ComputerWell

ComputerWell is a Norwegian software company that develops DrillComputer, an application for surveillance of ongoing and historic drilling operations for decision-support purposes. The software combines an ultrafast drillstring simulator with pattern recognition methods in order to predict parameters that the company describes as crucial for understanding a drilling operation. Its drillstring dynamics models compute axial and torsional motions and stresses across drillstring configurations, drilling fluids and wellbore geometries, and are designed to run faster than real time.

The product targets what the company identifies as shortcomings of conventional drilling surveillance: physical measurements are typically taken at the drill floor rather than near the bit; measured quantities carry systematic and non-systematic errors (for example hysteresis error of several tons in hookload derived from a deadline strain gauge); and derived parameters such as weight on bit (WOB), rate of penetration (ROP), mechanical specific energy (MSE) and friction forces rely on simple functional relationships that hold only in steady stress states. By running the simulator with multiple parameter settings, DrillComputer predicts the most probable movement pattern of the drillstring at any point in an operation.

Current stated features include precise ROP, precise WOB with on-bottom/off-bottom detection, precise MSE, and along-string inspection. MSE is derived from the formation hardness value that matches the surface-estimated WOB, which the company says avoids data smoothing and the associated loss of spatial resolution that conventional MSE monitoring requires. The user interface is built to handle high-resolution datasets, with zooming described as smooth on 1000 Hz data, and a database component pre-processes a customer's well database so that offset wells can be analysed alongside a well under investigation.