Jennifer Pallanich: I’m Jennifer Pallanich, senior technology editor, and this is Tech Trends with Hart Energy LIVE. 

The industry is stepping closer to fully autonomous drilling operations.

SLB combined digital technologies for surface automation, autonomous on-bottom drilling and directional drilling to enable 99% of a 2.6-km section of a well offshore Brazil to be drilled using autonomous control.

According to SLB, over the course of a five-well program at Equinor’s deepwater Peregrino C platform, the combination of technologies increased the rate of penetration (ROP) by 60%.

SLB said experts from multiple disciplines collaborated to design and implement the interconnected autonomous workflows that made it possible for the system to drill the section autonomously.

DrillPilot software, automated manual pipe handling and equipment sequencing tasks on the rig floor, while AI-driven technology in the DrillOps automation solution maximized on-bottom drilling performance.

Neuro autonomous solutions determined the well’s optimum trajectory, adjusting steering sequences and drilling parameters to reach the target set by DrillPlan.

Jesus Lamas, SLB’s president of well construction, called the achievement an exciting milestone.

He said leveraging AI and integrating advanced digital workflows helped improve safety and performance by making drilling more consistent and efficient.

And that’s Hart Energy LIVE’s Tech Trends with me, Jennifer Pallanich. Check back Tuesdays for new episodes drilling into the tech that fuels the oil patch at hartenergy.com/ep.

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