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
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