I N NOVATI N G WH I LE DR I LLI N G
The bit and BHA analysis module is one of four primary modules in DrillScan’s drilling engineering software. H&P has been
working to integrate more of Drillscan’s applications into its rig fleet since acquiring the company in 2019.

As the industry moves toward true digitization, Mr Menand
explained that a focus area of H&P has been integrating the many
downhole products and technologies that the company deploys
as part of a package that enables automated drilling. “What we’re
trying to do at H&P is better control the BHA from the surface
with a different level of automation,” he said. “Whether a new or
existing BHA, we’re looking at how we can control it in terms of
operating parameters, drilling performance and steering recom-
mendations. With more complex wells and increasingly long
laterals, we really have to look at combining technologies if we’re
going to push the envelope, because otherwise there is a technical
limitation, at least for now.”
In 2019, H&P acquired the DrillScan drilling engineering soft-
ware, which has four primary modules – well planning, well
integrity, BHA and bit analysis, and drill string modeling. They
leverage modeling and simulations to reduce the time to target,
enhance BHA integrity and increase reservoir contact. “We want
to integrate software applications from DrillScan software on H&P
rigs for automation,” Mr Menand said. “The software’s physics-
based algorithms integrate with the AutoSlide technology, for
example, working with the equipment at surface to steer the BHA.

The idea is to try to predict the amount of friction and find an opti-
mum weight-on-bit RPM given a well trajectory. We want to opti-
mize all of H&P’s machines to drill with the best ROP, experience
less vibration and yield a smoother wellbore, and we use DrillScan
software to enable the equipment to accomplish those objectives.”
Once DrillScan software successfully integrates with the sur-
face rig equipment and achieves these targets related to wellbore
quality and drilling performance, H&P can then focus on another
major goal: creating a digital twin to predict and model perfor-
mance in real time. “We want to provide what I call a true digital
twin, which means to have a live, real-time, virtual representa-
tion of the condition of the drill string and BHA,” Mr Menand
26 “What we’re trying to do at H&P
is better control the BHA from the
surface with a different level of
automation. Whether a new or
existing BHA, we’re looking at how we
can control it in terms of operating
parameters, drilling performance
and steering recommendations.”
- Stéphane Menand, H&P
explained. “Having this sort of eye downhole — that is, having a
true digital twin of the entire drill string — allows us to better pilot
that drill string in terms of ROP in terms of steering and in terms
of vibration.” Once a stand is drilled, H&P can quickly analyze its
performance to predict that of the next one.

Mr Menand said he believes that having DrillScan software
as part of H&P has provided customers with benefits that would
have been more difficult to achieve with multiple third-party
providers. “We have the rig, we have the people on the rig, and
we have the technology, meaning that we can master and control
everything from A to Z because we’re all in the same company,” he
explained. “When you bring in third-party technology providers,
there’s potential for issues with integration or miscommunica-
tion, but having DrillScan software as part of H&P’s portfolio helps
ensure that we understand what we need to do, and we have the
data from H&P’s sensors to back up those decisions.” DC
DrillScan and AutoSlide are registered trademarks of H&P.

M A R C H/A P R I L 2023 • D R I L L I N G C O N T R AC T O R