Integrated Drilling System

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Constructing the Well

Learn how Schlumberger will achieve a step change in drilling performance.

Integrated Drilling System

For years, the industry has been applying discrete drilling technologies and depending on enhancements of these to improve performance. While this has produced notable technical advancements, the logical next step is to fully integrate the well construction process by adopting a holistic, consistent, and collaborative approach to managing the entire drilling system.

Our platform of drilling technologies is the industry’s largest and broadest—the ideal starting position for our vision to revolutionize the well construction cycle by comprehensively integrating business and technical systems with domain-driven, best-in-class technology. The centerpiece is our land drilling system of the future, which represents the ultimate integrated drilling system.

The land drilling system of the future brings together our leading surface and downhole hardware with comprehensive optimization software and our established ability to leverage the value of the data to create a step change in operational efficiency. This development knits together years of research from our drilling center in Cambridge, England, with the extensive expertise and downhole technology of our Drilling Group product lines. From the drilling equipment portfolio of Cameron, we are integrating top drive, pipe handling, and blowout preventer technologies. The result is not the usual incremental change from individual products and services but a game-changing synergistic performance improvement.

Aided by a central Drilling Technology Integration Center, the Schlumberger integrated drilling system redefines traditional workflows and crew member roles to reduce the total work hours and the resources required to drill a well. This highly collaborative environment increases well construction efficiency, minimizes risks, and ultimately reduces cost per barrel.

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The three stations shown of the Manara production and reservoir management system control the production characteristics of an individual zone. Produced fluids, noted with green for oil and blue for water, flow through a screen to the station where pressure, temperature, flow rate, and water cut are measured.

Technology Collaboration: The Subsurface Lighthouse

Saudi Aramco had a vision and commitment to develop technology that would take hydrocarbon recovery to a new level. Named after the Arabic word for lighthouse, the Manara system is the result of an eight-year collaboration between Saudi Aramco and Schlumberger.

The Manara production and reservoir management system is an intelligent completion system for multizone, multilateral, extended-reach, and Extreme Reservoir Contact wells. Combining 30 patented technologies, the Manara system provides permanent downhole pressure, temperature, water cut, and flow rate monitoring as well as in-lateral flow control of zones in real time.

The information derived from a conventional completion system typically permits engineers to make production decisions in days or weeks. The Manara system’s real-time permanent monitoring reduces the decision-making time to hours. This means reservoir workflows that commonly required three to six months can now be performed in one day. Integrated workflows from multiple disciplines create a collaborative work environment, where the identification and correction of problems in individual zones are made in real time. Rig time is reduced by optimizing a zone-by-zone cleanup procedure that also minimizes health, safety, and environmental risks.

The Manara system uses fewer parts than a conventional completion system. Electric power and downhole data pass through an inductive coupler that can service any number of well junctions. One electric control line connects through the wellbore to the wellhead via a single penetration.

Saudi Aramco’s Dhahran Advanced Research Center coordinated user requirements and, in conjunction with Schlumberger Engineering, developed a qualification testing program to de-risk the enabling technologies in the Manara system. This included extensive field testing in multiple Saudi Aramco wells. The Schlumberger focus on the transformation themes of technology, reliability, efficiency, and integration was important for the successful collaboration with Saudi Aramco.