Methods and systems for improving confidence in automated steering guidance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11408228-B2
Application number	US-202016993026-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 13, 2020
Priority date	Aug 13, 2020
Publication date	Aug 9, 2022
Grant date	Aug 9, 2022

Abstract

Systems including a plurality of sensors disposed on a bottom hole assembly (BHA) configured to provide data to a controller, wherein a drill bit is connected to a bottom of the BHA; and a controller configured to: receive a well plan; receive, at a first stationary survey station, locational data and directional data of the BHA from the plurality of sensors; create steering instructions based on the well plan, historical drilling data, and the locational and directional data; generate a predicted future position of the drill bit for each of a plurality of stationary survey stations subsequent to the first stationary survey station assuming implementation of the steering instructions; display the predicted future position of the drill bit for each stationary survey station on a graphical user interface; receive directions to implement, reject, or revise the steering instructions; and execute the received directions. Methods and machine-readable media are also included.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system, comprising:
a plurality of sensors disposed on a bottom hole assembly (BHA) configured to provide data to a controller, wherein a drill bit is connected to a bottom of the BHA; and
a controller configured to:
receive a well plan;
receive, at a first stationary survey station, locational data and directional data of the BHA from the plurality of sensors;
create steering instructions based on a plurality of factors, wherein the plurality of factors consist of the well plan, historical directional drilling position data, and the locational data and directional data of the BHA, and optionally real-time directional drilling position measurements;
generate a predicted future position of the drill bit for each of a plurality of stationary survey stations subsequent to the first stationary survey station assuming implementation of the steering instructions;
display the predicted future position of the drill bit for each of the plurality of stationary survey stations on a graphical user interface;
receive directions to implement, reject, or revise the steering instructions; and
execute the received directions.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to display the uncertainty of the predicted future position of the drill bit for each of the plurality of stationary survey stations on the graphical use interface.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the controller is further configured to receive the real-time directional drilling position measurements from the plurality of sensors.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the real-time directional drilling position measurements are received between two consecutive stationary survey stations.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein the real-time directional drilling position measurements comprises a real-time inclination measurement and a real-time azimuth measurement.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the steering instructions are further based on the real-time inclination measurement and the real-time azimuth measurement.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the controller is further configured to receive, at each of the plurality of stationary survey stations subsequent to the first stationary survey station, locational data and directional data of the BHA from the plurality of sensors.

8. The system of claim 7 , wherein the controller is further configured to assess an uncertainty of the predicted future position of the drill bit for each of the plurality of stationary survey stations based on the locational data and the directional data received at each of the plurality of stationary survey stations, the real-time inclination measurement, and the azimuth measurement.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the controller is configured to assess the uncertainty of the predicted future position by determining a confidence interval for a motor yield or a rotary tendency for a certain distance.

10. A method comprising:
receiving a well plan;
receiving, at a first stationary survey station, locational data and directional data of a bottom hole assembly (BHA) from a plurality of sensors disposed on the BHA, wherein a drill bit is connected to a bottom of the BHA;
receiving a real-time inclination measurement and a real-time azimuth measurement;
creating steering instructions based on a plurality of factors, wherein the plurality of factors consist of the well plan, historical directional drilling measurement data, the locational data and the directional data of the BHA at the first stationary survey station, the real-time inclination measurement, and the real-time azimuth measurement;
generating a predicted future position of the drill bit for each of a plurality of stationary survey stations subsequent to the first stationary survey station, assuming implementation of the steering instructions;
displaying the predicted future position of the drill bit for each of the plurality of stationary survey stations on a graphical user interface;
receiving directions to implement, reject, or revise the steering instructions; and
executing the received directions.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising receiving, at each of the plurality of stationary survey stations subsequent to the first stationary survey station, locational data and directional data of the BHA from the plurality of sensors.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising assessing an uncertainty of the predicted future position of the drill bit for each of the plurality of stationary survey stations based on the locational data and the directional data received at the plurality of stationary survey stations, the real-time inclination measurement, and the real-time azimuth measurement.

13. The method of claim 12 , wherein assessing the uncertainty of the predicted future position comprises determining a confidence interval for a motor yield or a rotary tendency for a certain distance.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising calculating the motor yield or the rotary tendency using the real-time inclination measurement and the real-time azimuth measurement.

15. The method of claim 12 , further comprising displaying the uncertainty of the predicted future position of the drill bit for each of the plurality of stationary survey stations on the graphical use interface.

16. The method of claim 10 , further comprising receiving additional real-time inclination measurements and additional real-time azimuth measurements.

17. The method of claim 16 , further comprising revising the steering instructions, based on the additional real-time inclination measurements and the additional real-time azimuth measurements, to change an amount of slide drilling.

18. A non-transitory machine-readable medium having stored thereon machine-readable instructions executable to cause a machine to perform operations that, when executed, comprise:
receiving a well plan;
receiving, at a first stationary survey station, locational data and directional data of a bottom hole assembly (BHA) from a plurality of sensors disposed on the BHA, wherein a drill bit is connected to a bottom of the BHA, and the locational data and directional data comprise measured depth, an inclination measurement, and an azimuth measurement;
receiving real-time inclination measurements and real-time azimuth measurements;
creating steering instructions based on a plurality of factors, wherein the plurality of factors consist of the well plan, historical directional drilling measurement data, the locational data and the directional data of the BHA at the first stationary survey station, the real-time inclination measurements, and the real-time azimuth measurements;
generating a predicted future position of the drill bit for each of a plurality of stationary survey stations subsequent to the first stationary survey station, assuming implementation of the steering instructions;
receiving, at each of the plurality of stationary survey stations subsequent to the first stationary survey station, locational data and directional data of the BHA;
assessing an uncertainty of the predicted future position of the drill bit for each of the plurality of stationary survey stations based on the locational data and the directional data received at the plurality of stationary survey stations, the real-time inclination measurements, and the real-time azimuth measurements;
displaying the predicted future position of the drill bit and the uncertainty of the predicted future position of the drill bit for each of the plurality of stationary survey stations o

Assignees

• Nabors Drilling Tech Usa Inc

Inventors

• Groover Austin
• Coffey Scott
• Curran Drew
• Lacroix Adam

Classifications

• E21B47/022

  of the borehole, e.g. using geomagnetism · CPC title

• E21B7/067 Primary

  with means for locking sections of a pipe or of a guide for a shaft in angular relation, e.g. adjustable bent sub · CPC title

• E21B44/00

  Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a drilling operation without intervention of a human operator, e.g. computer-controlled drilling systems; Systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions · CPC title

• E21B7/04

  Directional drilling · CPC title

• E21B7/068 Primary

  drilled by a down-hole drilling motor (down-hole drives per se E21B4/00, E21B7/067 takes precedence) · CPC title