DRILL BIT SELECTOR

NOV 60.3352 Publication

Date Published: October 10, 2013
2013 National Oilwell Varco, All rights reserved
Page 1 of 7 | This publication is for information purposes and does not necessarily represent products or
services offered by National Oilwell Varco.



The buying decisions of customers can benefit from data that are currently generated across
many departments of oil and gas service companies. For example, customers could select a
drill bit better suited for drilling a particular well if they had access to the analysis of
performance data of drill bits across the world. Thus, implementing an information system that
facilitates the process of collecting, archiving, and analyzing these data may promote sales of
drill bits. More generally, such information systems may be used by sale persons or directly by
customers for evaluating and recommending various types of products or solutions, not only
drill bits. They may have the advantage of providing analyses that are supported by historical
and current data in a controlled and reproducible way.

These information systems may be configured to simply provide a searchable repository. As
such, they may be used for training personnel as well. But with the use of Artificial Neural
Networks, they may also help users to mine data and provide answers to problems rarely
encountered or not recognized before. Provided with Artificial Neural Networks, they may be
used to drive the design of new products and the maintenance of existing ones. For example,
they can be used as engineering tools to decide design characteristics of new drill bits for use
in new rock formations by interpolating or extrapolating the knowledge acquired in the rock
formations already drilled.


Information system database

Good representation of rock geology and rock mechanics in an information system database
may contribute to eliminate the guess work out of making drill bit selection. The worldwide
formation classification system described below has been devised with the objective of helping
sell or evolve drill bit designs for new drilling applications.
1. The classification of a homogeneous rock formation may rely on ternary triangles to
generate coded symbols representing lithologies of rock formations. Examples of
ternary triangles that may be used are illustrated in Figures 1A, 1B, and 1C below. Any
geological type (e.g., siltstone, mudstone, claystone, or sandstone in Figure 1A) or
any combination of volume fractions (e.g., 20% limestone, 20% sandstone, 60% shale
in Figure 1C ) may be coded by symbols representing the nearest corners in the
triangle. Some geological types not shown on the ternary triangles (e.g., cherty
limestone) may be coded with additional symbols.
DRILL BIT SELECTOR
NOV 60.3352 Publication
Date Published: October 10, 2013
2013 National Oilwell Varco, All rights reserved
Page 2 of 7 | This publication is for information purposes and does not necessarily represent products or
services offered by National Oilwell Varco.


FIGURE 1A

FIGURE 1B

FIGURE 1C

2. The classification of a homogeneous rock formation may also rely on rock mechanical
properties whose values are statistically summarized. The mechanical properties may
be derived from drilling well logs, wire line logs, mud logs, or other experiments
performed on samples of the rock formation. Examples of mechanical properties that
can be used in the classification include Strength, Porosity, Vibration, Balling and
Abrasion data computed from drilling measurements with the TerraSCOPE Software,
provided by NOV. A special designed program may extract maxima, minima, averages
or standard deviations of one or more of these mechanical properties measured along
the drilled intervals of the rock formation.

DRILL BIT SELECTOR
NOV 60.3352 Publication
Date Published: October 10, 2013
2013 National Oilwell Varco, All rights reserved
Page 3 of 7 | This publication is for information purposes and does not necessarily represent products or
services offered by National Oilwell Varco.

While a rock formation type may have global or macroscopic characteristics, it may also exhibit
local or microscopic variations as well. For example, some of the data computed with the
TerraSCOPE Software may be unique to a particular well and thus may more accurately
represent local or microscopic variations of the mechanical properties of a particular rock
formation type. Thus, the mechanical properties of any rock formation type may depend on
the selection of a geographic location and geographical groupings. Conversely, the
performance of a particular drill bit in a rock formation type may have a global trend as well as
local variations. Thus, the performance of a drill bit in a rock formation type may also depend
on the selection of a geographic location and geographical groupings.

To take into account this dependence in the data, several datasets describing the usage of drill
bits can be entered in the information system database for any selected area of the world and
for any rock formation type located in the selected area. These datasets may include the
information described below.
3. A local characterization of an interval of homogeneous rock formation may typically
include the drilling data described below:
formation thickness, formation depth; and
additional rock mechanical data that may better represent the selected rock formation
type in a particular well location and/or well depth, for example caused by a different
overbalance or formation gradient.
Associated in the same dataset are data comprising:
parameters describing a selected bit, comprising catalog code and characteristics that
are determined from drilling measurements or otherwise, for example: AIDC bit
classification, any marketable features of the drill bit such as cutter grade designations
or hydraulic nozzle configurations, coefficients characterizing the bit behavior (e.g.,
aggressivity) either estimated from AIDC bit classification or computed from actual data
collected using the bit, and customized codes created for unconventional bits not in the
AIDC classification;
rate of penetration (ROP) or other drillability predictors (e.g., total footage drilled)
dependent on the selection of the drill bit; and
data representative of the bit run, such as drive type, mud weight, and fluid type,
drilling practices and other operation data, such as vibration levels, that may explain
variations of bit performance caused by factors other than the selected bit, the
geographic location and geographical groupings.
4. In some cases, well location selection may be integrated to Google Earth application as
illustrated in Figure 2. Also, formation, basin, or play names and ages can be stored as
secondary variables for location.
DRILL BIT SELECTOR
NOV 60.3352 Publication
Date Published: October 10, 2013
2013 National Oilwell Varco, All rights reserved
Page 4 of 7 | This publication is for information purposes and does not necessarily represent products or
services offered by National Oilwell Varco.


FIGURE 2


Artificial Neural Network Analysis

Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are valuable tools for decoding and classifying the causal
relationships in empirical datasets. Trained ANNs may therefore provide optimized bit
selection based on analysis of the information system database. For example, they can be
used to look for the best bit type for any drilling application, whether it is Roller Cone, Diamond
Impregnated, or PDC.

Unlike other bit selection systems that rely uniquely on geographic proximity to select the
datasets to be used for training ANNs, the information system described in Figure 3 can also
use symbolic codes and numerical values regardless of proximity to select the datasets. So,
after selecting group of wells containing a given ternary geological type and rock mechanical
properties within a given statiscal range (and optionally within geographical group), one or
more ANNs are trained for the prediction of several drilling data. After the ANNs are trained, a
user can input one or more variables describing a new well and/or new drilling objectives, and
use the trained ANNs to select a bit type, either via a code from a catalog of bits, or if no bit
exists in the catalog, the ANNs may provide to the user characteristics for a new bit design
(e.g., bit aggressivity). The trained ANNs may also predict bit performance, for example ROP
and footage drilled. Finally, bit operation guidelines could also be suggested (e.g., mud type).

DRILL BIT SELECTOR
NOV 60.3352 Publication
Date Published: October 10, 2013
2013 National Oilwell Varco, All rights reserved
Page 5 of 7 | This publication is for information purposes and does not necessarily represent products or
services offered by National Oilwell Varco.

ANN
1 Analog Model Ternary Geological Data
a Carbonate
b Salt
c Basic Sedimentary
d Clastics Grain Szie
2 Analog Model Statistics of Rock
Mechanics Well Data (Terrescope)
a Rock Strength
b Friction Angle (abrasion)
c Vibration Impact
3 Analog Well Data Input
a ROP
b Thickness
c Formation TOP
d Bit Type Code
4. Geographic Intergrated Software GIS
a Location
b Formation name
c Formation age
Output
Bit Type
Performance Prediction
Paramter Operating Guide
New Bit Design Coefficients
Symbolic and Numerical
Empirical Input Data for
Analogue Model
Trained Neural Network
User input
for new
Application
Data and ANN
learning

FIGURE 3

With approval, users may add new variables in each datasets, so that the description of
homogeneous rock formations can be completed and the ANNs may more accurately learn
from the completed datasets. For example, a new drillability indicator may be developed
based on bit specific energy (see for example SPE paper #15894 entitled A New Approach to
Drill Bit Selection by Rabia et al., 1986).


Examples

Using the concepts discussed above, an ANN was trained on simplified datasets to
demonstrate the usefulness of ANNs for selecting bits and/or predict bit performance. As
shown in Figure 4 below, the ANN can correctly learn the AIDC codes of the drill bits that are
most often used in various rock formations and the values of the ROP that are typically
achieved in these rock formations when using these bits.

Well Drilling Data
Well Location Data
Operating Guidelines
variable
DRILL BIT SELECTOR
NOV 60.3352 Publication
Date Published: October 10, 2013
2013 National Oilwell Varco, All rights reserved
Page 6 of 7 | This publication is for information purposes and does not necessarily represent products or
services offered by National Oilwell Varco.

rand0m
(S)Well
Referenc
e
(S)Forma
tional
Vib
Potential
(S)LP
Ternary
Composit
ion
(S)RSA
Vibration
Potential (S)Class Lithology
(S)Bit
Usage Pred Bits
Actual
Bits
Avg
Thicknes
s Avg Top Avg UCS Avg CCS Peak CCS Hole Size Pred ROP
Avg ROP
fph
0.745587 S1-72 MEDIUM BA medium Evaporite Insert 617 617 2850 3133 5 12 35 12.25 13.075 10
0.189502 ISRT-1 HIGH B High Dolomitic Limestone Insert 535 535 700 8850 5 10 40 16 19.61593 8
0.153803 OBA 28 MEDIUM A High Limestone insert 527 527 330 11929 40 50 60 8.5 27.40166 30
0.906763 B1-NC4 HIGH BA high Dolomite Mill Tooth 113 113 300 1462 5 20 50 17.5 10.46145 20
0.632947 5i16-59 LOW A medium Limestone and Sand PDC 619 619 400 2721 5 15 40 12.25 21.55938 30
0.387419 RA-206 HIGH CA very high Limestone PDC 819 819 1200 11780 30 40 50 16 17.20945 10
0.285206 RA-206 MEDIUM A medium hLimestone Insert 437 437 200 6871 10 25 40 22 11.57584 10
0.622304 S1-72 HIGH B high Dolomite pdc 619 813 450 5985 12 25 40 12.25 40.28364 10
0.448505 S1-72 MEDIUM AB low Limestone Mill Tooth 445 113 1500 1630 4 12 20 17.5 34.78321 13
0.205681 B1-NC4 HIGH BA high Limestone Mill Tooth 113 113 500 920 5 15 30 17.5 26.97444 20
0.253543 NFR 6-1 HIGH AB high Limestone pdc 619 816 450 5730 8 10 28 12.25 65.21629 100
0.103944 C6-97 MEDIUM A low Limestone Insert 445 445 1200 4387 6 14 20 17.5 34.29932 35
0.425597 J2-I3 LOW A Low Limestone Mill Tooth 519 Mill Tooth 1500 4950 5 20 20 8.25 83.50751 120
0.766274 5i16-59 HIGH BA very high Dolomite PDC 619 619 300 6850 30 40 55 12.25 23.5615 30
0.243315 C6-97 MEDIUM A medium Limestone Insert 445 445 1200 7466 10 20 30 17.5 21.72101 35
0.792789 R-507 MEDIUM CA Medium Limestone pdc 619 616 541 7053 10 20 40 12.25 40.54945 100
0.087711 AK-25 HIGH A medium hLimestone Insert 516 517 360 11089 20 40 50 8.5 26.43062 9
0.267421 ABSF-64 MEDIUM A low Limestone Mill Tooth 619 112 400 5400 5 10 30 12.25 59.5981 33
0.289988 SE-1h1 HIGH BA very high Dolomite pdc 619 619 700 10390 35 50 60 12.25 17.89076 8
0.901263 AD-008 MEDIUM BA medium Dolomite Insert 517 517 200 4954 10 15 40 12.25 21.55938 20

FIGURE 4

However, a more advanced analysis may be needed to realize the full potential of ANNs. An
example of advanced analysis may involve several ANNs at different levels. In the example
shown below in Figure 5, two levels of analysis are performed, each with a different ANN. A
first regression Neural Network is trained to output the performance (e.g., footage drilled and
ROP) that is typically achieved in a particular rock formation, and/or wells drilled in this rock
formation and located in selected geographic areas in the world. The outputs of this first
Neural Network can then be used as inputs in a second classify Neural Network. The
classify Neural Network is trained to assist users in drill bit selection.

The two Neural Networks may not use the same inputs. For example, the first regression
Neural Network may predict drilling performance as a function of the drillability of the rock
formation to be drilled, the type of mud used to drill the well, the type of hydraulic performance
delivered by the rig that will be used, etc... In addition to a desired footage and ROP, the
classify Neural Network may select the drill bit as a function of the hardness of the rock, the
tolerance to vibrations caused during drilling, etc

DRILL BIT SELECTOR
NOV 60.3352 Publication
Date Published: October 10, 2013
2013 National Oilwell Varco, All rights reserved
Page 7 of 7 | This publication is for information purposes and does not necessarily represent products or
services offered by National Oilwell Varco.


FIGURE 5