Kamil Zakirov, chairman of WellsX, talks to The Energy Year about the real-time analytics and automation capabilities of the company’s digital drilling solutions and the Middle East’s strong desire to adopt innovative technologies for oil and gas production. WellsX is the developer of the ECO platform, a digital tool for planning, drilling and completing oil and gas wells.

The Middle East is a massive oil and gas market, and in recent years, the region has expressed a strong desire to transition and innovate.

Could you start by introducing the ECO platform? What market gaps does it seek to address?

The challenge for all industries globally is automation, a key step in humanity’s technological evolution. Why is it so important? Because in any process, the human is often the weakest link. Humans get tired, they can forget, and they can make mistakes. Our aim with ECO is to minimise these risks by automating processes and reducing the potential negative impact of the human factor.
Currently, drilling rigs and other equipment and technologies are already operating at very high standards. The question then becomes how to take the person out of the equation. ECO addresses this by providing a system capable of understanding, in real time, everything that takes place during drilling – not just on the rig but, more importantly, beneath the surface.
The system self-calibrates, which is critical because no matter how good your pre-drill studies are, you can never fully predict what you’ll encounter underground. With ECO, we achieve a deep understanding of the physical processes taking place during drilling and analyse them to inform the user.
To explain the concept of automation, think about cruise control versus autopilot in cars. Cruise control is a simple tool – you set a speed, and the system maintains it. But it doesn’t account for external factors such as road conditions, the state of the driver or other variables. Autopilot, on the other hand, takes all those factors into account and makes dynamic decisions. That’s the difference we’re working toward.
Right now, ECO provides operators with real-time data and actionable insights. Humans still make the final decisions, but our system guides them by offering precise instructions based on constantly updated information. The next technological step is to gradually shift decision-making from humans to machines, allowing the system not just to inform, but also to act.

What makes your offerings unique?

Our approach is rooted in reality; we see it as a holistic approach to physics. There are so many physical processes in what we do, especially in drilling, where huge amounts of physical processes are happening simultaneously. At the same time, hydrodynamic processes and geomechanical processes are occurring, with each process influencing the others. You cannot consider mechanics separately from hydraulics, for example – they are happening together and impacting each other.
Where we believe we excel is in our deep understanding of physics and our capability to both pre-calculate processes – so we know what to expect to a great degree – and, more importantly, to analyse them in real time. Our system operates at a very high speed, performing analyses every second. It checks the live data against the plan, self-calibrates based on any differences between expectations and reality, and immediately provides the results to all users.
The beauty of our system is that it engages everyone involved in the drilling process. The well construction process typically engages a wide array of participants, both at the rig site and in office-based roles. These include the client, supervisors, drilling contractors, directional drilling specialists, cementing service providers, drill bit experts and many others.
Each has a different understanding of what’s happening, which can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts. What sets us apart is that we provide the same analysed information to everyone involved, eliminating conflicts and ensuring alignment across the team.

Who are your key competitors, and how do you position yourselves in the market?

All the majors – SLB, Halliburton, Baker Hughes, Weatherford – are trying to do what we do. They are investing heavily in different solutions, some better, some not. We believe SLB is ahead of the pack, as they have been investing in the digital world for the past 30 years.
There are also independent companies – three or four players in Norway, for example. Norway is one of the pioneers in digital drilling. Similarly, there are two or three strong players in the US. The market is growing, and we welcome the competition. We’re not afraid of it; we’re confident that we are more advanced than most others.
That said, we’re probably not the best at market penetration or reaching clients quickly. It takes time to build relationships with clients and for them to test the technology. We are still a relatively small business, but what sets us apart is that everything we do, we do in-house. We don’t rely on third-party technology, which makes us self-sufficient and highly flexible in how we work and innovate.

Where is your product being used, and what opportunities do you see in the Middle East?

We are present in various regions, including Europe, North America and several former Soviet Union countries. Our product has been in use in the field for the past four years, and we currently have over 100 drilling rigs globally using our system on a continuous basis.
The Middle East is particularly interesting to us for several reasons. It’s a massive oil and gas market, and in recent years, the region has expressed a strong desire to transition and innovate. There’s a genuine openness to new solutions, which is refreshing. Unlike some other markets where there’s a more conservative approach and resistance to change, the Middle East is actively testing and adopting new ideas.
We’re particularly focused on Saudi Arabia, where we have invested significant time and effort. Our product has been thoroughly tested and approved by Saudi Aramco, which is a major endorsement. We’re currently conducting field tests with another company in Saudi Arabia, and we are committed to deepening our presence and further establishing ourselves in this exciting and forward-thinking market.

Where do you see the company in the next five years, both geographically and technologically?

We want to remain independent for the foreseeable future. We have no intention of selling or joining a larger group in the short or medium term. We value our independence and believe it is key to our culture.
Technologically, we are proud of our advanced drilling solution, but we’re not stopping there. We have new products in the pipeline, some of which are ready and currently being tested in the field, while others are in development or planning stages.
The name “ECO” might seem unusual for a drilling company, but we chose it to reflect the full life cycle of a well, from the initial decision to drill to its final abandonment. Our system can handle all aspects of this life cycle, including engineering, planning and calculations for future wells. With ECO, users can plan, drill and even intervene, such as with fracking or wellbore operations.
We’re expanding our offerings to cover the entire lifecycle of oil, gas and geothermal wells. Beyond that, we are extending our solutions to other industries. The technological challenges we solve in drilling can have broader applications, and we believe our expertise can benefit other sectors as well.

What role does sustainability play in your work today?

Sustainability has been a buzzword for the past 20 years, and it’s increasingly important as we transition away from fossil fuels to alternative energy sources. One of the key areas we focus on is geothermal energy. Unlike wind or solar energy, which depend on external factors such as wind speed or sunlight, geothermal energy is always available. The challenge, however, is learning how to efficiently harness and convert that energy in an ecologically and economically viable way.
Geothermal energy is the future, and we’re actively involved in advancing the technologies needed to make it a more sustainable and cost-effective option.
When it comes to sustainability, I view it from a different angle – through our work in drilling. We aren’t just reacting to problems; we’re focused on preventing them. This is what we call a predictive approach.
If you are constantly dealing with problems, it means you haven’t properly understood and prepared for the challenges ahead. By predicting what will happen in the near and distant future, we increase the chances of avoiding issues altogether. ECO is designed to help our users avoid problems by giving them real-time insights and foresight, which ultimately contributes to more sustainable operations.

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