Agentic AI system functions as autonomous drilling engineer
By Ariana Hurtado, Editor-in-Chief
Norway-based Pions (formerly known as eDrilling) has released the next generation of Ida, the company's first AI-powered engineer.
The technology is designed to provide advanced reasoning and inference capabilities as well as enhance complex task management.
The company says the most significant upgrade since December 2024 is a new feature extractor that boosts Ida’s adaptability and generalization, allowing the AI tool to tackle complex, real-world environments with increased efficiency.
The latest release also includes simulations using dynamic transient modeling; data search, retrieval, analysis and reporting; and integration with the tools and workflows energy companies already rely on and have invested in.
CEO Toni Fadnes explained to Offshore that Ida is a generic agentic AI system, and the technology is built on a foundation of advanced large language models (LLMs).
"Agentic AI systems are designed to function as an autonomous, high-performance drilling engineer within well construction and delivery," he said. "Unlike traditional chatbots or LLM-based copilots that passively assist with tasks, an agentic system embodies 'agentic' principles—meaning it can plan, reason, act and learn independently across systems to accomplish complex objectives.
"System is accurate and contextual because it understands the logic and physics of the process at hand. It is using hybrid datasets, marrying physics and data, as simply data alone would not have been sufficient to gain the accuracy needed to build trust with humans and to act like a capable teammate that intelligently designs, plans and executes efficient and cost-effective wells. It continuously learns from these interactions to improve its models and performance."
The system operates within a multi-agent system, and multiple sub-agents collaborate, each specializing in tasks such as simulations, well control, parameter optimization or monitoring. The AI agent can break down ambiguous requests into actionable plans, verify output quality and even escalate when human input is required, Fadnes explained.
"One of the hallmark features of agentic AI systems is full-stack autonomy," he added. "For example, a user might request a new task, and the AI agent will find, unify and interconnect all data needed, write reports and fix documentation—all without human micromanagement."
The technology is being piloted by operators and drilling contractors via internships for junior drilling engineers.
Pions also started external testing of its Engineering SME, which it describes as an AI-powered thinking partner (e.g., Claude or ChatGPT for drilling engineers).
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About the Author
Ariana Hurtado
Editor-in-Chief
With more than a decade of copy editing, project management and journalism experience, Ariana Hurtado is a seasoned managing editor born and raised in the energy capital of the world—Houston, Texas. She currently serves as editor-in-chief of Offshore magazine, overseeing the editorial team, its content and the brand's growth from a digital perspective.
Utilizing her editorial expertise, she manages digital media for the Offshore team. She also helps create and oversee new special industry reports and revolutionizes existing supplements, while also contributing content to Offshore magazine, its newsletters and website as a copy editor and writer.
Prior to her current role, she served as Offshore's editor and director of special reports from April 2022 to December 2024. Before joining Offshore, she served as senior managing editor of publications with Hart Energy. Prior to her nearly nine years with Hart, she worked on the copy desk as a news editor at the Houston Chronicle.
She graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Houston.