SOC delivers MENA’s first fully autonomous geosteered section with realtime petrophysical assurance

SOC achieves fully automated well placement, cutting cycle time in half

Sirte Oil Company (SOC) delivered the first fully autonomous geosteering operation in Libya, successfully placing a wellbore within a 12‑ft carbonate reservoir and becoming one of the first operators in Africa to apply fully integrated end‑to‑end autonomy in well‑placement operations.

Using a closed-loop workflow that combined real-time automated formation evaluation, dynamic subsurface model updates, autonomous trajectory control, adaptive ROP optimization, and downlink automation, SOC was able to double ROP and reduce downlinks by 50%, while achieving 100% net-to-gross reservoir placement. The operation established a new benchmark for efficiency, precision, and automation in well placement operations.

Targeting precise wellbore placement and sustained performance in Al Khair field

SOC aimed to enhance well delivery in the Al Khair field, specifically focusing on precise wellbore placement within a 12-ft carbonate reservoir while seeking to improve drilling stability and performance at the same time.

Traditional methods struggled to keep reservoir exposure consistent without raising operational risks or reducing performance. SOC wanted a smarter, more automated approach to reduce drilling time and optimize well-placement accuracy by evaluating the formation in real time.

Closed-loop autonomous geosteering operations deliver near‑2× drilling performance

To meet SOC’s objectives, SLB deployed a fully autonomous geosteering workflow that integrated multiple advanced technologies, including PeriScope Edge™ multilayer mapping-while-drilling service, Neuro™ Autonomous Geosteering, the Subsurface Advisor™ intelligent subsurface drilling solution, and DrillOps™ advisory.

These digital solutions were deployed as a unified system, continuously analyzing formation behavior and executing real-time steering actions to ensure precise wellbore placement.

The PeriScope Edge service, and Subsurface Advisor solution worked together to capture high-resolution formation data, map reservoir boundaries, execute petrophysical analysis, and continuously update the subsurface model using AI-driven interpretation.

Through automated formation evaluation, it became possible to enhance model confidence and reduce placement uncertainty in real time. These insights fed directly into Neuro Autonomous Geosteering, which generated rapid, automated positioning decisions to ensure the wellbore remained precisely within 5–7 ft of the reservoir top. The solution automatically requested any required trajectory adjustments through downlinks which were executed automatically through SLB’s Automatic Downlinker. DrillOps advisory further improved performance by offering active, formation-based parameter recommendations to ensure the optimal balance of performance with drilling stability.

This fully autonomous, closed-loop workflow delivered exceptional results, including a 98% improvement in ROP, a 50% reduction in downlinks, and more than 10h of savings by enabling full ROP, on-bottom downlinks throughout the entire drilled interval. Overall, this led to delivering the section 3.5 days ahead of plan compared to the 7.5 day offset-benchmark. The implementation demonstrated the value of integrated automation in well placement operations, reducing uncertainty, minimizing operational risks, and accelerating well delivery.

The success of this project has established a new operational standard for horizontal drilling, providing SOC with a repeatable, data-driven process for future wells. This achievement highlights the potential for broader adoption of autonomous geosteering and automated directional drilling in similar challenging environments.