Reducing drilling costs in geothermal projects is crucial for wider renewable energy adoption, as these expenses can constitute up to 50% of the total capital outlay. This pivotal topic was addressed by Giulia Giudici, Managing Consultant from Kwantis, during her presentation at the SPE Europe Energy Conference and Exhibition held in Turin.
Digital Transformation in Geothermal Drilling
Before digitalization, analyzing drilling performance involved collecting and merging data from multiple systems and sources. The advent of a comprehensive digital platform has transformed workflows for engineers, geologists, and operation supervisors. This platform combines data from diverse sources into a single access point, ensuring complete and immediate access to information in two modules. The Reporting module consolidates daily operations and well design data, while the KPI module gathers and analyzes data from various sources to generate performance indicators for optimizing drilling operations.
Reporting Module
The Reporting Module collects and centralizes essential daily operational data for drilling, well geology, rig characteristics, HSE, actual costs, and planning. It generates various reports like Daily Drilling Report, HSE, BHA assembly, and geology reports in a web-based platform. This ensures comprehensive access to historical and current well data, facilitating seamless monitoring and analysis of well execution across the organization, from rig sites to headquarters.
KPI Module
The KPI Module integrates reporting data with rig sensor data to generate a variety of key performance indicators (KPIs) for drilling activities. By analyzing sensor data and Daily Drilling Reports, the module provides precise indicators like net rate of penetration (ROP), tripping speed, and connection time. These indicators allow for comprehensive performance analysis, aiding in identifying improvements and optimizing drilling operations. The module features dashboards for monitoring KPIs such as operations breakdown, NPT analysis, and drilling performance comparisons. This centralized approach enables cost reduction strategies by minimizing downtime, improving contractor performance, optimizing budgets, and supporting new initiatives.
Invisible Lost Time (ILT)
Invisible Lost Time (ILT) refers to inefficiencies in drilling operations that aren’t immediately apparent. Unlike Non-Productive Time (NPT), which includes obvious delays, ILT is identified through advanced analysis of technical limits and KPIs like net ROP, tripping speed, and connection duration. It reflects the gap between current performance and optimal benchmarks set by best-in-class or statistical parameters (e.g., P10, P25, Avg.). ILT analysis helps pinpoint subtle issues such as suboptimal drilling parameters or minor equipment malfunctions, crucial for enhancing operational efficiency and reducing drilling costs.
Enhancing Efficiency and Cost Savings in Geothermal Drilling
Drilling costs can comprise up to 50% of total CAPEX in geothermal projects. In this case study, it has been measured that leveraging rig site data with advanced analytics can reduce drilling duration and costs by up to 12.5% (8.9% by minimizing ILT, 2.5% through improved rig performance, and 1.1% via optimized budget allocation). These solutions not only impact operations but also improve planning and post-well analysis, as detailed in the case study. Given the significant capital investment and technical challenges in geothermal projects, digitalization offers a strategic advantage for operators. Focus areas include enhancing data quality through rigorous QA/QC measures, using data science algorithms to anticipate and mitigate non-productive time, and optimizing energy consumption to reduce GHG emissions.