Fifty years of experience in rate of penetration management: Managed pressure drilling technology, mechanical specific energy concept, bit management approach and expert systems - A review

Abstract Rate of penetration (ROP) management is a matter of great importance in drilling operations, therefore it has been considered in different field management projects and research studies. In this way, several drilling technologies and concepts such as managed pressure drilling (MPD) and mechanical specific energy (MSE) have found their applications in this category. Moreover, some studies have used the bit management approach, while some other authors have developed special computer software and expert systems for this purpose. The history of ROP management studies reaches to more than half a century. In this article, some of these studies are reviewed to achieve a better understanding of this concept, its economic benefits and also its research capacities. Results indicate that among different methods which are discussed in this paper, bit management have the most field applications in ROP management studies.