A Case-Based System to Cut Drilling Costs

Abstract

Abstract The best wells in a basin may be drilled twice as quickly as the worst. New technologies such as slimhole and extended reach drilling are not easily mastered. What factors determined the success of the best wells? What caused the delays? Data management processes and computational tools for planning new wells have been developed to utilise past experiences recorded in drilling data and reports. The Case Based Reasoning technique is applied to derive new scenarios (alternate drilling plans) based on previous "cases". A number of oil companies are collaborating to form a "Drilling Club" and have contributed well data and drilling reports from around the world. An immense amount of data and experience is available from many wells but engineers would prefer to see just the relevant information. The system assists by extracting an intelligent summary and structuring information to highlight key factors that will result in the greatest cost savings on a proposed drilling operation. Scenarios using alternative technologies can also be tested with risks calculated based on previous similar cases.