Identifying the Value in Automating the Drill Floor

Background

The drilling sector of the oil and gas industry has historically lagged behind other batch and process industries, such as automotive and pharmaceutical industries, in terms of adopting new technologies. A driving force that has resulted in a slower rate of technology adoption has been a risk-adverse culture where a high percentage of technologies introduced focused on new frontier applications as opposed to process efficiency. However, industry trends such as the cyclic nature of commodity pricing are forcing the industry to become more cost-effective in constructing oil and gas wells such that the industry can remain profitable and attractive to investment.

The introduction new technology can be informative and exciting, but it must provide value. Operations on drilling rig floors often involve the repetitive nature of installing various types of tubulars into and out of the well, which would seem intuitive to automate to lower costs and reduce personnel. However, the investment versus return and actual results can often fall short, preventing automation from being commercialized.    

Quantifying the Value Proposition 

To help identify what is commercially viable to automate in drill floor operations, specifically tubular handling and installations, a model can be created that contains four core tenets. The model depends on two main parameters: the well architecture and the drilling rig type and design. 

The well design will have various parameters such as depth, water depth formations, and trajectories that will drive tubular string design and rig type and ultimately affect what is achievable in various levels of automation.  

The rig type will depend on the market segment, land, jackup, and floater. It can contain various design aspects and systems, such as dual rotaries and derricks, pipe racking systems, and existing master control systems for various pieces of machinery. 

Four primary tenets were extracted from the well architecture and rig type:

1. Safety – No harm to people. The industry has made significant strides to keep people safe; however, it is a continuous improvement process, and introducing technologies that further protect or remove people from the operation can have a positive impact and can be quantified by the cost of personnel and eliminating injury.

2. Well Integrity – Application of technology to prevent the unplanned release of hydrocarbons throughout the life of the well. Automation can reduce or eliminate human error in the decision-making process and brings value to the well construction process.

3. Efficiency/Cost Reduction – Arguably the most recognized tenet of automating operations on the drill floor and the most difficult to quantify in terms of value creation because of the high number of variables involved. Increasing the efficiency of tubular handling can be quantified through a holistic time study of the process, including rigging up and down to execute the process.

4. Reliability – The ability to produce consistent results adds value. The ability to optimize a process through various levels of automation adds additional value as it lowers the total cost of ownership by reducing or eliminating variability in the results.

From this, a model can be generated to quantify for any given technology the attractiveness of automating certain operations on the rig floor.

A Solution Example

A tubular makeup device that screws tubular sections together is commonly used as part of the overall tubulars installation process. The current device is manually operated with human decision-making required for all aspects of its operation. The operation includes manipulating the device to the well center and onto the tubular sections to be made up, screwing together the tubular sections, determining the makeup of the tubular sections was successful, and returning the device to its parked position away from the well center.  

Automating the device was sought and implemented, whereas the operation of the device is now accomplished by “the push of a single button .”Analyzing the four tenets predicted and produced an overall savings of 50% as compared to the manual version of the device with the following drivers from the four tenets:

- Efficiency/Cost Reduction – Decrease in installation times from faster operation of the device.

- Safety – Reduction in the personnel requirements to operate the device.

- Well Integrity – Increased accuracy of the tubular section makeup by removing errors from human decision-making.

- Reliability – With a lower standard deviation, the results of the installation were more consistent and repeatable.

In conclusion, quantifying the value in automating operations on the rig floor benefits from analyzing four tenets that can be quantified in terms of attractiveness and ultimately, dollars of savings.