SPE PAPER: Published on Pason Systems, June 27, 2024

Real-Time Drilling Fluid Measurements Provide Value Via Data-Driven Decision Making for Cost-Sensitive Unconventional Environments

A new approach to real-time automated drilling fluid measurement systems leads to enhanced collaboration and decision making between field and remote operations personnel. The approach is based on straight forward technology that can easily be understood by all, operated by field personnel, and robust enough for fast paced unconventional operations. The sensor information offers real-time actionable data without the demand to replicate the traditional daily mud report, streamlining wellsite activities for drilling fluid treatment as fluid conditions change.
The automated drilling fluid measurement system (mud skid) was designed for reliability and simplicity. The idea is to use trending data over the single data point mud check to drive real time decision making across teams. Rather than replace the fluids specialist on location it enhances their role to drive operational excellence and consistency in their day-to-day rig support. Everyday across multiple rigs, drilling fluids specialists use the data to adjust treatment schedules, optimize activities, and capture unplanned events as early as possible to lower treatment cost with the support of the remote operations center (ROC). The ROC’s monitoring activities drive fluid enhancements across multiple locations via data transparency and analysis, sharing of best practices, and event detection. With a few proven and fit for purpose sensors, the mud skid adds value within the cost limits of the unconventional well market.

There is an opportunity for value generation via the use of economical drilling fluid sensors where costs traditionally limit full-scale automated drilling fluid measurements. The mud skid unit provides sufficient data to generate value without prohibitive expenses. The mud skid unit and the data collected are now part of standard operations across multiple rigs and basins. The data streams, available in real-time to everyone from the derrick hand to the drilling engineer, have created a new workflow for decision-making, fluid maintenance, trouble-shooting, and early event detection. As more events are captured by the sensors, there are additional opportunities to train machine learning algorithms and develop predictive models.

This paper will review the development process, deployment, and delivery of the mud skid unit with case histories demonstrating the advantages and opportunities for simple, real-time data streams.

Copyright 2023, Society of Petroleum Engineers

Credits

W. Petty, M. Offenbacher, R. Jara, C. Rabb, S.Unrau

ARTICLE: Published on Drilling Contractor Magazine, July 13, 2022

Recent efforts touch on standardization, aggregation from disparate sources, automated processing and customizable delivery to users.

Credits

Stephen Whitfield, Associate Editor

SPE PAPER: Published on Pason Systems, May 2, 2022

This paper recommends standardized names and equations for the two most common uses of Mechanical Specific Energy (MSE) concepts: “Total MSE” and “Downhole MSE”. These names and their equations should be used uniformly in all applications, including electronic drilling recorder (EDR) pick lists, rig site surveillance, engineering surveillance, data analytics, research, and technical publications.

Mechanical Specific Energy, used as a metric for drilling efficiency, is a mathematical calculation of the energy used per volume of rock drilled. The Downhole MSE equation calculates the efficiency of the bit alone, while the Total MSE equation includes both the bit and drill string. Those who use MSE in surveillance or analytics know the negative effects created by the lack of standardization over the years; it is certainly not a new problem.

The lack of standardized nomenclature has resulted in the use of the same name for different equations, or different names are given two equations that are identical. This affects the ability of drill teams to engage vendors in redesign of performance limitations or to communicate new operational practices between teams or rigs. In addition, this standard corrects a mathematical error that is common in calculating the Total MSE.

The concern with the inconsistencies has increased as MSE has become a key element in many automated optimization schemes. Inconsistencies or uncertainties in the basis of MSE values calculated in real time or shared in large data sets will affect the industry’s ability to develop useful analytics or to automate rig control platforms and data-driven decisions.

This paper also includes a discussion of the MSE measurement errors and their effect on calculated values, which is of particular interest to controls engineers and those involved in data analytics. Examples are provided to illustrate how the two different MSE values are used in field operations. Also, a substantial reference list of current and potential future uses of MSE is included to encourage better MSE-based practices to potentially lead to the development of new uses in the future, including automation.

This ad hoc MSE Standardization Committee is a volunteer group with representation from operators, rig contractors, service companies, and data acquisition vendors. The guidance given reflects their shared experience in utilizing MSE in surveillance and analytics, and the recommended equations are technically correct.

Copyright 2022, IADC/SPE International Drilling Conference and Exhibition

Credits

Fred Dupriest, Texas A&M University; Paul Pastusek, ExxonMobil Upstream Integrated Solutions Company; Stephen Lai and Bob Best, Pason Systems; Michael Behounek, Apache Corporation; Bryan Cook, National Oilwell Varco; Wendell Basarath, Contractor; Chris Cutts, K&M Technology Group; Jared Collins, Occidental; Mohammadreza Kamyab, Corva; Dennis Moore, Marathon Oil Ret; Eric Pulpan, Marathon Oil; Austin Jeske and JJ Wilson, Pioneer Natural Resources; Jamie Sheets, Ensign Energy.

STORY: Published August 16, 2021

What is Pason DAS™?

DAS™ uses a combination of patented algorithms that enable real-time decision-making to increase drilling speeds, save money on downhole equipment repairs, and produce a higher quality wellbore. The system continually evaluates bit-to-rock interaction using a combination of data including rate of penetration (ROP) and mechanical specific energy (MSE). This results in: Faster drilling, reduced number of trips, and improved wellbore quality.

How can our customers get the best out of DAS™?

Aaron, Product Line Manager, says there are five tips to keep in mind to ensure our customers have a high-quality experience with our product:

1. Set a wide optimizing range for weight on bit (WOB) and revolutions per minute (RPM): This one is the most important. Set the optimization range as wide as possible for the system to optimize and mitigate stick-slip and other dysfunctions. We’ve been working with the Drilling Engineering team to develop a DAS™ roadmap. It’s a table of depth ranges that outlines what parameter limits to run for each depth range. We have just released an automated version of this feature.
2. Maximum technical limits: As required, set Differential Pressure, Torque, and ROP setpoints as maximum technical limits defined by downhole tool manufacturers, pipe specifications, and other equipment limitations. This is similarly important to the above, and can benefit from the roadmap mentioned in tip #1.
3. Zero WOB and Differential Pressure for every connection: We typically set limits and optimize drilling based on these parameters. Zero when off-bottom, rotating, and just starting to move downwards. Consistent zeroing procedures ensure the values are as accurate as possible.
4. Manage formation changes: During the vertical section, there are usually several sections where the lithology changes significantly. DAS™ will adjust to the new formation, but it will take time, and if we’ve been pushing the drilling system harder, damage can occur. For formations known to be difficult, use typical practices to avoid failures before the formation is reached. Then update limits and re-engage DAS™ once it’s been confirmed that the formation is entered. This is usually included in the roadmap referenced in tips #1 and #2.
5. Let it run: Have patience. We’ve seen good results on wells where the limits are open and there is little manual interference. DAS™ won’t constantly be drilling at the maximum parameters by design. This may mean at some points there will be lower ROP for a short period. However, on average, performance will be improved provided the limits have been appropriately managed, see tips #1 and #2.

Learn more about Pason’s DAS™ by reading our blog post, Pason’s DAS™ dedicated to faster drilling, saving costs.

*DAS is a trademark of and contains technology licensed from ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company.

PDF: Published on Pason, July 13, 2021

Halliburton Project Management’s innovative approach to drilling optimization resulted in a new field record in Oman, in part by utilizing Pason System’s automation solutions, realtime drilling optimization, and high-quality data for enhancing well construction rates.

As a global leader in the management and delivery of lump-sum turnkey (LSTK) projects, the Halliburton Project Management (HPM) team deploys a suite of technologies, engineering services, and industry expertise to deliver wells safely and efficiently. LSTK projects are often outsourced to vertically integrated service companies due to the complexity or size of the drilling program, and Halliburton has been awarded several projects worldwide based on their proven record of meeting or exceeding customer’s expectations.

In Oman, HPM was presented with challenging targets from the NOC, and HPM responded with a structured, targeted strategy for success. Over the first 12 months, HPM’s primary focus was on deploying the proper personnel and services, identifying challenges specific to the drilling field, and reliably identifying and tracking invisible lost time (ILT) and non-productive time (NPT) to better control and reduce off-bottom time. The second phase was to explore improvements in on-bottom performance and Rate of Penetration (ROP) using new technologies and collaborations with other industry leading specialists.

This paper describes the challenges and step-by-step chronology of solutions deployed to achieve continuous performance improvement and merits of integration amongst Halliburton and Pason for maximizing drilling performance. By effectively focusing on process execution, the project team was able to achieve field records for best composite time for oil-producing wells and for water-injector wells.

STORY: Published June 11, 2021

At Pason, we’re continually pushing out new features and software for our customers to ensure the best service and experience possible. Therefore, we are incredibly proud of our Well Dashboard, an upgrade to our existing Well Page that allows our customers to configure their features in a way that works for them.

The Well Dashboard is the landing page for a well. It provides detailed visual information about a well, access to report and data downloads, and serves as a launchpad to other well-specific applications, such as Pason Live.

With this new dashboard, customers can add their favourite widgets and combine them into a single page.

“Users can choose the widgets that matter most to their unique workflows and hide the rest,” said Bob, Product Line Manager. “Many of the new widgets include offset well capabilities, allowing users to benchmark their operations. The Well Dashboard has incorporated near real-time connection time charts and other real-time data for a simple and up-to-date picture of drilling operations.”
Collectively, these features minimize users’ need to collect well data from multiple locations and stitch it together in third-party applications, like Excel or other platforms. This can be a big time saver.

Speaking of saving time, the flexibility of the dashboard allows users to conveniently re-arrange widgets to their preference.

“Our users do not conform to the same daily workflows as one another,” Bob said. “Their work varies from geology to payroll, from supervisory to engineering. Each of these personas has different needs.” Bob added, “The configurable nature of a dashboard allows them to reduce the clutter and cut to the chase. Everything they need in one place, nothing they don’t.”

This Dashboard refresh took older features and made them better. Something as simple as downloading data is now easier than ever.

“We’ve consolidated the data downloads to a single widget with common controls,” Bob said. “You select what data you want, at what frequency, and off you go. And to kick things up a notch, we’ve created ‘quick widgets,’ offering one-click downloads for your common configurations.”

Pason’s DataHub Refresh team mainly worked on this project. They collaborated with the Drilling Systems team to define and develop algorithms for some of the widgets.

Right now, this feature is available for most Canadian users and some US and international users.

“We plan to initiate wider scale trials this quarter with the hope to have an official product launch in our third quarter,” Bob said. “The wider trials will be aimed at perfecting the product before we launch to all users.”

Following these more comprehensive trials, the focus will be shifted to other areas of the DataHub for more improvements.

There’s a lot that goes on “under the hood,” Bob said.

“It’s not just about what we’ve built today, but what we can continue to build in the future. The new Well Dashboard enables us to do more, faster. The same technology we’ve adopted here is going to be incorporated in the rest of the DataHub. This means customers can expect to see continuous improvement in all areas.”

Our customers also have the opportunity to shape the future of the DataHub.

“We invite all users to submit feedback, be it by the built-in feedback form or by contacting their Pason representatives,” Bob said.

“Our lines are open, and we are listening.”

STORY: Published December 9, 2020

Imagine an app where drilling contractors can schedule recurring tasks that will download payroll reports straight from our Pason DataHub, all while generating in a CSV format tailored to their unique payroll system.

That’s what Payroll Fetch does for our customers. With this application’s use, our customers can easily incorporate Pason’s job reports into their internal payroll.

Payroll Fetch is an application that runs on our customers’ in-office computers with DataHub connectivity.

To improve the experience, we made some changes that include:

1. Adding a User-Interface (UI) to the application, which allows more immediate feedback to the user.
2. Upgrades that make the setup process more intuitive.
3. Improving the application to Pason’s DataHub standard.

Now that these changes are made, the app is more user-friendly, and delivers the best-quality data in a simple-to-use format.

Pason’s back-end system for building the application has been updated to match our current DataHub standards, ensuring our customers are always getting a consistent, reliable copy of the application.

This updated application, which was completed in one month, took work from our DataHub Small Features development team.

Great work, team!

STORY: Published October 7, 2020

Faster drilling. Reduced number of trips. Improved wellbore stability.

Those are some of the many benefits from Pason’s DAS™ that keep our customers safe and save them money.

“DAS uses a combination of Pason patented algorithms, and software licensed from ExxonMobil,” said Aaron, Pason Product Line Manager. “The system continually evaluates bit-to-rock interaction using a combination of rate of penetration (ROP) and mechanical specific energy (MSE). MSE is a measure of the amount of energy being used to destroy a unit of rock. Minimal MSE is considered optimal as an indirect measure of difficult vibrations to detect on the surface.”

He added mitigation protocols are in place to detect and ease damaging drilling dysfunction.

So, what does this mean for our customers?

DAS enables real-time decision making to potentially increase drilling speeds, save money on downhole equipment repairs, and produce a higher quality wellbore. It works to reduce well construction time by maximizing ROP while ensuring minimal damaging vibrations.

Historically, drillers will run constant parameters through different sections of rock. However, various factors make this approach suboptimal: type and condition of the bit; composition of the mud; other downhole equipment configurations such as mud motors; and trajectory of the wellbore.

DAS eliminates human error by taking automatic control of weight on bit (WOB) and revolutions per minute (RPM). The system is always testing the drilling speed and vibration through small changes to WOB and RPM every second. It evaluates the response as rock changes and makes the appropriate adjustments in real-time.

In 2019, DAS was deployed on over 270 rigs and has now drilled over 2,000 wells in North America.

“Without DAS, the driller would have to perform manual step tests by increasing or decreasing the WOB and RPM setpoints. They would then observe the changes in ROP and drilling efficiency, and repeat this process until they reach an optimized combination of parameters,” said Matt, Pason Manager, Drilling Optimization. “This process can work well in soft formations or formations with low variability, but in highly variable formations, the combination of optimal parameters changes constantly.”

On a recent trial, DAS increased the rotating ROP in the lateral section by 20 percent on a four-well Bakken pad compared to offsets drilled in the same area in the previous quarter.

“The scale of DAS deployment is unparalleled in the industry,” Aaron said. “We’ve drilled over 2,000 wells on over 270 rigs in North America over the last three years and have deployments in six other countries worldwide. Our ability to develop improvements, deploy, learn, and iterate, allows us to improve the software on a large scale rapidly.”

Want more information? Please read our article in IADC Drilling Contractor Magazine about DAS performance over the years.

*DAS is a trademark of and contains technology licensed from ExxonMobil Upstream Research Company.