Planning drilling operations using models and rig market databases

• US 9,934,481 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2015
• Issued: 04/03/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/13/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (SLB)
• Original Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation (SLB)
• Inventors: Ludvigsen, Hallgrim, Seddiki, Ameziane
• Primary Examiner(s): Johnson, Cedric
• Application Number:
  US14/644,368
• Publication Number:
  US 20150260015A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,119 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 41/0099 specially adapted for drilling for or production of natural hydrate or clathrate gas reservoirs; Drilling through or monitoring of formations containing gas hydrates or clathrates
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/00 Computer-aided design [CAD]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/067 Enterprise or organisation modelling

Abstract

Systems, methods, and media for planning drilling operations using modeling and simulation systems, and information obtained from drilling rig markets. Method, systems, and computer program products perform operations including querying a database of a drilling rig market using non-technical parameters of a drilling operation. The operations also include determining technical capabilities of one or more drilling rigs identified in a response to the querying of the database. The operations further include determining well paths for the drilling operation based on the technical capabilities of the drilling rigs. Additionally, the operations include selecting a drilling rig from the one or more drilling rigs for acquisition from the drilling rig market based on the plurality of well paths and the technical capabilities of the one or more drilling rigs.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

querying a database of a drilling rig market using one or more non-technical parameters of a drilling operation;

determining technical capabilities of one or more drilling rigs in the database identified in response to the querying of the database;

determining a plurality of well paths for the drilling operation based on the technical capabilities of the one or more drilling rigs in the database;

analyzing a result of the querying by comparing a plurality of technical parameters with the technical capabilities of the one or more drilling rigs in the database, wherein the technical parameters are required to complete the plurality of well paths;

selecting a drilling rig from the one or more drilling rigs in the database for acquisition from the drilling rig market based on the plurality of well paths and the technical capabilities of the one or more drilling rigs;

acquiring the selected drilling rig from the drilling rig market; and

performing the drilling operation of a well path of the plurality of well paths using the selected drilling rig.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more non-technical parameters comprise an availability requirement that defines time periods in which the drilling operation will begin and end.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising obtaining target information for the drilling operation, the target information including a location of a reservoir in an environment and seismic data describing one or more features of the environment, wherein the plurality of well paths are determined based on the technical capabilities and the target information.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein determining the plurality of well paths comprises simulating drilling the plurality of well paths using a model of the environment and the technical capabilities of the one or more drilling rigs to avoid features of the environment that exceed the technical capabilities of the one or more drilling rigs.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein simulating comprises determining drilling energy requirements corresponding to the plurality of well paths, and wherein the drilling rig is also selected based on the drilling energy requirements.

6. A computing system, comprising:

one or more processors; and

a memory system comprising one or more non-transitory′

computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform operations, the operations comprising;

querying a database of a drilling rig market based on one or more non-technical parameters of a drilling operation;

determining technical capabilities of one or more drilling rigs in the database identified in response to the querying of the database;

determining a plurality of well paths based on the technical capabilities of the one or more drilling rigs in the database;

analyzing a result of the querying by comparing a plurality of technical parameters with the technical capabilities of the one or more drilling rigs in the database, wherein the technical parameters are required to complete the plurality of well paths;

selecting a drilling rig from the one or more drilling rigs for acquisition from the drilling rig market based on the plurality of well paths and the technical capabilities of the one or more drilling rigs;

acquiring the selected drilling rig from the drilling rig market; and

performing the drilling operation of a well path of the plurality of well paths using the selected drilling rig.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the one or more non-technical parameters comprises an availability requirement that defines time periods in which the drilling operation will begin and end.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising obtaining target information for the drilling operation, the target information including a location of a reservoir in an environment and information describing one or more features of the environment.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein determining the plurality of well paths comprises simulating drilling the plurality of well paths using a model of the environment and the technical capabilities of the one or more drilling rigs.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein simulating comprises determining drilling energy requirements corresponding to the plurality of well paths.

11. A computer program product comprising non-transitory computer-readable device storing program instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:

determining a well path of a drilling operation based on target information of an environment;

simulating drilling of the well path using a model of the environment;

determining a plurality of technical parameters required for a drilling rig to complete the well path based on the simulating;

obtaining one or more non-technical parameters of the drilling operation; and

selecting the drilling rig from a database of a drilling rig market based on the plurality of technical parameters and the one or more non-technical parameters, wherein the selecting comprises;

querying the database of the drilling rig market; and

analyzing a result of the querying by comparing the plurality of technical parameters with technical capabilities of the drilling rig in the database;

acquiring the selected drilling rig from the drilling rig market; and

performing the drilling operation of the well path using the selected drilling rig.

12. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the operations comprise obtaining the target information, the target information including a location of a reservoir in the environment and information describing the features of the environment.

13. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein the one or more non-technical parameters comprise an availability requirement that defines time periods in which a drilling operation will begin and end.

14. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein determining a plurality of technical parameters comprises determining drilling energy requirements corresponding to drilling the well path.

15. The computer program product of claim 14, wherein the plurality of technical parameters comprise a plurality of the following:

maximum torque, maximum drag, maximum hydraulic pump capacity, maximum hook load, maximum rotational power, maximum water depth, maximum pump pressure, and maximum drilling depth.

16. The computer program product of claim 11, wherein analyzing comprises comparing the non-technical parameters with non-technical constraints of the drilling rig included in the drilling rig database.