Creative Changes in Phillips Petroleum Norway's Drilling Management Philosophy Leads To Significant Improvements in Drilling Performance
Authors: Croucher Tim , Combo J.G. 
Published: December 2007

SPE and IADC Members

In the early nineties, the challenge to reduce costs while simultaneously improving safety, environmental and drilling performance highlighted the need for a change in the way the drilling business was managed. Since 1992, the Drilling Branch of Phillips Petroleum Company Norway has developed a new operating philosophy with the goal of improving the performance of it's drilling operations. Despite reductions in staffing levels and without major upheavals in the drilling Organization, changes to engineering and operational philosophy have supported significant improvements in safety, environmental and operational performance.

The areas of focus described in this paper are based on the company's implementation of Total Quality principles, including the development of a comprehensive performance monitoring system, the move toward a process oriented organization, a strong focus on implementing teamwork principles, and the development of a new contracting philosophy which emphasizes contractor involvement and shared objectives.

Over the past three years, measured data has demonstrated a steady improvement in all key areas including safety performance through reductions in lost time accidents and critical events, in environmental performance through the reduction in chemical and drilling fluid discharge, and in drilling performance through reductions in average cost per foot drilled and increased feet drilled per day.

This paper seeks to demonstrate how the changes in management philosophy have been the foundation for the engineering, technical and operational efforts leading to performance improvement. The paper will detail some of the major changes which have been made, demonstrate how the changes led to improved performance, highlight some of the key performance statistics and finally outline plans for the future.

Introduction

Phillips Petroleum Company Norway is the operator of the eight Greater Ekofisk area fields located in the southern region of the Norwegian sector of the North Sea (Fig 1). Since the initial discovery in 1969, the company's Drilling Branch has been responsible for the continued development of the fields in terms of drilling, workover and well service activities. The eight fields have in excess of 250 well slots on 14 platforms on which Phillips owns and operates ten drilling rigs. Reservoir compaction and overburden subsidence have resulted in numerous well failures necessitating a high level of re-drill and workover operations since the mid 80's. The latest addition to the Greater Ekofisk area was the remote operated high pressure / high temperature Embla Field which was put on production in 1993. The largest of the eight, the Ekofisk field itself, will to be produced well into the next century. The company is currently involved in the total redevelopment of the Ekofisk field including the drilling of fifty new wells.

Total Quality Management

In 1991, Phillips Petroleum Company made the decision to introduce Total Quality Management (TQM) as the company's fundamental business process. Over the last three years, Phillips Petroleum Company Norway's Drilling Branch has used Total Quality Principles as the foundation for a series of managed changes in working processes.

During 1992, the Norway division of the company embarked on the training of the entire local workforce in the principles of TQM (Fig 2). P. 281