2019 January/February

Automation, collaboration, diversity to be key topics at 2019 SPE/IADC International Drilling Conference

Jan 25, 2019

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Conference includes 18 technical sessions, panel focusing on closing the gender gap, young professionals’ luncheon and drilling automation symposium

With the global drilling industry intent on improving its resilience in a lower-for-longer world, collaboration and performance have never been more important. “It’s a time to learn from others,” Pierre Kriesels, Chairman of the 2019 SPE/IADC International Drilling Conference, said of this year’s event. The conference will be held 5-7 March in The Hague, The Netherlands. “Although you may know new technology is being developed, you want to be more informed about what does it do? How credible is it? In what stage of development is it? Who can I talk to? These things all come together at the Drilling Conference.”

SPE/IADC 194056, “Slim Well Casing Design for a Deepwater Application Using a Fast and Flexible Finite Element Engine.” Image courtesy of Schlumberger.

This year’s event offers 18 technical sessions covering:

• Fluids and waste management;

• Challenging projects;

• Threaded connections for tubulars;

• Advances in drill bit and downhole tool technology and applications;

• Innovative technologies for measurement, modeling and communication;

• Cementing and zonal isolation;

• Drilling automation;

• Well control;

SPE/IADC 194057, “Eliminating Rig Time from MWD Surveying.” Image courtesy of Schlumberger.

• Geomechanics;

• Well placement;

• Understanding stick-slip and torsional dynamics;

• Tubular design and applications;

• Managed pressure drilling;

• Directional drilling;

• Offshore drilling;

• Drilling dynamics and mechanics; and

• Well cementing and zonal isolation.

SPE/IADC 194170, “A Paradigm in Rotary Steerable Drilling – Market Demands Drive a New Solution.” Image courtesy of Weatherford.

A panel session on 6 March will focus on new forms of collaboration. The idea for this panel was inspired by the work of a major E&P company to implement a compensation scheme that rewards all parties for good delivery. Industry leaders will have a chance to further the discussion around how non-traditional ways of collaboration can be used to drive innovation and performance.

Another event on 6 March will put the spotlight on the important issue of diversity and inclusion. This initiative aims to build on efforts being undertaken at individual companies to attract, develop and retain female staff – especially in technical and senior management roles. Speakers will address the factors that contribute to the gender gap and find ways to close that gap so that companies and their shareholders all benefit.

Keynote speakers at this event will be David Reid, Chief Marketing Officers for National Oilwell Varco; and Kim McHugh, VP of Drilling and Completion for Chevron. Oonagh Werngren, who was BP’s first female Wells Manager, will chair the session.

SPE/IADC 194128, “Self-Adjusting PDC Bits Reduce Drilling Dysfunction, Increase Drilling Efficiency in Gulf of Mexico Wells.” Image courtesy of Baker Hughes.

The day before the official start of the conference, there will be a joint symposium held by the IADC Advanced Rig Technology (ART) Committee and the SPE Drilling Systems Automation Technical Section (DSATS), “Digital Twin for Drilling – Connecting the Physical and Digital Worlds.”

This half-day symposium will update the drilling and well construction community on the latest applications of digital twin technology. A digital twin integrates real-time data with both physics-based and data-driven models of a physical asset to create a dynamic understanding and optimization of the design, operation, performance and maintenance of the physical asset.