The push for digitization is prevalent in all aspects of the Oil and Gas industry. Over the past few decades, the industry has made leaps and bounds as it continually moves away from pen and paper, excel spreadsheets, and PDFs. These things may continue to have a role in the present or future, but as progress towards digitization is made, they are seen less and less.

A Piece of Automation

In a recent Oil and Gas live event, On Pace with Nabors: A Look at Drilling Automation, the Darcy Team set the stage with an overview of the path to automation. The Drilling Systems Automation (DSA) technical section has developed a decision making and control framework that outlines a clear approach to achieving drilling automation. (Figure 1) During the Nabors event, the focus was on machine control, taking a closer look at the recent work that they have completed with the completely autonomous rig and what the future holds for automated rig control. Although rig automation is exciting to see in the industry, full rig automation is not on the horizon for many operators in the near future.

Access the full (member only) framework here: Drilling Automation - Presentation

When looking at the path to automation framework, it is apparent that there are innovators, service providers, and even operators that have developments that fit into these five different levels. The issue that is holding back true drilling automation at this point is the seamless transfer of data or communication between all levels. Without competency at all levels and, furthermore, communication throughout every level, there is not a completely automated drilling cycle.

Digitizing the Field and Office

The purpose of this article is not to explain the ins and outs of the DSA roadmap, but to look into the current innovators that are connecting the field and the office, or the Field Network and the Digital Network, from a drilling program workflow perspective. In the past, Darcy has highlighted innovators in this space during the Drilling: Knowledge Management Forum, but, since this event, more players have emerged with unique solutions, and we have seen interest from operators regarding these tech providers.

The following content was built out of an Innovation Concierge request on Digital Drilling Operations

Problem Statement: A Darcy member from the oil and Gas industry asked us for an overview of innovators that could digitize drilling workflows and eliminate the use of excel/word.

Access the full (member only) content here: DOP - Innovator Comparison

Digitizing planning, procedures and reporting is the first step as operators begin to truly digitize the connection between daily field operations and decisions made in the office. By stepping away from historical processes, using excel and word to create hard copies of operating procedures, the door will begin to open for further developments. These developments may come in the form of automated operating procedures, integrations with the rig and ultimately automated planning, execution, and reporting. The common theme amongst all the innovators in this space is that they begin to standardize their formatting that will allow for machines to understand as the technology advances. There are many applications or technologies that are great at comprehending full text or speech; Alexa, for instance, does this well. On the other hand, everyone has had the experience of making a call to an automated customer service line - those never end well. Although it is doable, using these open formats where humans have free range to say or type anything makes it much more difficult for a computer to comprehend. By standardizing a process or simply eliminating rich-text from well planning, DOPs or drilling reports; it begins to lessen the gap between human activity and automated activity.

Below is a list of the companies that are currently working in this space. Keep a lookout for future Darcy coverage comparing innovators working in this space, and if you want a fast track of any of those listed below or others with basic storefronts on the platform, prior to our deep dives with each innovator, click on the lightning bolt next to their page, and we will fill out a storefront based on in depth desk research, and, of course, continue to pursue a conversation with the innovator.

• Exebenus
• Horizon56
• AGR
• MirKus
• WellEZ
• Inteliwell
• eDrilling
• Sekal
• ProWellPlan
• Oliasoft
• Halliburton

Are you interested in seeing more Darcy coverage of Digital Drilling Operations? If so, please comment below or send an email to dougb@darcyparters.com.