Method and apparatus and program storage device including an integrated well planning workflow control system with process dependencies

• US 7,539,625 B2
• Filed: 03/17/2004
• Issued: 05/26/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (SLB)
• Original Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (SLB)
• Inventors: Klumpen, Hans Eric, Givens, Kris, Veeningen, Daan
• Primary Examiner(s): Jarrett; Scott L
• Application Number:
  US10/802,622
• Publication Number:
  US 20050209836A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,896 Days
• Field of Search: 705/8
• US Class Current: 705/7.22
• CPC Class Codes: G05B 19/41885 characterised by modeling, simulation of the manufacturing system
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06312 Adjustment or analysis of established resource schedule, e.g. resource or task levelling, or dynamic rescheduling
• CPC Class Codes: Y02P 90/02 Total factory control, e.g. smart factories, flexible manufacturing systems [FMS] or integrated manufacturing systems [IMS]

Abstract

A method of well planning in an automatic well planning system comprises the steps of: selecting one or more tasks in a task manager; verifying by a task dependency a proper order of the one or more tasks; retrieving by the task manager from a task base one or more sets of instructions associated with the one or more tasks selected in the task manager and verified by the task dependency; retrieving by the task manager from an access manager one or more sets of input data associated with the one or more sets of instructions retrieved by the task manager from the task base; verifying that each set of input data of the one or more sets of input data retrieved by the task manager from the access manager is received by a corresponding one of the one or more sets of instructions retrieved by the task manager from the task base; executing, by the task manager, the one or more sets of instructions and using, by the task manager, the one or more sets of input data during the executing step thereby generating a set of results; and recording or displaying, by a task view base, the set of results on a recorder or display device.

Claims

1. A method of well planning in an automatic well planning system, comprising the steps of:

selecting one or more tasks in a task manager executing on a processor, said one or more tasks comprising a drillstring design task;

verifying, by a task dependency, a proper order of said one or more tasks, said task dependency describing input attributes and results attributes required for each of said one or more tasks;

retrieving, by said task manager executing on said processor, from a task base one or more sets of instructions associated with said one or more tasks selected in the task manager and verified by said task dependency,

retrieving, by said task manager executing on said processor, from an access manager one or more sets of input data associated with said one or more sets of instructions retrieved by said task manager from said task base, said one or more sets of input data comprising pore pressure, fracture gradient, and unconfined compressive strength;

verifying that each set of input data of said one or more sets of input data retrieved by said task manager from said access manager is received by a corresponding one of said one or more sets of instructions retrieved by said task manager executing on said processor from said task base;

executing, by said task manager executing on said processor, said one or more sets of instructions and using, by said task manager executing on said processor, said

one or more sets of input data to generate a set of results comprising a summary of a drillstring in each hole section of a wellbore;

displaying, by a task view base, said set of results on a display device;

changing, by a navigation control in response to a user input, one of said sets of input data retrieved by said task manager, executing on said processor, from said access manager, thereby generating changed input data;

identifying a portion of said one or more sets of instructions affected by said changed input data based on said task dependency;

re-executing, by said task manager executing on said processor, said portion of said one or more sets of instructions and using, by said task manager executing on said processor, said changed input data to generate a second set of results; and

displaying, by said task view base, said second set of results on said display device, said second set of results comprising drillstring design output data.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more tasks selected in said task manager is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment and bit selection.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein said one or more sets of instructions retrieved by said task manager from said task base is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment logical expressions and risk assessment algorithms, bit selection logical expressions and bit selection algorithms, and drillstring design logical expressions and drillstring design algorithms.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein said one or more sets of input data retrieving by said task manager from said access manager is selected from a group consisting of:

input data provided to the risk assessment logical expressions and the risk assessment algorithms, input data provided to the bit selection logical expressions and the bit selection algorithms, and input data provided to the drillstring design logical expressions and the drillstring design algorithms.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said set of results is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment output data, bit selection output data, and drillstring design output data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more tasks selected in said task manager is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment and bit selection.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said at least a portion of said one or more sets of instructions retrieved by said task manager from said task base is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment logical expressions and risk assessment algorithms, bit selection logical expressions and bit selection algorithms, and drillstring design logical expressions and drillstring design algorithms.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said one or more sets of input data retrieving by said task manager from said access manager is selected from a group consisting of:

input data provided to the risk assessment logical expressions and the risk assessment algorithms, input data provided to the bit selection logical expressions and the bit selection algorithms, and input data provided to the drillstring design logical expressions and the drillstring design algorithms.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein said second set of results further comprises one selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment output data and bit selection output data.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more tasks selected in said task manager comprises a risk assessment task adapted for generating risk information in response to said one or more sets of input data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said set of results for said risk assessment task that is displayed by said task view base on said display device comprises said risk information, said risk information including individual risks, subcategory risks, and risk categories.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein said individual risks are selected from a group consisting of:

H2S and CO2, Hydrates, Well water depth, Tortuosity, Dogleg severity, Directional Drilling Index, Inclination, Horizontal displacement, Casing Wear, High pore pressure, Low pore pressure, Hard rock, Soft Rock, High temperature, Water-depth to rig rating, Well depth to rig rating, mud weight to kick, mud weight to losses, mud weight to fracture, mud weight window, Wellbore stability window, wellbore stability, Hole section length, Casing design factor, Hole to casing clearance, casing to casing clearance, casing to bit clearance, casing linear weight, Casing maximum overpull, Low top of cement, Cement to kick, cement to losses, cement to fracture, Bit excess work, Bit work, Bit footage, bit hours, Bit revolutions, Bit Rate of Penetration, Drillstring maximum overputt, Bit compressive strength, Kick tolerance, Critical flow rate, Maximum flow rate, Small nozzle area, Standpipe pressure, ECD to fracture, ECD to losses, Gains, Gains Average, Losses, Losses average, Stuck, Stuck average, Mechanical, Mechanical average, Risk Average, Subsea BOP, Large Hole, Small Hole, Number of casing strings, Drillstring parting, and Cuttings.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein said subcategory risks of said risk categories are selected from a group consisting of:

gains risks, losses risks, stuck pipe risks, and mechanical risks.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein said risk categories are selected from a group consisting of:

an average individual risk, an average subcategory risk, a total risk, an average total risk, a potential risk for each design task, and an actual risk for each design task.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein said one or more sets of input data for said risk assessment task is selected from a group consisting of:

Casing Point Depth, Measured Depth, True Vertical Depth, Mud Weight, Measured Depth, ROP, Pore Pressure, Static Temperature, Pump Rate, Dog Leg Severity, ECD, Inclination, Hole Size, Casing Size, Easting-westing, Northing-Southing, Water Depth, Maximum Water Depth, Maximum well Depth, Kick Tolerance, Drill Collar 1 Weight, Drill Collar 2 Weight, Drill Pipe Weight, Heavy Weight Weight, Drill Pipe Tensile Rating, Upper Wellbore Stability Limit, Lower Wellbore Stability Limit, Unconfined Compressive Strength, Bit Size, Mechanical drilling energy (UCS integrated over distance drilled by the bit), Ratio of footage drilled compared to statistical footage, Cumulative UCS, Cumulative Excess UCS, Cumulative UCS Ratio, Average UCS of rock in section, Bit Average UCS of rock in section, Statistical Bit Hours, Statistical Drilled Footage for the bit, RPM, On Bottom Hours, Calculated Total Bit Revolutions, Time to Trip, Critical Flow Rate, Maximum Flow Rate in hole section, Minimum Flow Rate in hole section, Flow Rate, Total Nozzle Flow Area of bit, Top Of Cement, Top of Tail slurry, Length of Lead slurry, Length of Tail slurry, Cement Density Of Lead, Cement Density Of Tail slurry, Casing Weight per foot, Casing Burst Pressure, Casing Collapse Pressure, Casing Type Name, Hydrostatic Pressure of Cement column, Start Depth, End Depth, Conductor, Hole Section Begin Depth, Openhole Or Cased hole completion, Casing Internal Diameter, Casing Outer Diameter, Mud Type, Pore Pressure without Safety Margin, Tubular Burst Design Factor, Casing Collapse Pressure Design Factor, Tubular Tension Design Factor, Derrick Load Rating, Drawworks Rating, Motion Compensator Rating, Tubular Tension rating, Statistical Bit ROP, Statistical Bit RPM, Well Type, Maximum Pressure, Maximum Liner Pressure Rating, Circulating Pressure, Maximum UCS of bit, Air Gap, Casing Point Depth, Presence of H2S, Presence of CO2, Offshore Well, and Flow Rate Maximum Limit.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein said one or more tasks selected in said task manager comprises a bit selection task adapted for generating a sequence of drill bits and other associated data in response to said one or more sets of input data.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said set of results for said bit selection task that are displayed by said task view base on said display device comprise said sequence of drill bits and other associated data.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said set of results for said bit selection task that are displayed by said task view base on said display device is selected from a group consisting of:

Measured Depth, Cumulative Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS), Cumulative Excess UCS, Bit Size, Bit Type, Start Depth, End Depth, Hole Section Begin Depth, Average UCS of rock in section, Maximum UCS of bit, Bit Average UCS of rock in section, Footage, Statistical Drilled Footage for the bit, Ratio of footage drilled compared to statistical footage, Statistical Bit Hours, On Bottom Hours, Rate of Penetration (ROP), Statistical Bit Rate of Penetration (ROP), Mechanical drilling energy (UCS integrated over distance drilled by the bit),Weight On Bit, Revolutions per Minute (RPM), Statistical Bit RPM, Calculated Total Bit Revolutions, Time to Trip, Cumulative Excess as a ration to the Cumulative UCS, Bit Cost, and Hole Section Name.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein said one or more sets of input data for said bit selection task is selected from a group consisting of:

Measured Depth, Unconfined Compressive Strength, Casing Point Depth, Hole Size, Conductor, Casing Type Name, Casing Point, Day Rate Rig, Spread Rate Rig, and Hole Section Name.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein said summary of said drillstring in each hole section of said wellbore is generated in response to said one or more sets of input data.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein said set of results for said drillstring design task that are displayed by said task view base on said display device comprise said summary of said drillstring in each hole section of said wellbore.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein said set of results for said drillstring design task that are displayed by said task view base on said display device representing said summary of said drillstring in each hole section of said wellbore is selected from a group consisting of:

Hole Section Begin Depth, Drill Collar 1 Length, Drill Collar 1 Weight, Drill Collar 1, Drill Collar 1 OD, Drill Collar 1 ID, Drill Collar 2 Length, Drill Collar 2 Weight, Drill Collar 2, Drill Collar 2 OD, Drill Collar 2 ID, Heavy Weight Length, Heavy Weight Weight, Heavy Weight, Heavy Weight OD, Heavy Weight ID, Drill Pipe Length, Drill Pipe Weight, Pipe, Pipe OD, Pipe ID, Drill Pipe Tensile Rating, BHA tools, Duration, Kick Tolerance, Drill Collar 1 Linear Weight, Drill Collar 2 Linear Weight, Heavy Weight Linear Weight, Drill Pipe Linear Weight, DC OD, Drill Collar ID, Drill Collar Linear Weight, HW OD, HW ID, HW Linear Weight, Drill Pipe OD, Drill Pipe ID, and Drill Pipe Linear Weight.

23. The method of claim 21, wherein said one or more sets of input data for said drillstring design task is selected from a group consisting of:

Measured Depth, True Vertical Depth, Weight On Bit, Mud Weight, Mud Weight Measured Depth, Inclination, Casing Point Depth, Hole Size, Footage, Rate of Penetration, Time to Trip, Dog Leg Severity, True Vertical Depth, Pore Pressure without Safety Margin, Bit Size, Upper Wellbore Stability Limit, Lower Wellbore Stability Limit, Openhole Or Cased hole completion, BOP Location, Casing Type Name, Hole Section Name, Conductor, Start Depth, End Depth, On Bottom Hours, Statistical Drilled Footage for the bit, Cumulative UCS, Casing Point, Casing Size, Casing Burst Pressure, Casing Collapse Pressure, Casing Connector, Casing Cost, Casing Grade, Casing Weight per foot, Casing Outer Diameter, Casing Internal Diameter, Air Gap, Casing Top Measure Depth, Water Depth, Top of Tail slurry, Top Of Cement, Mud Volume, and Offshore Well.

43. The program storage device of claim 11, wherein summary of said drillstring in each hole section of said wellbore is generated in response to said one or more sets of input data.

44. The program storage device of claim 43, wherein said set of results for said drillstring design task that are displayed by said task view base on said display device comprise said summary of said drillstring in each hole section of said wellbore.

45. The program storage device of claim 44, wherein said set of results for said drillstring design task that are displayed by said task view base on said display device representing said summary of said drillstring in each hole section of said wellbore is selected from a group consisting of:

Hole Section Begin Depth, Drill Collar 1 Length, Drill Collar 1 Weight, Drill Collar 1, Drill Collar 1 OD, Drill Collar 1 ID, Drill Collar 2 Length, Drill Collar 2 Weight, Drill Collar 2, Drill Collar 2 OD, Drill Collar 2 ID, Heavy Weight Length, Heavy Weight Weight, Heavy Weight, Heavy Weight OD, Heavy Weight ID, Drill Pipe Length, Drill Pipe Weight, Pipe, Pipe OD, Pipe ID, Drill Pipe Tensile Rating, BHA tools, Duration, Kick Tolerance, Drill Collar 1 Linear Weight, Drill Collar 2 Linear Weight, Heavy Weight Linear Weight, Drill Pipe Linear Weight, DC OD, Drill Collar ID, Drill Collar Linear Weight, HW OD, HW ID, HW Linear Weight, Drill Pipe OD, Drill Pipe ID, and Drill Pipe Linear Weight.

46. The program storage device of claim 44, wherein said one or more sets of input data for said drillstring design task is selected from a group consisting of:

Measured Depth, True Vertical Depth, Weight On Bit, Mud Weight, Mud Weight Measured Depth, Inclination, Casing Point Depth, Hole Size, Footage, Rate of Penetration, Time to Trip, Dog Leg Severity, True Vertical Depth, Pore Pressure without Safety Margin, Bit Size, Upper Wellbore Stability Limit, Lower Wellbore Stability Limit, Openhole Or Cased hole completion, BOP Location, Casing Type Name, Hole Section Name, Conductor, Start Depth, End Depth, On Bottom Hours, Statistical Drilled Footage for the bit, Cumulative UCS, Casing Point, Casing Size, Casing Burst Pressure, Casing Collapse Pressure, Casing Connector, Casing Cost, Casing Grade, Casing Weight per foot, Casing Outer Diameter, Casing Internal Diameter, Air Gap, Casing Top Measure Depth, Water Depth, Top of Tail slurry, Top Of Cement, Mud Volume, and Offshore Well.

24. A program storage device readable by a machine tangibly embodying a program of instructions executable by the machine to perform method steps adapted for well planning in an automatic well planning system, said method steps comprising:

selecting one or more tasks in a task manager, said one or more tasks comprising a drillstring design task;

verifying by a task dependency a proper order of said one or more tasks, said task dependency describing input attributes and results attributes required for each of said one or more tasks;

retrieving by said task manager from a task base one or more sets of instructions associated with said one or more tasks selected in the task manager and verified by said task dependency;

retrieving by said task manager from an access manager one or more sets of input data associated with said one or more sets of instructions retrieved by said task manager from said task base, said one or more sets of input data comprising pore pressure, fracture gradient, and unconfined compressive strength;

verifying that each set of input data of said one or more sets of input data retrieved by said task manager from said access manager is received by a corresponding one of said one or more sets of instructions retrieved by said task manager from said task base;

executing, by said task manager, said one or more sets of instructions and using, by said task manager, said one or more sets of input data to generate a set of results comprising a summary of a drillstring in each hole section of a wellbore;

displaying, by a task view base, said set of results on a display device;

changing, by a navigation control in response to a user input, one of said sets of input data retrieved by said task manager from said access manager thereby generating changed input data;

identifying a portion of said one or more sets of instructions affected by said changed input data based on said task dependency;

re-executing, by said task manager, said portion of said one or more sets of instructions and using, by said task manager, said changed input data to generate a second set of results; and

displaying, by said task view base, said second set of results on said display device, said second set of results comprising drillstring design output data.

25. The program storage device of claim 24, wherein said one or more tasks selected in said task manager is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment and bit selection.

26. The program storage device of claim 25, wherein said one or more sets of instructions retrieved by said task manager from said task base is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment logical expressions and risk assessment algorithms, bit selection logical expressions and bit selection algorithms, and drillstring design logical expressions and drillstring design algorithms.

27. The program storage device of claim 26, wherein said one or more sets of input data retrieving by said task manager from said access manager is selected from a group consisting of:

input data provided to the risk assessment logical expressions and the risk assessment algorithms, input Data provided to the bit selection logical expressions and the bit selection algorithms, and input data provided to the drillstring design logical expressions and the drillstring design algorithms.

28. The program storage device of claim 27, wherein said set of results is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment output data, bit selection output data, and drillstring design output data.

29. The program storage device of claim 24, wherein said one or more tasks selected in said task manager is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment and bit selection.

30. The program storage device of claim 29, wherein said at least a portion of said one or more sets of instructions retrieved by said task manager from said task base is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment logical expressions and risk assessment algorithms, bit selection logical expressions and bit selection algorithms, and drillstring design logical expressions and drillstring design algorithms.

31. The program storage device of claim 30, wherein said one or more sets of input data retrieving by said task manager from said access manager is selected from a group consisting of:

input data provided to the risk assessment logical expressions and the risk assessment algorithms, input Data provided to the bit selection logical expressions and the bit selection algorithms, and input data provided to the drillstring design logical expressions and the drillstring design algorithms.

32. The program storage device of claim 31, wherein said second set of results further comprises one selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment output data and bit selection output data.

33. The program storage device of claim 24, wherein said one or more tasks selected in said task manager comprises a risk assessment task adapted for generating risk information in response to said one or more sets of input data.

34. The program storage device of claim 33, wherein said set of results for said risk assessment task that is displayed by said task view base on said display device comprises said risk information, said risk information including individual risks, subcategory risks, and risk categories.

35. The program storage device of claim 34, wherein said individual risks are selected from a group consisting of:

H2S and CO2, Hydrates, Well water depth, Tortuosity, Dogleg severity, Directional Drilling Index, Inclination, Horizontal displacement, Casing Wear, High pore pressure, Low pore pressure, Hard rock, Soft Rock, High temperature, Water-depth to rig rating, Well depth to rig rating, mud weight to kick, mud weight to losses, mud weight to fracture, mud weight window, Wellbore stability window, wellbore stability, Hole section length, Casing design factor, Hole to casing clearance, casing to casing clearance, casing to bit clearance, casing linear weight, Casing maximum overpull, Low top of cement, Cement to kick, cement to losses, cement to fracture, Bit excess work, Bit work, Bit footage, bit hours, Bit revolutions, Bit Rate of Penetration, Drillstring maximum overputt, Bit compressive strength, Kick tolerance, Critical flow rate, Maximum flow rate, Small nozzle area, Standpipe pressure, ECD to fracture, ECD to losses, Gains, Gains Average, Losses, Losses average, Stuck, Stuck average, Mechanical, Mechanical average, Risk Average, Subsea BOP, Large Hole, Small Hole, Number of casing strings, Drillstring parting, and Cuttings.

36. The program storage device of claim 34, wherein said subcategory risks of said risk categories are selected from a group consisting of:

gains risks, losses risks, stuck pipe risks, and mechanical risks.

37. The program storage device of claim 34, wherein said risk categories are selected from a group consisting of:

an average individual risk, an average subcategory risk, a total risk, an average total risk, a potential risk for each design task, and an actual risk for each design task.

38. The program storage device of claim 34, wherein said one or more sets of input data for said risk assessment task is selected from a group consisting of:

Casing Point Depth, Measured Depth, True Vertical Depth, Mud Weight, Measured Depth, ROP, Pore Pressure, Static Temperature, Pump Rate, Dog Leg Severity, ECD, Inclination, Hole Size, Casing Size, Easting-westing, Northing-Southing, Water Depth, Maximum Water Depth, Maximum well Depth, Kick Tolerance, Drill Collar 1 Weight, Drill Collar 2 Weight, Drill Pipe Weight, Heavy Weight Weight, Drill Pipe Tensile Rating, Upper Wellbore Stability Limit, Lower Wellbore Stability Limit, Unconfined Compressive Strength, Bit Size, Mechanical drilling energy (UCS integrated over distance drilled by the bit), Ratio of footage drilled compared to statistical footage, Cumulative UCS, Cumulative Excess UCS, Cumulative UCS Ratio, Average UCS of rock in section, Bit Average UCS of rock in section, Statistical Bit Hours, Statistical Drilled Footage for the bit, RPM, On Bottom Hours, Calculated Total Bit Revolutions, Time to Trip, Critical Flow Rate, Maximum Flow Rate in hole section, Minimum Flow Rate in hole section, Flow Rate, Total Nozzle Flow Area of bit, Top Of Cement, Top of Tail slurry, Length of Lead slurry, Length of Tail slurry, Cement Density Of Lead, Cement Density Of Tail slurry, Casing Weight per foot, Casing Burst Pressure, Casing Collapse Pressure, Casing Type Name, Hydrostatic Pressure of Cement column, Start Depth, End Depth, Conductor, Hole Section Begin Depth, Openhole Or Cased hole completion, Casing Internal Diameter, Casing Outer Diameter, Mud Type, Pore Pressure without Safety Margin, Tubular Burst Design Factor, Casing Collapse Pressure Design Factor, Tubular Tension Design Factor, Derrick Load Rating, Drawworks Rating, Motion Compensator Rating, Tubular Tension rating, Statistical Bit ROP, Statistical Bit RPM, Well Type, Maximum Pressure, Maximum Liner Pressure Rating, Circulating Pressure, Maximum UCS of bit, Air Gap, Casing Point Depth, Presence of H2S, Presence of CO2, Offshore Well, and Flow Rate Maximum Limit.

39. The program storage device of claim 24, wherein said one or more tasks selected in said task manager comprises a bit selection task adapted for generating a sequence of drill bits and other associated data in response to said one or more sets of input data.

40. The program storage device of claim 39, wherein said set of results for said bit selection task that are displayed by said task view base on said display device comprise said sequence of drill bits and other associated data.

41. The program storage device of claim 40, wherein said set of results for said bit selection task that are displayed by said task view base on said display device is selected from a group consisting of:

Measured Depth, Cumulative Unconfined Compressive Strength (UCS), Cumulative Excess UCS, Bit Size, Bit Type, Start Depth, End Depth, Hole Section Begin Depth, Average UCS of rock in section, Maximum UCS of bit, Bit Average UCS of rock in section, Footage, Statistical Drilled Footage for the bit, Ratio of footage drilled compared to statistical footage, Statistical Bit Hours, On Bottom Hours, Rate of Penetration (ROP), Statistical Bit Rate of Penetration (ROP), Mechanical drilling energy (UCS integrated over distance drilled by the bit), Weight On Bit, Revolutions per Minute (RPM), Statistical Bit RPM, Calculated Total Bit Revolutions, Time to Trip, Cumulative Excess as a ration to the Cumulative UCS, Bit Cost, and Hole Section Name.

42. The program storage device of claim 40, wherein said one or more sets of input data for said bit selection task is selected from a group consisting of:

Measured Depth, Unconfined Compressive Strength, Casing Point Depth, Hole Size, Conductor, Casing Type Name, Casing Point, Day Rate Rig, Spread Rate Rig, and Hole Section Name.

47. An automatic well planning system, comprising:

task manager apparatus adapted for receiving one or more tasks selected by a user, said one or more tasks comprising a drillstring design task;

task dependency apparatus adapted for verifying a proper order of said one or more tasks, wherein said task dependency apparatus describes input data attributes and results attributes required for each of said one or more tasks,

said task manager apparatus retrieving from a task base one or more sets of instructions associated with said one or more tasks received in said task manager apparatus and verified by said task dependency apparatus,

said task manager apparatus retrieving from an access manager one or more sets of input data associated with said one or more sets of instructions retrieved by said task manager from said task base, said one or more sets of input data comprising pore pressure, fracture gradient, and unconfined compressive strength;

translator apparatus adapted for verifying that each set of input data of said one or more sets of input data retrieved by said task manager apparatus from said access manager is received by a corresponding one of said one or more sets of instructions retrieved by said task manager apparatus from said task base,

said task manager executing said one or more sets of instructions and using said one or more sets of input data to generate a set of results comprising a summary of a drillstring in each hole section of a wellbore;

task view base apparatus adapted for displaying said set of results on a display device;

navigation control apparatus, responsive to a user input, adapted for changing said one or more sets of input data retrieved by said task manager apparatus from said access manager thereby generating one or more sets of changed input data,

said task manager apparatus identifying a portion of said one or more sets of instructions affected by said changed input data based on said task dependency;

said task manager apparatus re-executing said portion of said one or more sets of instructions and using said one or more sets of changed input data to generate a second set of results,

said task view base apparatus displaying said second set of results on said display device, said second set of results comprising drillstring design output data.

48. The system of claim 47, wherein said one or more tasks selected in said task manager by said user is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment and bit selection.

49. The system of claim 48, wherein said one or more sets of instructions retrieved by said task manager apparatus from said task base is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment logical expressions and risk assessment algorithms, bit selection logical expressions and bit selection algorithms, and drillstring design logical expressions and drillstring design algorithms.

50. The system of claim 49, wherein said one or more sets of input data retrieving by said task manager apparatus from said access manager is selected from a group consisting of:

input data provided to the risk assessment logical expressions and the risk assessment algorithms, input Data provided to the bit selection logical expressions and the bit selection algorithms, and input data provided to the drillstring design logical expressions and the drillstring design algorithms.

51. The system of claim 50, wherein said set of results is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment output data, bit selection output data, and drillstring design output data.

52. The system of claim 47, wherein said one or more tasks selected in said task manager by said user is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment and bit selection.

53. The system of claim 52, wherein said at least a portion of said one or more sets of instructions retrieved by said task manager apparatus from said task base is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment logical expressions and risk assessment algorithms, bit selection logical expressions and bit selection algorithms, and drillstring design logical expressions and drillstring design algorithms.

54. The system of claim 53, wherein said one or more sets of input data retrieving by said task manager apparatus from said access manager is selected from a group consisting of:

input data provided to the risk assessment logical expressions and the risk assessment algorithms, input Data provided to the bit selection logical expressions and the bit selection algorithms, and input data provided to the drillstring design logical expressions and the drillstring design algorithms.

55. The system of claim 54, wherein said second set of results is selected from a group consisting of:

risk assessment output data, bit selection output data, and drillstring design output data.