Halliburton and Nabors achieve fully automated drilling operations in Oman

Halliburton and Nabors Industries have through their combined solutions achieved the first fully automated surface and subsurface execution of rotary and slide drilling operations in Oman, resulting in improved drilling performance and reduced well construction time

The integration of Halliburton’s LOGIX automation and remote operations solutions, and Nabors SmartROS rig operating system delivered land-based, closed-loop drilling solutions to improve operational efficiency, consistency, and real-time decision-making capabilities. It enabled seamless orchestration of drilling parameters, real-time data analytics, integrated experience management, and remote control of operations.

“The wells were delivered ahead of plan with a higher average rate of penetration and lower non-productive time. This milestone demonstrates our leadership in drilling automation,” said Steve Haden, senior vice president, Project Management, Halliburton.

“The success we are seeing in Oman is a testament to the power of collaboration as we work together to drive automation across the industry to improve safety and efficiency. This is just the beginning, and we are excited to continue to push the boundaries of innovation to achieve autonomous drilling,” said Subodh Saxena, senior vice president, Canrig and Nabors Drilling Solutions.

Halliburton’s LOGIX automation and remote operations drive reliability and efficiency in well construction, increasing the consistency and performance of well construction operations by integrating subsurface and surface automation, digital twins, and remote operations. It provides an array of advanced digital applications to enable critical engineering, operations insights, and automated operations. Halliburton LOGIX automation and remote operations, combined with Nabors’ SmartROS rig operating system, form a unified platform that enables consistent, repeatable drilling performance.

In June 2023,Halliburton and Nabors Industries announced an agreement to collaborate on leading well construction automation solutions, initially deployed in Iraq.These include 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 RigCLOUD high-performance digital infrastructure platform. Initially deployed in Iraq, the companies’ technologies automate well construction services from planning to execution across both subsurface and surface equipment and environments.

Earlier this month, Nabors Drilling Technologies and Corva AI are expanding their strategic alliance into the RigCLOUD high-performance edge computing platform, to accelerate digital transformation in the drilling industry. “RigCLOUD Powered by Corva” is a fully integrated drilling intelligence solution that will combine Nabors’ edge and cloud computing platform with Corva’s industry-leading AI-driven analytics.

Nabors Industries has also teamed up with SLB to scale adoption of automated drilling solutions industrywide. The collaboration, announced in January 2024, provides customers with access to a broader suite of drilling automation technologies and greater flexibility to utilise their existing rig control systems and equipment on either SLB’s PRECISE or Nabors’ SmartROS rig operating system.