Technology Focus: Drilling and Completion Fluids (November 2014)
Authors: Jan Badrul Mohamed 
Published: February 2015

Technology Focus

This year has been a progressive year for me; besides being able to play more relaxing rounds of golf, it is now the execution time for all the research collaboration agreements signed earlier in the year, mainly with oil and gas companies. This year also marked a year after completing my tenure as the deputy director of the University of Malaya (UM) Center of Innovation and Commercialization (UMCIC). UMCIC is the technology-transfer office of UM, which is responsible for protecting UM’s inventions through intellectual-property registration such as patent, copyright, and trade secrets. This office is also responsible for promoting UM’s inventions through commercialization activities—namely, licensing, outright sale, and creation of spinoff companies. UMCIC also supports and promotes university/industry research collaborations that lead to potential innovative and commercial activities.

One crucial lesson I learned is the importance of mutual understanding and respect when collaborating with industry. It is no secret that universities and industry talk in two different languages and are living in two different environments. To the industry, time is of the essence; they always want everything “yesterday.” On the other hand, universities always have been seen as relaxed; they seem to want everything “tomorrow.” In a research-university setup such as at UM, where academic research publication is the prized output, the situation is even more challenging. UM has received a huge research grant under the high-impact-research special funding allocation from the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia. It is mainly to increase the number of Tier 1 and Tier 2 research publications. It is “publish or perish,” as they say. Interestingly, publication often hinders commercialization because it is considered as prior art. Hence, smart strategies should be in place to tackle this vital issue. A clear policy on harmonizing innovation and higher education should be created. However, caution must be taken not to have a one-size-fits-all approach.

In addition, one of the main challenges is the fundamental mismatch with regard to relevance, time horizons, and expectations. It is always the case for small-and medium-sized enterprises where resources and time are limited and demand is focused on highly applied, short-term solutions for technical issues. Given their greater emphasis on exploratory and in-depth study, we see a lack of interest from academics. This is a paradox that creates barriers to collaboration. Key findings from a case study on the Deutsche Telekom Laboratories show that, in order to overcome cultural, institutional, and operational collaboration barriers, a co-ownership collaboration framework is preferred. Building a common vision for the collaboration is key to overcoming cultural barriers. The most fundamental principle in collaboration is circumventing overlapping tasks. Universities should be able to do things that the industry cannot and will not, and vice versa. Otherwise, time and effort will be wasted. Any collaboration should be a win/win situation.

I hope you enjoy and benefit from the selected and highlighted papers. There are other interesting papers on the recommended-reading list. For further reading, the OnePetro online library has additional papers. JPT

Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org.

SPE 164064 Solids-Free Fluid-Loss Pill for High-Temperature Reservoirs by_Pubudu Gamage, Halliburton, et al.

SPE 167033 Alternative Polysaccharide Fracturing Fluids for Harsh Reservoir Conditions by Jia Zhou, Baker Hughes, et_al.

SPE 166126 Fluorous-Based Drilling Fluid for Ultrahigh-Temperature Wells by_Kay A. Galindo, Halliburton, et al.

SPE 170281 Experimental Study Improves Prediction of PVT Behavior of Completion Brines by William Foxenberg, Schlumberger, et al.