Data Architecture of Realtime Drilling and Completions Information at Saudi Aramco
Figure 3: WITSML Store and WITS Conversion on the Wellsite
Wellsite
Data plots
WITSML universal viewer
Data application
WITSML universal viewer Saudi Aramco
Data plots
Mud-logger
<WITSML/> WITS
WITSML store LWD/MWD Application
be capable of generating displays that are generic to the type of data, rather than specific to the designs of the data acquisition companies, thereby reducing complexity and ensuring rapid training for existing or new geotechnicians as they are introduced to the DRTDH.
This browser-based viewer will be linked to the Saudi Aramco active directory, so that once authenticated through an initial workstation login, the user will not need to re-authenticate on a third-party realtime operation centre (RTOC), providing enhanced security and again reducing the time needed to search for and retrieve data, an area where considerable efficiency and cost savings can be implemented.
Wellsite Information Transfer Standard Markup Language Transfer from the Wellsite
WITSML was originally conceived to be the replacement for WITS, but it is not been used by the majority of data acquisition companies in that way; instead, they have continued to use WITS from the wellsite and make a conversion to WITSML at their own RTOCs.
In addition to the problems already noted with the use of the WITS format, a conversion from WITS to WITSML at an RTOC can lead to delays in the availability of the ‘realtime’ data to the corporate applications, and there is no provision for the transfer through WITS of certain data types such as mud-logging lithology descriptions.
Despite the fact that WITSML has considerable advantages over WITS as the mechanism for realtime data transfer from the wellsite to the office, it is still used by only a small number of data acquisition companies for this purpose, and although they have actively supported the development of the standard, these service providers have been reluctant to switch from the provision of realtime data from the wellsite in WITS format, preferring instead to make WITSML available from their own RTOCs.
MWD/LWD data can sometimes have spurious spikes and other data irregularities that need to be removed before data are made available to realtime applications such as geosteering. Where realtime data are
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sent by WITS, it is not possible to automatically transfer data edits that might be made by the wellsite data engineer, and instead it is necessary to manually patch correct data, which is a time-consuming and inefficient process.
The use of WITSML data transfer direct from the wellsite permits the use of sophisticated features that have been evolved by the Drilling SIG such as ‘updateFromStore’. Where the MWD/LWD data acquisition company providing services to Saudi Aramco is able to transfer realtime data in WITSML format, the data edits made by the engineer at the wellsite pass through to the WITSML store without the need to transit the entire interval, and all manual patching of data is eliminated.
Saudi Aramco is already currently receiving WITSML data directly to the DRTDH from the data acquisition systems of one MWD/LWD provider and one mud-logging provider. This is shown in Figure 2. It is hoped that other companies will follow suit in the near future.
Wellsite Information Transfer Standard Markup Language Store at the Wellsite
For those data acquisition companies that are capable of transmitting data in WITSML format, it is preferable to retain a WITSML store on the wellsite. This store is then queried using ‘getFromStore’ by the DRTDH WITSML aggregator directly, allowing direct population of the DRTDH with wellsite WITSML data rather than going through a third-party RTOC, with the inherent subsequent delays in the recovery of the data from those RTOCs to the DRTDH.
In addition, the use of the WITSML store at the wellsite provides a data buffer that stores the data for later collection should the satellite link from the wellsite to the office be lost for any reason.
The use of a WITSML store at the wellsite will allow a WITSML single viewer application to be used by wellsite personnel such as the company man, drilling engineer, geologist or data acquisition company data engineer to view the realtime data locally, rather than being obliged to consume satellite bandwidth to open plots remotely on a third-party RTOC plot server.
EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION – VOLUME 8 ISSUE 1
WITS
<WITSML/> <WITSML/> <WITSML/> WITSML store
Oracle database
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