Accelerating Drilling Operations and Ensuring Safety Through Next-Generation Design

Overview

Sekal is an important international technology player in the Oil & Gas industry, focusing on direct real-time monitoring and integrated automated drilling processes. Sekal's goal was to modernize its main software management system to maintain its efficiency and safety standards. Seven Peaks partnered with Sekal to start a major digital transformation, which centered on moving their operations to the cloud and providing a cutting-edge web interface designed to simplify difficult operations and minimize operational risk.

The Challenge

Historically, Sekal’s operations were limited by a rigid, closed data system located directly on the drilling rigs. This "data silo" limited the ability to share key information across the entire business in real time, making automation harder and slowing down decision-making.

Additionally, the existing tools used by drill operators were difficult to use and lacked the fast feedback required in high-risk environments. Sekal's objective was to not only replace this legacy system with a modern solution but alsotransform the user experience (UX) to allow for increased automation, reduce technical failure rates, and help reduce CO2 emissions by making the most of the total drilling time. The final vision was the full automation of the drilling process.

Our Approach

The main goal of the solution involved a big shift toward modern architecture and a user-focused design philosophy:

Strategic Cloud Transformation & Data Flow

We migrated Sekal’s data infrastructure to a modern cloud-based solution. This first step allowed data to be streamed in real-time and shared easily across Sekal’s entire operational business, which helps with better decision support and increased intelligence in the drilling process.

Human-Centric UX and Visualization

A main focus of the project was designing useful data visualization. Our UX/UI design team performed an extensive deep dive into the daily work of the end-users (drill operators). We focused on understanding:

• What information is needed?
• When is it needed?
• How should it be presented?

This user-focused approach allowed us to design the data to "tell a story" that gives direction and quick support during the drilling operation.

Our Solutions

To immediately use the newly accessible, real-time data, Seven Peaks built a new web-based user interface that serves as the central cockpit for drill operators, giving instant support and clear operational guidance.

Key safety and efficiency features include:

• Minimized Failure Rate: The UI is designed for extreme clarity, incorporating thoughtful design and smart animations to guide the operator.
• Critical Alerts: In high-speed drilling scenarios, the system gives both visual alerts and distinct audible alerts when the drilling object approaches a constraint or object at excessive speed. This quick feedback mechanism is vital for reducing risks and securing the drilling process.
• Prepared for the future: The design is built to handle future developments in AI and machine learning, making sure Sekal’s platform remains at the leading edge of the industry.

Key Outcomes and Strategic Partnership

Beyond product delivery, Seven Peaks also functioned as a key partner, acting as an Extension Team to scale Sekal's internal skills and speed up their product development lifecycle.

Outcomes

• Faster Development: By simplifying the development process with Sekal, our partnership meant Sekal more than doubling its development velocity.
• Flexible Staffing: Our long-term key partnership gives Sekal with flexible access to a dedicated team of over 20 consultants, architects, designers, and developers, making sure that necessary expertise can be added quickly as Sekal's growth and project needs change.

This comprehensive approach, combining key cloud migration, Agile process work, and user-focused design, has positioned Sekal’s platform to offer better safety, increased efficiency, and important progress toward the industry's goal of environmentally conscious, automated drilling operations.