Data processing: generic control systems or specific application – Specific application – apparatus or process – Product assembly or manufacturing
Reexamination Certificate
1998-03-05
2001-05-15
Grant, William (Department: 2786)
Data processing: generic control systems or specific application
Specific application, apparatus or process
Product assembly or manufacturing
C700S083000, C700S195000, C702S045000, C073S152520
Reexamination Certificate
active
06233498
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to earth boring and drilling and more particularly to a method of and system for increasing the efficiency of boring and drilling operations by measuring the performance of discrete events and operations by drillers and displaying and comparing measures of performance of the drillers.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART
It is very expensive to drill and complete bore holes in the earth such as those made in connection with oil and gas wells. Oil and gas bearing formations are typically located thousands of feet below the surface of the earth. Accordingly, thousands of feet of rock must be drilled through in order to reach the producing formations.
Drilling encompasses many tasks, some of which are repeated thousands of times over the course of completing a 20,000 foot well. In practice, oil and gas wells are drilled in repeated relatively short segments. Each time the drill bit penetrates into the earth the length of a section of drill pipe, the driller stops drilling, raises the drill string, inserts another section of drill pipe into the drill string, and lowers the drill string back into the bore hole so that the bit can begin drilling again. Additionally, the driller must trip the entire drill string out of the bore hole periodically to service the bottom hole assembly or perform other operations. After completing such operations, the driller must trip the entire drill string back into the bore hole before recommencing drilling. In addition to the actual drilling, a number of other operations, such as running and cementing casing, must be performed in order to complete the well.
The cost of drilling and completing a well is primarily time dependent. Drilling contractors typically charge a day rate for their equipment and crews. Thus, the cost of drilling and completing the well is the day rate multiplied by the number of days necessary to drill and complete the well. Some contractors work on a turn-key basis in which they agree to complete a well to a certain depth for a fixed price. The customer's cost, in the day rate situation, or the contractor's profit, in the turn-key situation, depends upon how long it takes to drill and complete the well.
Currently, wells are drilled and completed on a best efforts basis. Drillers and other rig personnel do their jobs in the best way they know how. Some rig personnel are more skillful than others, but improvements in drilling efficiency have been primarily the result of improved technology. For example, improved drill bits have resulted in increases in both bit life and rate of penetration. Increased rates of penetration clearly leads to faster drilling and earlier completion of the well. With increased bit life, the bit can drill for a longer period of time before the drill string must be tripped out of the hole to replace the bit. However, there has been no substantial effort to improve the overall efficiency of oil and gas drilling operations by increasing the overall skill and efficiency of the drilling personnel in their performance of repeatable tasks.
It is an object of the present invention to identify discrete tasks performed in drilling an oil and gas well and to provide a method and system for measuring and tracking the performance of the identified tasks to improve the overall efficiency of operations.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a method of and system for increasing the efficiency of drillers in performing drilling operations. Briefly stated, method of the present invention, which is implemented in a computer system, measures performance parameters of drilling events performed by the drillers, stores measurements of the performance parameters in a database, and displays a measurement of a selected performance parameter for a selected driller.
In order to show trends, the method may display, graphically or numerically, measurements of one or more selected performance parameters measured over a selected time period for the selected driller. The method may also display an average value of measurements of the selected performance parameters measured over the selected time period for the selected driller. The method may display an explicit indication of a trend in measurements of the selected performance parameters measured over the selected time period. The method may also display comparisons of performance of selected drillers.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2688871 (1954-09-01), Lubinski
patent: 3777560 (1973-12-01), Guignard
patent: 3802259 (1974-04-01), Eckels
patent: 3881695 (1975-05-01), Joubert
patent: 3882474 (1975-05-01), Cain
patent: 4354233 (1982-10-01), Zhukovsky et al.
patent: 4535972 (1985-08-01), Millheim et al.
patent: 4591989 (1986-05-01), Tanaka
patent: 4689775 (1987-08-01), Scherbatskoy
patent: 4736297 (1988-04-01), LeJeune
patent: 4793421 (1988-12-01), Jasinski
patent: 4843875 (1989-07-01), Kerbart
patent: 4875530 (1989-10-01), Frink et al.
patent: 4876886 (1989-10-01), Bible et al.
patent: 4886129 (1989-12-01), Bourdon
patent: 4976019 (1990-12-01), Kitamura
patent: 5105130 (1992-04-01), Barker et al.
patent: 5159577 (1992-10-01), Twist
patent: 5398546 (1995-03-01), Jeffryes
patent: 5449047 (1995-09-01), Schivley, Jr.
patent: 5458207 (1995-10-01), Mattero
patent: 5474142 (1995-12-01), Bowden
patent: 5551286 (1996-09-01), Booer
patent: 5679894 (1997-10-01), Kruger et al.
patent: 5692181 (1997-11-01), Anand et al.
patent: 5842149 (1998-11-01), Harrell et al.
patent: 5881310 (1999-03-01), Airhart et al.
patent: 6021377 (2000-02-01), Dubinsky et al.
King Charles H.
Pinckard Mitchell D.
Puckett Jimmy L.
Bahta Kidest
Grant William
Noble Drilling Services Inc.
Pillsbury & Winthrop LLP
LandOfFree
Method of and system for increasing drilling efficiency does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.
If you have personal experience with Method of and system for increasing drilling efficiency, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Method of and system for increasing drilling efficiency will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-2439019