RTOC brings together multiple AI platforms to make data-driven predictions, recommendations

By Stephen Whitfield, Senior Editor

For years, real-time operating centers (RTOCs) have proven their value in enabling organizations to collect rig and other wellsite data that can then be used to optimize decision making and anticipate potential operational and downhole issues. Now, artificial intelligence (AI) platforms are increasingly being deployed to help these centers process and analyze vast amounts of data more efficiently.

“A lot of the work we do is labor intensive,” said Amir Galaby, VP – Business Development at DRAAS Command, a technology provider for the energy industry. “You have to open a lot of files, look through a lot of data, and try to find out something that’s relevant that could be included in well plans or finding something you could use when you’re drilling the well. There’s a lot of logistical considerations that need to go into drilling a well. You can miss out on things if you don’t go through that data.”

DRAAS Command is looking to help the drilling industry take a different approach, where all information is saved and analyzed in one place. “It’s about saving as much NPT as possible,” Mr Galaby said.

In March 2025, the company opened an RTOC in The Woodlands, Texas, featuring the AI platform of Nvicta AI, whose founder was also a founder of DRAAS Command. The platform is cloud based and aggregates and stores EDR, MWD and machine data in one system, providing a comprehensive view of a drilling operation.

The platform provides real-time visualization of key performance indicators (KPIs), including critical metrics like connection times and stand-by-stand performance. It also allows operators to simulate user-generated instructions for a given well plan, testing different scenarios and strategies in a virtual environment. This capability allows users to optimize the well plan prior to drilling. It can also be used to flag potential issues in the planning stages or during drilling.

The Nvicta AI platform works in conjunction with AI SME, DRAAS Command’s in-house AI software program. AI SME takes the analyses generated within Nvicta AI to suggest possible courses of action that could mitigate a potential issue. This capability, the company says, can be valuable in cutting time from well planning and in streamlining the decision-making process during operations.

“Nvicta is the software brain behind this system. It’s flagging the things that matter – maybe a stuck pipe risk, a washout forming, or even something simple like the driller tripping slower than the plan designates,” Mr Galaby said. “When something pops up, AI SME makes the recommended action, and our team can call the rig with that observation.”

AI SME is an agentic software, meaning that it can operate autonomously in complex environments, executing multi-step tasks with minimal human intervention. The software essentially acts as an extra set of eyes in the RTOC, which is comprised of individual pods that can monitor up to five rigs at a time.

Each pod is staffed by three people: The drilling engineer focuses on the well plan and the KPIs being measured, and stays on top of any potential event predictions and mitigating recommendations coming from the AI SME. The drilling supervisor acts as the liaison between the RTOC and the rig site but also collaborates with the drilling engineer on the well plan. Finally, the directional driller monitors the bit’s directional adherence versus the well plan.

Operators and drilling contractors can send their own personnel to the RTOC if they wish, Mr Galaby said, or DRAAS Command can send its drilling supervisors to the rig site upon request.

The AI SME is an advisory system, trained on publicly available data, the operator’s offset data, and the live WITSML data streaming from the rig. Personnel can choose to accept its recommendations or not.

“You can literally talk to it,” Mr Galaby said of AI SME. “I would think of it as ChatGPT on steroids, but focused on drilling, completions and production. We’re adding the context so that our people can know what to watch for. We can ask things like, what were the best parameters in the nearest offset? Or what led to a stuck pipe incident in that offset? What should I do now to avoid repeating it? There are limitless use cases.”

While the AI SME software is currently only running at the DRAAS RTOC, the company plans to release it for commercial use in Q1 2026. As it is a web-based program, it is OS agnostic.

Other parts of the technology package deployed at the RTOC, besides AI SME, include a dashboard of applications containing physics-based simulations of hydraulics, torque and drag, and hole cleaning; a digital fluids system that uses x-ray fluorescence to provide near-real-time flow and density diagnostics; and a cuttings monitoring system that uses 3D vision and AI segmentation to analyze cuttings and cavings in real time.

“I think the connection of the real-time data with the AI is the key differentiator with this setup,” Mr Galaby said. “The Nvicta platform is giving you more context, and that context is being drawn for the AI SME. Everything is working together to come up with these recommendations.” 

While there are currently only two pods operating at the RTOC, monitoring a total of two land rigs between them, DRAAS Command said it is in talks with operators to add two additional land rigs this year. It’s also looking to potentially expand its work to offshore rigs. DC