PROCESS-KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND ITS APPLICATION FOR DRILLING IN GAS HYDRATE ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

Understanding both the potential benefits and mitigation of risk based on the application of the latest technologies and procedures are essential to the success of any venture within the petroleum industry. To allow this, a process-knowledge management system has been formulated in order to capture the available knowledge, verify its impact, enable reasoning and informed decision-making. Such a system allows exploitation of explicit and tacit process-knowledge, so that information from multiple field experts, company best practice policies and latest technological findings can be gathered and applied. To handle embedded uncertainties according to their nature, type-2 fuzzy set theory is used. The system is realised via individual reasoning blocks that establish a coherent reasoning lattice. The two apparent benefits of this approach are that it:

allows easy adaptation and upgrading of the system’s knowledge; and

provides sensitivity for selection of particular reasoning blocks, depending on the current scenario and conditions.

A prototype has been constructed, therefore, to investigate potential gas hydrate related drilling problems. Its main purpose is to enhance well planning and aid the execution of drilling plans, so that safe working conditions as well as economic and technically successful project outcomes can be achieved. The commercial impact of using such a system will:

lead to a potential increase in well-site security as well as an overall reduction of well costs; and

initiate developments of process-knowledge management systems for similar domains.