Well drilling methods with event detection

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9567843-B2
Application number	US-83171610-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 7, 2010
Priority date	Jul 30, 2009
Publication date	Feb 14, 2017
Grant date	Feb 14, 2017

Abstract

A drilling method includes assigning values to behaviors of drilling parameters during a drilling operation; forming multiple parameter signatures, each of the parameter signatures comprising a respective combination of the values; comparing the parameter signatures to multiple event signatures, each of the event signatures being indicative of a respective drilling event; and controlling the drilling operation in response to at least a partial match resulting from comparing the parameter signatures to the event signatures. Another method includes defining an event signature comprising a unique combination of a behavior of each of multiple drilling parameters, the event signature being indicative of a drilling event; accessing data from each of multiple sensors which sense the respective drilling parameters during a drilling operation; determining multiple parameter signature segments from the respective sensed drilling parameters; combining the parameter signature segments, thereby forming a parameter signature; and comparing the parameter signature to the event signature.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A well drilling method, comprising:
assigning a value to a behavior of each of multiple drilling parameters during a drilling operation, wherein the drilling parameters are derived at least in part from whether at least one precursor event has occurred;
forming multiple parameter signatures, each of the parameter signatures comprising a respective combination of the values;
comparing the parameter signatures to multiple event signatures, each of the event signatures being indicative of a respective drilling event; and
controlling the drilling operation in response to a partial match resulting from comparing the parameter signatures to the event signatures.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising drilling a wellbore, and wherein the drilling operation is performed in furtherance of drilling the wellbore.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising alerting an operator in response to the partial match resulting from comparing the parameter signatures to the event signatures.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the behaviors comprises an increasing trend.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the behaviors comprises a trend increasing at greater than a predetermined rate.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the behaviors comprises a decreasing trend.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein at least one of the behaviors comprises a trend decreasing at greater than a predetermined rate.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the drilling operation further comprises controlling flow through a drilling fluid return line.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein controlling the drilling operation further comprises controlling flow through a drilling fluid injection line.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the drilling parameters are derived at least in part from drilling properties sensed by sensors during the drilling operation.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the drilling parameters are derived at least in part from offset well data.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the drilling parameters are derived at least in part from operator input.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the drilling parameters are derived at least in part from whether multiple precursor events have occurred.

14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, in response to the partial match resulting from comparing the parameter signatures to the event signatures, indicating that an event will occur.

15. A well system, comprising:
a control system including machine-readable code and a processor which a) assigns a value to a behavior of each of multiple drilling parameters during the drilling operation, b) forms multiple parameter signatures, each of the parameter signatures comprising a respective combination of the values, and c) compares the parameter signatures to multiple event signatures, each of the event signatures being indicative of a respective drilling event, wherein the drilling parameters are derived at least in part from whether at least one precursor event has occurred; and
a controller which controls the drilling operation in response to a partial match resulting from comparing the parameter signatures to the event signatures.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the drilling operation comprises drilling the wellbore.

17. The system of claim 15 , wherein the control system alerts an operator in response to the partial match resulting from comparing the parameter signatures to the event signatures.

18. The system of claim 15 , wherein at least one of the behaviors comprises an increasing trend.

19. The system of claim 15 , wherein at least one of the behaviors comprises a trend increasing at greater than a predetermined rate.

20. The system of claim 15 , wherein at least one of the behaviors comprises a decreasing trend.

21. The system of claim 15 , wherein at least one of the behaviors comprises a trend decreasing at greater than a predetermined rate.

22. The system of claim 15 , wherein the controller controls the drilling operation at least in part by controlling flow through a drilling fluid return line.

23. The system of claim 15 , wherein the controller controls the drilling operation at least in part by controlling flow through a drilling fluid injection line.

24. The system of claim 15 , wherein the drilling parameters are derived at least in part from drilling properties sensed by sensors during the drilling operation.

25. The system of claim 15 , wherein the drilling parameters are derived at least in part from offset well data.

26. The system of claim 15 , wherein the drilling parameters are derived at least in part from operator input.

27. The system of claim 15 , wherein the drilling parameters are derived at least in part from whether multiple precursor events have occurred.

28. The system of claim 15 , wherein the control system, in response to the partial match resulting from comparing the parameter signatures to the event signatures, indicates that an event will occur.

29. A well drilling method, comprising:
defining an event signature comprising a unique combination of a behavior of each of multiple drilling parameters, the event signature being indicative of a drilling event;
accessing data from each of multiple sensors which sense respective drilling properties during a drilling operation;
determining multiple parameter signature segments from the respective drilling properties;
combining the parameter signature segments, thereby forming a parameter signature;
comparing the parameter signature to the event signature;
controlling the drilling operation in response to a partial match resulting from comparing the parameter signature to the event signature; and
indicating a probability of the event when the parameter signature partially matches the event signature.

30. The method of claim 29 , further comprising indicating the event when the parameter signature partially matches the event signature.

31. The method of claim 30 , wherein indicating the event further comprises indicating that a future event will occur.

32. The method of claim 29 , wherein determining the multiple signature segments further comprises determining a trend of at least one of the drilling parameters.

33. The method of claim 29 , wherein determining the multiple signature segments further comprises determining a ratio of selected ones of the drilling parameters.

34. The method of claim 29 , wherein determining the multiple signature segments further comprises determining a difference between selected ones of the drilling parameters.

35. The method of claim 29 , wherein determining the multiple signature segments further comprises determining whether at least one of the drilling parameters is within a predetermined range.

36. The method of claim 29 , wherein determining the multiple signature segments further comprises determining whether at least one of the drilling parameters is greater than a predetermined value.

37. The method of claim 29 , wherein determining the multiple signature segments further comprises determining whether at least one of the drilling parameters is less than a predetermined value.

Assignees

• Saeed Saad
• Pool Charles M
• Urias Frank
• Lovorn James R
• Bakri Emad
• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Saeed Saad
• Pool Charles M
• Urias Frank
• Lovorn James R
• Bakri Emad

Classifications

• E21B21/085

  Underbalanced techniques, i.e. where borehole fluid pressure is below formation pressure · CPC title

• 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

• E21B2021/006

  Fixed Constructions · mapped topic

• E21B21/08

  Controlling or monitoring pressure or flow of drilling fluid, e.g. automatic filling of boreholes, automatic control of bottom pressure (valve arrangements therefor E21B21/10) · CPC title