At 2 a.m. on March 12, 2024, the first well drilled by the ZPEC ZMOR350 off-line drilling rig in the Aksu Oilfield, Well Ke 2-1, was successfully completed, marking the success of the first industrial drilling test of the ZMOR350 off-line drilling rig.

Li Xiaochang, Deputy Rig Manager of ZPEC Rig 49, said, "The designed well depth of Well Ke 2-1 is 2,616 meters and the actual drilling depth is 2,582 meters. After the off-line drilling rig started drilling, we debugged it while drilling, and each equipment was under full inspection. The current operation was good and, through everyone’s unremitting efforts, the drilling of this well and the test of the off-line drilling rig were successfully completed.”

 Viewed from a distance at the Ke 2 well site of ZPEC Aksu Oilfield, ZPEC’s ZMOR350 off-line drilling rig is particularly eye-catching. The reporter saw at the scene that there are power catwalks, a support arm, lifting device, piping handling device, rough neck, and other advanced equipment all seamlessly connected and working together. Through technologies such as automatic sensing, precise positioning, intelligent collaboration, and parallel automated operations are realized. In the driller's cabin, the driller and assistant driller could "control the entire drilling process" through "one-click" operations. The cockpit screen in the driller’s cabin displays video footage and related data of the drilling rig’s operations in real time.

The ZMOR350 Off-line Rig is a 5,000-meter onshore automated off-line operation drilling rig developed and manufactured by ZPEC Equipment in response to the domestic and foreign market demand for intelligent oil and gas field drilling equipment. It arrived at the Aksu Oilfield’s Ke 2-1 well site from ZPEC’s Shanghai Lingang Base on December 18, 2023. From installation, debugging, and drilling-to-completion, ZPEC’s Integrated Team took many measures, such as optimizing the program measures, adding square logs at the bottom, and improving the performance of the auxiliary generator. They overcame a series of difficulties to achieve further optimization of the rig and successfully complete the drilling.

Li Xiaochang explained how the off-line drilling rig can realize drilling while connecting the pipes, which can reduce the drilling preparation time by 13-20 hours. The use of automated equipment reduces a large amount of operations in both dangerous areas and heavy manual labor and, at the same time, off-line drilling rigs use fewer people. Compared with traditional drilling rigs, the number of personnel can be reduced by about 50%-60%, as each team only needs 4-5 people. Offline drilling is more convenient, saves time and effort, and greatly improves safety.

Wang Changrong, the President of ZPEC Equipment Research Institute, said that the off-line drilling rig industrial test had achieved phased results, which fully reflects the advantages of ZPEC integration. Through the test of this well, the design concept of the off-line drilling rig has been fully verified. With the successful completion of the first test well, it marks the initial success of the industrial test of the off-line drilling rig, which also marks a new and historic step in the research and development and application of ZPEC’s intelligent drilling rigs. At the same time, the R&D Team also accumulated valuable experiences in designing automated drilling rigs. It is believed that through continuous optimization and improvement, the second and third generation drilling rigs will be more advanced, reliable and intelligent in the future, striving to allow drilling teams to use automated drilling rigs as soon as possible and enter a new era of automated drilling.

(Zhongman Oil and Gas/Chen Lulu, Shang Zhigang; Zhongman Drilling/Zhang Jiantao)