Abstract. Good project planning provides the basis for successful offshore well drilling projects. In this domain planning occurs in two phases: an onshore phase develops a project plan; and an offshore phase implements the plan and tracks actual progress compared to the initial plan that was created onshore. The reuse of project plans is already prevalent within the oil and gas industry. A Per...

To ensure safe and stable drilling operation, bottom hole pressure (BHP) should be kept within some region. However measurement of the BHP is sometimes not available or reliable, especially when the circulation is low, e.g., during pipe connection procedures. This paper presents the application of a moving horizon estimation (MHE) method for online estimation of the BHP during petroleum drillin...

In this article, we propose control solutions to suppress undesirable torsional oscillations of the drill string in oil well drilling systems. Two feedback control laws are derived from Partial Differential Equations (PDE) models capturing the main features of the so-called stick-slip phenomenon. Comparative simulations highlight the merits of the two approaches.

Background & objectives: Oil well drilling operations are subject to various occupational hazards because of their nature and type of activities, which causes illnesses, loss of workforce as well as a lot of financial losses to the economic system of the community. Therefore, it is essential for all employees to observe safety in order to protect manpower and equipment. The purpose of this stud...

Recently, we have seen falling oil prices combined with sticky costs at a high level in the petroleum industry. This cause cost cuts and project postponements, thus challenging reserve replacement of oil companies and security of supply for consumers. Costs are particularly high for drilling. High rig rates are obviously important. In new contracts for high-spec semi rigs on the Norwegian Conti...

This paper explores the possibility of developing early warning indicators based on incident investigation. The use of early warning indicators may contribute to ensure that oil companies produce oil and gas without harmful spills. The incident investigated was a hydraulic oil leak from the Eirik Raude drilling rig during exploration drilling in the Barents Sea in April 2005. The incident is an...

The change from steerable motor to rotary steerable system has been both technically and commercially successful in Lybia. Through these case histories the paper will demonstrate benefits resulting from the use of rotary steerable systems that have led to a step change in overall drilling performance in the Middle East. This paper describes the successful introduction and application of a rotar...

Given n potential oil locations, where each has oil at a certain depth, we seek good trade-offs between the number of oil sources found and the total amount of drilling performed. The cost of exploring a location is proportional to the depth to which it is drilled. The algorithm has no clue about the depths of the oil sources at the different locations or even if there are any. Abstraction of t...