Analysis: Optimization in oil drilling operations through automation processes

Like all processes that thrive on computerized and automated technology, the oil industry has made great strides in the implementation and development of automated operations.

That is why the oil industry has sought to improve the quality and profitability of operational processes. Many of the oil industries have had a remarkable capacity to achieve optimization within their processes through automation in oil operations.

The drilling of oil wells is the area where automation processes are most useful, where their efficient execution of intricate tasks and high speed guarantees a productive execution within the most common activities. All this application will make the complex wells technically and economically feasible, since through automation the main objectives are to reduce the operational times in the drilling, and consequently to produce as soon as possible.

Since ancient times, engineers consider the drilling process as the application in which art and science are composed in almost equivalent proportions to create an oil well.

Nowadays we can think of the operations of perforation controlled by computer (automation in the perforation), in which the vision of us engineers is very important, since this vision can get to lean more towards science.

Benefits of oil automation

If the oil well drilling processes are automated, it is with the intention of providing financial benefits to the operator.

How is this accomplished?

• Technically improving the processes: For example if through the automation of the penetration rate (ROP) you can drill more feet in length in less time, in turn keeping the plaster in the walls of the hole, making the cleaning in the hole in the hole is efficient, then it means that we are improving technically the process of penetration in the cuts of the formation (ROP).

• Combination of automation between surface and bottom of the well: All the computerized processes that are handled from surface will be impacted on the bottom of the well, in this case the environmental protection is sought and the health and safety of the workers that operate on the ironing of the drill.

The drilling industry, although it has come to consider aspects of automation within its drilling activities, has lagged behind other industries in comparison to fully adapting all automation processes, although there is no denying that have made some progress, for example, in drilling have been equipped with tools such as automatic double iron keys remote operation, this is what I get to know in reality, and as they are called in the drills where I have operated (The robot ).

While we can analyze and think that the processes of automation in the drilling of wells is not a good idea, since it would displace all the skilled labor to exercise the drilling activities, such as drillers, encuelladores, drill workers, maintainers, among others, it is not like that since these people could be given a training for automation, and who more than them who are the ones who know all the drilling operations on foot, and if we incorporate the automation operations, we would be taking of risk of injury and accidents to a large number of people operating in the ironing of the drill.

Conclusion

I think the speed with which the oil industry has been incorporating the automated processes within the well drilling is appropriate, since in my opinion you should not give a displacement of skilled workers hand for this type of work, however there are various tools that are remote, which has helped to minimize the times and costs of drilling and at the same time minimizing the possibility of injuries through work accidents in the ironing of the drill. All these reasons leads me to think that the oil industry should follow this path of looking and incorporating more and more automated tools that help optimize drilling processes.