DI G ITAL TR AN S FOR MATION
Digitalization pushes
rig alarm, alert systems
into the next frontier
Drillers are increasingly using AI, machine learning, computer vision
to notify personnel of performance limiters, keep rig crews safe
BY STEPHEN WHITFIELD, EDITOR & PUBLISHER
A s wells become more complex and new automation tech-
nologies are added to drilling processes, rig crews have
become increasingly reliant on alarm systems – both to
keep people safe from hazards like dropped objects and to help
them manage the plethora of data coming in from various sensors
on surface equipment and in the wellbore.

With safety-related alarms, recent advances have propelled
computer vision technologies to the forefront, primarily by
enabling continuous, dynamic monitoring of the areas where
Highlights
As more safety-related alerts are added
to its Rules Engine Exchange system,
Patterson-UTI is working to install REX
engines directly at the rig site to reduce
latency and speed up alert delivery.

As part of its dropped objects focus, H&P is
using computer vision technology to help
keep crews away from the pipe delivery
system during high-risk activities.

Seadrill is also deploying a computer
vision-based system to monitor for PPE on
rig crews in the red zone. The tool has been
installed on three drillships working in Brazil.

16 heavy drilling equipment operates and the risk of serious injury
or fatality is the highest. By combining artificial intelligence (AI)
and machine learning with cameras installed in hazardous areas,
these systems are helping to mitigate the potential blind spots
and errors that come from humans monitoring the rig floor.

“Our primary objective is keeping our crews safe, and we’ll uti-
lize whatever tool we can – video analytics, AI, machine learning
– to help us meet that objective,” said Richard McConomy, Manager
of Seadrill’s PLATO digital platform, which helps the company
leverage large data sets for better decision making. “Video analyt-
ics powered by AI is an efficient tool for detecting and managing
safety issues in real time by sending alerts to prevent accidents.”
For alarms related more to equipment and operational perfor-
mance, companies are focused on leveraging advanced data ana-
lytics, which can involve moving data processing from the cloud
to the rig site, so alerts can go out as early as possible.

“We want to get notified of those moments where we’re leav-
ing performance on the table as they happen, instead of getting
a post-well analysis where we realize we were limiting,” said
Trevor Olson, Drilling Optimization Manager at Patterson-UTI. “If
a mud pump goes offline and we’re not able to get enough flow
rate in a certain section, we’re not performing as efficiently as we
want. We want to be able to see that as it happens and be proac-
tive about addressing those limiting factors.”
Maximizing performance
Last year, Patterson-UTI started rolling out its Rules Engine
Exchange (REX), a cloud-based real-time alerting system for
monitoring equipment and maximizing performance. It uses data
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




DI G ITAL TR AN S FOR MATION
Above: Patterson-UTI's Rules Engine Ex-
change (REX) alerts rig personnel to
potential issues that may be limiting
performance on the rig so they can
take action. The company plans to
complete a pilot installation of the sys-
tem on 10 rigs by the end of this year.

Right: Patterson-UTI has 83 alerts vali-
dated and available on its REX system.

An additional 30 newer alerts, focused
more on safety and hazardous events,
are undergoing validation.

from electronic drilling recorders, rig control systems, morning
reports and real-time models calculated at the rig site to deliver
alerts of operational events in near-real time via text messaging,
e-mail and an online interface.

Users can customize the system to their own needs by sub-
scribing to specific types of alerts or even creating new alerts for
themselves. Three categories of alerts are available: simple opera-
tional events, such as when a rig started or completed a trip or
reached a well’s total depth; equipment alerts, which notify users
when specific pieces of equipment have entered a fault or warn-
ing state; and data quality alerts, which tell users when a sensor
on a given rig is returning improper values.

Patterson-UTI finished the first stage of REX’s development
last year – building its backend infrastructure and user interface,
installing it over a cloud computing network and completing field
trials validating the system’s effectiveness. Since then, the com-
pany has been working on the next development stage, which
involves adding alerts to cover additional performance-limiting
scenarios and equipment issues, as well as installing the REX
engine directly onto servers housed on Patterson-UTI’s rigs . The
company intends to have the system fully installed on all rigs by
the end of this year.

Building infrastructure for the REX system to run directly on
the rigs will allow the company to deploy alerts locally instead of
through the cloud-based infrastructure, Mr Olson said. By install-
ing the system on the company’s CORTEX KEY edge servers,
which are housed on each rig and connected to the rig control
system and the electronic drilling recorder, the company believes
D R I L L I N G C O N T R AC T O R • J U LY/AU G U ST 2023
17