DI G ITAL TR AN S FOR MATION
Eni pilots software
mapping emissions, fuel
use to specific activities
STEPHEN WHITFIELD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
In drilling operations, reducing the fuel consumption of diesel
generators at the rig site has become a major focus for both
operators and drilling contractors alike, which means obtain-
ing accurate consumption and emissions data is critical to fully
understanding a rig’s carbon footprint.
Last year, Eni and Kwantis, a digital services provider , devel-
oped a greenhouse gas (GHG) software to track and map the
CO 2 -equivalent emissions associated with the fuel consump-
tion on Eni-operated rigs. The tool collects and analyzes data
from sensors placed at high-emissions points throughout the
rig and outputs the data in near-real time.
“The main purpose was to analyze the emissions per-
formance of the well construction process,” Daniele Farina,
Technology Innovation Project Engineer at Eni, said in a pre-
sentation at the 2023 Offshore Technology Conference in May.
“Let’s compare the monitoring systems for emissions that our
contractors use with this one so we can get a better overall
picture of the greenhouse gases coming from the rig and from
constructing the well. This will help us find the most emis-
sions-intense activities in our drilling operations.”
The software was installed as a module on the data analyt-
ics platform Eni uses to aggregate and analyze data from its
operated rigs. The system relies on the aggregation of high-fre-
quency data gathered daily from sensors placed on rig equip-
ment to provide an overall picture of the rig’s fuel consumption
and emissions. It collects fuel consumption data from the rig’s
engine on a given day, along with sensor data measuring power
consumption of various pieces of rig equipment, and combines
Daniele Farina, Technology Innovation Project Engineer at
Eni, talked at the 2023 OTC about a project aiming to iden-
tify the most emissions-intense activities on a rig.
Continued on page 23
22 “We need to eliminate the need
for unnecessary manual data
collection. That’s going to be big
in freeing up the rig crew to handle
more critical preventative and
corrective maintenance tasks.”
- John Dady, Seadrill
rig control system, it will automatically send a corrective work
order to the driller if it recognizes vibration patterns that align
with equipment malfunction, indicating a need to inspect the
equipment. “The sensor has been extensively deployed in other industrial
sectors, managing remote sites that necessitate the use of equip-
ment that can handle rigorous daily operations in rough environ-
ments, but they have not been used on an offshore rig,” Mr Dady
said. “We think that, because they’ve shown durability working in
different environments, they’re an ideal choice for offshore since
that environment demands robust and dependable equipment.”
The pilot project will be conducted on the West Neptune drill-
ship, which Mr Dady said was selected because of its location.
The rig is working in the US Gulf of Mexico, close to the Seadrill’s
Houston office. Installation of the sensors on the rig, as well as
any necessary ISIT (information systems and information tech-
nology) upgrades to support the sensors, is expected to be com-
plete by the end of this year.
However, that time line will depend on Seadrill’s ability to
access the primary load path drilling equipment, which includes
the drawworks, crown block, traveling block and top drive. This
can only be done during maintenance periods when the BOP
is brought to the surface between wells and changed out with
another BOP.
Once the sensors are installed, the pilot will run for three
months, during which time the vibration data gathered from the
sensors will be measured against manual measurements. If the
sensors prove reliable, Seadrill plans to install them across its rig
fleet over the course of 2024.
“The time frame we set for this project should give us an idea
of how well the sensors and system as a whole performs,” Mr
Dady said. “The sensors are giving us much more data than the
manual measurements do, with the major benefit of not having to
take time out of service and take the measurements. That said, I
believe the biggest benefit is the fact that we won’t need the rig
crew to go out and take these measurements anymore, reducing
the burden on them.”
Improving sensor material quality
Baker Hughes has multiple brands, including Druck,
Panametrics and Reuter-Stokes, devoted to designing sensors
for the tools it uses to gather and process data for the monitoring
systems its customers use in the oilfield.
J U LY/AU G U ST 2023 • D R I L L I N G C O N T R AC T O R