Addressing Diverse Petroleum Industry Problems Using Machine Learning Techniques: Literary Methodology—Spotlight on Predicting Well Integrity Failures

[Image: see text] Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) are transforming industries, where low-cost, big data can utilize computing power to optimize system performance. Oil and gas (O&G) fields are getting mature, where well integrity (WI) problems become more common and field operations are now more challenging. Hence, they are good candidates for transformation due to the low cost of data storage, highlighting the oil market decline, along with dynamic risk posed during operations. This paper is presenting a comprehensive compilation of different ML applications in diverse disciplines of the petroleum industry. The pool of AI and ML with respect to different areas of applications along with publication years has been categorized. The main focus of this study is classifying well integrity failures where the authors found that the potential of AI and ML in predicting well integrity failures has not been efficiently tapped, and there is an explicit gap in the literature. First, the applications of AI, ML, and data analytics in the O&G industry are discussed thoroughly, so this paper can be a comprehensive reference for readers and future researchers. Then data preprocessing is explained. This includes data gathering, cleaning, and feature engineering. Next, the different ML models are compared and discussed. Finally, model performance evaluation and best model selection are described. This study would be a concrete foundation in the design and construction of ML programs that can be deployed for WI risk management. The developed model can be simply used for any well stock, providing quick and easy assessment instead of subjective and tedious assessment. The layout can be simply adjusted to reflect the risk profile of any well type or any field.