Displaying steering response with uncertainty in a heat map ellipse

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11808131-B2
Application number	US-202217812204-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 13, 2022
Priority date	Sep 12, 2019
Publication date	Nov 7, 2023
Grant date	Nov 7, 2023

Abstract

A computer-implemented method including receiving a steering command identifying a tool face orientation in which the steering command is expected to produce an intended steering response of an intended drilling trajectory. The method further includes receiving an actual steering response result of the steering command in which the actual steering response result identifies an actual drilling trajectory. The method further includes storing a dataset comparing the actual steering response result in relation to the intended steering response, determining an uncertainty level of the tool face orientation based on the stored dataset, and outputting a visual representation of steering response with the uncertainty level.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving a steering command identifying a tool face orientation, wherein the steering command is expected to produce an intended steering response of an intended drilling trajectory;
receiving an actual steering response result of the steering command, wherein the actual steering response result identifies an actual drilling trajectory;
storing a dataset comparing the actual steering response result in relation to the intended steering response;
determining an uncertainty level of the tool face orientation based on the stored dataset; and
outputting a visual representation of steering response with the uncertainty level.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the visual representation comprises at least one of:
a steering response ellipse having a heatmap; and
a steering response ellipse with an uncertainty band.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the uncertainty level represents a level of confidence that the actual steering response result matches the intended steering response.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the steering response command further identifies a build rate and a turn rate, wherein the uncertainty level is further based on the build rate and the turn rate.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing a plurality of datasets, each of the plurality of datasets being associated with respective tool face orientations and comparing a plurality of respective actual steering response results in relation to a respective plurality of intended steering responses.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the determining the uncertainty level comprises determining the uncertainty level based on a quantity of the plurality of datasets that are associated with the tool face orientation and a consistency of deviations between the plurality of respective actual steering response results in relation to a respective plurality of intended steering responses within the plurality of datasets that are associated with the tool face orientation.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving, via user input, or automatically generating a drilling plan based on the uncertainly level.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising planning equipment operations in advance or adjusting the equipment operations in real-time based on the uncertainty level.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the equipment operations include at least one of:
operating speed;
operating torque;
build rate;
turn rate; and
trajectory monitoring rate.

10. A computing system, comprising:
one or more processors; and
a memory system comprising one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by at least one of the one or more processors, cause the computing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
receiving a drilling trajectory plan identifying a planned drilling trajectory;
determining a tool face orientation for drilling along a portion of the planned drilling trajectory by drilling equipment;
identifying an uncertainty level associated with the tool face orientation based on steering response uncertainty data stored in a repository;
determining a drilling plan for drilling along the portion based on the uncertainty level; and
outputting the drilling plan for executing the drilling plan by the drilling equipment.

11. The computing system of claim 10 , wherein the drilling plan comprises at least one of:
operating speed;
operating torque;
build rate;
turn rate; and
trajectory monitoring rate.

12. The computing system of claim 10 , further comprising:
monitoring a real-time trajectory after outputting the drilling plan for execution;
determining that a deviation between the real-time trajectory and the planned drilling trajectory exceed a threshold;
adjusting the drilling plan based on the determining that the deviation exceeds the threshold, wherein the adjusting the drilling plan comprises identifying an updated tool face orientation and identifying an uncertainty level associated with the updated tool face orientation; and
outputting the adjusted drilling plan for execution.

13. The computing system of claim 10 , further comprising outputting a visual representation of the uncertainty level.

14. The computing system of claim 13 , wherein the visual representation comprises at least one of:
a steering response ellipse having a heatmap; and
a steering response ellipse with an uncertainty band.

15. The computing system of claim 13 , wherein the uncertainty level represents a level of confidence that an actual steering response matches an intended steering response.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a computing system, cause the computing system to perform operations, the operations comprising:
determining a respective plurality of uncertainty levels of respective tool face orientations based on deviations between expected drilling trajectories and actual drilling trajectories;
storing the respective plurality of uncertainty levels in a repository; and
outputting a visual representation of the respective plurality of uncertainty levels.

17. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein the visual representation comprises at least one of:
a steering response ellipse having a heatmap; and
a steering response ellipse with an uncertainty band.

18. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 , where the operations further comprise:
receiving a drilling trajectory plan identifying a planned drilling trajectory;
determining a tool face orientation for drilling along a portion of the planned drilling trajectory;
identifying a particular uncertainty level, of the stored respective plurality of uncertainty levels, associated with the tool face orientation;
determining a drilling plan for drilling along the portion based on the particular uncertainty level; and
outputting the drilling plan for executing the drilling plan.

19. The computer-readable medium of claim 18 , wherein the drilling plan comprises at least one of:
operating speed;
operating torque;
build rate;
turn rate; and
trajectory monitoring rate.

20. The computer-readable medium of claim 16 , wherein each of the plurality of the respective uncertainty levels represent a level of confidence that an actual steering response matches an intended steering response.

Assignees

• Schlumberger Technology Corp

Inventors

• Ba Samba
• Chiock Conie
• Hildebrand Ginger
• Ringer Maurice

Classifications

• E21B44/00 Primary

  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

• E21B41/00

  Equipment or details not covered by groups E21B15/00 - E21B40/00 · CPC title

• E21B47/024 Primary

  of devices in the borehole (determining slope or direction of the borehole E21B47/022) · CPC title

• E21B49/00

  Testing the nature of borehole walls; Formation testing; Methods or apparatus for obtaining samples of soil or well fluids, specially adapted to earth drilling or wells · CPC title