How to Track Drilling Progress

A drilling project can look busy from the outside. Rigs are running, crews are moving around the site, samples are being collected, equipment is being maintained, and daily reports are coming in from different parts of the operation. There is no shortage of activity, but when a Project Manager asks a simple question such as, “How far along are we?” getting a clear answer can sometimes take more work than it should.

One report may show the metres drilled yesterday. Another file may contain the weekly target. A Drill Supervisor may have the latest update in a message thread, while information about equipment downtime is sitting somewhere else. By the time all of this is brought together, the project may have moved on again.

Tracking drilling progress is not only about knowing how many metres have been drilled. It is about understanding where the project stands against its targets, what each rig is doing, where time is being lost, and what those changes mean for the rest of the programme.

For Project Managers and Drill Supervisors, having that picture early makes it easier to respond before a small delay becomes a much bigger project problem.

Start With the Drilling Target

Before progress can be measured, there needs to be something to measure it against.

At the beginning of a drilling programme, the team usually has a target. It could be a certain number of metres, a set number of holes, a completion date, or a combination of several objectives. These targets give the team a clear idea of what the programme is expected to achieve.

For example, a project may have a target of 10,000 metres over a certain period. That target can then be broken down into weekly and daily expectations based on the number of rigs available, the type of drilling being carried out, expected ground conditions, equipment capacity and other project requirements.

This gives the team a starting point for tracking progress.

If 1,000 metres were expected to be completed during the first week and only 700 metres were completed, the difference immediately deserves attention. The important question is not simply that the project is 300 metres behind. The next question is why.

Good project tracking therefore starts with clear targets that can be compared with what is happening in the field. Harvard Business Review emphasises the importance of setting objectives, creating schedules and monitoring progress against goals.

Once the target is clear, the project team has something useful to measure every day.

Track Metres Drilled, Not Just Activity

A rig can be busy all day without necessarily making the progress the project needs.

The crew may be preparing equipment, moving between locations, dealing with difficult ground, changing rods, carrying out maintenance or waiting for materials. All these activities are part of drilling operations, but they do not necessarily increase the number of metres completed.

That is why metres drilled should remain one of the main progress indicators.

A useful tracking process should show the metres completed during a specific period, the cumulative metres drilled, the planned metres and the remaining metres. Looking at these figures together gives the team a much clearer picture than simply recording that a rig was operational.

Imagine a project that is expected to reach 5,000 metres by the end of the month. At the end of the first week, the team has drilled 900 metres against a planned 1,200. The difference may not seem dramatic at first, but if the same pattern continues, the project could finish behind schedule.

The earlier that difference is noticed, the more options the team has.

The Project Manager may be able to review the drilling schedule, move equipment, address an operational issue or adjust resources before the delay becomes difficult to recover.

This is where daily progress tracking becomes valuable. It turns a general feeling that the project is “moving slowly” into something the team can see, discuss and act on.

Know What Each Rig Is Doing

When a project has one rig, tracking progress may feel relatively straightforward. Once several rigs are working across different locations, the picture becomes more complicated.

One rig may be ahead of target, another may be struggling with difficult ground, while a third may have been unavailable because of equipment maintenance. Looking only at the total metres for the project can hide these differences.

Each rig should therefore be tracked individually.

The team should be able to see which rig is working, what hole it is currently working on, how many metres it has completed, whether it is available, and whether there are any issues affecting its performance.

This creates a clearer picture of where progress is coming from and where attention may be needed.

For a Drill Supervisor, this information can support daily decisions in the field. For a Project Manager, it provides a wider view of how individual rig performance is affecting the overall programme.

It also makes conversations more useful. Instead of saying that “the rigs are behind,” the team can identify which rig is behind, how far behind it is, and what is causing the difference.

That level of detail can make a significant difference when decisions have to be made quickly.

Pay Attention to Delays

Metres tell you what has been completed, but they do not always explain what happened along the way.

A project can lose valuable time because of equipment breakdowns, difficult ground conditions, maintenance, weather, material shortages, logistics problems or other site issues. If these delays are only mentioned in passing, it becomes difficult to understand their effect on the project.

Consider a rig that was expected to drill 200 metres in a day but completed 120. The number tells you that the target was missed, but the reason matters.

If the rig lost several hours because of equipment failure, that needs to be recorded. If drilling was slowed by difficult ground conditions, that needs to be understood. If the crew was waiting for materials, the project team needs to know that as well.

Recording the reason, duration and impact of a delay gives the project team more than a number. It gives them context.

Over time, these records can also reveal patterns. If the same type of equipment problem keeps affecting progress, it may need more attention. If a particular activity repeatedly causes delays, the team may need to review how it is planned.

Tracking delays therefore helps move the conversation from “we lost time” to “this is where we lost time, this is why it happened, and this is what it is doing to the programme.”

Compare Planned Progress with Actual Progress

One of the clearest ways to understand drilling progress is to compare where the project was supposed to be with where it is now.

Planned progress provides the expected position. Actual progress shows what has happened in the field. Looking at the two together helps the team see whether the programme is ahead, on schedule or falling behind.

For example, if the project was expected to reach 3,000 metres by a certain date but has only reached 2,600, the difference needs to be understood. It may be recoverable, or it may point to a larger scheduling problem.

The important thing is that the team sees the difference early enough to respond.

This is particularly useful for Project Managers because drilling progress can affect many other parts of the project. A delay in drilling can affect sample processing, geological interpretation, laboratory work, reporting, procurement, costs and project timelines.

The numbers do not need to be complicated. A clear comparison between planned and actual progress can tell the team a great deal when the information is kept up to date.

It also makes reporting easier because the project team does not have to spend unnecessary time calculating where the programme stands every time an update is required.

Look Beyond the Metres

Although metres drilled are important, they are not the entire story.

A drilling programme can be progressing according to its metre target while other problems are developing in the background. Equipment availability, HSE issues, procurement, workforce changes, technical challenges and rising costs can all affect what happens next.

This is why progress tracking should not exist separately from the rest of the project.

Imagine that a rig is achieving its daily metre target, but one of its key pieces of equipment is showing signs of repeated failure. The metres may look fine today, but the information about the equipment could point to a possible interruption tomorrow.

The same applies to materials. If drilling is progressing well but required supplies are running low, the current metre count will not show the problem until it begins affecting operations.

Good progress tracking therefore combines production information with the wider operational picture.

This is one reason project teams increasingly need access to information that can be understood quickly rather than spending hours searching through different reports. Forbes has highlighted the importance of real-time data and analytics in project management, particularly when teams need timely information to make decisions and avoid information silos.

The goal is not to collect more information for the sake of having more information. The goal is to have the right information available when it can still be used.

Keep Field and Management Information Connected

This is where drilling progress tracking can become difficult in many projects.

The people closest to the work often have the most current information. Drill Supervisors know what is happening with the rigs, crews know what happened during the shift, and field teams know when an issue affected the work.

Management, however, may be looking at information that has already passed through several stages of reporting.

A field update may become a daily report. The daily report may be added to a spreadsheet. Someone may then update a weekly report before the Project Manager reviews it with other project information.

Each step creates an opportunity for information to become delayed, separated or difficult to trace.

The same problem can happen when information is spread across spreadsheets, paper records, emails and messaging platforms. A Project Manager may know that there was a delay but still need to search through several places to find out when it happened, which rig was affected and what caused it.

This is where a connected operational system can change the way progress is followed.

With MDO, drilling information can be brought together in one structured operational environment, giving project teams a clearer view of what is happening across the programme instead of relying on disconnected records.

Daily drilling information can be captured from the field, including rig status and operational updates, while information can also remain connected to other parts of the project.

For teams working across remote sites, this becomes even more useful because field conditions do not always provide reliable connectivity. MDO supports offline data entry and synchronisation when connectivity is restored, allowing teams to continue recording information without waiting for a stable connection.

Turn Progress Tracking into Better Decisions

Tracking drilling progress only becomes useful when the information leads to action.

If the project is behind target, the team needs to understand why. If one rig is consistently performing below expectations, the issue needs to be investigated. If delays are increasing, the Project Manager needs enough information to understand their effect on the schedule.

This is where MDO can become more than a place to record drilling information.

A Project Manager can have a clearer view of project progress, while Drill Supervisors can work with more current operational information from the field. Rig status, drilling activity, delays and other project information can be connected rather than sitting in separate files.

The result is a more complete picture of the operation.

Instead of waiting until the end of the week to discover that a project has fallen behind, the team can see changes as they develop. Instead of looking only at the total metres drilled, they can look at the rigs, delays and operational factors behind those numbers.

That makes progress tracking much more useful because it supports the decisions that come after the numbers.

The Goal Is to Know Where the Project Stands

A drilling project does not need a complicated tracking process to understand its progress.

Start with clear targets. Track metres drilled. Know what each rig is doing. Record delays and their causes. Compare planned progress with actual progress. Then look beyond metres to understand the operational factors that could affect the project next.

Most importantly, keep the information connected.

When field teams and management are working from the same operational picture, it becomes easier to see what has happened, what is happening now and where the project is heading. That gives Project Managers and Drill Supervisors more time to respond instead of spending their time trying to reconstruct what happened from different reports and messages.

MDO helps bring drilling information into one structured environment, connecting field activity with the wider project picture and making it easier to monitor progress across drilling operations.