“As drilling projects grow in ambition, smarter equals faster.”
Nowadays, it seems like more and more companies want to become the Carl Lewis or Usain Bolt of drilling. Get out the blocks fast, hit every stride sweetly and cross the finish line to first oil in record time.
As any elite runner will tell you, the equipment alone doesn’t win you the race. Equally, if not more important, is developing a race plan, road-testing that plan, and developing the intelligence to know exactly when, where and how to hit the gas.
So when it comes to the future of the oil and gas industry, ‘smart drilling’ will be key and require a combination of technology and thinking that reimagines how firms manage and execute a more harmonised approach to early well life.
The key is ensuring that design, analysis, equipment selection and implementation are all aligned and buttressed by operational expertise. Where companies lack the expertise or resource, initiation specialists will fill the void.
As drilling projects grow in ambition, smarter equals faster. By combining integration and intelligence through specialist providers in the initiation phase with best-in-class technology, ‘smart drilling’ promises to give projects the solid footing needed to keep the industry running for decades to come.
– James Larnder, managing director, Aquaterra Energy