Demonstration of Automated Drilling Process Control

The underlying idea is to demonstrate a step change in drilling technology from the mainly mechanised process control used in the industry today to automated drilling process control and robotics. Other industries have increased efficiency through the introduction of automated process control and robotics. The largest challenge to the petroleum industry today is the low profitability caused by high costs of well construction which typically constitutes 50% of the field development costs. A step change in drilling technology efficiency will give an opportunity to develop fields on the NCS faster, safer and more cost-efficiently with a resulting lower break-even oil price. The main project focus was autonomous drilling that can be implemented both at new and at existing drilling facilities and has the potential of increased safety and reduced cost and environmental footprint. Autonomous drilling was successfully demonstrated both at the simulator infrastructure OpenLab and at the drilling rig Ullrigg at NORCE.

The main project achievement was successful demonstration of autonomous drilling both in the simulator infrastructure OpenLab and at the drilling rig Ullrigg at NORCE. It was demonstrated that the drilling process autonomously adapted to a changing drilling environment, implying improved safety and reduced cost and environmental footprint.