Nabors and Corva Merge Rig Data Systems With AI-Driven KPI Tracking
Nabors Drilling Technologies and Corva have combined their edge computing and AI platforms into a single system called RigCLOUD Powered by Corva, deployed in the field since March 2026, Drilling Contractor reports.
Market Impact
The integration merges Nabors’ RigCLOUD edge computing platform with Corva’s AI platform-as-a-service, giving drilling teams one location to view real-time analytics instead of pulling data from separate systems. William Fox, General Manager for Drilling at Corva, said the goal was to eliminate the problem of stakeholders “looking at data on five different screens and trying to make decisions off of it.”
The system standardizes how key performance indicators like connection times, tripping speed, and ROP are calculated across vendors and rig manufacturers, something Tatiana Borges, RigCLOUD Director at Nabors, said has historically varied so much that Nabors alone used 10 different ways to calculate ROP internally. Corva’s platform now translates proprietary rig measurements into vendor-agnostic terminology, and the combined system can run in full control mode on Nabors rigs paired with SmartROS, or in advisory-only mode on third-party rigs that aren’t ready to cede pump, drawworks, or top drive control to automation.
What It Means for Subcontractors
- Drilling contractors and service companies bidding on performance-based contracts should expect operators to increasingly require standardized, neutral KPI reporting rather than contractor-specific metrics, since Borges said this transparency is becoming “critical” as those contract structures grow more common.
- Companies running non-Nabors rigs can still access RigCLOUD Powered by Corva in advisory-only mode, meaning crews get real-time analytics and predictive recommendations (downhole vibration alerts, ROP optimization) without having to adopt SmartROS or cede rig control, per Corva’s Fox.
- Field crews on Nabors rigs won’t see a change in daily workflow (tour sheets, pipe tallies, differential pressure checks stay the same), but they’ll gain shift-by-shift visibility into connection times and tripping speed, data that could be used to benchmark crew performance in future contract negotiations.
- Vendors integrating third-party applications with RigCLOUD should note Corva has built a “data dictionary” mapping proprietary time codes (e.g., IADC-derived codes) across operators and contractors, reducing the manual reconciliation work previously required to compare performance data across different rig fleets.
- The system has been field-deployed since March 2026, so subcontractors working alongside Nabors crews on active campaigns may already be operating under the new standardized reporting framework and should confirm which KPI definitions are being used for daily and end-of-well reports.
