自动化技术能够带来诸多好处，例如更平滑的井眼、更稳定高效的钻井以及更高的安全性，是 BP 钻井战略的基石。

英国石油公司（BP）高级副总裁安·戴维斯表示，就在上个季度，通过控制压力钻井（MPD）实现的自动化钻井，使得基于BP在美洲湾深水 亚特兰蒂斯油田的一口井的井下数据，能够进行“实时”优化。

“该技术在首次运行中表现可靠，实现了稳定、一致的钻井，没有出现任何操作上的意外情况，”她告诉JPT。

她表示，所有相关系统均按预期运行，实现了高正常运行时间，船员也给予了高度认可，其性能达到或接近技术极限，这让 BP 有信心进一步扩大该技术的部署规模。

2025 年 10 月，在水深 7,000 英尺的井上部署了使用 MPD 的自主钻井技术。

戴维斯表示，这家石油巨头认为这项技术在美国墨西哥湾以及BP运营的其他地区具有潜在的应用价值。

“最终目标是实现完全闭环自动化，”她说。

多年来，BP 一直投资于早期井涌检测技术，她表示，这项技术使钻井作业变得更加主动，而不是被动应对。

“我认为我们才刚刚开始探索如何利用数据来预测油井作业的未来走向，”戴维斯说。“未来几年可能会发生巨大的转变。”

她补充说，这种远见卓识将有助于提高安全性和效率。 

目前，即使不使用MPD，早期踢球预测算法的准确率也已达到约90%。她表示，由于变量众多，训练算法预测MPD活动期间的踢球情况需要更长时间。但能够在使用MPD的情况下预测踢球情况，对血压控制产生了显著影响。

“它帮助我们钻探了以前无法钻探的油井，尤其是在纳基卡油田，”她说。“我们可以更快、更容易地对地下情况做出反应。”

这项技术此后不断发展，BP现在已在全球范围内使用。“它帮助我们获取以前无法获取的油桶。”

她表示，随着石油行业致力于将人类从钻井平台上移除，机器人技术也持续受到关注。其目标是用机器人和自动化技术取代钻井平台上的人工操作，从而使人类能够从事其他更安全的工作。

但机器人技术的应用范围可能远远超出钻井领域。

“我认为，未来机器人技术可以在提高产量方面发挥重要作用，”她说道。“我们能把机器人派到油井里吗？目前还不行，但我对此非常感兴趣。”

随着科技改变工作方式，BP正在投资提升员工技能，使其从“过去的钻井方式”过渡到“现在的钻井方式”以及“未来的钻井方式”。

BP也在利用人工智能（AI）技术来辅助工作。其Wells AI助手“看起来有点像ChatGPT或Copilot，但我们拥有100年的知识储备”——钻井团队可以在几秒钟内访问到相关的文档、标准和流程。“这个助手真的能帮上大忙，”她说，“它能提供标准详情、类似工作中发生的事故、潜在机会等等。” “我很高兴看到海上作业人员对它的使用率很高。”

众人拾柴火焰高

BP 将联盟视为获取价值的一种方式，这家石油巨头已在美国墨西哥湾的古近纪活动中采用了联盟模式，以协调目标，取得更好的成果。 

该模型将油藏视为客户，使运营商、钻井平台供应商和服务提供商之间的运营模式保持一致，从而实现成功执行和长期价值创造。

“这不仅仅关乎钻井平台租金和服务日租金。而是关乎我们如何才能从我们正在开发的资产或机会中获得尽可能多的价值。这意味着，如果你采用联盟模式，那么联盟中的每个人都有动力从该特定资产中创造价值，”她说道。

因此，重点在于确保“所有人”的目标一致，而不是让运营商的目标是“尽可能从该油田获取最大价值”，钻井公司的目标是“尽可能从这份合同中赚取最大利润”，服务公司的目标是尽可能获得最大利润。

Automation, which offers benefits like a smoother wellbore, consistent and efficient drilling, and improved safety, is a cornerstone of BP’s drilling strategy.

Just last quarter, automated drilling through managed pressure drilling (MPD) allowed “on-the-go” optimization based on downhole data from one of BP’s wells in the deepwater Atlantis field in the Gulf of America, said Ann Davies, senior vice president for wells at BP.

“The technology performed reliably on its first run, delivering stable, consistent drilling without operational surprises,” she told JPT.

All of the relevant systems behaved as expected and delivered high uptime, strong acceptance by the crew, and performance that was either on par with or approaching technical limits, giving BP the confidence to scale up the technology deployment further, she said.

Autonomous drilling using MPD was deployed on the well in October 2025 in 7,000 ft of water.

Davies said the supermajor sees potential applications for this technology in the US Gulf and other regions where BP operates.

“Eventually, the destination is full closed-loop automation,” she said.

Over the years, BP has invested in early-kick-detection technology, which she said has enabled drilling to become more proactive than reactive.

“I think we’re only starting to scratch the surface of how we can use data to predict what’s next when it comes to well operations,” Davies said. “I could see a big shift that will happen over the next couple of years.”

That kind of foresight will help drive up safety and efficiency, she added. 

Already, early-kick-prediction algorithms are about 90% accurate, even when not using MPD. Training the algorithm to predict kicks for MPD activities took longer because of the number of variables, she said. But being able to predict kicks while using MPD has made a difference for BP.

“It was helping us drill wells that we weren’t able to drill before, especially on the Na Kika field,” she said. “We can respond to what the subsurface gives us a little bit quicker, a little bit easier.”

That technology has since evolved, and BP is now using it globally. “It’s helping us access barrels we couldn’t access before.”

Robotics also continue to draw interest as the industry pursues a vision of removing humans from the rig floor, she said. The goal is to replace human roles on the rig floor with robotics and automation, freeing up humans to do other, safer activities.

But robotics could have a role well beyond drilling.

“Intervention to increase production is another area I think robotics could have a big role to play in, in the future,” she said. “Can we send robots down wells? I’m not there yet, but I’m definitely interested.”

And as technology changes how work is done, BP is investing in upskilling people from “the way we used to drill to how we’re going to be drilling now and how we’re going to be drilling in the future.”

BP is also using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to facilitate work. Its Wells AI assistant “looks a bit like a ChatGPT or a Copilot, but we have 100 years of knowledge” in the documents, standards, and procedures that the drilling team can access within seconds. “The assistant could really, really help people do the job” by providing details about standards, past incidents on similar jobs, potential opportunities, and more, she said. “I’m really pleased to see the high usage from the offshore staff.”

It Takes a Village

BP sees alliances as a way to derive value, and the supermajor has embraced the alliance model in the US Gulf’s Paleogene activities to align objectives for better results. 

By treating the reservoir as the customer, the model aligns the operating model across the operator, rig provider, and service providers to enable successful execution and long-term value creation.

“It’s not just about rig rates and service day rates. It’s about how can we get as much value as possible out of the asset or the opportunity that we are developing. And that means if you’re in an alliance type of model, that everyone in that group is incentivized to bring value out of that particular asset,” she said.

The focus, then, is ensuring “everyone’s got the same objective, as opposed to an operator having an objective of ‘I want to get as much value out of this field as possible,’ a rig company having an objective of ‘I want to make as much money out of this contract as possible,’ and a service company trying to get as much margin as possible.”