Drilling automation

Autonomous Drilling Approach Uses Rotary Steerable System in Middle East Wells

This paper describes an autonomous drilling approach using an autocurve-drilling mode to automatically drill curved sections without human intervention and complete autonomous well construction.

Rotary controlled system for drilling wells oil and gas industry
Source: Sergey Ryzhov/Getty Images

An operator focused on evaluating and validating a novel approach from its major directional-drilling-service provider using the autocurve-drilling mode to drill curved sections automatically without human intervention. The autonomous curve-drilling technology helped minimize human error, enhance accuracy of well positioning, and improve hole quality for drilling and workover operations.

Autocurve-Drilling System

Rotary-steerable-system (RSS) intelligence has been improving since its introduction. Around 1990, when the RSS method was introduced, communication with RSS tools was only one-way; downlink commands were sent through flow variations, and the response was monitored. For corrections, human intervention was required by sending new downlink commands.

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