Halliburton and Nabors in Automation Pact

Halliburton Company (NYSE: HAL) and Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR) have announced, in a joint statement, “an agreement on leading well construction automation solutions”.

Under the deal, Halliburton and Nabors will collaborate on their technologies, including the Halliburton Well Construction 4.0 digital surface and subsurface drilling technologies, the LOGIX Autonomous Drilling Platform, the Nabors SmartROS universal rig controls and automation platform and the RigCLOUD digital infrastructure platform, the statement outlined.

“Halliburton’s and Nabors’ efforts will make it easier for customers to deploy Halliburton’s automation solutions that can enhance rig capabilities, lower well construction costs, and reduce operational risks,” Steve Haden, a Senior Vice President at Halliburton Project Management, said in the statement.

Subodh Saxena, a Senior Vice President at Nabors Drilling Solutions, said, “this agreement brings together the drilling process automation and digital solutions of Nabors with Halliburton’s sub-surface expertise, resulting in a unique combination that will drive well construction efficiencies through repeatable and consistent outcomes”.

Halliburton’s and Nabors’ technologies automate well construction services from planning to execution across both subsurface and surface equipment and environments, the statement noted, adding that the tech was initially deployed in Iraq. The two companies “will engage on further opportunities to expand projects for other customers in countries across the globe”, according to the statement.

Rigzone has asked both companies if they see rig automation as the future of oil and gas exploration and production, and, if so, where that leaves oil and gas workers. At the time of writing, neither company has yet responded to Rigzone.

Halliburton, Nabors Tech

In a well construction segment on its website, Halliburton notes that it delivers digitally-optimized construction and automated control of all placement, drilling, cementing, downhole, field, and deepwater functions.

“Through an open architecture and singular interface, virtual technologies enable operators to manage multiple jobs and adjust well plans in real time - from anywhere,” the company’s website states.

“The industry’s first open and integrated well operations software connects the entire value chain - operators, service providers, logistics providers, and rig providers - to deliver safer and more efficient wells. Halliburton lowers costs, reduces risks, and improves well performance,” it adds.

In a separate segment, Halliburton states that the LOGIX Autonomous Drilling Platform offers an integrated autonomous drilling solution that “drills smart wells consistently, with accurate well-positioning, and superior drilling performance”.

“The platform orchestrates real-time steering controls, collision avoidance, visualization, and autonomously makes decisions to mitigate drilling dysfunctions to maximize penetration rates,” the site notes.

“With the LOGIX platform, we offer a digital transformation that helps reduce operational risk and uncertainty to deliver wells reliably, repeatably, and consistently,” it adds.

“Digital twins and machine learning reduce operational and HSE risks with smaller wellsite footprints and reduced well delivery times, contributing towards sustainability and carbon emission targets,” it continues.

Nabors highlights on its site that the SmartROS Rig Operating System is a platform for the digitalization and automation of drilling processes.

“With the SmartROS rig operating system, drillers can deploy advanced automation to elevate their people, their performance, and their customers without an expensive rig upgrade,” the site states.

“SmartROS is developed for drillers by drillers and can be scaled easily across your equipment fleet, regardless of manufacturer,” it adds.

RigCLOUD is described on the product’s website as the oil and gas industry’s next-generation open cloud platform.

“It is uniquely designed to host drilling and analytics software at the rig site, on the web and on mobile devices,” RigCLOUD’s site states.

Halliburton Launches, Acquisitions

Earlier this month, Halliburton introduced the EarthStar X near-bit shallow and ultra-deep resistivity service, which it noted is part of the iStar intelligent drilling and logging platform.

The EarthStar X service’s near-bit, ultra-deep reservoir mapping sensor increases well placement accuracy - detecting geological changes early and enabling quick well trajectory correction to remain in the most productive zones and maximize asset value, Halliburton said in a company statement.

Integrated shallow resistivity measurements allow early reserves evaluation and accurate fluid characterization to further improve reservoir insight while lowering operational complexity and risks, the company added in the statement.

“We listened and responded to operators to create the industry's ‘closest to bit’ ultra-deep resistivity measurements,” Jim Collins, the Vice President of Sperry Drilling at Halliburton, said in a company statement.

“The EarthStar X service enables accurate reserves evaluation to help place wells in the productive zone of even the most complex reservoirs,” he added.

Also in June, Halliburton announced that it had acquired Resoptima AS, which it described as a leading Norwegian technology company that specializes in data-driven reservoir management.

“This strategic acquisition will integrate the industry-leading reservoir modeling and predictive analytics of Resoptima into the Halliburton Landmark DecisionSpace 365 suite,” Halliburton said in a separate statement.

Resoptima provides technology solutions that enhance oil and gas operators’ ability to harness data for reservoir understanding, driving efficiency in oil extraction, resource management, and risk mitigation, Halliburton noted in the announcement, adding that, to date, more than 130 active fields globally have benefited from Resoptima’s technology.

“The combination of Resoptima’s best-in-class reservoir engineering and science with Landmark’s leadership in geology and drilling allows Halliburton to offer unique and innovative solutions that enhance exploration success and reservoir recovery,” Nagaraj Srinivasan, Senior Vice President of Landmark at Halliburton Digital Solutions and Consulting, said in a company statement.

Nabors Alliance, Buyout

Back in April, Nabors said it had formed a strategic alliance with Corva to accelerate the digital transformation of the global drilling industry.

“Corva and Nabors Industries … announced a strategic technology partnership to provide a first of its kind digital and automation offering to the global drilling industry,” Nabors said in a statement posted on its site at the time.

“Integrating Corva’s industry leading App Store and Dev Center with Nabors’ SmartROS universal drilling rig controls and automation system is expected to deliver solutions that rapidly scale process and machine automation, enhance remote project oversight, and streamline data exchange and collaboration across any AC rig fleet,” Nabors added.

Commenting on the alliance in April, Saxena said, “integrating our universal rig controls and automation system with Corva’s App Store provides the industry a one-stop shop for deploying automation across rig fleets”.

“This creates an unparalleled ecosystem of digital and automation solutions that delivers consistent and repeatable results during the well construction process,” Saxena added.

Ryan Dawson, the Founder and CEO of Corva, said, “through this partnership, Corva and Nabors are creating a unified solution that addresses current industry gaps, touching everyone involved in drilling a well and elevating their experience on the rig or in the office”.

“This collaboration is aimed at providing our customers a new world of possibilities for drilling automation and team communication by pairing best-in-class rig control systems and data pipelines with Corva’s App Store, advanced machine learning and physics-based models, and industry-leading user experience,” he added.

In January, Nabors announced that it had acquired digital twin developer MindMesh. The acquisition of the engineering technology firm included the downhole simulation and modeling technologies that the MindMesh team had developed, Nabors highlighted at the time. Additionally, MindMesh co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Raju Gandikota joined Nabors as a Director in the Controls and Automation group, the company noted.

Industry Firsts

Back in March 2021, Halliburton revealed that it had given a “major operator” real-time automated control of fracture placement while pumping on a multi-well pad using the SmartFleet intelligent fracturing system in the Permian Basin.

Described as an industry first at the time, Halliburton said SmartFleet applies automation enabled by subsurface measurements and real-time visualization to intelligently adapt and respond to reservoir behavior, “driving real-time improvement in completion execution and fracture outcomes”.

Also in 2021, Nabors announced that the world’s first fully automated land rig had successfully drilled its first well.

“PACE-R801 – the world’s first fully automated land drilling rig – has reached total depth on its first well, a horizontal well for ExxonMobil in the Permian Basin,” Nabors noted at the time.

Jason Gahr, Operations Manager for Unconventional Drilling at ExxonMobil, said at the time, “ExxonMobil’s collaboration with Nabors in deploying this automated rig in Midland demonstrates the ability to optimize drilling using the combined power of robotics, automation, computing, and data”.

“This is a great example of enhancing the safety, efficiency and environmental performance of our operations through innovative technologies,” he added.

To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com