Patent 9103191 was granted and assigned to Schlumberger on August, 2015 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
A method, apparatus, and program product facilitate the automation of an oil & gas process, e.g., a drilling process, through the use of a dynamic phase machine incorporating multiple autonomous agents. A master plan may be queried during the performance of an oil & gas drilling process, e.g., by a drilling automation system and/or agents registered therewith, to provide data associated with the oil & gas drilling process and thereby assist the drilling automation system with implementing the process.