Drilling advances

Slapping all manner of sensors on a rig without considering the quality of subsequent data is to drilling automation what a switch to low-tar cigarettes and light beer is to a healthier lifestyle. Both cases represent self-defeating exercises with potentially ruinous outcomes.

“The drilling industry right now is moving to more automation of data analytics. There’s a lot of data available, and the industry is going to be making more and more decisions based on that data,” Maria Araujo, R&D manager for the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) of San Antonio, Texas, told the IADC Drilling Engineering Committee (DEC) quarterly Technology Forum on June 13 in Houston. “But, the key question is, is that data accurate?”

In the latest effort to answer that question, the SwRI is spearheading the JIP, “Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) of Sensors and Systems in Drilling.” As program manager, Araujo was on hand to update the first phase of the JIP, which the nonprofit institute introduced during a similar DEC forum on March 21.

The primary objective of the JIP is developing a unified standard for the third-party verification and validation of critical sensors and systems used in the drilling operation. The aim is to verify that the sensor or system meets intended requirements and provides in-situ validation that it operates properly in the targeted environment. “The prize that will come out of the JIP will be a recommended practice that industry participants can utilize,” Araujo said. “In-situ is the key word here. A lot of sensors and systems go through some level of validation, but we’re focusing on in-situ verification and validation during the drilling operation. The performance in-situ during drilling may vary, because the environment and operating conditions may impact the quality and performance of those sensors.”

JIP rationale. The JIP was conceived to address growing industry concerns that critical decisions, based on faulty sensor data, can lead to costly inefficiencies, at best, or catastrophic events, at worst. The JIP sprung out of the DEC-affiliated Drilling Systems Automation (DSAS) Roadmap cross-industry initiative, where Southwest Research Institute has served as an original member of the more than five-year-old steering committee.

While operators have individually conducted verification and validation activities, Araujo said the JIP hopes to resolve the industry’s lack of a consistent set of defined requirements to confirm the performance of critical sensors and associated systems. “We’re not going to re-invent the wheel. There’s a lot of standards out there that cover several aspects of sensor validation and data validation, so we’re going to leverage, not re-invent, those,” she said. “The idea is to add to whatever is out there for sensor validation.”

“What’s happening today is that a lot of people are doing this individually, or in silos if you will, so there’s a lot of repetition from different operators and so forth. The idea is to come up with something everyone can agree on, and everyone can benefit from.”

Araujo said the JIP will exploit SwRI’s extensive experience in employing the IV&V approach in commercial aviation, transportation, and other high-risk and data-driven sectors, with the objective of reducing the well-documented risks from inferior drilling data. Along with hiccups in the communications channel transferring data from the point of acquisition to the end-user, Araujo said a number of drilling sensors have been shown to be sorely inadequate. In some cases, they are either irregularly calibrated or improperly maintained, or else measuring properties in the wrong location, thereby invalidating the purported values. In other instances, sensors have been shown to be inadequately designed for the intended function. “Our goal is to develop a methodology and procedures to verify and validate those sensors while they are in operation, to make sure their performance is acceptable,” she said. “If we’re going to make either automation or analytical decisions, we have to make sure that data is accurate and validated.”

As part of the JIP’s first phase, which is seeking industry participants, an evolving steering committee of subject matter experts will guide the identification and prioritization of critical drilling sensors and systems. A key deliverable is development of a proof of concept, in which a standardized IV&V methodology will be employed on a drilling application.

The JIP mandate stipulates that “the results from the program will be the publication of an agreed industry methodology, which can be implemented by any recognized and competent independent organization including, but not limited to, SwRI.”

“Big issue.” In an earlier joint effort, the then-newly formed Operators Group for Data Quality in November 2016 began wrangling with less-than-reliable rig surface sensor data, just as sinking oil prices magnified the relationship of real-time data analytics to improved efficiencies and lower costs. The group has since teamed up with contractors, service companies and OEMs “to accelerate the adoption of standardized key measurement specifications, data storage, transmission, transformation and integration.”

“We agree this (inadequate sensor data) is a big issue, and there’s a big effort around that,” Joey Husband, V.P. of global operations for Nabors Drilling Technology, said at the March DEC forum. As part of a presentation on “Creating Uptime with a Disruptive Drilling Contractor Business Model,” Husband said it’s imperative that sensors collecting critical data be accurate, calibrated and fit-for-purpose, to effectively address the vagaries of a drilling operation. “We have a lot of smart people writing codes for equipment, but the codes assume the rig is perfectly wired, perfectly grounded with the exact equipment, where it’s supposed to be,” 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.