MOTIVE DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

A system for drilling a well may be adapted to process signals received from a fiber optic cable located in the casing of a previously drilled well or wells. The fiber optic cable may act as a distributed sensor receiving acoustic signals generated during the drilling of the well, and the system may be programmed to process the signals from the fiber optic cable to locate the borehole of the well being drilled, including its location relative to the previously drilled well or well. The system may be used to automatically update a well plan for the well being drilled responsive to information about the location of the borehole and also may be used to automatically adjust one or more drilling parameters or drilling operations responsive to the location of the second well borehole.

System and method for determining an updated location of a bottom hole assembly (BHA) during drilling of a well are provided. During drilling, a computer system may receive tool face updates and may determine build rate estimates and a borehole depth increase during a toolface update period. The computer system may also calculate an updated estimate of the borehole position.

A system and method for drilling are provided. The method may comprise receiving well plan and BHA information; determining the BHA is approaching a first zone in which a first slide drilling operation is to occur; and receiving first zone characteristics. The method may further comprise determining an on bottom time to orient the BHA in the first zone; determining an additional time for the first slide drilling operation; and determining an off bottom time to orient the BHA prior to reaching the first zone. The method may further comprise comparing the additional time for the first slide drilling operation in the first zone to the off bottom time to orient the BHA prior to reaching the first zone, and sending one or more control signals to orient the BHA either prior to reaching or at the first zone based at least in part on the comparison.

Computer vision drilling systems and methods may be used with a drilling rig. The computer vision systems and methods may be used during drilling of a well to monitor the drilling equipment and personnel on the drilling site to provide safer drilling operations. The results from the computer vision drilling system may be used to cause corrective actions to be performed if a safety condition arises. In addition, computer vision systems and methods are provided to automatically monitor the drilling site and drilling operations, such as by tallying pipe in the drill string and by monitoring equipment for anomalous drilling conditions, and automatically taking corrective action as may be needed.

A drilling system may have a drilling rig with a drill string including a BHA with a drill bit. The method may include determining a current BHA location and a future BHA location based on the current BHA location and a current trajectory of the BHA and comparing the future BHA location to a target drilling path. When the future BHA location is a predetermined distance from the target drilling path, then a plurality of geometric convergence paths may be generated, each providing a convergence solution from the current BHA location toward the target drilling path. The method may include determining (i) a distance to drill, (ii) an overall curvature, and (iii) a time required for drilling, of each of the geometric convergence paths and selecting a geometric convergence path responsive to the above. The wellbore may be drilled in accordance with the selected one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

Systems and methods for drilling a wellbore in accordance with an event occurrence, which may comprise receiving an indication of an event occurrence, the indication is based at least in part on data related to drilling operations associated with a wellbore; determining a predicted impact of the event occurrence, the predicted impact based at least in part on data related to drilling parameters and the event occurrence; and modifying the drilling parameters based at least in part on the predicted impact of the event occurrence. The method may further comprise sending the modified drilling parameters to a control system of a drilling rig to drill the wellbore based at least in part on the modified drilling parameters responsive to a deviation between the modified drilling parameters and the drilling parameters being below a predetermined value therefor.

A method and a system for estimating a position of a bottom hole assembly (BHA) during drilling of a wellbore is described. The method includes receiving, by a control system, toolface information and non-survey sensor information from downhole sensors during drilling of the wellbore. Based on the non-survey sensor information, an estimated amount of progress made by the drill bit since a prior estimate of the location of the BHA located in the wellbore is calculated. An estimated location of the BHA is calculated using the toolface information and the estimated amount of progress of the drill bit. The method further includes determining whether survey data has been received. In response to receiving the survey data, the estimated location of the BHA can be updated. Responsive to the estimated location of the BHA, one or more drilling parameters can be adjusted.

In a drilling system, a control system coupled to a drilling rig controls a bottom hole assembly (BHA) to drill a borehole through a geological formation along a drilling path. The control system determines a present position of the BHA and calculates a toolface vector to create a convergence path from the present position of the BHA to a desired target path. The control system also receives geological information and compensates the toolface vector to account for an estimated geologic formation drift. The control system causes at least one control parameter to be modified in order to alter a drilling direction of the BHA based on the calculated toolface vector and transmits the at least one control parameter to the drilling rig to target the BHA in accordance with the calculated toolface vector. The control system iteratively performs this process until convergence with the desired target path is achieved.

A drilling system may have a drilling rig with a drill string including a BHA with a drill bit. The method may include determining a current BHA location and a future BHA location based on the current BHA location and a current trajectory of the BHA and comparing the future BHA location to a target drilling path. When the future BHA location is a predetermined distance from the target drilling path, then a plurality of geometric convergence paths may be generated, each providing a convergence solution from the current BHA location toward the target drilling path. The method may include determining (i) a distance to drill, (ii) an overall curvature, and (iii) a time required for drilling, of each of the geometric convergence paths and selecting a geometric convergence path responsive to the above. The wellbore may be drilled in accordance with the selected one of the plurality of geometric convergence paths.

System and method for determining an updated location of a bottom hole assembly (BHA) during drilling of a well are provided. During drilling, a computer system may receive tool face updates and may determine build rate estimates and a borehole depth increase during a toolface update period. The computer system may also calculate an updated estimate of the borehole position.