US 12,392,204 B2
Approaches to drilling fluid volume management
Julien Converset, Sugar Land, TX (US); Aditya Garga, Saint Nom la Breteche (FR); Can Evren Yarman, Clamart (FR); Dieter Knoll, Montpellier (FR); Damien Lecha, Montpellier (FR); and Antoine Vaslin, Montpellier (FR)
Assigned to Schlumberger Technology Corporation, Sugar Land, TX (US)
Filed by Schlumberger Technology Corporation, Sugar Land, TX (US)
Filed on Aug. 31, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/240,872.
Claims priority of provisional application 63/374,244, filed on Sep. 1, 2022.
Prior Publication US 2024/0076946 A1, Mar. 7, 2024
Int. Cl. E21B 21/08 (2006.01)
CPC E21B 21/08 (2013.01) 20 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method, comprising:
receiving real-time data relating to drilling fluid for drilling operations that utilize a drilling fluid system that comprises tanks and pumps, the drilling operations comprising operations that pump the drilling fluid to a drill bit on a drillstring that rotates to extend a borehole in a formation, the drilling fluid flowing to an annulus between the drillstring and the formation to apply pressure to the formation and to remove waste generated by the drill bit;
detecting a tank state from a discrete predefined list of tank states based at least in part on the real-time data, the list of tank states comprising tank states defined with respect to one or more operations of the pumps, each tank state being based on a flow rate of the drilling fluid with respect to at least one of the tanks, the list of tank states identifying a status of the flow rate of the drilling fluid with respect to the at least one of the tanks;
detecting a change in tank volume, based at least in part on the tank state, as an indicator of an undesirable interaction between the drilling fluid and the formation; and
in response to the change in tank volume being detected as an indicator of the undesirable interaction, automatically issuing a control signal for well control to change the pumping of the drilling fluid to the drill bit to address the undesirable interaction to reduce risk of one or more catastrophic events from being caused by the undesirable interaction.