System, Program Product, and Method For Drilling Rig Activity Accounting and Visualization

• US 20100114493A1
• Filed: 12/18/2007
• Published: 05/06/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Baker Hughes Holdings LLC (Baker Hughes Company)
• Original Assignee: Baker Hughes Incorporated (Baker Hughes Company)
• Inventors: Vestal, Wesley C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,204,692 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/9
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 41/00 Equipment or details not covered by groups E21B15/00 - E21B40/00
• 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

Abstract

A system to monitor drilling rig activity and to provide and manage drilling rig information, program product, and associated methods are provided. The system can include a communication network, a drilling rig information management server, a database accessible to the processor of the server, and drilling rig information management program product stored in the memory of the drilling rig information management server and including instructions that when executed by the processor of the drilling rig information management server cause the server to perform the operations of retrieving drilling rig location data from the database responsive to user selection of a geospatial location attribute, accessing digital mapping data to display a digital map associated with the user selected geospatial location attribute, and providing data to display indicia of a drilling rig location for at least one drilling rig overlaid upon and spatially oriented to at least portions of the digital map.

Claims

1. A system (20, 20′

) to monitor drilling rig activity and to provide and manage drilling rig information, the system (20, 20′

) comprising a communication network (22), and at least one computer defining a drilling rig information management server (24, 24′

) positioned at a data center in communication with the communication network (22) to provide user access to drilling rig information, the drilling rig information management server (24, 24′

) including a processor (30) and memory (26) in communication with the processor (30), the system (20, 20′

) being characterized by;

a rig information, database (38, 38′

) accessible to the processor (30) of the drilling rig information management server (24, 24′

) and including drilling rig activity data containing drilling rig location data for a plurality of drilling rigs;

drilling rig information management program product stored in the memory (26) of the drilling rig information management server (24, 24′

) and including instructions that when executed by the processor (30) of the drilling rig information management server (24, 24′

) cause the server (24, 24′

) to perform the operations of;

retrieving drilling rig location data from the database (38, 38′

) responsive to user selection of a geospatial location attribute,

accessing digital mapping data to display a digital map associated with the user selected geospatial location attribute, and

providing data to display indicia of a drilling rig location for at least one drilling rig overlaid upon and spatially oriented to at least portions of the digital map.

2. The system (20, 20′

) as defined in claim 1,

wherein the system (20, 20′

) further comprises a plurality of user communication devices (44) each positioned remote from the drilling rig information management server (24, 24′

) and having access to the communication network (22) and having a processor, memory coupled to the processor to store operating instructions therein and to receive drilling rig activity data and digital mapping data, a user display in communication with the processor of the user communication device (44) to display indicia of a drilling rig location overlaid upon and spatially oriented to at least portions of a displayed digital map, and a user interface in communication with the processor of the user communication device (44) to provide each of a corresponding plurality of users with online access to the drilling rig activity data over the communication network (22) to thereby view the drilling rig location for each of the plurality of drilling rigs;

wherein the geospatial location attribute includes at least one geological province or basin; and

wherein the indicia of a drilling rig location is provided for each of the plurality of drilling rigs associated with a portion of the at least one geological province or basin displayed on the user display of a respective user communication device (44).

3. The system (20, 20′

) as defined in claim 1, wherein the drilling rig information management program product further includes instructions that when executed by the processor (30) of the drilling rig information management server (24, 24′

), cause the server (24, 24′

) to further perform the operation of providing data to graphically display a time-sequenced evolution of a drilling rig activity for a preselected region over a preselected period of time defiling an extent of the time-sequenced evolution, at least a portion of the time-sequenced drilling rig activity evolution data graphically overlaid upon and spatially oriented to at least portions of the digital map and describing drilling rig physical location movement within the preselected region.

4. The system (20, 20′

) as defined in claim 3,

wherein the time-sequenced drilling rig activity evolution data further includes at least one of the following selected by a user;

drilling rig monetary investment data describing investment progression within the preselected region, drilling rig asset data describing drilling rig asset movement into or out of the preselected region, personnel data describing movement in personnel into or out of the preselected region, or a combination thereof; and

wherein the geospatial location attribute comprises one or more economic, geological, geographical, political, or cultural attributes.

5. The system (20, 20′

) as defined in claim 1, wherein the drilling rig information management program product further comprises;

a data receiver (53) adapted to receive data supplied in a database entry form and entered through a user interface;

a queue (57) adapted to receive third party drilling rig attribute or activity data for data validation review;

a rig activity status displayer (61) adapted to provide data to display rig activity status for a user selected drilling rig on a user interface;

a rig attribute displayer (63) adapted to provide data to display rig attributes for a user selected drilling rig on a user interface;

a rig transaction history displayer (65) adapted to provide data to display rig transaction history for a selected one or more drilling rigs or projects;

a rig activity status recorder (67) adapted to receive data for updating rig activity;

a rig attribute recorder (69) adapted to receive data for updating rig attributes;

a digital map interface (71) adapted to retrieve digital mapping data; and

a location localizer (73) adapted to spatially orient a selected drilling rig or drilling rigs or projects with a selected portion of a digital mapping environment for display to a respective user interface.

6. The system (20, 20′

) as defined in claim 1, wherein the drilling rig information management program product further includes instructions that when executed by the processor (30) of the drilling rig information management server (24, 24′

), cause the server (24, 24′

) to further perform, the operations of;

receiving drilling rig activity data from at least one external user defining third party drilling rig activity data, the data entered into a standardized Web browser readable data entry form;

queuing the received third party drilling rig activity data for data validation review;

sending a request for verification of the third party drilling rig activity data;

receiving indicia of verification of the received third party drilling rig activity data from an internal user defining a data verification acknowledgment;

releasing the third party drilling rig activity data from the queue responsive to receipt of the data verification acknowledgment; and

storing the third party drilling rig activity data in the rig information database (38, 38′

).

7. The system (20, 20′

) as defined in claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise;

receiving drilling rig activity data from a plurality of internal users to define internally supplied drilling rig activity data, the data entered into a standardized Web browser readable database entry form; and

storing the internally supplied drilling rig activity data in a rig information database (38, 38′

) responsive to receipt of the drilling rig activity data.

8. The system (20, 20′

) as defined in claim 6, wherein the operations further comprise estimating a level of uncertainty in the received third party drilling rig activity data.

9. A method of monitoring drilling rig activity and providing and managing drilling rig information, the method comprising the step of receiving drilling rig location data from a database (38, 38′

) responsive to user selection of a geospatial location attribute, the method characterized by the steps of;

accessing digital mapping data to display a digital map associated with the user selected geospatial location attribute; and

providing data to display indicia of a drilling rig location for at least one drilling rig overlaid upon and spatially oriented to at least portions of the digital map.

10. The method as defined in claim 9,

wherein the geospatial location attribute includes at least one geological province or basin;

and

wherein the indicia of a drilling rig location is provided for each of a plurality of drilling rigs associated with a portion of the at least one geological province or basin displayed on a user display of a respective user communication device (44).

11. The method as defined in claim 9, the method being further characterized by the step of graphically displaying a time-sequenced evolution of a drilling rig activity for a preselected period of time defining a time-sequenced evolution of transaction history, at least a portion of the time-sequenced drilling rig activity evolution data graphically overlaid upon and spatially oriented to at least portions of the digital map and describing drilling rig physical location movement within the preselected region.

12. The method as defined in claim 11, wherein the time-sequenced drilling rig activity evolution data further includes at least one of the following selected by a user:

drilling rig monetary investment data describing investment progression within the preselected region, drilling rig asset data describing drilling rig asset movement into or out of the preselected region, personnel data describing movement in personnel into or out of the preselected region, or a combination thereof.

13. The method as defined in claim 9, the method being further characterized by the steps of:

receiving drilling rig activity data from at least one external user defining third party drilling rig activity data, the data entered into a standardized Web browser readable data entry form;

queuing the received third party drilling rig activity data for data validation review;

sending a request for verification of the third party drilling rig activity data;

receiving indicia of verification of the received third party drilling rig activity data from an internal user defining a data verification acknowledgment;

releasing the third party drilling rig activity data from the queue responsive to receipt of the data verification acknowledgment; and

storing the third party drilling rig activity data in a rig information database (38, 38′

).

14. The method as defined in claim 13, the method being further characterized by:

receiving drilling rig activity data from a plurality of internal users to define internally supplied drilling rig activity data, the data entered into a standardized Web browser readable database entry form; and

storing the internally supplied drilling rig activity data in the rig information database (38, 38′

) responsive to receipt of the drilling rig activity data.

15. The method as defined in claim 14, the method being further characterized by the step of estimating a level of uncertainty in the received third party drilling rig activity data.

16. A computer readable medium that is readable by a computer to monitor drilling rig activity and to provide and manage drilling rig information, the computer readable medium comprising a set of instructions that, when executed by the computer, cause the computer to perform the operation of receiving drilling rig location data from a database (38, 38′

) responsive to user selection of a geospatial location attribute, the operations being further characterized by;

accessing digital mapping data to display a digital map associated with the user selected geospatial location attribute; and

providing data to display indicia of a drilling rig location for at least one drilling rig overlaid upon and spatially oriented to at least portions of the digital map.

17. The computer readable medium as defined in claim 16,

wherein the geospatial location attribute includes at least one geological province or basin;

and

wherein the indicia of a drilling rig location is provided for each of the plurality of drilling rigs associated with a portion of the at least one geological province or basin displayed on the user display of a respective user communication device (44).

18. The computer readable medium as defined in claim 16, the operations being further characterized by graphically displaying a time-sequenced evolution of a drilling rig activity for a preselected period of time defining a time-sequenced evolution of transaction history, at least a portion of the time-sequenced drilling rig activity evolution data graphically overlaid upon and spatially oriented to at least portions of the digital map and describing drilling rig physical location movement within the preselected region.

19. The computer readable medium as defined in claim 18, wherein the time-sequenced drilling rig activity evolution data further includes at least one of the following selected by a user:

drilling rig monetary investment data describing investment progression within the preselected region, drilling rig asset data describing drilling rig asset movement into or out of the preselected region, personnel data describing movement in personnel into or out of the preselected region, or a combination thereof.

20. The computer readable medium as defined in claim 16, the operations being further characterized by:

receiving drilling rig activity data from at least one external user defining third party drilling rig activity data, the data entered into a standardized Web browser readable data entry form;

queuing the received third party drilling rig activity data for data validation review;

sending a request for verification of the third party drilling rig activity data;

receiving indicia of verification of the received third party drilling rig activity data from an internal user defining a data verification acknowledgment; and

storing the third party drilling rig activity data in a rig information database (38, 38′

).

21. The computer readable medium as defined in claim 20, the operations being further characterized by:

receiving drilling rig activity data from a plurality of internal users to define internally supplied drilling rig activity data, the data entered into a standardized Web browser readable database entry form; and

storing the internally supplied drilling rig activity data in the rig information database (38, 38′

) responsive to receipt of the drilling rig activity data.

22. The computer readable medium as defined in claim 16, the operations being further characterized by estimating a level of uncertainty in the received third party drilling rig activity data.