Addressing Challenges in Rig-Based Drilling Advisory System Deployment
Authors: Feder Judy 
Published: February 2020

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Judy Feder, contains highlights of paper SPE 194184, “Change-Management Challenges Deploying Drilling Advisory System,” by Michael Behounek, SPE, Blake Millican, and Brian Nelson, Apache, et al., prepared for the 2019 SPE/IADC Drilling International Conference and Exhibition, The Hague, 5–7 March. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

Sophisticated drilling-analysis software can help drillers set and modify weight on bit (WOB), rev/min, and other drilling parameters, but achieving acceptance of these software-based recommendations by a driller is complicated. Additionally, acceptance of changes to drilling techniques and modified work flows by a driller on one test rig is insufficient. The challenge is to scale buy-in across a mixed rig contractor fleet. Many projects fail when the change-management process is not properly executed. The complete paper presents a process used to successfully implement a rig-based drilling advisory system (RDAS) across a mixed group of rig contractors. The paper documents the direction and effort taken to implement change from the rig site to the office, along with management support.

Change-Management Process

Many drilling performance projects fail, not because of technology, but because of factors such as the lack of consideration given to how the project will be perceived by those it affects (stakeholders), and the lack of thought given to the project’s scalability. To address these issues, change-management principles must be applied consciously.

The list of stakeholders may include drillers, wellsite supervisors, drilling contractors, drilling engineers, managers, and others. Once this list has been compiled, mapping of the stakeholders on a grid that gauges their influence and interest is beneficial. Stakeholder management involves determining how best to engage individual stakeholders to move them to the high-interest side of the grid. High levels of interest and engagement from stakeholders lead to good feedback, which, if incorporated properly into the system, leads to even higher interest and subsequent permanent adoption of the technology.

The best way to ensure permanent change is to ensure that each stakeholder has benefitted from the project in some way, a goal accomplished through continuous monitoring and tracking of stake-holder interest level.

RDAS Overview

To address shortcomings in existing industry approaches to using both low- and high-frequency data to improve drilling performance, and to achieve a scalable, economic drilling advisory system, Apache developed an RDAS that is agnostic to any high-frequency data stream—surface or downhole—including those from rig-control systems. The RDAS consists of data-acquisition hardware and scalable off-the-shelf software, with an open API layer and a plug-and-play backend software that runs both physics- and data-based analytical models at the rig site on reasonable computing power.

The RDAS displays new advisory information in the driller’s cabin, running real-time pattern recognition algorithms to detect drilling dysfunctions. When a drilling dysfunction is encountered, a change in drilling parameters is suggested. Additionally, drilling parameters from offset wells are made available automatically for the driller’s use on the drilling screen. Through this process, the operator entrusts field personnel with a slightly higher level of technical responsibility. The team has improved the system iteratively using feedback from drillers who used the RDAS.