Corva’s 2024 Hackathon, held on July 11-12, truly lived up to its theme, "The Coding Olympics." This year's event saw impressive growth, expanding to 19 teams from across the globe. Participating teams included industry giants like YPF, Shell, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, NexTier, Hess, Chevron, Core Geologic, Repsol, Baker Hughes, Marathon Oil, Comstock Resources, and Aris Water.
Participants aimed to develop live apps using Corva’s Dev Center to solve real industry problems. Teams focused on drilling, completions, and geoscience, and we were excited to introduce the Corva Midstream team, marking our first project in the midstream oil and gas space. The atmosphere was electric with a spirit of competition and camaraderie, as developers raced to create impactful applications within only 24 hours, demonstrating the potential to revolutionize energy operations.
The event was a showcase of innovation, collaboration, and cutting-edge technology, with a strong emphasis on operational excellence. This year, we celebrated exceptional achievements across three main categories: Biggest Impact, Best Innovation, and Best Execution. These categories highlighted projects that not only showcased technical excellence but also demonstrated significant potential to transform the industry. Below is a quick recap of the award-winning teams and apps:
Best Innovation: Core Geologic
Rock Navigator App
Core Geologic's app presented the most creative and groundbreaking idea, pushing the boundaries of what's possible in drilling performance. It allows users to quickly quantify how geology influences directional trajectory. Generally, when drilling wells, they tend to drift as evident from the Up/Down and Left/Right plots highlighting deviations from the planned well trajectory.
Historically, addressing this problem has been difficult due to the time required to handle vast amounts of data. This app solves that problem, presenting a simplified, harmonized view of the data for quick, informed decision-making. It can be used during the planning phase of each well. With structural information around the planned trajectory, the app allows operators to optimize the trajectory to minimize unwanted course corrections during drilling.
The next phase of development will enable predictive behavior, provide alerts during drilling, and proactively optimize drilling performance, potentially reducing time spent on course corrections due to sliding and downlink.
Biggest Impact: ConocoPhillips Permian
Optimal Pressure Targets Insights Calculator (OPTIC) App
The ConocoPhillips Permian team built the OPTIC app to drive substantial performance improvements and operational efficiencies. It provides key decision-makers the ability to navigate complex contractual price tiering from pressure pumping providers.
The app automatically calculates trigger points and average pressures at different treatment stages, eliminating significant time spent analyzing individual well files. This allows field consultants, operations centers, and stimulation engineers to rapidly make informed decisions. Users can quickly track execution status against price tiering, determine feasible targets, adjust chemical utilization on a frac fleet, and identify the best solutions to influence pricing without negatively impacting well performance.
The team anticipates that the app could potentially save at least $300k per well in stimulation costs by optimizing chemical utilization relative to pricing brackets.
Best Execution: Hess Corporation
Drilling Pressure Window
The Best Execution category winner demonstrated flawless implementation and execution of their solution, ensuring reliability and scalability. Hess Corporation's solution visualizes real-time downhole depth and time-based data together, specifically displaying time and depth-based Equivalent Circulating Density (ECD) and Equivalent Static Density (ESD) data on a single depth-based plot.
The app provides critical time-based context to depth-based plots, enabling users to rapidly display geological information such as lithologies and formation tops alongside the plot. This allows operations to quickly visualize real-time downhole pressure data at the current bit depth for operations outside of drilling. It saves time, increases productivity, creates better situational awareness, and accelerates decision-making to optimize drilling performance.
Additional 2024 Hackathon Teams
Just like athletes in the Olympics, each team brought their unique strengths and ideas to the competition, making it essential to recognize their incredible efforts. Here are the remarkable apps developed by the other participating companies this year:
Scalable Real-Time Facility Operations
Aris Water built the Real time Facility operations app that allows visualization of sensor data from their facilities seamlessly. The new app enables visualization of real time data from new sensors, facilities or equipment without future software development.
eAutodriller Setpoint Monitor
Baker Hughes team built the eAutodriller Setpoint Monitor app that provides greater operational transparency to setpoints and changes made by the driller.
Frac Execution Quality Lookback
Chevron developed the Frac Execution Quality Lookback app that allows users to quickly evaluate the performance of the fracture execution.
Procedure Pulse
Comstock Resources team built the Procedure Pulse app to reduce instances of motor failure. It allows users to monitor On/Off bottom procedures developed to mitigate damage to BHA components and limit occurrences of tools left in hole.
Well Specific Components Visualizer
ConocoPhillips Alaska developed the Well Specific Components Visualizer app that allows users to visualize and contextualize equipment, tools, and logs directly on a TVD vs. MD plot.
Frac Composite Time Log - FracTrack Pro
The ConocoPhillips GCR team developed the FracTrack Pro app that enables engineers t to review historical time log data by activity code quickly. It improves diagnostics for lost time, process optimization, cost reduction, and engineer’s efficiency in analyzing data.
Formation Quality Target
The Formation Quality Target app built by the ConocoPhillips Global team enhances communication and decision-making in drilling secondary targets in poor play scenarios. It aids in geosteering discussions, reducing time, and increasing pay intervals.
OPTIC (Optimal Pressure Targets Insights Calculator)
OPTIC by ConocoPhillips Permian significantly improves operational efficiency by navigating complex price tiering from pressure pumping providers. It automatically calculates trigger points and average pressures, allowing rapid decision-making and optimization of chemical utilization. This app could potentially save $300k per well in stimulation costs.
Rock Navigator
Rock Navigator by Core Geologic presented a groundbreaking solution that quantifies how geology influences directional drilling. It simplifies vast data handling, enabling quick, informed decision-making during well planning and minimizing unwanted course corrections. Future enhancements include predictive behavior, real-time alerts, and proactive drilling performance optimization.
Depressurization Model
The Depressurization Model app developed by the Corva Midstream team enables users to optimize the data gathering and decision-making process in depressurizing pipelines and other natural gas vessels.
Drilling Pressure Window
Hess’s Drilling Pressure Window showcased flawless execution, visualizing real-time downhole depth and time-based data. It provides critical geological context, enabling rapid visualization of pressure data at current bit depth. This app enhances situational awareness, productivity, and decision-making, optimizing drilling performance.
Geomechanics in Real Time - Pore Pressure
INGEODATA built the Geomechanics in Real Time app that calculates real-time pore pressure, which allows users to predict changes in critical parameters essential for drilling operations.
Maintenance Recognition Observer (MRO)
The Marathon Oil team developed the Maintenance Recognition Observer app that performs cost analysis of the treatment operations and verifies submitted invoices. It also provides insights into any extra pump time.
Operations Maintenance Excellence
The NexTier team developed the Operations Maintenance Excellence app, designed to address disruptive operational downtimes to reduce completion times and allow for project delivery at cost.
Drilling Cost Analysis
The Repsol Team 1 designed the Drilling Cost Analysis app to optimize drilling costs on a daily basis. The app breaks down daily costs by various categories, with the ability to select specific phases and operational activities.
Interstitial Pressure Monitoring
The Repsol Team 2 built the Interstitial Pressure Monitoring app, designed to tag and identify pressure decline and fracture-driven interference with nearby offset wells.
Milling Console
Shell Milling Console, a shoe track drilling performance app, designed to prevent bit failures during milling operations. It also covers packer milling, whipstock, and other high-potential NPT operations areas.
Alert Analytics
YPF developed the Alert Analytics app that provides critical insights on the management of critical alerts and reactions of the organization.
Redefining the Future of Energy Innovation
The 2024 Hackathon was not just a competition but a celebration of the relentless pursuit of innovation at the speed of business, and performance excellence that defines Corva. The event underscored our commitment to driving the digital transformation of the energy industry by turning valuable data into actionable knowledge, enabling real-time decision-making, enhancing efficiencies, and fostering collaboration for innovative solutions.
As we reflect on the success of this year's Hackathon, we are inspired by the creativity and dedication of all participants. Their efforts have not only advanced Corva’s mission but also set a new standard for what can be achieved in the energy sector. We look forward to continuing this journey, empowering our customers and partners to unleash the next frontier of performance excellence across the entire energy value chain.
Nov 15, 2024
