Automated Well Control: From Automated Detection to Automated Shut-In

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bryan Wade Atchison
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Drill String ◽  
Step Change ◽  
Innovative Technology ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Well Control ◽  
Drilling Rig

Abstract Objectives April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico and January 2017 in Oklahoma brought into sharp focus what can happen if the oil and gas industry gets well control wrong: 16 fatalities, significant environmental damage, loss of assets and reputation. Each year we have multiple blowouts and several fatality events due to a loss of well control. The oil and gas industry can improve from a personnel safety, environmental and reputation perspective. The Automation of Well Control will bring a significant step change in the area of Process Safety forwells. It prevents blowouts, reduces all influx volumes, minimising kicktolerance volumes and reducingcasing and well costs. Method A system has been developedwhich enables Automated Well Control whilst in drilling mode. Pre-determined influx rates, agreed by the operator and drilling contractor, and input by the driller are established. Once the system detects the influx, it performs a series of operations by taking control of the drilling rig equipment. The drill string is spaced out, top drive and mud pumps are stopped, and the BOP is closed. All of this occurs without the driller doing anything; however, he can intervene at any moment. Thissystem is designed as an aid to the driller and does not remove his responsibility. Results The Automated Well Control system has been tested on drilling simulators with real drillers. Comparisons tests have shown that the technology enables shut-in times faster than conventional human interface methods, with influx volumes typically 10-20% of those experienced during manual shut-in. Additionally, a full Field Trial using a traditional rigdemonstrated the effectiveness of the system, proving up the functionality under different operational requirements. The system can now be applied to any type of rig worldwide. Over 50 potential modules have been identified. Planned developments forthe system include circulatingout the kick automatically, shut-in for tripping, circulating, cementing and in-flow testing. It provides assurance for afast, safe and effective shut-in.A full Technology Qualification process has been used for this technology. Innovative Technology Over the past 20 years, technology advancements associated with simulators and cyber-rigs have enabled new technologies to be developed. One of these technologies is Automated Well Control. It is believed that this innovative system will enable a step change in the performance ofprocess safety forwell control, dramaticallyreducing major accident hazards, thereby saving millions of dollars per well, reducing environmental impact and preventing loss of life.

Investigation of the Influence of Screw Connections in Drill-Strings on the Propagation of Torsional Waves With Respect to Advanced Stick-Slip Controllers

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edwin Kreuzer ◽  
Ludwig Krumm ◽  
Marc-André Pick
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulations ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Control Method ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Drill String ◽  
Apparent Difference ◽  
Geothermal Resources ◽  
Stick Slip ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Drilling Rig

Drill strings are used in the oil and gas industry to search for oil, gas, and geothermal resources and form extremely slender structures which makes them very sensitive to torsional and other vibrations. In order to immensely reduce torsional vibrations along the whole string, a wave based control method was developed at our institute. Numerical simulations and tests at an experimental setup showed very good results, but the implementation in a real drilling rig has not yet been taken place. One apparent difference in a real drill string will be the assembly of many rather short drill pipes, which is unregarded in conventional models and our small test rig. This might lead to improper behavior of our wave based control mechanism and shall be investigated is this paper. We present a model that accounts for a discontinuously built drill string and show the consequences for our advanced control method via numerical simulations.

Stress and Displacements Analysis for Drilling Mast Elements Made of Rectangular Pipe: The Overload Test Case

2014 ◽  
Vol 601 ◽  
pp. 120-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ioan Popa ◽  
Lavinia Silvia Stanciu
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Drill String ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Test Case ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Drilling Rig ◽  
Drill Pipes ◽  
Hoisting System ◽  
Indeterminate Structures

In the oil and gas industry, the drilling masts are complex metallic constructions made of welded ends beams, which can be classified, from a mechanical point of view, in the statically indeterminate structures` category. The drilling mast is a part of the hoisting system of a drilling rig and its main purposes are: to support some devices as the crown block at the top, the crane, the rotary swivel etc and to provide support for the drill pipes to be stacked vertically during the round trips operations, which implies the operation of removing the drill string from the wellbore or running it back in the hole.

Mining the air: Political ecologies of the circular carbon economy

2021 ◽  
pp. 251484862110614
Author(s):  
Holly Jean Buck
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Fuels ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Carbon Utilization ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
The Public ◽  
Fossil Carbon ◽  
Political Ecologies ◽  
Carbon Economy

Can fossil-based fuels become carbon neutral or carbon negative? The oil and gas industry is facing pressure to decarbonize, and new technologies are allowing companies and experts to imagine lower-carbon fossil fuels as part of a circular carbon economy. This paper draws on interviews with experts, ethnographic observations at carbontech and carbon management events, and interviews with members of the public along a suggested CO2 pipeline route from Iowa to Texas, to explore: What is driving the sociotechnical imaginary of circular fossil carbon among experts, and what are its prospects? How do people living in the landscapes that are expected to provide carbon utilization and removal services understand their desirability and workability? First, the paper examines a contradiction in views of carbon professionals: while experts understand the scale of infrastructure, energy, and capital required to build a circular carbon economy, they face constraints in advocating for policies commensurate with this scale, though they have developed strategies for managing this disconnect. Second, the paper describes views from the land in the central US, surfacing questions about the sustainability of new technologies, the prospect of carbon dioxide pipelines, and the way circular carbon industries could intersect trends of decline in small rural towns. Experts often fail to consider local priorities and expertise, and people in working landscapes may not see the priorities and plans of experts, constituting a “double unseeing.” Robust energy democracy involves not just resistance to dominant imaginaries of circular carbon, but articulation of alternatives. New forms of expert and community collaboration will be key to transcending this double unseeing and furthering energy democracy.

Artificial Intelligence and Robotics in the Oil Industry: Will it Take My Job?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armstrong Lee Agbaji
Keyword(s):  
Artificial Intelligence ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Oil Industry ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Deep Dive ◽  
The Future ◽  
And Robotics

Abstract Historically, the oil and gas industry has been slow and extremely cautious to adopt emerging technologies. But in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (AI), the industry has broken from tradition. It has not only embraced AI; it is leading the pack. AI has not only changed what it now means to work in the oil industry, it has changed how companies create, capture, and deliver value. Thanks, or no thanks to automation, traditional oil industry skills and talents are now being threatened, and in most cases, rendered obsolete. Oil and gas industry day-to-day work is progressively gravitating towards software and algorithms, and today’s workers are resigning themselves to the fact that computers and robots will one day "take over" and do much of their work. The adoption of AI and how it might affect career prospects is currently causing a lot of anxiety among industry professionals. This paper details how artificial intelligence, automation, and robotics has redefined what it now means to work in the oil industry, as well as the new challenges and responsibilities that the AI revolution presents. It takes a deep-dive into human-robot interaction, and underscores what AI can, and cannot do. It also identifies several traditional oilfield positions that have become endangered by automation, addresses the premonitions of professionals in these endangered roles, and lays out a roadmap on how to survive and thrive in a digitally transformed world. The future of work is evolving, and new technologies are changing how talent is acquired, developed, and retained. That robots will someday "take our jobs" is not an impossible possibility. It is more of a reality than an exaggeration. Automation in the oil industry has achieved outcomes that go beyond human capabilities. In fact, the odds are overwhelming that AI that functions at a comparable level to humans will soon become ubiquitous in the industry. The big question is: How long will it take? The oil industry of the future will not need large office complexes or a large workforce. Most of the work will be automated. Drilling rigs, production platforms, refineries, and petrochemical plants will not go away, but how work is done at these locations will be totally different. While the industry will never entirely lose its human touch, AI will be the foundation of the workforce of the future. How we react to the AI revolution today will shape the industry for generations to come. What should we do when AI changes our job functions and workforce? Should we be training AI, or should we be training humans?

Quantifying Economic Uncertainties and Risks in the Oil and Gas Industry

2021 ◽  
pp. 154-184
Author(s):  
Sorin Alexandru Gheorghiu ◽  
Cătălin Popescu
Keyword(s):  
Business Performance ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Oil Field ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Field Development ◽  
Drilling Rig ◽  
Oil Field Development ◽  
Oil Gas

The present economic model is intended to provide an example of how to take into consideration risks and uncertainties in the case of a field that is developed with water injection. The risks and uncertainties are related, on one hand to field operations (drilling time, delays due to drilling problems, rig failures and materials supply, electric submersible pump [ESP] installations failures with the consequences of losing the well), and on the other hand, the second set of uncertainties are related to costs (operational expenditures-OPEX and capital expenditures-CAPEX, daily drilling rig costs), prices (oil, gas, separation, and water injection preparation), production profiles, and discount factor. All the calculations are probabilistic. The authors are intending to provide a comprehensive solution for assessing the business performance of an oil field development.

Issues of Environmental Impairment Liability Insurance in the Russian Oil and Gas Industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (4) ◽  
pp. 160-175
Author(s):  
Anna Popova
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Pollution ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Oil Products ◽  
Nature Management ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Oil Companies ◽  
Management Measures ◽  
Expert Assessments

The author studies environmental insurance in nature management as a lever of management measures to prevent and eliminate environmental pollution by oil products during their transportation and oil fields development. The research aims to develop recommendations for environmental risks insurance in Russian oil and gas industry on the basis of economic and mathematical model that allows to estimate the scale of environmental pollution by oil products. Such methods as system and comparative analysis, expert assessments, forecasting, modeling used in this work helped the author to identify Russian environmental insurance features; to propose a method for solving the problem concerning the lack of statistical data on the frequency and scale of accidents and the environmental damage magnitude by mathematical modeling of the accident, which allows to estimate the radius and depth of the underlying surface pollution. These developments will help insurers to make more adequate insurance premiums and tariffs, as well as to improve the underwriting procedure for unique oil and gas projects. But in order for the obtained achievements to find their application, it is necessary to have legislation obliging oil companies to compensate for environmental damage, and due to the scale of such damage, oil companies will be obliged to insure the relevant risks.

Unlocking the Potential: Understanding the Psychological Factors That Influence Technology Adoption in the Upstream Oil and Gas Industry

SPE Journal ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (01) ◽  
pp. 515-528
Author(s):  
Ruby Roberts ◽  
Rhona Flin
Keyword(s):  
Technology Adoption ◽  
Psychological Factors ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Innovative Technology ◽  
Future Research

Summary To maximize the opportunities for the adoption of newly developed products, there is a need to better understand how psychological factors have an impact on the acceptance and deployment of innovative technology in industry. While there is extensive general literature on the psychological factors that influence consumer behavior and the use of new technologies, there seemed to be very limited understanding of this topic, specifically relating to the upstream energy sector. A literature review was conducted to (1) identify what, if any, research has been conducted in relation to the psychological factors influencing technology adoption and deployment in the oil and gas (O&G) industry and (2) identify what interventions have been developed to support technology adoption in O&G. A literature search was undertaken, and given the limited research anticipated, minimum selection criteria were applied on the basis of Cochrane quality control (Higgins and Green 2011). In the 17 articles that met the search criteria, there was limited discussion of the psychological factors that have an impact on O&G technology adoption. The articles were subject to Braun and Clarke (2006) thematic analysis, producing a list of psychological factors that influence technology adoption in O&G. Only five psychological factors were identified: personality (e.g., exploration traits and risk aversion), attitude (e.g., trust and not-invented-here syndrome), social (e.g., social norms), cognition (e.g., risk perception), and psychological factors at an organizational level (leadership and organizational culture). In addition, our review identified a small number of interventions that were developed and deployed to support technology adoption in O&G. Given the early stages of this research area, combined with the relevance for technology innovation in upstream O&G, our review adds to the literature by identifying an initial framework of the key psychological factors. This essential set of factors can be used to direct future research, as well as to support effective interventions aimed at supporting the introduction of new technology.

Financing alternatives in a changing gas landscape

2014 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 516
Author(s):  
James MacGinley ◽  
Brad Calleja
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Project Finance ◽  
Export Credit ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
The Past ◽  
New Development ◽  
Credit Agency ◽  
Global Banks

In recent years, Australia has gone through an unprecedented expansion in its oil and gas industry. The demand for capital has been enormous and has resulted in some of the largest project debt financings globally. In the coming years, the funding requirement will change dramatically as projects reach completion; become cash-flow positive; and, owners changing their funding structure from project finance debt to lower cost, lower covenant corporate debt. The development of a number of Australia’s largest oil and gas projects during the past five years coincided with a tightening of capital from the traditional project finance market. This lead to the emergence of export credit agency financing as an integral component of project development. During the past year, however, re-capitalisation of global banks are now re-entering the Australian market and are driving competition and increasing liquidity. This extended abstract covers a review of the funding approaches taken on major Australian LNG projects, including lessons from the funding of CSG projects that may be relevant to other new development markets such as shale gas. It also draws on historical lessons of funding new technologies and provide insight about funding of the next wave of LNG development: floating LNG. The National Australia Bank is one of the largest resources project finance banks globally and is well positioned to provide APPEA’s delegates with relevant insight about the future of debt funding in the oil and gas industry.

History and Evolution of the Offshore Oil and Gas Industry in Southern Louisiana: Worker Perspectives

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Austin ◽  
Thomas McGuire
Keyword(s):  
Oil And Gas ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
Work Organization ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Early Results ◽  
History Of ◽  
Offshore Oil And Gas ◽  
Offshore Oil ◽  
Southern Louisiana

The history of the offshore oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico is one of both progressive and punctuated development. New technologies, forms of work organization, and regulatory regimes have all combined over the past seventy years to influence the evolution of this industry. This paper reports early results of a multiyear, multi-team effort to document this history and its impacts on southern Louisiana. It focuses on the work of one team, applied anthropologists from the University of Arizona, to capture the history from the perspectives of the workers and local entrepreneurs who made this industry happen.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document