Abstract: The method includes providing first and second machine readable codes on an external surface of each tubular section wherein the second code encodes less information than the first code and is derivable from, or mapped to, information encoded in the first code; using a machine to read the first machine readable code at a first pipe handling location on said platform; storing information of the read first codes; moving the sections in turn to a second pipe handling location, the second pipe handling location being a tubular structure assembly location on said platform or a location intermediate said first and second locations; using an optical machine at or close to the second pipe handling location to read the second codes from positioned sections; and storing information of the read second codes and their sequence order.

Abstract: A system and method of analysing drilling cuttings using image data output from a hyperspectral imaging device and at least one optical camera, includes generating a hyperspectral imaging data set including a plurality of lines of hyperspectral data derived from line images taken by the hyperspectral imaging device positioned along a drilling fluid cuttings path, obtaining tracking information in respect of particles of interest from the output of the at least one optical camera, correcting the position of pixels associated with particles of interest in the plurality of lines of hyperspectral imaging data based on the obtained tracking information to generate corrected hyperspectral imaging data, and analysing the corrected hyperspectral imaging data to characterise the cuttings.

Abstract: A method of controlling a borehole drilling process including a first set of operations and a second set of operations includes generating and outputting at least one control signal by a drilling control system for controlling at least one control parameter associated with the first set of operations; and, subsequent to an indication that the first set of operations is complete, outputting at least one control signal received from an external system at the drilling control system for controlling at least one control parameter associated with the second set of operations.

Abstract: A method and system for calculating the viscosity of cement slurry used for a primary cementing of an oil or gas well (12) comprises: pumping the cement slurry along a conduit (16) to a cementing location (20); measuring a first pressure loss along a first, horizontal portion (28) of the conduit (16) and a second pressure loss along a second, vertical portion (30) of the conduit (16); and calculating a viscosity of the cement slurry based at least in part on the first and second pressure losses and a flow rate of the cement slurry.

Abstract: A method of obtaining an effective bulk modulus of a managed pressure drilling system 1, the method comprising: generating a pressure wave in the system 1; measuring the time interval for the pressure wave to travel over a distance in the system 1; and calculating the effective bulk modulus of the system 1 using the time interval and the length.