Intelligent Drilling Technology Research Status and Development Trends

As oil and gas exploration and development shift to unconventional, low permeability, deep formations, deepwater and other complex hydrocarbon resources, drilling engineering is facing a series of difficulties and challenges in terms of safety, economics and efficiency. Centering around cutting-edge technologies such as big data and artificial intelligence, intelligent drilling technology is expected to be able to incorporate advanced detection, intelligent steering, closed-loop control and intelligent decision-making in the drilling process, thereby greatly increasing the productivity and oil and gas recovery ratio and reducing drilling costs. In recent years, intelligent drilling technology is absolutely cutting edge, as both the frontier and the key hotspot of research worldwide. In this paper, we introduced in detail the development status of key engineering technologies in intelligent drilling, including the intelligent optimization of borehole trajectory and drilling speed, intelligent steering, downhole closed-loop control, intelligent monitoring and decision-making, etc. The principle breakthroughsin intelligent drilling equipment such as smart drilling rig, drill pipe, drill bit, intelligent pressure management drilling system and intelligent steering drilling system were analyzed. Due to the rapid development of artificial intelligence technology in China, it is necessary to strengthen the cross-border integration of drilling engineering and cutting-edge theory/technology, to enhance collaborative inno-vation and to establish a comprehensive intelligent drilling technology system, so as to provide technical supports in the efficient exploration and development of complex oil and gas resources as well as in the strategies of oil and gas development in China.