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eDrilling Solutions

eDrilling Solutions develops immersive drilling simulator tools which can be used to train the entire team who are about to drill a specific well, and also to support real time operations and better understand what is happening downhole.

eDrilling Solutions of Sandnes (near Stavanger) together with partners has developed a full size immersive drilling simulator, which Statoil is using for 100 days a year to train all of the people who will be involved in its drilling projects.

Statoil has signed a frame agreement to use the centre for 100 days a year.

Although Statoil does not directly employ drillers (it contracts its drilling to drilling companies), it will take the drilling personnel from its drilling companies to the training centre.

Entire drilling teams can train at once. People in different roles, even at different companies, can practise how they will work together and drill (rehearse) their response in specific disaster scenarios. Roles can include the driller, assistant driller, toolpusher, company man, drilling supervisor and subcontractors.

You can train using a simulation of the actual well to be drilled, including a simulation of the topside equipment to be used, drilling through the subsurface, using the oil companies’ existing subsurface model.

An instructor can set up scenarios for people to train on, where different things go wrong, and people have to work out what to do. For example, the instructor can introduce a ‘weak zone’ for the drillers to drill through, or a kick (rush of hydrocarbons into the well).

The centre has so many bookings, the company is planning to build another one in Bergen.

Statoil tendered for a company to build the system in early 2010 – before the Deepwater Horizon disaster happened. Statoil chose the system because it had the best downhole model of all drilling systems evaluated, says Rolv Rommetveit, managing director of eDrilling Solutions.

The simulator can also be used to support real time drilling, comparing what is actually happening with the model of what ought to be happening, to see if anything is going wrong.

The company eDrilling Solutions was formed 2 years ago, commercialising research and development work from SINTEF with the Integrated Drilling Simulator IDS as the core technology.

SINTEF first started developing a downhole drilling simulation model in 2004 working with ConocoPhillips and others.

eDrilling is 40 per cent owned by Norwegian research organisation SINTEF, 40 per cent owned by Axon Energy Products, and 20 per cent by others.

Before being managing director of eDrilling Solutions, Rolv Rommetveit was research director of SINTEF Petroleum Research.


Downhole and topsides



The simulator brings together separate simulator software components for downhole and topsides.

The “Intellectus” downhole model can model the downhole drilling process including dynamic effects. It takes into account factors such as temperature and pressure changes downhole, drillbit and drillstring inertia, acceleration and retardation.

You can see what the weight on bit and rate of penetration is likely to be; and get an idea about other things, including tripping operations (analysing surge and swab); connections; operations with different fluids; how well your apparatus (mud, rig, choke, well) can control wells; through tubing rotary drilling; managed pressure drilling. “Intellectus” can be used by itself as a downhole well training simulator.

The “hiDRILL” software supplied by Oiltec is a model of the topside – you can model the drillers’ chair (with touch machine interface); a 3D projection of the drill floor; drill pipe handling, tripping operations; drill floor operations; operating the BOP and choke; mud handling; top drive; operating the draw works; CCTV; alarm management.

“eDrilling” is a real time decision support system built over the simulators. It models the drilling processes in real time, so it can diagnose the actual drilling state.

The real time data has an initial quality check, then is fed into diagnostic model, which can inform the user things like “you have a problem with cuttings build up in the annulus.”

It can gather data using any kind of data interface – including OPC and WITSML.


SINTEF

SINTEF, which owns 40 per cent of eDrilling, is Norway’s largest independent R&D Institute with around 2100 employees with international top level expertise in science and technology.

SINTEF has developed the Integrated Drilling Simulator IDS through JIP’s with leading O&G operators. IDS forms the main technological basis for eDrilling and is utilized in the Intellectus training simulator.


Axon Energy Products

Axon Energy Products, which owns 40 per cent of eDrilling, is a company formed in mid 2010, previously called Hitec Products Drilling. It is majority owned by HitecVision, the largest venture capital company in Norway.

It provides a range of oilfield equipment, including coiled tubing units, control systems, rig packages, drilling cabins, pump units, as well as also selling simulator software developed by Oiltec Solutions. Oiltec has developed the “hiDRILL” software for the topside rig equipment.

Axon offers rig design services and well intervention products. The company has around 200 people spread between Stavanger and Houston.

http://www.edrillingsolutions.com

Rolv Rommetveit - managing director
Rolv Rommetveit was previously research director of SINTEF Petroleum Research
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Sven Inge Ødegård - Business Development Manager
Sven Inge is Project Manager for the Intellectus Training Simulator. Sven Inge has been working with Drilling control and information systems for the last 15 years. He has for the last 5 years been working as a Project Manager for the eDrilling and Intellectus concept. Sven Inge has a Master degree in Cybernetics from the University in Stavanger.


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