Increased drilling activity caused by long-term, elevated oil price stability is driving technology development and new application practices and techniques at a record pace. The ability to capture, retain and transfer this “new knowledge” is gaining importance because of rapid turnover and the relocation of experienced industry professionals to high-profile projects in remote areas. Combine this scenario with the graying of the industry and the impending “big crew change,” and the potential impact of lost expertise and knowledge is particularly alarming.

Knowledge capture enables reuse of previous experience at all stages in analysis. Knowledge transfer aids identification of analogous applications, decision support and replication of success while avoiding repeating past mistakes. (Graphic courtesy Baker Hughes)
Also, as companies hire new and less experienced employees it’s imperative to shorten the learning curve so they can quickly reach the desired performance level. The challenges are how to efficiently share the knowledge of seasoned application engineers with new staff while helping new employees handle the increased work load. To solve these issues, one service company has introduced a capture and transfer system called the Application Knowledge Store (AKS). The system is designed to help stem potential information loss and help foster a culture of continuous improvement.

With the AKS system, drilling engineers now have the capability to locate Web-based lessons learned and the performance achieved in a drilling environment analogous to the one they’re working in. This allows us to capitalize on these experiences at all phases of planning and drilling. This is just one segment of OASIS, Baker Hughes engineering and consulting service for improved drilling performance. This case-based knowledge is a valuable resource to optimized drilling improvements for specific operators.

The OASIS service uses experienced drilling specialists drawn from a company-wide pool to evaluate difficult drilling situations. They study offset data and investigate downhole conditions to identify opportunities and develop drilling plans for improved drilling performance. The service provides a detailed analysis of the full drilling system and wellbore environment to identify and overcome barriers to improved drilling performance. A field team monitors drilling operations to assist the operating company in achieving performance improvement objectives.

Knowledge capture

Engineers that want to add knowledge or understanding gained through experience are encouraged to contribute. The documentation of the lesson must be significant, valid and contain reusable performance related or technical information. Once a technical lesson has been submitted, a team of drilling optimization experts reviews the documentation both individually and collectively.

This process acts as a built-in quality control mechanism and ensures the submissions are valid problems with solutions written in a style that someone unfamiliar with the situation can understand. The AKS provides a flexible knowledge representation of the drilling domain, allowing end-users to choose between different degrees of complexity to represent their lessons learned. Each knowledge capture form uses a detailed knowledge taxonomy to categorize the lessons, thus enabling the search, retrieval and delivery functions that are unique to the system.

Knowledge delivery

The AKS contains powerful tools to enable its user community to receive knowledge updates and to search the system to locate specific lessons learned. The user community can register for an automated knowledge delivery defined by the taxonomy. Users can select weekly, monthly or quarterly periodic email newsletters advising them of recent contributions to the system.

Knowledge search

A search of the AKS is performed by using predefined views. Search criteria include location, operator, field or knowledge category. Plus, the location can be further refined by the region and country, the operator by country, the knowledge category by drilling applications and specialized drilling methods. Three interdependent search functions enable the engineering community to easily locate knowledge related to applications in specific fields or for a particular operator, allowing them to draw from the collective experience base.

The advanced search engines facilitate easy construction of complex queries to the knowledgebase. For example, it allows us to answer such questions as “What do we know about drilling hard, 20,000 psi uniaxial compressive strength limestone formations with seven-bladed polycrystalline diamond compact bits on rotary steerable assemblies using oil-based mud?” The system responds with lessons detailing potential problems, previous operating practices and recommendations to apply to overcome those problems in these applications. The case studies below give specific examples of how the system has successfully solved similar challenges.

User’s perspective

There are occasions when an application engineer needs to evaluate specific drilling challenges unique to an unfamiliar region on short notice. Questions can arise outside the engineer’s realm of expertise, but the operator expects a professional, well-documented solution quickly. This is one way the AKS provides a valuable resource.

Conversely, there are situations when a review of challenges from different parts of the world will help with a study in a region the engineer readily understands. There are often lessons learned from around the world that are relevant to their region and application. Once again, the AKS provides a quick and efficient way of locating that knowledge.
The AKS provides an excellent tool for both searching for information from other regions and for finding new lessons with documented success from other parts of the world that otherwise might be beyond an engineer’s normal range of vision. Finally the AKS is a splendid tool for recording an engineer’s lessons learned and making them available to the worldwide drilling community.

South America case study

A major operator encountered a problem working offshore Brazil. The primary obstacle to improved drilling performance wasn’t increasing penetration rates, but how to facilitate efficient hole cleaning and cuttings removal to optimize tripping and subsequent casing operations. In the planning phase, one of the service company’s engineers consulted the AKS system. The search criteria were:
• Well type = extended reach
• Wellbore inclination = 45°-80°
• Bottomhole assembly (BHA) = rotary steerable system
• Problem = hole cleaning.

From this search, the engineer found 11 lessons learned from analogous drilling environments in the North Sea, West Africa and Southeast Asia. The common thread of the failures was drilling too fast for the available flow rate resulting in reduced hole cleaning efficiency leading to stuck pipe and a BHA lost in hole. There was a well documented solution for each of the jobs: control the rate of penetration (ROP) to avoid excessive cuttings buildup in the annulus.

Solution

After analyzing the issues from the other locations, the engineer recommended a drilling plan that matched the ROP to the available flow rate for enhanced hole cleaning and reduced back-reaming and wiper trips. This would reduce lost time while ensuring good tripping, logging and casing conditions. The plan was implemented and reduced drilling time by 70%, 65%, and 35% in each hole section. This was a dramatic operational improvement and was a direct result of reusing existing knowledge in the AKS.

Conclusion

The advanced application knowledge store reinforces an attitude of learning and teamwork in the drilling community, enabling well construction personnel to deliver performance excellence by anticipating problems before they occur and developing the right solutions when issues arise.