Guest Editorial: Ensuring Success of the 4th Industrial Revolution Downhole: Why Downhole Wireless Communication, Command Are Critical to the Transformation

_ In the past 30 years the rapid growth of wireless technology has transformed the workplace and our lives from cellular phones to Wi-Fi, smart phones, and other connected smart devices. At the surface this transformation is also ongoing in the oil field, however the benefits of downhole wireless command, control, and monitoring are yet to be fully exploited. A fully realized digital transformation in the oilfield sector should offer increased operational efficiency, the ability to respond in real time, improved workplace safety, and a more efficient usage of resources including both people and assets. This transformation has been focused mainly on the surface where the implementation of off-the-shelf technologies and artificial intelligence is more easily customized, and the technical challenges of the downhole environment are avoided. Intelligent Completions Historically, the only way to extend real-time monitoring and control downhole was by using cables, control lines, and powered control and monitoring devices that must be integrated into and installed with the completion. These are known as “smart” or “intelligent completions” which have been commercially available for the past 20 years (SPE 90664). This technology is not new. However, its application is not widespread mainly due to a combination of cost and complexity. The lack of widespread industry adoption is evident in market surveys demonstrating no significant change in this trend over the past 5 years. A number of technical papers comment on the underutilization of intelligent completions and propose strategies to overcome this from improved candidate selection workflows to advanced project management (SPE 209965, SPE 122855). In SPE 209965, Nelson et al. provide insight into the complexity and engineering considerations for the design and implementation of intelligent completions. In his paper, the sheer complexity of control lines in intelligent completions is underscored by the level of attention and detail required for the design of control fluids from fluid conditioning to mitigating thermally induced control-line pressure gains that can lead to unintended valve movement. Although there is a significant, global well stock that would benefit from enhanced downhole control and monitoring, the application of intelligent completions cannot always be economically justified or is simply not technically feasible. Wireless Systems The focus on smart wells and intelligent completions technology has been predominantly on permanent installations of surface-powered or -controlled monitoring and control systems. There has been limited consideration of implementation of wireless monitoring and control systems to achieve the same. It is important to consider the benefits of this technology to enable a cost-effective expansion of command and control to a wider range of downhole assets.