Drilling Advances

Present some off-the-rack drilling software to an EOG Resources hand, and you’re likely to be met with no less indifference than had you offered up a floppy disk, or pointed out directions to the nearest phone booth. Said hand would probably respond by whipping out an iPhone, clicking on an EOG-designed app and, within minutes, orchestrate a course correction aimed at pushing the bit into the most fertile rock.

An acknowledged pioneer in the
shale tour de force, EOG, likewise, is staking a claim as a pacesetter in the dizzying evolution of data analytics. That’s certainly not to say that the Houston independent has any kind of hold on capturing data and putting it to work, to optimize the construction and reservoir drainage of unconventional wells. From the North Sea to West Texas, ConocoPhillips, for one, has been a leader in data-driven drilling and completion technologies. “In the Lower 48 unconventional, where you’re drilling so many wells all the time, data analytics was very helpful [in driving] up our EURs (estimated ultimate recoveries), making our completions more efficient and our drilling more efficient,” said Executive V.P. Alan J. Hirshberg.

However, what may very well differentiate EOG from its shale contemporaries is the breadth of its in-house information technology network, which over 25 years has assembled integrated data sets, now captured in real time from more than 5,000 multi-play horizontal wells, and counting. These voluminous data marts have been encapsulated in myriad predictive algorithms and more than 65 proprietary mobile and desktop apps that allow EOG’s office and field hands to work at the “speed of thought,” Senior V.P. and Chief Information and Technology Officer Sandeep Bhakhri told The Wall Street Journal on March 31.

All this fits particularly well, given EOG’s asset-wide standard of targeting only shale prospects that will earn a minimum 30% rate of return at $40/bbl oil and $2.50/Mcf gas.

Geo-steering to a record. Among its in-house deliverables, EOG singled out its exclusive iSteer remotely monitored geo-steering app as playing a vital role in the first-quarter drilling of a record-setting Codell well in the Denver-Julesburg basin. With the iSteer technology, a near-bit sensor relays real-time downhole data to the office, which, in turn, transmits instructions to the field hand’s iPhone, to ensure that the bit is on the right track and in the right rock. The app was used to help drill the recent Pole Creek 531–2536H well to an MD of nearly 18,000 ft, including a 9,000-ft lateral, in three days, said E&P Executive V.P. David Trice. The lateral was drilled at an average ROP of more than 7,800 ft/day and remained “100% in zone,” Trice said, despite a tight 10-ft target window.

“Our geo-steering and drilling software serves our needs better than any third-party applications available on the market today. Our geo-steering team can receive a real-time feed of EOG data directly into our software, to interpret and integrate with offset well control and seismic data,” Trice said. “All this information can be viewed and interpreted on a desktop or mobile application, so everyone associated with the well is in constant communication and can collaborate, regardless of where they’re located.”

Importantly, Bhakhri said EOG is adamant that assembling and using data remain firmly ensconced within the company’s walls. “Data is king and one of our most valuable resources, and there are two pieces to it. One, you need comprehensive, integrated and easily accessible data sets, and two, you have to own the data. You cannot outsource its collection, analysis or delivery.”

The shale spark. That was not always the case, the IT chief said while digging into the evolution of the company’s data collection efforts during the first-quarter earnings call. “When I say we’ve been doing this a long time, I mean since the early 1990s. The cost-saving trend at that time was to outsource information technology. EOG initially followed suit, but soon thereafter recognized the strategic mission-critical importance of IT, and we decided to bring it back in-house,” he said.

The operator’s data analytics development reached critical mass in 2010, he said, with the escalation of the Eagle Ford shale play. “Using IT to help answer the why and how questions became even more important in 2010. The catalyst was the explosion of data and data analysis that was the Eagle Ford. EOG’s development of the Eagle Ford generated orders of magnitude more data than at any other time in EOG’s past, creating an ever-increasing need to have access to this data and analyze it ASAP,” he said.

“Third-party data collection tools were not keeping up with our demand. This was the start of our data collection and data storage initiatives that led to our eight huge proprietary integrated data marts, that now house data across virtually every functional area of our business.”

The next step in the evolution began two years ago, he said, with the transition to real-time data collection and the concurrent development of what is now 20 mobile data delivery systems, including the iSteer app. “While we were already getting production data real-time, we built custom black boxes to retrieve real-time data from every rig and every completion spread. This, in turn, spurred the need for mobile versions of our existing [desktop] apps,” he said.

“Real-time data and our mobile apps are a major productivity game-changer. People at EOG are now connected 24/7, anytime, anywhere to the same data. We call it having a control room in your pocket,” he said. 

About the Authors

Jim Redden

Contributing Editor

Jim Redden is a Houston-based consultant and a journalism graduate of Marshall University, has more than 40 years of experience as a writer, editor and corporate communicator, primarily on the upstream oil and gas industry.