WillCo Drilling Consulting is an independent engineering consulting firm specializing in drilling engineering, well construction optimization, and digital drilling technologies.
The firm combines more than 50 years of experience in drilling engineering, well construction operations, and drilling data analytics, including experience working with major international energy operators.
WillCo helps energy companies improve drilling performance, reduce well construction costs, and leverage operational data to support smarter drilling decisions.
About WillCo Drilling Engineering Consulting
Our Mission
WillCo Drilling Consulting is committed to helping energy companies capitalize on their information assets end-to-end—from data capture and quality control through cleansing, advanced analytics, and predictive modeling—so they can continuously optimize drilling performance and reduce risk.
Engineering Expertise Meets Digital Innovation
WillCo combines traditional drilling engineering expertise with modern digital technologies to help operators improve operational performance. The firm approaches drilling challenges using a hybrid methodology that integrates engineering calculations, physics-based models, operational experience, and modern data analytics.
This approach enables operators to better understand drilling performance, detect potential issues earlier, and improve operational decision-making throughout the well construction process.
Founder & Leadership
William B. Contreras
William B. Contreras is the founder of WDC and has built his career in drilling engineering, well construction operations, and digital drilling technologies.
Before founding WDC, he spent last 16 years of his 30+ years career with Saudi Aramco, contributing to drilling engineering and technology initiatives within one of the world’s leading energy organizations.
William has been awarded seven patents related to drilling technologies and has authored more than thirty technical publications in the field. His work has also received multiple international industry awards recognizing innovation in drilling technology and digital drilling solutions.
He founded WillCo Drilling Consulting to combine engineering expertise, operational insight, and modern digital technologies to help energy companies better understand and optimize their drilling operations.
PABLO GUILLÉN, PhD
Principal AI/ML Consultant
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Pablo Guillén is Principal AI/ML Consultant at WillCo Drilling Consulting, where he leads the development of data-driven and physics-informed models for drilling and well construction. He brings nearly two decades of applied research in machine learning, data mining, and modeling and simulation across the oil and gas and scientific computing fields.
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His work has produced more than 110 peer-reviewed publications and has been shaped by close collaboration with universities, national laboratories, and industry partners across the Americas and Europe. His technical focus spans machine learning systems for oil and gas production optimization, geophysical characterization, reservoir simulation, and the processing of signals and images, combining physics-based models with modern data analytics.
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Pablo has held research and faculty appointments at the University of Houston, the University of Texas at El Paso, and Universidad de los Andes, and currently serves as adjunct faculty at the University of Houston-Downtown. He is committed to mentoring the next generation of data scientists and engineers, having taught and advised students from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in modeling, simulation, machine learning, and data mining.
At WillCo, Pablo helps operators turn complex drilling and subsurface data into reliable predictive models, strengthening operational decision-making while keeping engineering fundamentals at the core.
Deep Industry Experience
WillCo brings extensive experience across drilling engineering, well planning, operational troubleshooting, and digital drilling systems. The consulting team has supported drilling operations and digital drilling initiatives across complex operational environments, working with multidisciplinary teams that include drilling engineers, geoscientists, and data specialists.
The firm's expertise spans the full well construction lifecycle, from planning and engineering analysis to operational monitoring and post-well performance evaluation.
A Collaborative Technical Consulting Model
WillCo operates with a flexible consulting model that allows the company to collaborate with a network of experienced drilling engineers, digital specialists, and industry professionals depending on project requirements.
This collaborative structure allows WillCo to assemble the right expertise for each project, combining engineering knowledge, operational insight, and data analytics capabilities to solve complex drilling challenges.
Digital Drilling Philosophy
WillCo Drilling Consulting believes in mature and disciplined digital drilling approaches. Drilling operations involve complex physical phenomena including mechanical interactions, fluid dynamics, formation behavior, and operational constraints.
Because of this complexity, drilling processes cannot be accurately described using purely data-driven models alone. WillCo promotes a hybrid modeling approach that combines engineering calculations, physics-based drilling models, operational expertise, and modern machine learning techniques.
By integrating engineering knowledge with advanced data analytics, WillCo develops reliable predictive models that support drilling optimization, improve operational awareness, and reduce drilling risks.
