This paper presents an automated directional-drilling process executed on a commercial well in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea, where an intelligent rotary-steerable system (RSS) completed a well section in a single run with all drilling commands automatically computed, optimized, and downlinked by a drilling-automation platform. The section was complex, consisting of two intervals requiring steering in three dimensions separated by a tangent section. Directional-drilling engineers onshore supervised the operation remotely. No override was required, and the automated system was able to drill the entire section while sending steering decisions automatically.
Advances in Drilling Automation
Two primary automation controllers that were used in recent steering-automation successes on the Norwegian Continental Shelf are discussed in the complete paper.
