Granted Patent B2

US 12,473,814 · App. 18/466,862 · Granted Nov 18, 2025

Inventors: Njaal Aarsland (Vigrestad, NO); Shunfeng Zheng (Sugar Land, TX); Anstein Jorud (Kristiansand, NO); Jason Bryant (Katy, TX); Loic Hoarau (Houston, TX)

Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation

E21B44/00E21B41/00H04N7/181G05B15/02H04N23/60

Abstract

Claims (47)

1 . A method comprising:

continuously receiving sensor data that is indicative of an operational status of a well construction equipment that is being utilized to construct a planned well;

receiving a well construction plan that includes information that is indicative of the planned well and the well construction equipment;

accessing a database of operational sequences that are executable to be performed by the well construction equipment to construct a plurality of wells and selecting from the database an operational sequence that includes a plurality of physical or mechanical operations that are to be executed by the well construction equipment to construct the planned well based on the operational status of the well construction equipment and the well construction plan; and

via an electronic controller:

electronically controlling the well construction equipment to autonomously perform the plurality of physical or mechanical operations of the selected operational sequence to drill at least one of: a selected portion of the planned well or a path along the selected portion of the planned well through a subterranean formation, wherein the electronic controller controls the well construction equipment via a local controller that outputs data to an actuator that performs a corresponding action of the well construction equipment, wherein the local controller and the well construction equipment belong to at least one of a tubular handling and rotation system, a fluid processing system, a managed pressure drilling control system, a drilling fluid circulation system, a choke pressure control system, or a well pressure control system;

while continuously receiving the sensor data and electronically controlling the well construction equipment, continuously selecting an additional operational sequence to be performed by the well construction equipment to construct the planned well;

controlling the well construction equipment to perform the additional operational sequence;

while performing the additional operational sequence, monitoring the well construction equipment to detect a well construction event;

stopping the performance of a previously selected operational sequence using the detection of the well construction event; and

using the detected well construction event, selecting a different operational sequence to be performed by the well construction equipment and electronically controlling the well construction equipment to autonomously perform a different plurality of physical or mechanical operations of the different operational sequence.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the sensor data includes information indicative of at least one of: an equipment operation status, drilling parameters, auxiliary parameters, a performance of each individual actuator of the well construction equipment, or a performance of the well construction equipment.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the well construction plan includes a plurality of planned tasks to be performed by the well construction equipment as part of well construction operations to construct the planned well at a well site.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the well construction plan includes at least one of: properties of the subterranean formation through which the planned well is to be drilled, a path along the planned well which is to be drilled through the subterranean formation, a depth of the planned well, specifications of the well construction equipment to be used to perform well construction operations, or specifications of tubulars to be used to perform the well construction operations.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the operational sequences is associated with a corresponding priority and decision-making steps and saved in the database, wherein the database is also configured to store a plurality of alternate operational sequences associated with additional well construction tasks.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the database is accessed to select the operational sequence based on parameters of the well construction equipment, wherein the parameters of the well construction equipment include at least one of: a type of a well construction event, a severity of the well construction event, or a duration of time of the well construction event.

7 . A system comprising:

a processor;

an electronic controller;

memory accessible by the processor; and

processor-executable instructions stored in the memory and executable to instruct the system to:

receive sensor data that is indicative of an operational status of a well construction equipment that is being utilized to construct a planned well;

receive a well construction plan that includes information that is indicative of the planned well and the well construction equipment;

access a database of operational sequences that are executable to be performed by the well construction equipment to construct a plurality of wells and selecting from the database an operational sequence that includes a plurality of physical or mechanical operations that are to be executed by the well construction equipment to construct the planned well based on the operational status of the well construction equipment and the well construction plan; and

via the electronic controller:

electronically control the well construction equipment to autonomously perform the plurality of physical or mechanical operations of the selected operational sequence to drill at least one of: a selected portion of the planned well or a path along the selected portion of the planned well through a subterranean formation, wherein the electronic controller controls the well construction equipment via a local controller that outputs data to an actuator that performs a corresponding action of the well construction equipment, wherein the local controller and the well construction equipment belong to at least one of a tubular handling and rotation system, a fluid processing system, a managed pressure drilling control system, a drilling fluid circulation system, a choke pressure control system, or a well pressure control system;

while continuously receiving the sensor data and electronically controlling the well construction equipment, continuously select an additional operational sequence to be performed by the well construction equipment to construct the planned well;

control the well construction equipment to perform the additional operational sequence;

while performing the additional operational sequence, monitor the well construction equipment to detect a well construction event;

stop the performance of a previously selected operational sequence using the detection of the well construction event; and

using the detected well construction event, select a different operational sequence to be performed by the well construction equipment and electronically controlling the well construction equipment to autonomously perform a different plurality of physical or mechanical operations of the different operational sequence.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the sensor data includes information indicative of at least one of: an equipment operation status, drilling parameters, auxiliary parameters, a performance of each individual actuator of the well construction equipment, or a performance of the well construction equipment.

9 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the well construction plan includes a plurality of planned tasks to be performed by the well construction equipment as part of well construction operations to construct the planned well at a well site.

10 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the well construction plan includes at least one of: properties of the subterranean formation through which the planned well is to be drilled, a path along the planned well which is to be drilled through the subterranean formation, a depth of the planned well, specifications of the well construction equipment to be used to perform well construction operations, or specifications of tubulars to be used to perform the well construction operations.

11 . The system of claim 7 , wherein each of the operational sequences is associated with a corresponding priority and decision-making steps and saved in the database, wherein the database is also configured to store a plurality of alternate operational sequences associated with additional well construction tasks.

12 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the database is accessed to select the operational sequence based on parameters of the well construction equipment, wherein the parameters of the well construction equipment include at least one of: a type of a well construction event, a severity of the well construction event, or a duration of time of the well construction event.

13 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer, which includes a processor performs a method, the method comprising:

receiving sensor data that is indicative of an operational status of a well construction equipment that is being utilized to construct a planned well;

receiving a well construction plan that includes information that is indicative of the planned well and the well construction equipment;

accessing a database of operational sequences that are executable to be performed by the well construction equipment to construct a plurality of wells and selecting from the database an operational sequence that includes a plurality of physical or mechanical operations that are to be executed by the well construction equipment to construct the planned well based on the operational status of the well construction equipment and the well construction plan; and

via an electronic controller:

electronically controlling the well construction equipment to autonomously perform the plurality of physical or mechanical operations of the selected operational sequence to drill at least one of: a selected portion of the planned well or a path along the selected portion of the planned well through a subterranean formation, wherein the electronic controller controls the well construction equipment via a local controller that outputs data to an actuator that performs a corresponding action of the well construction equipment, wherein the local controller and the well construction equipment belong to at least one of a tubular handling and rotation system, a fluid processing system, a managed pressure drilling control system, a drilling fluid circulation system, a choke pressure control system, or a well pressure control system;

while continuously receiving the sensor data and electronically controlling the well construction equipment, continuously selecting an additional operational sequence to be performed by the well construction equipment to construct the planned well;

controlling the well construction equipment to perform the additional operational sequence;

while performing the additional operational sequence, monitoring the well construction equipment to detect a well construction event;

stopping the performance of a previously selected operational sequence using the detection of the well construction event; and

using the detected well construction event, selecting a different operational sequence to be performed by the well construction equipment and electronically controlling the well construction equipment to autonomously perform a different plurality of physical or mechanical operations of the different operational sequence.

Continuity (3)

References Cited (114)