server to receive acquired data from the client;

selecting another software agent for the client system responsive to the acquired data, and sending the selected another software agent to the client system; and

then terminating the data acquisition software agent.

67. The medium of claim 62, wherein the knowledge base stores formulations according to which a drilling state is identified responsive to sensed drilling conditions;

wherein the executing operation is performed by the client executing a software agent to determine information corresponding to a current drilling state;

wherein the displaying step also displays information corresponding to the current drilling state;

and wherein the instantiating step is performed responsive to the executing step identifying a predetermined drilling state as the current drilling state.

68. The medium of claim 62, wherein the plurality of operations further comprises:

receiving inputs from the client system in response to the displaying step, the inputs including an input indicating a decision to ignore the displayed current drilling recommendation;

devising at least one formulation to be configured into software agents, by accessing one or more of a data base of sensed physical measurements, a data base of well properties, drilling hardware types, and a knowledge base of previously generated formulations; and

storing the one or more current formulations in the knowledge base.

wherein the devising step uses the inputs in combination with one or more of the data base of sensed physical measurements, the data base of well properties, drilling hardware types, and the knowledge base of previously generated formulations, to formulate one or more current formulations.

69. The medium of claim 68, wherein the plurality of operations further comprises:

after the devising step, communicating information corresponding to the devised formulation to a remote administrator station;

receiving an input from the remote administrator station indicating verification or non-verification of the devised formulation;

responsive to receiving non-verification, repeating the devising step.

70. The medium of claim 62, wherein the plurality of operations further comprises:

devising at least one formulation to be configured into software agents, by accessing one or more of a data base of sensed physical measurements including the inputs, a data base of well properties, drilling hardware types, and a knowledge base of previously devised formulations, and by applying measurement data corresponding to sensed physical measurements related to the drilling;

wherein the one or more formulations correspond to a best well ontology, the best well ontology comprising encapsulated formulations of steps to be taken to drill a best well in response to drilling site parameters;

and further comprising;

storing the at least one formulation in the knowledge base.

71. The medium of claim 70, wherein the well parameters comprise links to a database in which parameters indicative of a lithology model are stored;

wherein the lithology model represents a plurality of layers in the earth at the drilling location by way of metalayer representations in the data base;

wherein the metalayer representations comprise information regarding material properties of a given layer, values indicating a top depth and a bottom depth of the layer at the drilling location, and information regarding a method of drilling through the layer;

and wherein the plurality of operations further comprises;

accessing the database to obtain parameters indicative of the lithology model;

wherein the devising step also applies parameters indicative of the lithology model.

72. The medium of claim 70, wherein the plurality of operations further comprises:

executing one or more selected software agents at the client, the software agents configured to include applicable formulations for the drilling site, the client for executing the software agent to detect the presence or absence of a drilling dysfunction from the received signals;

wherein, responsive to the software agent detecting the absence of a drilling dysfunction, the displaying step displays a recommendation for improving drilling efficiency.

73. The medium of claim 72, wherein the recommendation includes increasing the weight-on-bit and increasing the revolutions per minute of the drill string.

74. The medium of claim 72, wherein the executing and displaying operations determine and display information corresponding to the current drilling recommendation without human input.

75. The medium of claim 72, wherein, responsive to the software agent detecting the presence of a drilling dysfunction, the visual display displays a first recommendation for resolving the dysfunction.

76. The medium of claim 75, wherein the plurality of operations further comprises:

then repeating the forwarding, executing, and displaying operations;

wherein, responsive to the software agent detecting the presence of a drilling dysfunction, the visual display displays a second recommendation for resolving the dysfunction.

77. The medium of claim 76, wherein the plurality of operations further comprises:

repeating the repeated forwarding, executing, and displaying operations until the software agent detects the absence of a drilling dysfunction.

78. The medium of claim 62, wherein the plurality of operations further comprises:

executing one or more selected software agents configured to include applicable formulations for the drilling site, the software agent for detecting the presence of a loss of circulation event from the received signals;

wherein, responsive to the software agent detecting the presence of a loss of circulation event, the visual display displays a first recommendation for resolving the circulation loss.

79. The medium of claim 78, wherein the operation of executing one or more software agents for detecting the presence or absence of a loss of circulation event comprises:

evaluating a fluid loss model at a current depth of drilling, to return a maximum limit on expected fluid loss;

estimating a current fluid loss in the drilling;

responsive to the estimated current fluid loss exceeding the maximum limit, indicating the presence of a loss of circulation event.

80. The medium of claim 78, further comprising:

then repeating the forwarding, executing, and displaying operations;

wherein, responsive to the software agent detecting the presence of a loss of circulation event, the visual display displays a second recommendation for resolving the circulation loss.

81. The medium of claim 80, further comprising:

repeating the repeated forwarding, executing, and displaying operations until the software agent detects the absence of a loss of circulation event.