System for optimizing drilling in real time

• US 9,388,680 B2
• Filed: 08/23/2007
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Smith International Incorporated (Schlumberger NV)
• Original Assignee: Smith International Incorporated (Schlumberger NV)
• Inventors: Moran, David P.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Nam V
• Application Number:
  US11/843,929
• Publication Number:
  US 20070284147A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,246 Days
• Field of Search: 340/853, 34028604-28609, 175/39, 175/40, 175/57, 160/164, 160/105
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 2200/22 Fuzzy logic, artificial intelligence, neural networks or the like
• 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 method for providing assistance to a drilling site including receiving, by a remote system, an assistance request from a quick-link communication device, wherein the quick-link communication device is located at the drilling location. The method also including obtaining sensor data from the rig based on the assistance request, analyzing, by the remote system, the sensor data to identify a condition of the rig, and providing assistance to the drilling site for the condition of the rig.

Claims

1. A method for providing assistance to a drilling site during a drilling operation, comprising:

receiving, during the drilling operation, by a remote system remote from the drilling site, an assistance request from a quick-link communication device of a rig operator'"'"'s system located at the drilling site, wherein the quick-link communication device is a dedicated communication device configured to allow connections only to the remote system;

obtaining, during the drilling operation, sensor data through the quick-link communication device from a rig based on the assistance request;

analyzing, by the remote system and during the drilling operation, the sensor data to identify a condition of the rig during the drilling operation, wherein analyzing the sensor data comprises;

obtaining previously acquired data;

querying, during the drilling operation, a remote data store for current well data, wherein the current well data is comprised in the sensor data obtained during the drilling operation; and

determining, during the drilling operation, optimized drilling parameters for a next segment, wherein the determining the optimized drilling parameters comprises;

correlating the current well data to the previously acquired data;

predicting drilling conditions for the next segment; and

optimizing drilling parameters for the next segment during the drilling operation, and

providing assistance to the drilling site for the condition of the rig during the drilling operation wherein providing assistance to the drilling site for the condition comprises;

identifying a potential cause of failure given the condition;

returning optimized parameters for the next segment to the remote data store; and

providing, during the drilling operation, instructions for drilling the next segment based on the optimized parameters to the rig operator'"'"'s system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the assistance request is for obtaining optimized drilling parameters.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing general information to the drilling site.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein providing assistance to the drilling site comprises:

coordinating with an external service.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein providing assistance to the drilling site further comprises:

performing failure recovery for the potential cause of failure.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein identifying the likely source of failure comprises:

obtaining previously acquired data based on the condition and an environment of the rig; and

analyzing the previously acquired data for the likely source of failure.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the sensor data comprises:

identifying sensor data requirements based on the assistance request;

requesting the sensor data corresponding to the sensor data requirements from a sensor data collector; and

querying a data store for the sensor data, wherein the sensor data collector populates the data store.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the quick-link communication device comprises a speaker, a button, and a microphone.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the sensor data comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of weather data, seismic activity data, fire detector data, and medical equipment data.

10. A system for providing assistance to a drilling site during a drilling operation, comprising:

a rig operator'"'"'s system, located at the drilling site, having a quick-link communication device, wherein the quick-link communication device is a dedicated communication device configured to allow connections during the drilling operation only to a remote system, wherein the remote system is remote from the drilling site;

the remote system configured to;

receive, during the drilling operation, an assistance request from the dedicated quick-link communication device, wherein the assistance request is for obtaining optimized drilling parameters;

obtain, during the drilling operation, sensor data from the rig based on the assistance request;

analyze, during the drilling operation, the sensor data to identify a condition of the rig; and

provide assistance during the drilling operation to the drilling site for the condition of the rig; and

identify a potential cause of failure given the condition of the rig;

a remote data store located at the remote system, configured to;

receive sensor data during the drilling operation from at least one sensor data collector located at the drilling site; and

transmit the sensor data during the drilling operation to an analysis tool located at the remote system, wherein the analysis tool analyzes the sensor data during the drilling operation by;

obtaining previously acquired data;

querying the remote data store for current well data, wherein the current well data is comprised in the sensor data; and

determining optimized drilling parameters for a next segment, wherein determining the optimized drilling parameters comprises;

correlating the current well data to the previously acquired data;

predicting drilling conditions for the next segment;

optimizing drilling parameters for the next segment, wherein providing assistance to the drilling site for the condition comprises returning optimized parameters for the next segment to the remote data store; and

provide instructions for drilling the next segment based on the optimized parameters to the rig operator'"'"'s system.

11. The system of claim 10, further comprising:

providing general information to the drilling site.

12. The system of claim 10, wherein providing assistance to the drilling site comprises:

coordinating with an external service.

13. The system of claim 10, further comprising an analysis tool configured to:

analyze the sensor data; and

provide assistance to the drilling site by;

identifying a likely source of failure given the condition; and

performing failure recovery for the likely source of failure.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein identifying the likely source of failure comprises:

obtaining previously acquired data based on the condition and an environment of the rig; and

analyzing the previously acquired data for the likely source of failure.

15. The system of claim 10, wherein the quick-link communication device comprises a speaker, a button, and a microphone.

16. The system of claim 10, wherein the sensor data comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of weather data, seismic activity data, fire detector data, and medical equipment data.