How Precision Drilling’s Digital Twin Solves Predictive Maintenance Challenges for Dynamic Equipment
Precision Drilling, a major oil and gas drilling contractor in North America, is ranked as a leader in equipment quality and operational excellence by an independent research organization. This comes from Precision’s relentless pursuit of operational excellence using cutting-edge technology. Precision Drilling and Prescient Devices have built an asset health digital twin solution for drilling equipment since 2023.
Challenge
Drilling rigs run their equipment under constantly shifting loads. When standpipe pressure, pump speeds, mud properties and well conditions change, sensor readings like vibration levels can fluctuate drastically without any fault being present. Conventional predictive maintenance models cannot tell a real problem from a change in environment. This ambiguity makes it difficult to make strides in predictive maintenance for onshore and offshore drilling.
Solution
Precision Drilling and Prescient Devices built an asset health digital twin that fuses sensor, control system, and maintenance data to monitor equipment health in context, while also predicting its Remaining Useful Life (RUL) months in advance. By combining multiple data sources, the solution distinguishes genuine faults from environmental shifts, enabling accurate anomaly detection across 300+ mud pumps. The RUL model forecasts component replacement needs at 90% accuracy and provides normalized cross-basin performance benchmarking, allowing Precision to make vendor decisions based on real field performance rather than assumptions.
What You Need to Know
Targets equipment operating under high-stress, high-pressure environments with dynamic and shifting loads
Fleet-wide coverage for anomaly detection
75%
Mud Pump NPT Reduction
28%
Rate of Penetration Gain
Results
Deployed across 120+ rigs in the US, Canada, and the Middle East, the platform has delivered measurable results: 88% of fluid end failures caught before they occur, mud pump NPT cut by 75%, component life extended by 54%, maintenance costs reduced by 38%, and a 28% gain in Rate of Penetration, translating to significant OpEx savings and more efficient drilling operations.
Conclusion
Precision Drilling's partnership with Prescient has set a new benchmark for asset management and optimization in the drilling industry. The operational digital twin solution has proven to be an invaluable tool, delivering tangible benefits in terms of reduced downtime, improved asset lifespan, enhanced operational decision-making, and an empowered workforce. As Precision Drilling continues to explore the potential of this technology, the company is poised to further elevate its operational excellence and achieve even greater success in the years to come.
Key References & Links
Russell Whitney, Director of Asset Performance and Reliability, Precision Drilling