Effective prediction of shale gas production is crucial for strategic reservoir development. However, in new shale gas blocks, two main challenges are encountered: (1) the occurrence of negative transfer due to insufficient data, and (2) the limited interpretability of deep learning (DL) models. To tackle these problems, we propose a novel transfer learning methodology that utilizes domain adaptation and physical constraints. This methodology effectively employs historical data from the source domain to reduce negative transfer from the data distribution perspective, while also using physical constraints to build a robust and reliable prediction model that integrates various types of data. The methodology starts by dividing the production data from the source domain into multiple subdomains, thereby enhancing data diversity. It then uses Maximum Mean Discrepancy (MMD) and global average distance measures to decide on the feasibility of transfer. Through domain adaptation, we integrate all transferable knowledge, resulting in a more comprehensive target model. Lastly, by incorporating drilling, completion, and geological data as physical constraints, we develop a hybrid model. This model, a combination of a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) and a Transformer (Transformer-MLP), is designed to maximize interpretability. Experimental validation in China's southwestern region confirms the method's effectiveness.

Machine learning approaches are widely studied in the production prediction of CBM wells after hydraulic fracturing, but merely used in practice due to the low generalization ability and the lack of interpretability. A novel methodology is proposed in this article to discover the latent causality from observed data, which is aimed at finding an indirect way to interpret the machine learning results. Based on the theory of causal discovery, a causal graph is derived with explicit input, output, treatment and confounding variables. Then, SHAP is employed to analyze the influence of the factors on the production capability, which indirectly interprets the machine learning models. The proposed method can capture the underlying nonlinear relationship between the factors and the output, which remedies the limitation of the traditional machine learning routines based on the correlation analysis of factors. The experiment on the data of CBM shows that the detected relationship between the production and the geological/engineering factors by the presented method, is coincident with the actual physical mechanism. Meanwhile, compared with traditional methods, the interpretable machine learning models have better performance in forecasting production capability, averaging 20% improvement in accuracy.

Robotics in oil and gas production can save several lives every year by executing tasks that are too dangerous for workers. Oil and gas production involves some of the most dangerous jobs in the world. Tasks such as oil drilling, roughneck jobs and maintenance tests, among others, cause several worker deaths every year. In fact, a study found that there are several deaths in oil and gas production that are never reported. Such points and facts beg the question, what makes oil and gas production so dangerous?

Explaining Traditional Engineering Models It is a well-known fact that models of physical phenomena that are generated through mathematical equations can be explained. This is one of the main reasons behind the expectation of engineers and scientists that any potential model of the physical phenomena should be explainable. Explainability of the traditional models of physical phenomena is achieved through the solutions of the mathematical equations that are used to build the models. Explanations of such models are achieved through analytical solutions (for reasonably simple mathematical equations) or numerical solutions (for complex mathematical equations) of the mathematical equations. Solutions of the mathematical equations provide the opportunities to get answers to almost any question that might be asked from the model of the physical phenomena. Solutions of the mathematical equations are used to explain why and how certain results are generated by the model. It allows examination and explanation of the influence and effect of all the involved parameters (variables) on one another and on the model's results (output parameters).

As was mentioned earlier in this article, Type Curves that are generated using mathematical equations are very "well-behaved" (continuous, non-linear, certain shape that changes in a similar fashion from curve to curve). Figure 16 demonstrates few more examples of Type Curves that have been generated in reservoir engineering. The question is, "what is the main characteristic of a model that is capable of generating series of well-behave Type Curves?" The immediate, simple answer to this question would be: "the model that is capable of generating a series of well-behave Type Curves is a physics-based model developed by one or more mathematical equations. The well-behave Type Curves that clearly explain the behavior of the physics-based model are generated through the solutions of the mathematical equations."

Oilfield services company Baker Hughes and artificial intelligence (AI) software provider C3.ai have launched an AI-based application that allows well operators to view real-time production data and more accurately predict future production. The application, BHC3 Production Optimization, is the second AI software application developed by Baker Hughes and C3.ai following the announcement of their strategic partnership in June 2019. BHC3 Production Optimization is available to Baker Hughes' oil and gas customers globally. Baker Hughes says it is able to visualise, analyse and optimise upstream oil and gas operations. The software analyses historical and real-time data across production operations then analyses the data using machine learning for anomaly detection, production forecasting, and prescriptive actions that improve production performance.

An autonomous robot will be deployed to an offshore oil and gas platform in the North Sea later this year, in a first for the sector. The £4m project's backers said the move was designed to take humans out of dangerous and dull jobs, and reinvent oil and gas as an industry of the future. Under the pilot scheme, the robot will initially be deployed at the French oil firm Total's gas plant on Shetland before being sent to join the 120 workers on the company's Alwyn platform, 440km north-east of Aberdeen. The machine, made by Austrian firm Taurob and supported on the software side by German university TU Darmstadt, will be used for visual inspections and detecting gas leaks. Rebecca Allison, asset integrity solution centre manager at the publicly-funded Oil and Gas Technology Centre, insisted autonomous robots would not be used to cut the wage burden of offshore workers who are paid a premium for working in tough, remote conditions.