Expert systems: perils and promise
Communications of the ACM
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A critical phase of oil well completion involves positioning cement between the outer surface of a metal casing and the sides of the well. This task is done by injecting a specially formulated cement slurry down the center of the casing and up the sides of the bore hole. Designing these slurry systems is time consuming and expensive because of the variability of the conditions between wells and the variability of the raw materials and techniques used in geographically diverse locations. SLURRyMINDER is a design tool to aid field engineers in creating globally consistent cement slurry formulations and to rapidly disseminate current well-cementing techniques. We describe the implementation of this system and why AI technology was used; we also discuss corporate benefits of the system, both real and projected. We provide details on the SLURRyMINDER development process, its worldwide deployment, and our experiences in maintaining and updating it.