Starting in 2004, a major service company began investigations into moving tasks normally performed on the rig to an office environment (an operations support center1). These "remote operations" have evolved into a spectrum: from splitting the day and night shifts between the rig and the operations support center to complete remote decision making by the project management team for well construction.

Common factors were observed and documented in the process of implementing remote operations. This led to standards and processes to support broader adoption of remote operations when they are operationally warranted. Standards and processes have been developed for change management, communications, IT infrastructure, and other issues.

Case studies illustrate the spectrum of remote operations, including work from the North Sea and land operations in North America, Central America, and Russia. Two perspectives on remote operations are given. One is from the point of view of a drilling service company responsible for directional drilling and logging-while-drilling services. The second is from the perspective of a project management team contracted for the entire well construction process.