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The Operations / Quality Control Center  

The Operations Center is manned by well planners, directional drilling coordinators, measurement while drilling coordinators, drilling engineers and an operations manager. The purpose of this facility is first to plan a well which has the maximum chance possible of producing a significant return on investment for the producer, second to get the right personnel and tools to the well site the first time, and then to oversee the directional drilling and measurement while drilling activities of our personnel on drill sites throughout the country, and in the future, throughout the world.

As a drilling manager, the importance of Predator Technologies' Operations Center to you is that our team of highly trained and qualified professionals will help plan your well, and then test and retest the assumptions made. Once our coordination with you has generated a plan that meets your drilling requirements and is acceptable to your geological and drilling management staff, you can have confidence that our entire team will be utilized to insure that your drilling project reaches the desired target in the most cost efficient manner.

Once drilling commences, Directional Drilling Coordinators and Measurement While Drilling Coordinators will be at the Operations Center to oversee the drilling work in the field and to coordinate the drilling which is taking place in the field with the well plan. They will interface with all parties involved to insure that the requirements of the well plan are carried out. Using the latest highly sophisticated well tracking software, the Coordinators will be able to track the wellbore in real-time.

 

The purpose of this oversight is not to attempt to drill  the well from the Operations Center. Everyone in the industry knows that such attempts will not work. Their purpose is to review the data from the field to insure that the wellbore is on the target path and that the drilling personnel at the rig site are following proper drilling procedures. The Operations Center personnel will be watching for formation changes and helping to avoid bad decisions made in the field. They will be able to quickly advise your drilling and geological staff of results from the field that indicate potential problems and to make recommendations for corrective action before the situation becomes critical. Therefore, the finished well can be completed to target depth on time and on budget.

In nearly all cases, incidents of missed targets, unplanned wellbore track deviations, stuck pipe, damaged or lost equipment, and injury to personnel or the environment are preventable. Yet these incidents happen often enough in the oil and gas exploration industry that there are whole strategies and/or services companies ready to be put into place to recover from them. The trouble is that these recoveries all have significant costs associated with them. If the mistake is not made in the first place, the additional cost to recover from it will not be incurred.

Predator Technologies, LLC has created a combination of services and techniques that are designed to provide our customers with the directional drilling services they have always wanted but which have not been offered in the past.

Directional - Drill - Link  

The thing that sets Predator Technologies, LLC apart from other directional drilling organizations is planning. We believe that planning, checking of data, computer testing of assumptions, and multi-level review of tasks, while appearing to be expensive overkill, is actually extremely cost-effective in the reduction of mistakes, transportation costs, and lost drilling time.

Predator Technologies, LLC has developed a system that we call the "Directional-Drill-Link" system. This system is designed to prevent the significant wasted time, drilling resources and money that result from preventable errors. Our system is a way of determining the location of the wellbore and taking any corrective action that may be necessary in "real-time," during a developing situation, not significantly after the fact.

"Directional - Drill - Link" System showing continual communication
FROM and TO the rig floor,
the Operations Center, the Drilling Company and the Producing Company.

The "Directional-Drill-Link" system insures real-time coordination of the drilling activities at each of the drill sites where Predator Technologies, LLC is engaged with the Operations Center. The existing drilling trend can be quickly analyzed to determine whether corrective action is required while drilling continues.

The primary advantage of this system is that it gives the directional driller and the Operations Center personnel improved certainty about the location of the drill bit. This knowledge gives the directional drilling supervisor on the rig floor and the directional drilling coordinator in the Operations Center significantly better ability to plan ahead for the pre-planned adjustments in the well track and to be prepared for whatever changes are necessary in the bottom hole assembly well in advance of the time of the projected change. The reduction in costs of time lost due to mistakes makes this system extremely cost beneficial.

Operational - Data - Link  

Predator Technologies utilizes the "Operational - Data - Link," a "real-time, constantly on and available system and database to make our drilling operations more efficient and cost effective. Our proprietary software takes one data entry input into the system and directs that data to all fields where it is needed throughout the system while it is being entered that one time. The advantages of this system are significant. All calculations of activities are automatically calculated and stored. This system allows us to track our drilling operations from practically anywhere on the planet making this a very important tool. The "Operational - Data - Link" allows for complete tracking of every drilling operation Predator Technologies is involved in on a continuing, current basis. The result is planning ahead well before need for tool changes, reporting, communication, etc. Many hours of paperwork can be eliminated lending our employees more time for the important tasks. At the same time, all raw data continues to be available to understand usage, costs and the various drilling parameters when needed.

At the Drill Rig  

On the rig floor, as drilling progresses, the key features of our unique system come into play. Real-time drill data gathering is made possible because the directional drilling supervisor on the rig floor will enter the data into Predator's proprietary software loaded onto an intrinsically safe hand held PC. Directional survey data is entered as drilled into the hand held PC and transmitted via wireless intranet to a rig control module on the drill site. The drill data is then sent via satellite link to our Operations Center. The software utilized by Predator in the Operations Center automatically computes the actual wellbore position and its positional uncertainty as drilling progresses. The actual wellbore position can be viewed to compare the current drilling position with the planned well track and the geological targets.

The plot of the actual wellbore as it compares with the well plan can be shown visually on screen in the Operations Center, and a smaller less complex version is returned to the driller's PC on the rig floor. As a result, everyone has real-time knowledge of the exact position of the actual wellbore.

Predator Technologies' Directional - Drill - Link software and program makes it possible for Operations Center and rig floor personnel to analyze critical drilling parameters including weight at bit, bottom hole pressure, stand pipe pressure, hook weight, gamma and resistivitiy in real time. This analysis will indicate formation changes and provide confirmation that the well is being properly cleaned as drilling continues and will help insure that the well is being drilled in a safe and expedient manner.

 

 

  •       Planning
  •       Implementation
  •       Checking
  •       Success