Page 40: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (May/Jun 2019)

39 41

FEATURE Drilling

Source: Equinor/MHWirth pipe-handling, data-collecting from wire, etc. It’s a seventh- 10% less money than a year ago, while spending more “qual- generation rig that allows us to put all sorts of technology onto ity time” testing. Whatever the Big Data being derived from it. Seadrill ordered it that way. We bought it from the yard.” each spin of the drill bit, a Lloyd’s Register report called The

According to a future-tech report by DNV GL, more ef? cient Technology Radar suggests oil companies really believe a drilling — and by 2025 automated drilling operations — will rig’s predictive analytics are saving “$325,000 per rig using be “in operation”. It suggests these are early mover steps taken machine learning to predict drill-bit locations.” by rig contractors at the request of oil companies wanting to “In the end, I don’t see one particular feature being a game- comply with new Norwegian emissions standards as well as the changer, except, perhaps, digitalization and automation,” says fuel savings and “online” drilling that can yield detailed well Daul, who watches rigs all day for institutional investors, and and reservoir reports (see Schlumberger) in real-time enabled by who had just returned from a tour aboard a rig receiving a emerging digital drilling equipment. digital upgrade at a yard near Bergen.

Early movers New standard “There’s no one tech in particular, but a wholistic approach For deepwater heavyweight Transocean, the move to auto- to making a difference for their customers,” says AGB Sun- mate became more frenetic in February 2019, when manage- dal Collier rig analyst Lukas Daul about the trend of rigs ment decided to upgrade ? ve offshore rigs with centralized becoming more competitive by loading up on the latest kit. automated drilling control (ADC) which reins in the best of “The ultimate goal being to lower or speed up the time need- drill-tech suppliers, MHWirth, NOV and Sekal for “higher ed to drill the well and to lower the overall cost from the well. rates of penetration while drilling, highly stable bottom hole

That’s the mantra.” pressures and avoiding (surge) effects and early detection of

We chat about the other rigs now also upgrading — (kicks)”. The Transocean Enabler was the testbed of a ? rst

Odfjell’s, Awilco’s, Transocean’s, EnscoRowan’s — the work ADC system in 2017 and immediately delivered faster turn- being done under new drill-tech alliances and licenses and by over times for Equinor. Well integrity and safety bene? ted from industrial af? liates linked by ownership shares. Early out was countless electronic tags or sensors that comprise an early-

Seadrill, original commissioners of the West Mira specs. In warning. As we write these lines, the Transocean Spitsbergen,

August 2018, they hired Kongsberg Maritime and Kongsberg Transocean Norge, Transocean Encourage, Transocean Equi-

Digital to put real-time monitoring systems aboard the semi- nox and Transocean Endurance were all upgrading to ADC.

subs West Hercules and West Phoenix. The goal was to put ev- While NOV is known for its already digitalized drilling con- eryone’s expertise online for the bene? t of look-ahead drilling trol packages, the Akastor-owned MHWirth is known for big- ops, preventive maintenance and well safety, with well history hardware items like tensioners and hydraulic cylinders. Yet they, data built-in for electronic Well Speci? c Operational Guide- too, are busy applying automation and a new line of electric- lines, or eWSOG. Odfjell Drilling was quick to follow suit hydraulic rather than purely hydraulic riser and string tensioner and hired Kongsberg Maritime for its own real-time “advisory systems. That’ll provide more force with less energy while inte- solution” aimed at augmenting safety and eliminating down- grating with control electronics. Sister companies in the (Akas- time for the sixth-generation semisub Deepsea Stavanger, tor investment family) include drillers Awilco and Odfjell. which could then bene? t from shore-based online expertise Model-based automatic drilling-control company Sekal for operations in remotest offshore South Africa. A Kongsberg will embed its DrillTronics software in the drill-control sys- riser management system and a Kongsberg information man- tems (DCS) of all ? ve Transocean rigs slated for upgrades. agement system were part of the package. This will automate most of the driller’s repetitive tasks by

It’s easy to see how the battery powered West Mira and controlling draw works, top drive and mud pumps to avoid

Maersk Intrepid then pile on the savings for operators — and wellbore events. Preventively, the software determines the that’s what’s happening. In April 2019, Equinor informed possible actions of a driller — string accelerations, speeds, shareholders that it was drilling more wells faster and for rotation, pump startups and ? ow rates — to stabilize down- 40 OFFSHORE ENGINEER OEDIGITAL.COM