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Automated drilling

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Computer-controlled drilling is slowly changing how the oil and gas industry discovers natural resources. Automated drilling can reduce the number of injuries to zero and increase productivity and accuracy.

History

Advantages

Disadvantages

Global oil prices and a surplus of gas have caused an improvement in the economics of automated projects. Meanwhile, in North America, human-operated drilling has greatly improved.

Companies like Shell have chosen to scale back and even cancel many projects in which automated drilling would play a crucial role in developing thousands of wells.

ShellFor Shell, those factors have caused it to scale back or cancel several projects in which automated drilling was to play a key role in the development of thousands of wells. This comes after years of headway the company was making with automated technology. In 2011, Drilling Contractor reported that the first generation of Shell’s automated control system had already shown a 70% improvement in rate of penetration (ROP) in areas where the company was testing the system. However, that figure is no longer relevant as human drillers in the US have narrowed the gap.

References   

Noteworthy papers in OnePetro

External links

See also