bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Permanent Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) Technology Applied In Mature Fields: A Forties Field Case Study
Authors: Costello Craig , Sordyl Peter , Hughes Cledwyn , Figueroa Martin , Balster Emmanuel , Brown George
Published: March 2012

Permanent distributed temperature sensing (DTS) using fiber-optic technology provides measurements over the complete length of the fiber in the wellbore. The temperature profiles can be monitored at surface in real time, minimizing the need for production logs, preventing deferred production losses, decreasing well interventions, and reducing operating costs. This technology has been applied by Apache North Sea Ltd in the Forties field to monitor and optimize the performance of two wells producing by gas lift in the Delta platform and, at the same time, examine their completion integrity.

To accomplish these objectives, a hybrid fiber-optic electrical cable was installed in two Forties wells, allowing the continuous measurement of temperature and acquisition of pressure data from a downhole gauge located below the deepest gas-injection point. The combined benefit of reducing both the number of well interventions, and thus eliminating the associated QHSE risks, and the operating costs made this well monitoring strategy the appropriate one in this mature field.

The analysis and interpretation of downhole pressure and DTS data provided rapid feedback to the platform production team regarding the status of the well, allowing a better and more informed decision-making process.

In this paper, we outline the deployment of the hybrid DTS system and describe the analysis performed in each of the two wells. Data handling, analysis, and interpretation are described as well as the methodology and workflow for well monitoring and optimization using permanently installed DTS.
Improving Management and Control of Drilling Operations with Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Gola Giulio , Nybø Roar , Sui Dan , Roverso Davide
Published: March 2012

In oil and gas industries, drilling is a complex and critical operation which require constant and accurate real-time monitoring. To this aim, real-time models are required to provide an overview of the drilling operations when direct and reliable measurements are not available. Given the harsh operating environment, sensor reliability and calibration are critical issues and bad data quality is a typical problem which affects the accuracy of the model. As a result, the driller may be misled about the down-hole situation or receive conflicting claims about operating conditions. This paper presents two approaches based on the use of artificial intelligence to improve monitoring of drilling processes in terms of reduced uncertainty and increased confidence. The first exploits the aggregation of the opinion of different experts within a so-called ensemble approach; the second is based on a so-called grey-box approach which combines a physical model and artificial intelligence. The two approaches are applied to the problem of predicting the bottom-hole pressure during a managed pressure drilling operation to demonstrate the improved accuracy and robustness.
The Critical Role of Digital Data in a Drilling Performance Workflow
Authors: Dupriest F. E. , Pastusek P. E. , Prim M. T.
Published: March 2012

The paper will discuss the role of digital data in a performance management process implemented by the operator in 2005. The Fast Drill Process (FDP) has resulted in an 80% worldwide increase in average drilling footage per day since its implementation across 23 drill teams and numerous papers have described the workflow and specific operational practices (Dupriest, 2006, Dupriest et. al, 2010). However, the critical role of digital data within this process has not previously been discussed. Although FDP workflow is tailored to the operator's organization, there are many leanings discussed that are believed to be relevant to other data-driven field operations.

FDP is a continuous improvement workflow. As footage per day is increased, the next dominant factor limiting footage per day is identified and redesigned until some other factor becomes the limiter. The new limiter then becomes the object of redesign. Over a period of years, the pursuit of the next limiter has led to higher performance, but also to more complex operations. Continued gains have become increasingly dependent on the development of physics-based models and the collection of new types of data. We have observed a direct correlation between the level of data usage an operator can achieve at the rigsite and the drill team's performance.

This paper discusses some of the challenges that have arisen in deploying a data-driven workflow in an industry that has historically worked from empirical experience. Examples include actions taken to achieve the level of rigsite knowledge needed to sustain physics-based operations, steps taken to share critical data across global operations, the manner in which complexity impacts the use of digital data, and some of the specific types of performance limiters extended and new types of data that are being collected to support the physics-based models used to make the required real time decisions.
A Perspective for a National Oil Company to Transition from Traditional Organizational Management to a Digital Culture
Authors: Ershaghi Iraj , Al-Abbassi Adel
Published: March 2012

This paper presents transformational steps taken by a national oil company, KOC, and lessons learned to introduce the digital culture within its management and professional organization. The drivers were many, mostly emanating with the concerns for enhancing production of green fields, arresting production decline in mature reservoirs, minimizing workovers, enhancing health and safety issues with oilfield operations and reducing decision-cycle time by effective professional engagement of subject matter experts. Solutions required planning steps to unload the engineering task force from the burden of getting and managing information to deciding on options and consequence analysis presented by interpreted data.

The acceptance of transitioning to a digital culture was natural and intuitive among the top brass. They supported step changes for creating appropriate decision space, for developing and cataloguing work processes and for training staff. On the technology side some tasks identified were advanced measurement and telemetry technologies, data handling, access and analysis, information visualization, automatic control and integrated decision making. As a transition, the process started on three pilot projects each providing the training ground to transform the way subject matter expertise can be harvested within the entire organization. Experienced professionals from different assets were selected and trained for utilizing their expertise for team assignments related to multiple critical projects.

Accomplishment of this complex task within a national oil company is in principle a lot more complex than perhaps in the IOC's; but the vision communicated within the organization was effective in developing a successful roadmap to the transition.
Leveraging Technology and Support Infrastructure and Experience in Upstream Digital Technology Application
Authors: Killian Keith E. , Jones Chris G. , Nye Johan B. , Wiemers Suzan
Published: March 2012

Implementing digital technology in the oilfield introduces non-traditional technology, equipment and applications to our oil & gas operations. The long term success and sustainability requires the ability to support this technology effectively and efficiently. ExxonMobil* has a global, standard IT infrastructure. ExxonMobil's downstream has implemented a global, standard advanced control architecture and deployed a suite of applications to optimize various aspects of these operations. Leveraging this experience, infrastructure design and support structure has been recognized as a significant opportunity in the upstream to facilitate quicker deployment and benefits realization, and leverage proven support models. This paper shares ExxonMobil's approach with leveraging our existing corporate IT and advanced control technology foundation, experience and support models for upstream deployment of advanced digital technology.
Challenges in Managing People to Implement an Integrated Operations Systems: A Petrobras Case Study in An Operational Unit of Exploration and Production
Authors: Siqueira Cézar Augusto , da Cunha Vaney Nascimento , Meneghelli Regina Buzetti , Barreto Francisco Antônio , Sesma Ericsson Jussim , Simões Roberto Carlos
Published: March 2012

Integrated operations systems have been consolidated as an important management tool in the global oil industry. In this context, considering the objectives of reducing operating costs and investments, increasing recovery factor and, therefore, increasing production efficiency, Petrobras has begun to implement the Integrated Operations Management (GIOp) as a supporting element to achieve the long term goals of the company, as established in its 2020 Strategic Plan. The GIOp is an initiative of the Exploration and Production (E&P) branch at Petrobras. This initiative is guided by the articulation of technical disciplines and companies involved in operational activities, focusing on the proactive role, bringing quality and comprehensive view in the planning of operations. Its implementation is occurring in the operational units of the south and southeast regions of Brazil, an area that responds for more than 80% of national oil and gas production. As in other operating units of the Petrobras E&P, Operations Unit of Espírito Santo, responsible for the management of production assets in the Campos and Espírito Santo basin, began the process of GIOp implementation through pilot projects. The results obtained so far are considered positive; however, beyond all the technical challenges observed for system implementation, it is noteworthy emphasizing the importance of managing people in the process, an element that has been confirmed as relevant in the GIOp implementation of one of the pilot projects. This paper aims to highlight the main challenges in managing people for the implementation of an integrated operations system and to present the case study of the early implementation of GIOp in the Jubarte and Cachalote Asset, whose production fields are located north of the Campos Basin.
Predictive Asset Maintenance
Authors: Kingsley Eliot
Published: March 2012

Predictive Asset Maintenance - The Business Challenge

Asset intensive industries such as Energy, Oil & Gas are continuously challenged to mitigate the risk of equipment failure to avoid unplanned costs, impacts on production, safety and environmental implications. It is a constant battle to balance the cost of preventative maintenance measures against the risk of equipment failures.

Predictive Analytics – A ‘Game Changing’ Capability

Predictive analytics is the application of powerful statistical modelling techniques to derive forward-looking ‘strategic actionable insights’ from historical data, as well as being capable of providing real-time ‘decision support insights’ on specific equipment.

It is applied to best advantage by mining multiple disparate data sources such as performance logs, sensor data, incident data, financial data, text based maintenance logs, human resources data and environmental data.

This paper describes an approach to: Accurately predict which subtle combinations of characteristics tend to lead to increased frequency of failures.Unearth patterns in maintenance operations over time that could point to opportunities for improvements.Identify the characteristics that tend to increase ownership cost and downtime over the life of a system.Predict what parts are likely to fail in the near future.Identify ‘at risk’ parts that have not yet failed so that they can be replaced just-in-time to avoid unscheduled downtime due to failure.Mine thousands of text based logs that describe the maintenance performed on systems to determine what important observations are being logged by the maintenance team.

Key Benefits

■ Scheduled maintenance can be adjusted and optimised on a dynamic basis so as to maximise equipment availability and avoid equipment failure. ■ Costly unnecessary maintenance can be avoided. ■ Maintenance resources can be deployed in an optimal fashion. ■ Analytical insights can be used to improve equipment design and maintainability.
Smart Oil and the Extended Enterprise
Authors: Forbes Peter
Published: March 2012

Following the successful paper "Smart Oil and the Development of the Networked Organisation", Chapman and Forbes 2010, SPE 128452 this paper goes beyond the Networked Organisation to explore the role of suppliers and partners in the extended enterprise. To date oil and gas organisations have implemented a number of intelligent energy solutions within their own organisations, the next logical step is to extend these into supplier and partner organisations, the extended enterprise.

Global integration and smart oil will require both technology, and further significant people, process and organisational change to make it successful. The extended enterprise will raise new challenges such as sharing information across company boundaries and compensation for services. This paper examines the challenges specific to supplier and partner collaboration and the latest thinking on: ■How do business processes need to change in the extended enterprise and how can intelligent energy solutions speed up execution of these processes?■How do supplier and partner relationships need to change in the extended enterprise?■How do you extend expertise leverage and community based working outside your organization into the extended enterprise?■What are the practical problems and how can they be overcome?■Have other industries addressed these challenges and what can be learnt from them?
Modular Procedural Automation Innovation for Upstream Processes
Authors: Wilkins Maurice J. , Lazok Steve
Published: March 2012

This paper explores a specific area of the upstream transformation innovation stage. Innovated new ways of increasing production and operation efficiency can be achieved from solutions developed in other industries. Energy companies have begun the innovation stage of deploying modular procedural automation (MPA) at on-shore oil/gas fields and at off-shore production platforms. The basis of MPA, its growth and development will be explained and upstream solutions that are occurring today will be introduced.
Cross-Industry Perspectives On Remote Collaboration, Optimization And Operations
Authors: Romatier Christophe
Published: March 2012

Regional, national and global businesses alike confront an array of diverse and often interconnected challenges that test their abilities to strengthen competitive position, sustain growth and increase profit margins.

In the face of such challenges, common imperatives emerge. Among them: the need to simplify work processes, improve knowledge management and find new ways to adapt and thrive in accelerating business environments.

In many instances, dissimilar industries are adopting similar solutions to meet common imperatives. One such solution is remote collaboration.

Drawing from experience across multiple industries, from mining and minerals to commercial business management, we will showcase remote collaboration solutions and highlight best practices—with an emphasis on how remote collaboration can be tailored to the petroleum industry to achieve transformative results.
Wireless Instrumentation in the Oil & Gas Industry - From Monitoring to Control and Safety Applications
Authors: Petersen Stig , Carlsen Simon
Published: March 2012

Wireless instrumentation, defined as the merger of wireless sensor network (WSN) technologies with industrial field instrumentation, has become increasingly popular in the process industries since the recent ratifications of the WirelessHART and ISA100.11a specifications. By providing reliable self-healing and self-configuring wireless communication, these standards offers a cost-efficient alternative to traditional wired field instruments.

In process automation, field devices can be classified in three categories according to the nature and criticality of their application; namely monitoring, control and safety. These can be further divided into usage classes, for instance enabling the distinction between open and closed loop control. The requirements of the wireless communication protocol vary depending on the usage class of the wireless instruments, e.g. there is a major difference from using a wireless sensor for history collection every few minutes, to being a part of a closed loop with a process time of a few hundred milliseconds.

This paper provides a survey of the current status of wireless instrumentation in the oil and gas industry. The requirements and challenges, along with financial drivers and benefits, are addressed, and an overview of WSN technologies and international standards are presented. Through extensive theoretical analysis, laboratory experiments and pilot installations, it has become apparent that wireless instrumentation is ready for adoption at scale in non-critical monitoring applications. For control and safety systems, however, the currently available solutions have limitations which must be addressed through research and innovation before they are able to fulfill the more stringent requirements found in these types of applications.
A Framework to Assess Value of Intelligent Petroleum Fields and Integrated Operations
Authors: Strasunskas D. , Tomasgard A. , Nystad A. N.
Published: March 2012

The petroleum industry implements integrated operations (IO) by adopting information technology, improving access to real-time data, integrating people and suppliers, changing work processes, and by doing so, enable better and faster decisions. IO brings benefits but the economic value is not always known or well understood. Insights to critical success and risk factors are prerequisites for sustainable integrated operations and its value.

We have developed a decision analytic framework to assess economic value of IO. The framework builds on contemporary literature that emphasizes the need to assess information technology in a broader context of organizational structures and work processes. Therefore it has a built-in qualitative assessment of intangible capital that provides indispensible insights into required competencies, capability and risks associated with a particular IO component (technologies, processes to be implemented) based on their maturity level. Yet, it allows assessment of performance and expected value using integrated formal decision analysis. Level of achieved benefits and how to maintain or even further improve them is a critical question that our framework provides insights to.

The framework was developed and validated in industrial case studies: integrated planning; and integrated drilling with companies operating on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Hence, here we illustrate the framework and its application by a synthesized case from two industrial case studies, and highlight the lessons learned about the design and efficiency of the valuation framework.

We found the framework to be an efficient tool to evaluate projects implementing IO not only with regards to economic value, but also to gain deeper insights into determinants and uncertainties related to value. We can conclude that strength of the framework is a methodological process to analyze changes in competencies and capture downside risk reduction by IO.

The project has been performed at the IO Center (the Center for Integrated Operations in the Petroleum Industry, http://www.iocenter.no/).
WITSML: Laying the Foundation for Increasing Efficiency of Intelligent Wellsite Communications
Authors: Pickering J. G. , Shields J. A. , Gidh Y. K. , Johnson D. C. , AlShehry M. A. , Al-Khudiri M. M. , Farnan M. P. , Schey J. E.
Published: March 2012

When implementing an intelligent oilfield strategy it is tempting to focus on smart technology: advanced applications, novel instrumentation and collaborative environments. The data architecture is often overlooked. As deployments increase, it is important to review the industry data foundation and future direction.

WITSML version 1.4.1 is here and takes several bold steps to provide a robust, real-time foundation for data exchange and preservation. This version, the product of over two years of collaborative work by participants from oil companies, service companies and technology providers, is poised to be the keystone of the intelligent oilfield data architecture for wellsite communications.

WITSML 1.4.1 is simpler, more efficient and better defined than previous versions. It addresses several problems that hindered earlier versions by clearly specifying API behaviour and resolving ambiguities. It is also more prescriptive, which makes greater demands on software vendors but assures the one thing that matters most: interoperability. With a host of technical improvements, including new data objects, broader scope, data compression, query optimisation and change logs, version 1.4.1 will help increase the speed of information transfer and simplify use and deployment throughout the industry. To support WITSML adoption, Energistics is putting more emphasis on product certification and has initiated accredited training for developers and implementers.

WITSML uptake is growing rapidly. Server products enable efficient, secure storage with global access. The range of client products is evolving continuously and includes advanced well-logging, real-time geological and geophysical displays, automated reporting, interfaces to national data repositories and well delivery optimisation. There are now strong business drivers for making WITSML the preferred communications layer for all wellsite data. The authors will highlight the strengths of the new WITSML and its potential for increasing operational efficiency at the wellsite through improved data flow and analysis capabilities.

Saudi Aramco is a major user of WITSML technologies and v1.3.1.1 is the cornerstone of their Drilling Real-Time Data Hub (DRTDH). This paper includes a case study describing how Saudi Aramco is planning to use the enhanced capabilities of the newly released WITSML 1.4.1 to link together new drilling information with real-time data stored already in DRTDH to further increase drilling efficiency.
Transforming Remote Mountain Well Sites into Starbucks or Bridging (Layer 2) versus Routing (Layer 3) for Wireless Data Transmission
Authors: Barker David A. , Miller Mark A.
Published: March 2012

Prelude

This technical document addresses some of the symptoms/problems associated with the current network architecture and should help foster collaborative discussions surrounding a long-term solution. While reading this paper in its entirety, the reader should ask himself/herself the question "What were the lessons learned from this predicament?" Identifying and understanding the root causes that spawned this predicament will have tremendous value towards preventing similar scenario in the future.

This document is divided into three major sections:

Introduction – Provides a brief narrative highlighting the major issues. Technology Background – A high-level explanation of the terminology used throughout this document. Risk Assessment – Identifies potential risk associated with technology.
Decision Support and Workflow Automation for the Development and Management of Hydrocarbon Assets Using Multi-Agent Systems
Authors: El-Bakry Amr S. , Romer Michael C. , Xu Peng , Sundaram Anantha , Usadi Adam K. , Morehead H. Lane , Crawford Mark L. , Holloway Bryce A. , Knight Charles A.
Published: March 2012

Asset management teams face many challenges with increasing asset complexity, increasing data volumes, and staff in high demand while optimal asset performance remains paramount. More effective development and management of hydrocarbon assets may be achieved through an increased level of automation of work processes and decision-support technologies across the upstream value chain. Asset management workflow automation poses special challenges as such workflows are multi-disciplinary, cross-functional, and human expertise-intensive. Advancements in the fields of artificial intelligence, software engineering, and decision sciences have led to the development of Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) which have been the cornerstone of achieving higher levels of system and work process automation and autonomy. Here, the human expertise, obtained via knowledge elicitation of domain experts, is encoded into the software in an extensible and sustainable way. Each agent functions as an entity of a distributed computing system, performing a broad range of tasks which may include advanced analytics, data quality checks, and oversight of other agents. Although agents may have competing priorities, they can convey information to one another to broker a feasible decision through collaborative and coordinated decision making. This approach is useful for distributed real-time monitoring and capable of providing technical recommendations under open-loop environments and process control in closed-loop environments. This paper provides insights into a multi-agent development process for hydrocarbon asset management workflow automation and decision support.
The Overlooked Drilling Hazard: Decision Making From Bad Data
Authors: Nybø Roar , Frøyen Johnny , Lauvsnes Anders D. , Korsvold Torbjørn , Choate Mei
Published: March 2012

It is widely known that data associated with oil well drilling is often noisy and otherwise of bad quality. It is also known that solutions need to draw on both people, processes and technology to make traction. However, both the severity of the matter and the complex causes of bad data are still not completely understood. In this paper we offer a new vantage point, by presenting the data quality issues as they appear in drilling operations which utilize a real-time wellbore model for supervision and decision support. We summarize experience from several pilot studies carried out by SINTEF and the Center for Integrated Operations in the Petroleum Industry, together with industry partners. We find that bad data quality is not only a cost driver, but a serious drilling hazard in its own right.
Production Gain and Optimization through the Implementation of Smart Well Completion Technology in Saudi Aramco, Case Study
Authors: Dossary Faisal M. , Dawsari Saud A. , Anazi Rayid S.
Published: March 2012

Saudi Aramco operates a field located in a remote area in Saudi Arabia. The field is equipped with measurement, communication, control and software systems allowing real-time automated field management. It has the highest number of smart well completion installations in Saudi Aramco with 78 smart wells and 135 permanent downhole monitoring systems (PDHMS). The smart completion ensures controlled flow contribution from each targeted area within the reservoir, unlike open hole multilaterals where the inflow of oil from each lateral is uncontrolled.

The productivity index (PI) of these smart wells is calculated based on the individual lateral productivity, which is quantified by measuring the lateral flow contributions at the surface testing facilities — multiphase flow meter (MPFM) or test trap. After the flowing period, the well is shut-in at surface allowing for pressure build up measurements. The same process is being carried out for the remaining laterals by operating the inflow control valves (ICVs).

The assessment of the laterals productivity indices revealed a huge contrast between laterals of the same well. The stronger lateral dominates the flow, thereby not allowing flow contribution from other weaker laterals. This paper will demonstrate how proper utilization of ICVs combined with well testing enabled production optimization of the multilateral wells in the field. Production was restored from dead laterals by inducing only that lateral to the production system, laterals which were cutting water were restricted to gain overall production and less hydrostatic head pressure at the wellbore and laterals with high gas-oil ratio were restricted to gain total oil production from the multilateral well.
Getting the Most Out of Networked Drillstrings
Authors: Nybø Roar , Sui Dan , Petersen Johnny , Frøyen Johnny , Jackson Thomas , Veeningen Daan
Published: March 2012

A dynamic real-time drilling simulator which includes all parameters essential to the well and drillstring system, is able to reproduce actual drilling with high precision. Examples of parameters are mud viscosity and density, borehole diameter, etc. It is however a challenge to collect all these parameters and the result of which can be misleading information for the drilling crew, increased NPT and increased risk of accidents.

Networked enabled drillstrings or wired drill pipe allow sensors to be positioned along the drillstring presenting a new opportunity for collecting and calibrating parameters not just from the BHA, but along the entire length of the wellbore up to surface.

This paper addresses the challenges in measuring and extracting downhole parameters for updating dynamic real-time models using the broadband network and establishes methods to integrate broadband drilling data into the critical real-time decisions performed by the wellsite and shore-based crews, while assuring trust in the conclusions from the data. Multiple measurements by several distributed sensors over time and under different conditions can be used to extract the crucial model parameters. This scheme can deal with sensor faults and distinguish a sensor fault from a kick or other unwanted events.
Moving Towards Sustainability: A 5 Year Production Engineering Experience with Intelligent Fields
Authors: Al-Zahrani Rashad M. , Dashash Alaa A.
Published: March 2012

It is evident that the oil and gas industry has moved from the adoption phase of intelligent fields and that the value added enabled developing and sustaining more production from complex wells. This observation is supported by various operators’ experiences with intelligent fields that have been shared in many conferences and workshops.

Haradh Increment-III (HRDH-III) is Saudi Aramco's first full field development as an intelligent field. This development has provided great utility in maintaining production plateau, very low water cut and a better-than-expected field performance. During the first few years of HRDH-III operation, numerous examples have been highlighted on the company's experience with intelligent fields and the benefits realized. At that time, we were still at the early phase in the innovation stage where applications were mostly on individual wells creating value at an individual asset level.

In the pre-injection stage (6 months before the field production start up), real time data enabled identifying an area in HRDH-III field characterized by high permeability zones because of the presence of faults and fractures. This paper picks up where previous papers stopped, giving more details on production engineering experiences in optimizing the production from this area of the field and controlling water production. The paper presents the company's continued success in utilizing intelligent fields to meet and sustain production targets and shows how we have been moving up the curve from individual assets to a regional level.

The lessons learned from this field case will help in developing best practices that boost the confidence in intelligent fields. Also, it will assure that we are on the right track for the transformation to the sustainability stage of our intelligent field applications.
Achieving Excellence in Offshore Logistics
Authors: Favilla Jose R , Claessens Dirk A , Mello Ulisses , Flach Bruno
Published: March 2012

New frontiers in deep water oil exploration have imposed a number of challenges for the oil industry. One of these challenges is to provide high service level to the oil platforms and drilling units to keep them operating 24/7 in the most cost effective manner. Thousands of people have to be transported to and from the platforms on a monthly basis and also food, maintenance parts, diesel and other fluids. Helicopters and special vessels are used. Drilling operations require allocation of very expensive equipments and their needs are sometimes less predictable. Complex onshore logistics, composed of suppliers, warehouses, ports, heliports, etc. are required to support the offshore operations. Currently, most of the offshore logistics are still conducted in a traditional way, breaking the logistics chain in silos with little synchronization across the entire process. The proposed approach enables a paradigm change, bringing together the concept of integrated operations, leading supply chain practices and advanced enabling technologies. The concepts presented are being discussed and adopted by leading offshore operators. Dramatic improvement in service levels and significant cost reduction can be realized, enabling the offshore operators to achieve logistics excellence.
Smart Fields - Sustaining and Accelerating Benefits from Intelligent Fields
Authors: de Best Leo , Van Den Berg Frans
Published: March 2012

The first decade of Smart Fields in Shell focused on the new technologies, making business cases and implementing the technologies as widely as feasible. This has led to major contributions to the bottom line, as shown in the Smart Fields Value Assessment. Entering the second decade, the focus of the Smart Fields programme is on accelerating the implementation of new technologies across assets in a way that value generation is sustained. To understand the key drivers and pitfalls in global implementation of technologies, a ‘Sustain’ methodology was developed which provided insight in where these successes and improvement areas are. Building on the results from the ‘Sustain’ assessments, the approach and focus of the roadmap ‘from technology to commodity’ was adjusted to deliver robust and sustainable deployment and continued value creation of Smart Fields technologies. This paper describes the methodology and steps which enables Smart Fields in Shell to achieve this in the digital oilfield, by deepening the integration in subsurface and surface management
Evaluating the Performance of Intelligent Completions
Authors: Yadav Varun , Surya Neha
Published: March 2012

In the last decade, evaluations, discussions, workshops, and sharing of experiences have helped increase the number of intelligent well system (IWS) solutions being installed around the world. The intelligent wells offer many advantages over conventional completions. These primarily range from accelerated production, increased recovery, reduced or eliminated intervention, and improved reservoir performance. A second set of factors that need to be considered range from reliability of system, overall complexity, contingency operations, and economics.

Instead of a large number of IWS being installed, many questions remain on the performance of these completions. Some of the concerns are lower return than expected/predicted, risk of valve failure affecting well integrity and uncertainty as to the most effective future operational practices.

This work reviews several typical intelligent well systems (IWS) completed, including a gas producer, oil producer, auto-gas lift oil producer, multilateral IWS producer, and horizontal openhole multi-isolation producer. For each case, the wellbore modelling, completion design, choking operation strategies, and estimated performance will be introduced. In conclusion, this paper will show how modelling technologies were developed to derive the IWS well and equipment design. It will cover lessons learned through our experience in intelligent well systems, including flow modelling, erosion analysis, tool selection, and crossover control, and how we expect the future movement of this technology to evolve.
Early Symptom Detection Based on Real-Time Evaluation of Downhole Conditions: Principles and Results from several North Sea Drilling Operations
Authors: Cayeux Eric , Daireaux Benoît , Dvergsnes Erik Wolden , Sælevik Gunnstein
Published: March 2012

During drilling operations, downhole conditions may deteriorate and lead to unexpected situations which can result in significant delays. In most cases, warning signs of the deterioration can be observed in advance, and by taking proactive actions, drillers can avoid serious incidents like pack-offs or stuck-pipes. A new analysis methodology, relying on an automatic real-time computer system, has been developed to detect those early indicator conditions.

The methodology comprises constantly computing the various physical forces acting inside the well (mechanical, hydraulic and thermodynamic). These physical forces are coupled by an automatic model calibration, which then gives a reliable picture of expected well behavior. Through analysis of the deviations between modeled and measured values, an estimation of the current state of the well is derived in real-time. Changes in the well condition are an early warning of deteriorating well conditions. This paper describes precisely the real-time analysis and the results during some drilling operations.

The software has been used for monitoring fifteen unique wells located in five different North Sea fields. All major situations were warned in advance at different event time scales: rapidly changing downhole conditions (such as pulling a drill-string into a cuttings bed) were typically warned 30 minutes ahead of the actual event, medium duration deteriorations were detected up to 6 hours before the incident, and slow changing downhole conditions were signaled up to 1 day in advance. Several examples that illustrate the detected incidents over distinct time periods are described.

The availability of good quality real-time data streams makes it possible to implement such analysis tools in an integrated operation setup. Early symptom detection can be used to take decisions in a timely fashion, based on quantitative performance indicators rather than subjective feelings and personal experience.
Interoperability, a Paradigm Change
Authors: Montgomery Ronald L , Favilla Jose R.
Published: March 2012

Description: Industrial Capital Project Engineering Design solutions are heavily dependent on large scale custom integration services efforts to hand over key information to the Operations and Maintenance application environment. Individual Owner/Operators must each redundantly bear the development and sustaining costs for these efforts. Large engineering design suppliers offer proprietary ecosystems making their own rules for technology enablement often setting high costs and onerous technology prerequisites. Often these artificial rules require owner operators to choose systems based on suboptimal criteria or worse require them to rip and replace existing systems. These barriers and artificial guidelines lock owner / operators into proprietary applications with very high initial costs and high ongoing costs. A new engineering data handover and ongoing operations and maintenance sustaining model is proposed in this paper advocating an Open Standard "system-of-systems" approach for engineering, operations and maintenance information. This Open Standards approach recommends an Interoperability Solution rather then custom service delivered "point-to-point" integration strategies for the general industry engineering eco-system. The Open Standards Approach is based on open, supplier neutral standards, enabling initial loading and incremental update of participating systems eliminating custom service based integration.

Application: IBM has been collaborating with industry standard bodies and key standards based suppliers like Assetricity LLC bringing proven Interoperability functionality. This approach enables enterprise service bus integration neutral exchange of information leveraging a standards-based common engineering register coupled with a reference semantic information abstraction model that provides a safe, reliable and replicable roadmap for interoperability. The solution has been adopted by several oil and gas companies as a basis for enterprise information exchange.

Conclusions: An IT design framework is offered for integrated operations and maintenance for oil and gas companies that is architecture centric, product neutral, operating platform neutral, enterprise service bus neutral, enabled by standards at all levels, supported with a practical implementation approach.

Significance of Subject Matter: The creation of a reference semantic information model and an Engineering Register based on in-depth understanding of industry standards coupled with Open Operations and Maintenance Web Services provides the establishment of a safe roadmap for interoperability that enables a industry paradigm change that significantly reduces the cost of initial information handover and sustained information change management for the Engineering, Operations and Maintenance environment for both the Upstream and Downstream and Process Unit Operations in general.
Building Capacity for Innovation - A Drilling Contractors Approach to Continuous Change Management
Authors: Eike Martin
Published: March 2012

This paper presents how a drilling contractor based on the Norwegian continental shelf has increased efficiency and reduced NPT through a systematic approach towards continuous change management. In close collaboration with their customers, they have transformed their operational model through increased use of data-sharing, continuous support, and knowledge transfer. A qualitative case study of the change process revealed that the successful implementation was secured through:

The presence of an overall organizational structure giving room for innovative thinking and development of new ideas, while at the same time having a hierarchical and communicative structure rigid enough to ensure swift implementation. An active use of efficient project organizations enabling relevant resources to be directed towards the change process. Formalizing the champion role within the organization ensuring an efficient day-to-day follow-up of the change process. Close collaboration with relevant actors in the company's surroundings, most notably major customers.

The ability to focus on these factors enabled the building of an overall "capacity for innovation" within the company, meaning an ability to continuously harvest, develop, and implement new and transformative tools and work processes in the daily operations.

The lessons uncovered in this study are highly relevant for other companies looking to prepare themselves for the increasingly changing demands the industry is facing. Operating with an organizational setup able to continuously change and innovate can prove decisive in the years to come.
Enabling Agile and Responsive Workflow Automation: A Hydraulic Fracture Design Case Study
Authors: Strobel Marshal , Carvajal Gustavo , Szatny Michael , Peries Chaminda
Published: March 2012

Hydraulic fracture design is an example of what is largely a manual process that requires interaction with a number of different software applications to obtain fracture geometry, production constraints, production sensitivity criteria, and NPV scenarios. When the goal is an optimized fracture design, the process is especially onerous, as it requires iterative interactions with reservoir simulators, nodal programs, economics models, drilling-well design systems, and stimulation design tools to arrive at a suitable design.

Previous papers have detailed the benefits that can be derived from the automation of operations, engineering workflows, and production workflows in general. A major service company was able to quickly provide workflow automation benefits to an East Texas field with the aid of its workflow automation software. In the East Texas field, the service company was able to preserve the provided business service, yet change many of the connections with other software applications that were used to deliver the business benefit, as well as the engineering methods used to optimize the design.

The GoM Lower Tertiary Wilcox Sand Field was also deemed a good candidate by a major service company to operational and production workflow automation, given its low PI, high-cost wells, HPHT tech challenges, and production uncertainty. This fracture workflow uses a unique holistic combination of tools, which are coupled in a way as to reflect the actual economic values of various fracture scenarios.

With the Microsoft Upstream Reference Architecture (MURA) initiative, Microsoft, along with several of its E&P partners, prescribes this approach, which focuses on achieving a level of interoperability between software solutions used by the industry.
Self-Help and Leveraging Scale via the Wells Advanced Collaborative Environment's Global Community of Practice
Authors: Sawaryn S. J. , Deady A. , Lennox S. , Moore-Cernoch K. , Morrison J. M. , Saunders M.
Published: March 2012

The well's Advanced Collaborative Environment (ACE) Community of Practice (CoP) was formed in March 2009 at BP's senior management request, to share good practice and promote standardisation in this area. Its mandate was one of self help and leveraging scale, but working through influence and consensus, with management support rather than by direct authority. It was also required to adhere to company IT standards and technology strategy.

At the time of the CoP's formation, collaborative environments had been commissioned in various company locations worldwide, including Aberdeen, Baku, Houston, Stavanger and Tangguh. In the absence of any unifying well's concept, each of these centres had been developed independently, strongly influenced by local ideas, needs and resources. The approach was typical of the innovation stage referred to in the conference programme, but it was evident that connectivity between the different locations and with other disciplines was lacking and that effort was duplicated.

Today the CoP has over 30 members, spanning wells, subsurface, IT and wells technology from 12 locations worldwide. It meets virtually, involving the widest possible membership in the different time zones. It has been instrumental in progressing and communicating standards, supporting the introduction and use of common tools and technology, leveraging its knowledge and expertise and helping start-ups in new areas. Overall the CoP has been a great success. The paper describes the CoP's evolution, from its formation to the present day and critically examines its achievements, shortfalls and future goals.

In a rapidly changing technical environment, achieving and maintaining alignment between the diverse stakeholders in a medium to large organisation can be challenging. The CoP has earned its credibility and has proved to be an effective means of sharing experience and making good use of scarce resources, both keys for adoption at scale.

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