--- In [EMAIL PROTECTED], Darryl Shannon <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Hey all. I've just read an article in this month's Atlantic Monthly
>(available online at www.theatlantic.com) about the effects of computer
>technology on the oil industry, and by extension the rest of our
>industry.
>
>Well, it appears that we have our own expert on this subject here at
>the brin-l, namely the congenial Dan Minette. I was hoping to hear >his
>comments on said article. Does it jibe with his experience? Any
>glaring errors?
In general, the article seems to be OK. Its major error, as far as I see,
is attributing developments that took 15 years to just the last 5 years.
I found the article to be interesting, because the last part of it focused
on the area I was working in: Measurement While Drilling. I know the Ray
from Baker Hughes who was quoted in the article.
I think that the actual economics is much more complicated than depicted in
the article. Directional drilling and measurement while drilling has been
in existence for over 20 years. The company I went to work for in
Conneticuit was the company that founded the field. Back in 87, when there
was that horrible job of directional drilling, there were a few contributing
circumstances that were not mentioned.
IIRC, the Austin Chalk play was a slimhole play, and Teleco did not have a
slimhole system. Other techniques for directional drilling did not work as
well.
Teleco, which was bought by Baker Hughes, brought both direcitonal drilling
and geosteering to the market. Directional drilling is drilling to a
precise location. For example, one can plan on entering a formation at
5,000 meters below the surface and 4000 meters from the platform at a
bearing of 250 degrees, and continue on horizontally for another 6000
meters. Directional measurements have gotten to be so good, that one can
hit a +/- 1 meter window in 1500 meters of drilling.
The problem with that is that one doesn't know the precise location of the
formation before drilling. Formations can dip unexpectedly. Even though
3-D seismic is good, its not _that_ good. So, one needs to know where one
is in the formation while drilling.
That's geosteering. The folks down the hall from me developed the
technology that allowed this to work sucessfully. One makes formation
measurements while drilling, sends up the measurements through mud pulses
(at about 1 baud) to the surface. One then steers by the formation
measurements in order to stay in the oil bearing formation.
This work involves microprocessors that function in the most rugged
environment known: mil spec or aerospace spec is a walk in the park
compared to this. The tool is made to work at temperatures up to 175C with
continuous vibrations of 20g and shocks of up to 1500gs.
But, all of this improvement was gradual and incremental, not just one fell
swoop in the late '90s. Microprocessors were used in a measurement while
drilling environment in the 1980s. While DSP (digital signal processing)
chips have improved our ability to compute downhole, they are an incremental
improvement, not a quantum leap.
Computers have aided work in other ways. MWD tools can now be built more
precisely because finite element analysis of the tools allows provides a
clear picture of stress concentrations. These have allowed for multiple
design interations on paper before months are spent cutting steel.
The same is true for designing the response of the tools. Origionally, one
built a test tool where one could move parts around and try different
designs. The test tool was limited in its flexibility, and only a few gross
parameters could be checked. In 1989, I was able to design a tool using
computer modeling. I was able to come up with 150 different design
alternatives to check. This allowed me to significanlty improve both the
speed and quality of the design.
Well, that's my quick take on it. I hope it was kinda like what you wanted.
Dan'm Traeki Ring of Crystallized Knowledge.
Known for calculating, but not known for shutting up
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