The Monitoring While Drilling system tracks various parameters during the drilling activities, displaying them live on a screen for the operator as well as online on a data platform. The data collected and the platform’s various features facilitate the drilling process and provide a reliable data source for all stakeholders.
Fugro has been working in Saudi Arabia since 2021, doing the geotechnical assessment for the project. They brought in a sonic rig when they encountered some very challenging soil materials, for better recovery and better quality core. When Royal Eijkelkamp offered to equip it with a Monitoring While Drilling system, Fugro jumped at the opportunity. Because the more data they collect, the more data they can present to their client.
Project Manager Evert Van Wyk and Site Manager Sean Van Der Wath travelled to the Royal Eijkelkamp headquarters in the Netherlands to commission their rig and learn more about this new system. They have now been using it since 2022.
“Working with MWD has taught us a lot”, says Evert Van Wyk. “You can see what different ground formations you’re drilling through, how you can set your pressures, how you can set your sonic vibrations. The drillers as well, they’ve learned a hell of a lot from it and it’s made it easier for them to understand what type of formation they’re drilling.” The system shows the strata information, because parameters such as rotation pressure and sonic pressure change based on whether you’re drilling sand, cobbles, or clay.
Sean Van Der Wath continues: “It provides the operator with more information as they drill, which ultimately makes it easier to operate the rig. If they can see there’s a difference in the ground, they can change their drilling technique, maybe use more water, less water or more rotation.”
Working with the MWD system is straightforward, it’s not a difficult thing to learn. You just have to get into the habit of doing it.
To work more efficiently, the operators can check the data in real time and change their drill bits according to the hardness of the soil. And after the shift or project, drillers or supervisors can use that information to change or improve their approach next time around.
Another useful feature for Fugro was borehole planning in the online platform. The managers can plan boreholes in advance in the software, so the on-site team knows exactly where to go and what to drill. This ensures that the project is not delayed when Evert or Sean are away. “What’s nice is, you can plan it from the office, and remotely as well. When we’re not there the team can go into the system and see where the next borehole is. And it updates automatically.”
Fugro’s clients on this project base their foundation designs on the results of the geotechnical assessment. That makes it extremely important to share as much data as possible with them. With Monitoring While Drilling, they can track the progress of the project online and also receive an overview of all the information once the drill is finished.
Data is very, very important for us. The more data we can have, the more data we can give to our clients. Recovering as much data as possible is always a plus.
Sean explains: “It helps us to be able to show the client the data from the monitoring system if they ask about it, to see the pressures for example.”
Fugro is currently the only contractor on the project using the Monitoring While Drilling system, which gives them an edge over the competition as well. In addition to that, there’s always proof that they did exactly what was agreed on: the number of boreholes, depth drilled to, you name it.
There are some features still in development that Evert and Sean are looking forward to. The MWD solution’s soil recognition in particular will be very useful: “If the machine displays the changes in the soil as you’re drilling and it shows you that it’s actually clay or rock, that will really help us.” Already they compared the data from the system to their geologist’s analysis, and found that the results were in the same range. Based on the results achieved so far, Evert is convinced: “We will keep using it until it fails.”
