bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Automated Well Portfolio Optimization for a Mature Hydrocarbon Field in the Middle East
Authors: Reddicharla Nagaraju , Alshehhi Shamma Saeed , Rachapudi Subba Ramarao , Utama Indra , Gönczi David , Stundner Michael , Schweiger Georg
Published: November 2020

Production optimization for mature hydrocarbon fields face several challenging tasks, including the long process of decision making when inactive and low performing wells are being evaluated. The lack of necessary data integration and evaluation of valuable strings, wells, reservoirs can vary between departments making it challenging to bring a prompt and standardized solution.

Therefore, an automated decision-making system has been developed with an open source software with capturing the logics and innovations of subject matter experts and managers. The current assessment is focusing on the automated re-evaluation of inactive strings, low performance wells as well as interventions candidates.

Automation process initially starts with proper data analysis and integration. The advisory system consists of unique, fully automated workflows consuming several data sources. Essential part of data integration is to find the most relevant input parameters, which can be used by the optimization system, and provide recommendations to the end user. A hierarchical control system is added in parallel to data import, providing a long-term and easily sustainable data set for evaluation of wells, reservoirs and fields. This approach leads to a long-term and easily sustainable solution platform, which can be updated and extended whenever new resources are available.

A scoring system is provided encountering the historcal and current performance of the existing entities like equipment, wells and reservoir including problems faced during operations. Individual well performance (including down-time, losses, status) is assessed by identifying contributing factors of production decline and failures using data-driven machine learning and fundamental analytic models.
Exploitation of Waste Energy Within the o&G Facilities: How Orc Technology and Gas-Expanders Can Drive the Decarbonisation Path of the O&G Companies
Authors: Rizzi Davide , Rossetti Nicola
Published: November 2020

Following the trend of energy efficiency, the Oil&Gas sector is looking continuously to sustainable solutions aimed to reduce carbon footprint while maintaining competitiveness. The market shows that a clever way for O&G field is the implementation of Organic Rankine Cycle technology, which turns waste-heat into useful power, with minimum impact on the existing facilities. An ORC unit can exploit waste heat from several sources. Different ORC applications within the O&G field were studied.

The study conducted evolved in two phases. The first one aimed to identify the most suitable waste heat sources unexploited in the O&G facilities. The second one explored the technical and economic analysis of different configurations, in order to understand the best ORC solution for this industrial sector (in terms of process parameters, equipment and layout).

A proved ORC application was in the Gas-compressor-stations along the pipelines where multiple gas-turbines operating in open-cycle are used as prime-movers for compressors. Although reliable and flexible, they waste a significant amount of energy that can be converted into useful power by means of an ORC system, a clear opportunity to boost the overall efficiency of the plant.

Other applications regarded the exploitation of hot streams in associated petroleum gas (APG) process carried-out within refineries. Due to its poor chemical composition, APG are typically burned via torches, thus wasted. ORC can exploit that energy to produce electricity by means of a flare-gas-boiler which heats up a vector fluid to feed the turbogenerator.

Beside those waste-heat streams, another potential form of energy was available in gas pressure-letdown stations, where lamination valves dissipate the potential energy contained in the pressurized gas. In this scenario, the Gas-expander technology (similar to ORC) can be a valuable alternative and a more efficient solution. It consists in a turbine through which the NG at high pressure, rather than being laminated, expands to produce work, thereafter converted into electricity by a generator.

This paper will present the above-mentioned solutions, employed both individually or combined.

Considering a large-scale application, the paper will show how the implementation of the ORC recovery systems represents other than a way to meet sustainability targets also a remarkable and profitable business for O&G companies. Furthermore, the Gas Expander technology represents a solution to improve the energy efficiency of NG transmission and distribution networks, as well as upstream and downstream facilities.
Employee Motivation in the Workplace
Authors: Emmanuel J. I.
Published: November 2020

A plunge in oil prices and slow economic growth has led to a reduction in the top line and bottom line of both local and international oil and gas companies worldwide. Whilst some companies have gone extinct due to the harsh operating regime, others have merged to share the risk, boast profit, and lower overall operating costs associated with the oil and gas business. Others have engaged in cost reduction initiatives like lowering of physical asset cost, cutting of staffing overhead, reduction of vehicle expenses, descoping of maintenance activities, deferment of non-critical inspections of assets, reduction in supply, advertisement, and insurance cost.

However, most of the organisations have not effectively harnessed their immense human resources pool to improve productivity and gain competitive advantage by developing core competence. While other cost reduction schemes have been applied to increase the bottom line, there is a need for more emphasis to be placed on employee motivation schemes as employees are the most important asset of any organisation and integral to company business continuity and sustainability (ISO 22301, 2012). How to engage and motivate employees is one of the most challenging tasks facing most organisations.

In spite of the direct effect of motivation on the bottom line and overall organisation productivity based on a plethora of research, immense gap exists in knowledge on how best to apply motivation theories and strategies to enhance employee productivity in the Oil and Gas Industry.

In addition, only limited research exists that has evaluated the factors influencing employee motivation in the oil and gas industry with consideration to the diverse nature of the oil and gas operations ranging from exploration to production, transportation, refining, and product marketing. The need to investigate the influence of employee motivation in the workplace constitutes the focus of this study, and the findings of this research work will be useful to all stakeholders in the oil and gas industry.

Therefore, this research work would evaluate employee motivation in the workplace as a case study of the worldwide oil and gas Industry. If employees can be adequately motivated, the chances are higher they would be engaged to expend more energy towards the achievement of their organisations corporate objectives. In addition, motivation is geared towards developing employees as the human capital of the organisation (Steers & Porter, 1991).

This paper presents the findings on this research work with the objective of equipping organisations and managers with the tool they need to engage, motivate, and get the best out of their staff. This study will be underpinned by relevant literature and views of some practitioners in the Industry.
Gas Breakthrough Identification in ERD Wells using Gas Tracers with Quantum Dots
Authors: Ovchinnikov Kirill , Malyavko Evgeny , Husein Nadir , Gorbokonenko Oksana
Published: November 2020

In the context of high hydrocarbon price volatility on the global market and worsening resource structure an increasingly greater attention is paid to the search of effective and economically sound tools for production and exploitation process management and control, including in horizontal and directional wells.

Conventional PLT methods applied in extended reach drilled (ERD) wells have a number of limitations related to data relevance and well bore accessibility. The alternative method is deployment of tracer-based material while well completion process. This enables a stream of downhole data on demand without needs of well intervention using Coiled Tubing or Tractor services.

This paper describes an approach of deploying the dynamic tracer-based production logging monitoring systems as a part of well completion equipment. Special cassettes attached to slotted liners or ICV/ICDs carry out advanced polymeric composition for 3-phase monitoring for oil, water and gas, including off-shore project with extended reach wells (ERD).
Protecting Transformers Against Static and Dynamic Pressure
Authors: Younis Dana , Bagarwan Ali , Salah Maha , Gandham Mallikarjuna Rao
Published: November 2020

Oil filled transformers are extensively used in oil and gas electrical networks. The o il in power transformers cause a major hazard to the electrical installations especially in case of fault, which may lead to explosion hazards that would have destructive effects to the people, asset and environment. Therefore, transformer manufacturers and design engineers shall consider suitable devices and mitigation measures in the design of oil-filled transformer to avoid harsh effects in case of failure. Moreover, they need to prevent the event of fire spread and damage to other assets that surround the transformer area.

The following sections in this paper highlight various possible solutions and safety measures to consider when designing your oil-filled transformer for the required installation. Some of these include adequate power rating, selection of insulating oil, suitable tank size, study of temperature rise, proper selection of protection devices, selection of monitoring devices etc.

Additionally, this paper explains different methods and features available in the industry to protect the transformer and assets in case of any fault. These measures include internal in built protections, external protections and additional mitigation measures to avoid explosions. These measure will ensure safeguarding to our people, asset and environment in compliance to ADNOC 100% HSE.
Well Integrity Management in Brown Fields
Authors: Yugay Andrey , Vorozhikhin Sergey , Daghmouni Hamdi Bouali , Salem Al Shamsi Marwan Hamad , Yousef Alblooshi Abbas Ahmed , Silchenok Mikhail , Bin Ali Azlan , Al Mohammed Edries Ibrahim , Rinaldo Ferdian
Published: November 2020

Well integrity is a combination of several disciplines integrated into the different phases of the well lifecycle with ultimate objective to prevent well control incidents. The subject of this paper is about effectiveness of various well integrity monitoring techniques at different stages of the field life. It is based on actual Company lessons learned and recent experience in managing well integrity incidents, when all barriers got lost. Wellhead pressure monitoring is one of the most popular methods of well integrity surveillance. It is based on the double barrier envelope concept: primary barrier envelope is the one exposed to pressure; secondary barrier envelope is the one that will be exposed to pressure if primary barrier fails. Therefore, once the primary barrier fails, it is expected to observe pressure at surface as an indication of the failure. Therefore each well operator has internal fit for purpose wellhead pressure monitoring system. Some specific well categories might be monitored more frequently than another due to higher risks associated with these wells. Double barrier policy is a well integrity requirement well-known world-wide. This policy applies to wells with positive pressure at surface capable to flow naturally. This policy is the basement for wellhead pressure monitoring system. However, based on the latest Company’s well integrity experience, this system is applicable for green fields only, with brand new barriers installed and tested. In case of mature brown fields after several decades of production this system may not always work perfectly. It may happen that failure of the primary barrier envelope occurs in the wells with already failed secondary barrier envelope. In this case there is no any "grace" period to respond to the failure and we immediately get a well control incident reflecting in uncontrolled release of well media through failed barriers. Therefore at some point of field development the time comes when secondary barrier envelope is not reliable anymore and additional surveillance activity has to be implemented to ensure safe operating conditions in the fields. This paper warns well operators on the potential gaps in the well integrity monitoring that may lead to the severe incidents. Those gaps may not exist at the early stages of development but appears during the "transition from green to brown" field. The paper helps to recognize the period for activating additional surveillance techniques avoiding unnecessary OPEX impact. It also describes various surveillance techniques for secondary barrier envelope including leak detection, corrosion logging and pressure testing.
Multiport Selector Valve MSV – New Innovative Automatic Port Leak Detection System Delivers Accurate Well Testing
Authors: Toro Mario , Helal Rami , Shatalov Sergey , Markarov Nick
Published: November 2020

A key production measurement is the periodic well testing for both fiscal and reservoir management requirements and a key element is the use of a multiport selector valve (MSV) upstream of a multiphase flow metering (MPFM) system.

Typically, an MSV can connect to 7-wells (total of 8 ports, one spare) where the valve isolates the flow from one of the wells and connect it to the MPFM system. The production flow of the other wells is mixed inside the valve body cavity and is directed to a common header. This process is repeated for each well to measure all wells periodically and the key requirement for the valve is absolutely no leak from all wells flow into the well port connected to the MPFM. However, leakages through the valve ports seals occur, even to new equipment, and as a result, the well measurements are inaccurate.

An Innovative automatic port leak detection had been developed to eliminate the disadvantages of conventional multiport selector valves. Thus, preventing seal leakage, avoid valve operation when there is a leakage, inform personnel in case of a leak and replace seals in time and avoid any damage to valve internals.

The automatic leak detection is based on exploiting the use of a multi-function seat process and pressure switches measurements. In the case some particles (physical impurities or debris) are trapped between the port seals, the automatic leak detection system will automatically perform a cleansing procedure by retracting and pushing the valve piston back to the seat port, allowing well fluid inside the valve to flush away any kind of solids. If the problem remains a leakage alarm signal can be sent to the operator desk from the valve control panel thus ensuring total integrity of the connection between the well and the metering line connected to the MPFM for accurate well test measurements.

An accurate well test measurement using MPFM systems for multi-wells can be achieved only if there are no leakages from wells into the wells port seal being measured and this will guarantee confident measurements as wells operational benefits such as detecting valve malfunction, a substantial reduction of maintenance and major repair costs and ultimately extending the multiport port valve operational life.
Adnoc LNG Gas Turbine Integrity Assurance Achievement and High Reliability Implementations
Authors: Ranieri Antonello , Karam Suood
Published: November 2020

ADNOC LNG natural gas export facilities (five Gas turbines driving centrifugal compressors) had experienced blade parts liberation at the first row of blades because of Chlorine and Sulphur presence in air intake system. The objective is to identify all integrity risks and to implement advanced technical enhancements to restore critical gas turbines integrity.

ADNOC LNG team carried out Root Cause Analysis (RCA) study and investigation as per existing procedures. Team collected all the events and engaged turbine manufacturer to identify root cause through intensive analysis and studies. Also engaged metallurgical third part lab to identify the nature of encountered cracks and type of fractions. The investigation had the scope to identify the origination point of blade liberation studying the broken surfaces of the blades. From the metallurgical point of view, thorugh metal strucuture studies and magnifications of broken surfaces, it was seen a series of point where metal structure changed from its original composition, having a consequent drop in properties like strength. Furthermore, the broken surfaces was typical of a metal subjected to a constast stress. RCA concluded that gas turbine had suffered of Axial Compressor Blade Stress Corrosion. The major action plan to be implemented on fast track was to replace rotors with coated blades, then rest of RCA actions were applied. The implementations and enhancements are fulfilled jointly by ADNOC LNG and manufacturer successfully.

Main implementations are blade coating, upgrade of air filter elements and blades tip clearance optimization. The recommended enhancements were implemented and successfully arrested the risk of blades liberation to assure gas turbine integrity and sustainable gas export revenues. ADNOC LNG has successfully upgraded all axial compressors rotors and eliminated the risk of blades failure. Since applied enhancements, no further blades failure encountered confirming sustainable operations and integrity assurance. The same successful enhancements were also implemented at ADNOC LNG utilities gas turbines generator sets.

The aim of the abstract is to share and focus on success story of gas turbine integrity enhancements and improvements to assure gas export sustainability. Furthermore, it wants to draw reader attention to potential hidden issues that cannot be discovered during turbine operation in order to prevente major damages resulting in losing of turbine and production.
FPSO 4.0: Powering Deepwater Production and Optimizing the Lifecycle Performance of Offshore Rotating Equipment Packages
Authors: Sehgal Chirag , Khan M. Zeeshan
Published: November 2020

This paper focuses on solutions and strategies for conserving weight and space, reducing emissions, and leveraging data to optimize the performance of rotating equipment on floating, production, storage, and offloading (FPSO) vessels. It discusses design considerations for gas turbines in offshore applications (i.e., dry-low emissions technology, use of lightweight components, etc.) The paper also outlines a holistic digital lifecycle approach to FPSO topsides, which can help reduce capital and operating expenses, shorten project development cycles, and decrease offshore manpower requirements.

For illustrative purposes, the paper discusses specific power and compression solutions that were implemented on various offshore projects in 2017 - 2018, ranging from Offshore Brazil to the Bering Sea. It outlines how the equipment configurations helped operators meet horsepower requirements and emissions targets, as well as CAPEX and OPEX objectives. Additionally, the paper discusses how digital transformation can be leveraged to optimize FPSO lifecycle performance, delivering benefits such as 4-12 week reduction in project cycle times, ~$7 million reduction in CAPEX, and $60 - $100 million reduction in OPEX over a 10-year period.
Successful Project Delivery Through Effective and Well–Timed Operation and Maintenance Involvement During Project Life–cycle
Authors: Jaafar Zaharuddin , Zainuddin Muhammad Izuan
Published: November 2020

The continuous and rigorous endeavor in identifying key project successes or failures has been one of the most celebrated effort within the fraternity to advocate good project management implementation. Although the delivery method is unique from one project to another, perceivably there is no right or wrong formula that ensures outright success. It is often regarded that having an exceptional project manager leading a team that pays attention to collaboration between the project team and the contractors or manufacturers, guarantees a successful project delivery.

What is rarely looked upon is the contribution of the operations and maintenance personnel embedded as part of the team, which plays a vital role to the smooth and seamless transition from the task-oriented project, to the product-oriented operations and productions phase. Early involvement of this sort enables majority of the pain points anticipated during commissioning, start-up and finally during the handover period to be addressed much earlier during detailed engineering and construction phases.

The accomplishment of the recently completed Spheripol and Spherizone polypropylene units as part of the giga-project Refinery and Petrochemical Integrated Development (RAPID) which is located within the Pengerang Integrated Complex (PIC) in Malaysia, gives us the best insight on how project delivery can improve and flourish by putting the emphasis on small things that matter. Standing at USD 27 billion, PIC, the largest downstream investment by PETRONAS in Malaysia, consists of an integrated refinery and petrochemical complex, supported by several facilities which includes a raw water supply and treatment plant, an air separation unit, a cogeneration plant, a deep-water terminal and a regasification terminal. Like other plants complexes, it also has its own centralized utilities facility. Not many would think that setting the operational elements and getting the operations personnel involved as part of the team prematurely, will minimize technical gaps once the facility starts its operations. However, this unique approach has proven to be effective and successful for a major integrated project like RAPID.

The operational elements mentioned above include progressive participation and deployment of operations and maintenance personnel during front end and pre-award of execution contracts, assurance reviews (engineering, constructability and safety) and mechanical completion walkdowns. This gradual involvement evolves into a full leadership role during commissioning up until the process of starting up the plant. This study will show how the close collaboration between projects and operations teams, towards the successful delivery and integration of RAPID polypropylene plant can never come too early.
New Analytical Evaluation Approach to Select Sand Control Techniques in a Mature Field
Authors: Syed Abd Rahim Syarifah Puteh , Azman Mohd Fairuz , Awang @ Mohamed Zaidi , Ghonim Elsayed Ouda , Yang Juhari
Published: November 2020

Sand production is one of the most common issues in the oil and gas industry which impacted the production and equipment. Thus, downhole sand control is introduced to provide the mechanism for wells to produce with minimal sand production to surface and reduce the lifecycle OPEX of the well. Nevertheless, different sand control methods may influence the well production performance differently.

This paper demonstrates a comparative manner towards understanding of the effect of various sand control techniques on well productivity completed in a mature field. The methodology involves the use of statistical comparison of the actual production performance of three (3) main sand control methods installed over 20 years of production period in Field D. The approach includes in-depth assessment of the well production performance in relation to the recorded sand count and the intervention frequency ratio.

It is observed that the wells completed with OHSAS displayed remarkable production performance but high in sand production as compared to other sand control techniques. However, wells completed with CHSAS showed satisfactory production performance with good sand control. In fact, the CHSAS wells are still active and producing even after 8 years of completion without any integrity issue. For more advanced option i.e. CHGP, the wells showed comparable results with CHSAS both in term of performance and sand count. Depending on the proppant placing techniques, wells completed with HRWP have the best production performance, followed by Extension Pack then Circulating Pack. It indicates that more rigorous sand control design will effectively retain the sand downhole but reduce the well productivity as well. Therefore, the key is to find the balance between these two variables in determining the optimum sand control option especially when different sand control methods require different level of investment with certain expectation in return.

The evaluation approach described in this study offers an easy guide and benefit the practicing engineers to select the optimum sand control in addition to theoretical studies that based on geo-mechanics analyses, PSD, SRT etc.
A Game-Changing Technology for Cementing in Highly Deviated and Horizontal Wells Using Interactive Mud-Sealing Cement System
Authors: Orprasert Choosak , Prasongtham Pattarapong , Abu-Jafar Feras , McManus Ian , Thanasarnpisut Viraphon , Johri Ambuj , Duong Anh , Shafie Jumaat Mohd
Published: November 2020

Effective zonal isolation in wellbores with a challenging mud removal environment is well known to be very difficult to achieve. In wells at the technical limits of Non- Aqueous Fluid (NAF) removal prior to cement placement, cement bond quality and hydraulic isolation can be compromised by leaving channels behind the casing, which can result in several long-term well integrity issues. An Interactive Cementing System (ICS) is developed through special experimental methodologies to mitigate mud channeling issues and improve zonal isolation, by immediately interacting with any residual mud channels left in the well after cement is in place, hence reducing the permeability of mud channels and sealing off microannulus gaps.

Casing centralization is considered to have the greatest influence on mud removal efficiency because it directly affects the flow movement on each side of the wellbore. Mud removal has been studied from numerical simulations, laboratory experiments, and field results, and these show that good mud removal can be achieved only when adequate casing standoff is achieved during cementation. In modern wells where there are many operational restrictions and limitations, especially in highly deviated and horizontal wellbores, final cement designs may not allow good casing standoff and thus not all of the best practices for effective mud removal can be applied.

The objective of the innovative cement system is to have a design that interacts with residual mud in the annulus to "fix" the channels, thereby enhancing cement bond quality and zonal isolation. Two detailed case histories of the application of this technology in the development campaign showed visible improvement in cement bond logs using the ultrasonic imaging tool as compared to offset well that was cemented using a conventional cement system. After two successful implementations, the ICS was selected as the cement system of choice for wells with challenging mud removal.
A Systematic Approach for Evaluating Entire Production System Value Chain to Deliver the Dynamic Market Production Demand Using an End to End Production Simulation Process
Authors: Alsaeedi Ayesha Ahmed , AlHarethi Fahed Ahmed , Alzeyoudi Mohamed Ali , Al Bairaq Ahmed Mohamed , Reddicharla Nagaraju , Soni Sandeep , Tripathi Deepak , Hidalgo Melvin , Raj Apurv
Published: November 2020

Within a complex and dynamic production system with several operational challenges, maintaining a steady stream of throughput to meet the production targets based on the day to day well availability is a key business driver. This paper discusses an all-inclusive integrated modeling approach to evaluate the supply side of the production value chain, i.e. reservoir & well deliverability and the demand side, i.e. production targets.

The process starts with the representative inflow reservoir performance and well performance generation. In the second step, the key business requirements are applied as quantified parameters such as shareholder guidelines, minimum well production, and maximum drawdown. The most conservative figure was taken to ensure the long-term reservoir health. Subsequently, the target production was estimated from each reservoir based on the current strategic business plan. Lastly, an allocation mechanism was applied, honoring the required target-production and the well capacity to give a unique solution.

The major output of the entire process was achieved by estimating the well targets and probable shortfalls, honoring the process constraints within the production system. Also, the output of this target estimation was transferred to the surface network simulation to consider the back pressure impact and provide adequate outputs such as choke settings and wellhead pressure settings.

This outlines process provides a standardized approach that is utilized to cater the several business needs, such as minimizing the liquid loading, optimizing the drawdown to maintain a stable reservoir performance, and health.

Starting from producing layers to the delivery point, this process uses an integrated approach encompassing the various components in a complex production system such as reservoir capacities, fluid composition, well behavior and network capacities to assure a representative forecast. This approach is crucial in a gas-producing operating asset as the fluctuation in demand can be easily fulfilled using a seamlessly integrated approach that takes care of the dynamic operations variables such as well availability, surface facility back pressure, etc. in a single platform.

The approach improves the efficiency of target estimation significantly as the previous tiresome work of updating the simulation models and running the isolated calculation have been replaced with few clicks within the workflow.

This holistic approach is in line with the overall corporate strategy of integrated reservoir management (IRM) guidelines ensuring the long-term development plan and strategy is inherent to the overall process.
Intelligent Annual Reservoir Performance Reporting System i-ARPR – A Fascinating Journey from a Concept to Reality
Authors: Khan Muhammad Navaid , Al Beshr Manal , Mohan Richard , Al Marzouqi Mohamed , Al Khatheeri Abdullah , Al Nuaimi Mai , Abdou Medhat
Published: November 2020

The ever-increasing need for resilient strategies demands the supreme understanding of business uncertainties and the execution risks. For the National Oil Companies like, ADNOC, the annual reservoir performance review (ARPR) is a process of paramount importance, as it provides a holistic overview of the reservoir performance status for each ADNOC field on yearly basis. It unfolds the subsurface performance issues, uncertainties and risks, and steers the decisions of Business Plan sanctions.

The ARPR execution demands a tremendous amount of time and effort to assimilate information and create a consolidated decision support package. In the absence of an automated process, the creation of insightful analytics, proper tracking of actions and maturation of value-driven opportunities become unmanageable. Thus, the automation of the process asserted to demonstrate a significant reduction of the data preparation time, increased multidisciplinary collaboration, centralized data archiving and integrated dashboard generation.

A multidisciplinary team of ADNOC's subject matter experts joined forces to develop a fit-for-purpose automated solution (i-ARPR) that underpins a sophisticated subsurface knowledge bank that leverages advanced analytics and digital technologies to integrate key reservoir performance parameters automatically and provides insights to support crucial business decisions. It allows users to collaborate via an automated guided web-based workflow to build the analyzed content for the ARPR report for a given Field, using data previously loaded and approved. The content is built bottoms-up from a defined list of Elements (Plots, Tables, Images and Text) along with analysis and insights contributed by Subject Matter Experts (SME's), into sections of the report that are collated and further expanded with insights and conclusions by designated Sections Editors.

The solution enables assigning tasks to users at various supervisory and coordinating levels through an automated governance system. It provides means to monitor the progress of the work, approve the content of Elements and Sections, and review the concatenated ARPR document for final approval. All the integrated analyses get stored into the corporate repositories for any future utilization in data mining and advance analytics workflows.

The automated solution (i-ARPR) has enabled efficient data gathering, and its visualization has fostered multidisciplinary collaboration and has provided 66% more time to the engineers to analyze the information for identifying risks and opportunities. Over $50 Million OPEX saving is estimated during the first three years of the project implementation in 17 upstream assets within the ADNOC Group.
Automated Real Time Anomaly Detection Model for Operation and Production Data at Scale
Authors: Mohammad Fuad Iqmal Irsyad , Ngah Demon Mohd Fuad , Husni Husiyandi
Published: November 2020

Oil and gas industry have evolved towards digitalization and data are fully utilized for decision making, cost optimization, improve in efficiency, and increase productivity. Upstream sector in oil & gas produce a huge number of operation and production data in a real-time platform. It is tedious process that somehow impractical and inefficient to quality check and analyze all available data manually (Subrahmanya et al., 2014). By using machine learning algorithm, this can be improved to automate data quality check at scale. On top of that, imputation can also be implemented to substitute on missing data and future forecast in real-time.

In a case of this study, a huge data was collected from more than 30,000 tags/sensors in real-time. The real-time data were collected up to seconds and quality check need to be done up to each data collected. Firstly, each equipment tags/sensors had been checked and arranged with P&ID drawing. Then, API was developed with the real-time platform. In this project, percentile of machine learning was applied and developed to quality checked the operation and production time-series data at scale. Lastly, the process was customized to other offshore platforms in the field. In addition to automated data quality checking, machine learning algorithms were also used to calculate missing information based on the underlying relationship between data points. These approaches would reduce time needed to maintain quality and reliable data for further analysis and usage.

As a result, percentile in machine learning successfully automate the process of data quality check for more productivity and efficiency. The percentile was applied to understand, validate, and monitor data at scale. Anomalies were detected in real time that allows operators to analyze further on any possibility in faulty, damage, or loss. All the outliers, missing or wrong data were also recorded and visualized in a dashboard. The model also provides additional statistic to define stale and bad data on top of automated define parameters. These features have improved efficiency of data acquisition and preparation.

As conclusion, the model assists operator in monitoring daily operation and production data efficiently. Data quality and reliability is the key factor in asset management to ensure operator trust on produced data. The quality checked data could be utilized for further analysis, troubleshooting, and decision making.
Leveraging the Latest Advancements in Automation and Digital Technology to Improve Efficiency and Safety in a Production Field: A Journey Towards Unmanned Operations
Authors: Kamin Lisa
Published: November 2020

This paper describes a holistic approach/strategy for effectively "de-manning" onshore oil and gas field development projects. In recent years, the concept of normally unmanned operations has garnered significant interest across the industry as operators have sought to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and extend the lifetime of existing fields. However, to date, most efforts toward de-manning of onshore fields have been narrowly focused and limited in scope.

This paper discusses how the latest advancements in digitalization can be leveraged to reduce manpower requirements in upstream operations. For fields to transform holistically, multiple solutions and technologies need to be implemented to address core functions, including production, maintenance, and health, safety, and the environment (HSE).

The paper will present the results of a conceptual de-manning study which Siemens conducted for a major national oil company (NOC) in the Middle East. As part of the study, the "as-is" state of one production field was captured during a three-day visit, which included 20 interviews with site operations and HQ teams, covering all core functions at the site. The major outcome of the study was a phased implementation roadmap, including a staged operational manpower reduction plan and production increases. It is projected that over the next five years, the NOC will be able to reduce headcount in the field from 534 down to 201. The study also quantified other potential benefits that could be captured through digital transformation, including a 5-7% increase in production efficiency, 2-5% increase in reliability, 15-20% increase in the mean time between overhauls (MTBO), and an 85% reduction in unsafe acts.
Sour Gas Production Challenges-CASE Study
Authors: Mubashir Ahmad Mubashir , Zain Yousfi Fawad , Albadi Mohamed , Baslaib Mohamed , Alhouqani Shamsa , Olatunbosun Ibukun , Agarwal Anubhav , Ahmad Zeeshan , Al Hosani Abdulla , Pendyala Viswasri , Mandal Chandra , Gadelhak Abdelrahman , Shaker Ashraf , Alsaeedi Ayesha , Elabrashy Manar , Alzeyoudi Mohamed , Alsenaidi Shemaisa , Al Muhairi Bakheeta , Al Bairaq Ahmed , Yugay Andrey , Pimenta Gervasio , Al Jeelani Omar , A Basioni Mahmoud , Sayed Sohdy , Yahya Al Blooshi Ahmed , Mahmoud Elmahdi Ahmed , Edouard Maktouf Soufiene , Al Mansoori Ali , Ali Alloghani Jasim
Published: November 2020

ADNOC onshore recently tested HPHT sour gas reservoirs with +30% H2S, +10% CO2 to evaluate the reservoirs and well potential as part of the efforts in supplying additional gas for meeting country's growing energy needs. Developing these massive HPHT sour gas reservoirs is essential for providing a sustainable source of energy for years to come.
Using Machine Learning Methods to Conquer One of the Last Traditional Bastion: The Human Resource Department
Authors: Lazar Raffik
Published: November 2020

"Having the right person at the right time at the right place" makes even more sense today under the low oil price environment. Understanding capabilities available in an organization can be hindered by the size of the talent pool and a lack of structured and systematic approach to quantify, update and manage competencies.

Using machine learning methods to maintain an evergreen competency database can help reducing discrepancies between organizational requirements and actual talent deployment.

A digital database for each talent has been created and populated with various data such as CV, corporate informations (compensation and current based location), assignment history, technical reports generated, articles / conference papers, training attended and periodical internal competency assessment / promotion history. A master database is then created including the database of each talent and ingested by a proprietary application. Machine learnings methods based on OCR (Optical Characters Recognition) and NLP (Natural language Processing) are then applied to this master database to extract synthetic and key informations needed for a more efficient resource management and capability deployment.

For each human capital, a competency matrix is created following a multi-tiered proficiency system ladder ranging from awareness to mastery levels. The machine learning methods resulted in a cloud of keywords attached to each talent and can be "browsed" similar to a Google search. Talent managers are now capable of having a snapshot of their current workforce pool skills and capability according to competency level. External workforce such as ex-employee or prospective candidate can also be included in the capability pool. In addition, a focused search, based on specific project needs and niche capability requirement, can be conducted. In a few clicks, a talent manager can lookup critical resources that can be deployed when and where needed. For entry level resources, personal development plan can be drafted with more granularity and be tailored by the capabilities available in a given location or operating units at a given time.
Mitigation Procedures and Best Practices to Conduct Slickline Memory Mode Production Logging In High-Pressure High-Temperature Sour Gas Wells
Authors: Ghamdi Ahmed , Hussain Baleegh , Qahtani Sultan , Ghanim Mohammed
Published: November 2020

Objectives/Scope

This paper summarizes mitigation practices to safely conduct slick line memory production logging (PLT) in high pressure sour gas wells. The paper addresses the enhancements that were made to overcome the lifting force on the tool due to high flow rates and prolonged exposure time.

Methods, Procedures, Process

Well intervention in a live well poses several safety and operational considerations. These considerations are more critical when operating at or near high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) conditions in sour gas reservoirs. Well intervention in these types of reservoirs is associated with specific risks and, consequently, require a modified tool string designed specifically to withstand such a demanding environment. The paper describes all the problems that can occur in performing such jobs, and their mitigation practices that will lead to a successful job.

Results, Observations, Conclusions

There are several conveyance methods to run PLT in gas wells, such as: slickline, wireline, and coil tubing. In this job, the wireline could not be utilized due to its material which is not compatible with sour gas. Coil tubing is generally run in horizontal wells, but for a vertical well, CT is not a cost-effective option. Hence, slickline in memory mode was chosen. The slickline material is of utmost importance, and must be verified to withstand sour environment. Moreover, the pressure control equipment (PCE), H2S partial pressure, job safety analysis (JSA), job schedule, and job time, are all important factors that were carefully analyzed to successfully perform this job.

Novel/Additive Information

This paper might be the first in the literature describing how to safely perform slick line memory mode PLT in high-pressure high temperature sour gas environment.
Putting a Value Tag on Well Data Management When Designing a Plug & Abandonment Operation
Authors: Caramanico Livio , Déliac Eric , Mirza Ali , D'Alesio Paolo
Published: November 2020

Proper well Plug & Abandonment (P&A) design requires an accurate picture of the current well status, since it represents the starting point to ensure the permanent isolation of zones with potential flow.

The greater the amount and quality of data available, the clearer the picture of the well, the better the P&A design. Then, the selection of the most suitable technologies for the specific case allows optimizing the operational sequence thus minimizing the related costs, typically around 50% of the global asset decommissioning cost.

Missing or inaccurate data at the P&A design phase results in a conservative approach, due to the many uncertainties regarding the well.

Data quantity and, mainly, quality is often dependent upon the age of assets and the existence of a proper Well Data Management System. This paper brings the P&A experience of a platform-based six-well asset in Africa, with no available well data repository resulting in a thorough "hunt for information" to generate a small database and identify the main data gaps relevant to the P&A operation being designed.

The collected data, ranging from 10 to 45 years of age, was highly fragmented and heterogeneous. For some wells, the missing information even included well construction files, cement logs, some overburden lithology parameters and, for one of the wells, the characteristics of wellhead and annulus fluid.

The execution of an uncertainty analysis based on the good practices applied in the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico, showed that P&A cost could have varied between M$ 3.7 and 7.5 per well. The latter value was due to additional well barriers resulting from the uncertainty of well status.

Analysis of the initial BoD and potential optimization of the P&A sequence resulted in the definition of three scenarios: Best Case (full optimization), Worst Case (no optimization) and Base Case (limited optimization based on gathered information).

Two wells are discussed in this paper: Well A, with a moderate level of information, translated into an increase from the Best Case of 18%, representing around M$ 0.7; Well B, with very poor data available, translated into an increase from the Best Case of 75%, of which around 36% or M$ 1.3 related to missing information. As a result, the final P&A scenario led, for the entire asset, to an estimated increase of M$ 6 to 7 vs. the Best-Case scenario.

A simple and adequate Well Data Management System, also described in this paper, would have allowed to provide a cost-effective P&A design. The above "M$ 6 to 7" value (around 1 M$ per well) can be considered as a good indication of the value of such a system, although it is conservative in nature, since further benefits could have been also achieved during the production life of the asset.
Project Execution Success in an Epcm Environment by Ensuring Project Management & Project Controls Rigor During Pre Construction Phases
Authors: Pratap Chandran Sujith , K. Purayil Prasannakumar
Published: November 2020

Typically, Owners beef up their Project Management/Controls organization and develop Project Execution concepts once a development concept has been selected and Basic Engineering gets well under-way. It is observed that Owner's Schedule & Cost influence is high, while expenditure of either is low during Concept & Planning phases as against during the Execution phase.

This work proposes elaboration of a number of key project dimensions, collectively called integrated Front-End Loading (iFEL), enabling PM diligence during Conceptual and Scope development phases, overcoming the traditionally limited visibility to PM added value in these phases by not limiting PM resource investments, while keeping the ever-evolving scope, risk, complexity challenges in perspective.

A purpose-built Project Management Organization (PMO) implementing the above methods and administering the various procedures during the Feasibility/Concept, pre-FEED (Front End Engineering Design) and FEED phases can assume control of the value levers, improve predictability of the desired project outcomes and set the project on course for EPC (Engineering, Procurement & Construction) execution success as demonstrated by reference project(s) that adopted this approach.

This work proposes establishment of a dedicated, technically competent and scalable PMO during Pre-EPC phases to oversee front-end scope definition, maintenance of a list of big-ticket decisionsto be landed during each phase, securing of key resources, contracting strategies, formulation of a proactive management response system and overall value assurance. The PMO can then suitably scale-up and assume back stopper duties during EPC(M) (Engineering, Procurement, Construction Management) follow-up, delivering on project promises that led to the investment decision.