bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Customer Technical Support: OEM Collaboration in a Digitalized World
Authors: Werner Michael , Bechini Giovanni
Published: November 2018

Wherever turbines and compressors operate — in oil and gas, power generation, or other critical infrastructure and industries — their uptime and availability are keys to profitability. Siemens Customer Technical Support provides operators of Siemens turbines, generators, and compressors with 24/7 performance monitoring, as well as early-warning support to flag KPI variances and anomalous conditions that could indicate trouble ahead. It delivers actionable intelligence for decision support to help them understand how to manage any performance issues until their next planned maintenance outage, increase availability and reduce the cost of unplanned disruptions.

By doing so, we aim for combining the operational excellence of our customers and our OEM know how, utilizing the data connection as new way to communicate and collaborate with our customers. By using rule-based, physics-based and data-driven methodology, our diagnostic engineers are able to detect deviations of normal behavior and critical changes in health status of the machinery before they impact customer operation.

In our Technical Support Centers embedded in the dedicated locations of our product lines, we process data of more than 1,700 units, servicing complete trains consisting of industrial and aeroderivative gas turbines, industrial steam turbines, turbo compressors, reciprocating compressors and gas engines, covering generator sets and mechanical drive applications.

Finally, it will be presented how Siemens Customer Technical Support helps operators to increase availability, reliability as well as performance of their oil and gas and industrial rotating equipment. Showcases from the oil and gas industry with reference to generator sets and mechanical drive applications will also show the value in boosting customer proximity and operational efficiency.
Asset Performance Management 4.0 Internet of Things iot Enabled Condition Monitoring, a Story from a Digital Maintenance Service Provider
Authors: Ferket Johan
Published: November 2018

Asset-intensive companies face tighter maintenance budgets, stricter regulations and increased pressure to improve asset performance, whilst confronted with aging assets and workforce. Managing an asset with these challenges requires informed decision-making based on insight, knowledge and forecasting. Data is a powerful tool to achieve this goal.

‘Internet of things’ innovations have led to a rapid increase in the availability of technical and business data. A few years ago, techniques that were complex and expensive are now more affordable, accessible and increasingly important in order to compete in this world of rapid change.

Field data is faster and immediately available for processing, while more relevant measurements and observations of similar or better quality are leading to more reliable information for decision-making.
Innovative Approach for the Salt-Related Converted-Wave Identification and Attenuation - Offshore Egypt, Mediterranean Sea, Case Study
Authors: Mihaljevic Ivica , Zaki Refaat , Rana Satyendra , Hegazy Mohamed , Zdraveva Olga
Published: November 2018

Abrupt and large changes in the earth properties (velocities) can cause conversion of the compressional waves to converted mode energy. Such converted waves could be recorded on the towed streamer seismic data. If they are not identified and removed early they can mislead the interpretation. In this paper, we are showing the successful application of the converted wave attenuation (CWA) workflow on the seismic data from the Mediterranean See, Offshore Egypt. Data is acquired with latest broadband technique and went through several iterations of velocity model building. The presence of the strong converted waves has threatened to undermine velocity model building and interpretation effort. The benefit of presented workflow is that it identifies and models the converted energy pre-stack pre-migration, however the subtraction is done pre-stack post-migration. Post-imaging subtraction gives improved flexibility in signal protection and improvements in the S/N ratio, especially in the areas where the separation of the converted more and compressional energy is small. Presented workflow is universally applicable to any areas where the converted modes occur.
Case Study – To Identify and Fix the Contributing Factors on a Complex Turbo Machinery Driver Misalignment
Authors: Manikandan Arumugampillai , Anwar Zeeshan
Published: November 2018

Turbo machineries are considered as one of the most critical equipment in oil, gas and petrochemical plants which needs highly safe and reliable operation. Generally, turbomachineries will be driven by Electric motor or steam turbine or gas turbine in process plant which depends upon the application. This case study represents an experience on complex turbo machinery driver misalignment which is electric motor. In this specific case, electric motor drives Gearbox and centrifugal compressor. Centrifugalcompressor is used for process gas pressurisation. This misalignment was observed between electric motor and gearbox.

Electric motors are basically electrical machines which converts electric energy into mechanical energy. So, they are used as driver to drive gearboxes, compressors or pumps and other machines. These machineries have rotating parts at hot at high speed.

While units are in new installation phase, machinery alignment shall be performed between the driver and driven machineries. Unlike other rotating machines, electric motors have high thrust clearance. During operation rotor will come to magnetic centre. Prior to the installation of coupling solo run will be performed on the motor to evaluate the performance of motor and to ensure the magnetic centre.
Mitigation of Harmonic Problems of an Offshore Drilling Jack-Up Rig Power System
Authors: Alhaddad Mamdouh
Published: November 2018

Variable Frequency Drives (VFDs) are employed in the heavy industry like oil rigs, refineries and mills etc., as they result in efficient plant operation. However, with the increased penetration of VFDs, the power quality problems have become significant. The focus in this thesis s is to study the power quality problem in the oil rigs of ADNOC Drilling. ADNOC Drilling has different types of variable speed drives in their on shore and off shore rigs. The purpose of this study is to collect field data, check the harmonic distortion and suggest other suitable solutions to improve the power quality in offshore oil rigs. Most of the old rigs are set up in 1970s and they use variable speed DC drives. The new offshore rigs use VFDs. Some these new rigs are equipped with series inductors in VFDs. Generator voltage distortion, overheating of generators, poor power factor, unwanted tripping are the common problem faced by these rigs.

This thesis investigates the harmonic problems in VFDs, reduction in harmonic due to the usage of series inductance. Detailed investigation is carried out to check if the series inductance is able to reduce the harmonics to acceptable levels or not. The typical oil rig power system simulated using ETAP and necessary harmonic distortion data generated from MATLAB. It is observed that series inductor will keep the THD within acceptable limits if the generator is oversized. For better utilization of generators and harmonic mitigation other alternative solutions such as tuned passive filters are required. This study is significant for oil rigs and other industries as it will help the industry in studying the harmonic problems and mitigation techniques. The suggested solutions will help the industry in better utilization of generator and efficient operation of the plant.
Very Long Step-out Subsea Umbilical Fast-Track Design Approach based on Zohr Experience
Authors: Elsabbagh Sameh , Elkhafif Hesham
Published: November 2018

Design of deepwater Subsea Control & Umbilical Systems is a challenging process subject. Challenges are emerging from subsea flow assurance ever demanding requirements as well as control and data transmission implications through long step-out. Zohr project Accelerated Start-up Phase FEED design adopted a Centre Control Platform (CCP) to accommodate the chemical injection, power & control Topsides facilities feeding and controlling subsea equipment at different drill centres through umbilical network. Subsea control is based on enabling multiplexed electrohydraulic Subsea Production Control System (SPCS) with Fiber Optic (FO) communication. Control of each drill centre is independent based on segregated power and data transmission scheme. The development adopted tight schedule due to the significance to country economics.

Chemical Injection and control with related data transmission through very long step-out umbilical has demonstrated to be a complex job in terms of assuring reliable connection of the CCP with subsea equipment located about 160km far away from the CCP. This complexity is merited to tight coupling between SPCS, umbilical system and installation engineering. Also, the heavy impact of failure downtime attributed to production loss along with increasing cost of intervention has significant footprint on every design aspect.

The current paper highlights a Fast-Track parallel design approach for very long step-out subsea development based on Zohr project achievements. With the tight schedule and massive amount of material involved in umbilical manufacturing (i.e. 2.2millions meter cables, 2million meter of tubes, and 2.7 million meter of fillers), any change after umbilical purchase order issuance will have significant impact on project execution and will probably put the project schedule into major risk. The traditional relay-based design scheme is replaced with an approach minimising the dependency of Umbilical Design on SPCS and Installation engineering.

The criticalities include impact of power distribution/sparing scheme on electrical cables configuration and design of Umbilical Termination Assembly. Also, the work covers FO link budget design challenges, need for midway repeater and related impact on connection design between main umbilical sections. The proposed approach is supported with conservative deployment scheme to eliminate installation risks.

Finally, the paper will conclude with a summary for key aspects to be taken into consideration during FEED in case of very-long step-out projects. Very-long step-out subsea field development projects being limited worldwide, the work will be valuable reference for similar future projects as being handling technicality from project management perspective.
Roadmap to Unlock Light, Tight and Highly Laminated Oil Resources in South Oman
Authors: Al Hadhrami Abdullah , Al Riyami Abdullah , Schulz Ralf , Moiseenkov Alexey , Khayrutdinov Fanis , Smirnov Dmitrii , Al Kindi Nawal
Published: November 2018

Field "A" produces from a mixed-wet formation comprising of fine grained silicilite. The field is a sour light tight oil reservoir with permeability range from 0.001 – 0.1 mD, the only way to flow the existing vertical wells is through hydraulic fracs. Historically the wells have been fracced using water based frac fluids, which have caused severe negative consequences related to well integrity and reduced productivity. With a recovery factor of <1% after 15 years of production, the main challenge and objective lies in enhancing productivity and unlocking the huge volumes of this reservoir through optimizing the field development concept, completion, frac design and execution.

A study was conducted with a recommendation to develop the field by drilling slanted wells with ~10 – 15 frac stages. The frac design in itself is unconventional or hybrid where the targeted frac half length is 5x more than the existing conventional ones. The use of oil based frac fluid instead of water is an opportunity actively pursued to enhance productivity and eliminate issues related to scale and corrosion that in the past have resulted in a loss of production.

Findings of the study have clearly indicated that developing the field with several slanted multi frac wells is economically attractive; with an increase in Net Present Value (NPV) by ~60% and decrease in Unit Technical Cost (UTC) by ~30% compared to developing the field conventionally with vertical wells.
Thermodynamic Data Digitalization: Workflow and Benefits of a Well-Structured Database
Authors: Diatto Paolo , Martin Marco , Drei Enrico , Ciriello Giuseppe , Della Rossa Ernesto , Riva Roberto
Published: November 2018

The knowledge of reservoir fluids phase behavior has always played an important role in oilfield development planning, reserves evaluation and screening of the potential for enhanced oil recovery. Nowadays operators aim more and more at fast-track development of discovered resources, therefore, any anticipation of thermodynamic properties is a business challenge: looking for "PVT-analogues" is the solution proposed in this paper. What adversely impacts massive scouting of PVT data usually is the limit of a small amount of readily available information, also due to the intrinsic complexity of the datasets and of the variety of output formats produced by different laboratories all over the world and over the years. In Eni a new tool for data mining based on the reorganization and thorough digitalization of the PVT archive is in advanced development. Standardization of the laboratory outcomes by templates, automatic loading into a corporate repository, in-house development of software tools for quality control, data mining and advanced statistical analyses, easy access through a properly designed interface: each of these steps is integrated in an upgraded data-driven approach to fluid properties prediction allowing an earlier understanding of the reservoir fluid system.
Managing Drilling Risk Using an Integrated Approach to Real-Time Pore Pressure Prediction
Authors: Patel Nikhil , Penkar Sanjay , Blyth Matthew
Published: November 2018

Pore pressure and wellbore stability estimation in real-time has become a mandatory service in any situation where drilling hazards are expected and particularly in the cases of deep water, exploration, geologically complex and extended reach settings. The basic workflow assumes that under-compaction is the primary cause of abnormal pore pressure generation (Eaton 1975), where an increase in formation pressure is associated with a response in sonic, density and resistivity logs, and models are defined based on this assumption. However, structural deformities, dipping beds or alternate pressure mechanisms could result in a wrong prediction of pore pressure based on what is observed in the shales above, or what is predicted from the standard models. Besides increasing the Eaton exponent or creating different normal compaction trend lines (Malinverno et al., 2004; Sayers et al., 2006) or using an unloading parameter (Bowers 1995), there is the need to define an integrated approach using multiple data sources to construct and constrict the model.

Advanced mud gas interpretation and cavings (pieces of rock not drilled by bit or reamers) analysis have become important tools in real time pore pressure and wellbore stability monitoring and are used to determine the approach to a structural deformity (faults/fractures) or the presence of elevated pressures at the crest of a permeable formation, either due to lateral transfer or gas buoyancy. Analysis of cavings shape, structure and mode of generation helps to determine the current borehole condition and whether the mud weight (MW) needs to be raised to control the problem, or just modifying the drilling parameters would suffice. The presence of connection gas peaks aids the pore pressure analyst to estimate the pore pressure across a permeable formation by associating its magnitude and its relationship to dynamic (equivalent circulating density - ECD) and static (equivalent static density - ESD) environments. The use of Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) to maintain a constant backpressure across the annulus, negates this fluctuating static to dynamic environment and hence affects the use of mud gas behavior to determine if the prevailing MW column is sufficient to provide static overbalance, but workflows to address this issue have been defined over the years. Although, the industry is currently beginning to use these secondary indicators into their workflows, there is no standard that incorporates these sources into a single, cohesive workflow.

This paper presents an integrated approach to pore pressure prediction and managing drilling risk by incorporating multiple sources of information beyond classical log-based techniques. It demonstrates the value of advanced mud gas interpretation, drilling mechanics interpretation, cavings and drilling parameter analysis to optimize the pore pressure model in real-time and enhance the traditional techniques.
MPD and UBD Hybrid System Achieves Target Depth in Previously Undrillable Conditions in Adhi Field Pakistan: A Case History
Authors: Ashraf Qasim , Khalid Ali , Ali Farhad , Luqman Khurram , Mousa Ayoub , Babar Zaheer Uddin , Hussam Uddin Muhammad , Ullah Safi
Published: November 2018

An operator has drilled more than 32 wells to date in Adhi field, a gas and condensate field in northern Pakistan. The majority of these wells produce from depleted sands and some also produce from limestone reservoirs. The wells range in depth between 8,366 and 11,483 ft (2,550 and 3,500 m).

The operator was in the process of drilling the 8 1/2-in. hole section with the least possible mud weight to minimize the overbalance across the lost-circulation-prone limestone formation. While drilling the section, an unexpected gas pocket was encountered and subsequently required an increase in mud weight. To further add to already challenging drilling conditions, a fault was expected in the middle of the section. This fault was expected to produce total losses. The resulting loss of hydrostatic head would have caused a troublesome well-control scenario.

The above conditions led to an inherently tight drilling window. The operator thus made precise management of wellbore pressures a prime objective. However in conventional drilling, relying on the mud weight and pumping rate for accurate management of wellbore pressures proves highly inefficient, if not impossible.

A managed pressure drilling (MPD) and underbalanced drilling (UBD) hybridized system was devised to enable drilling the 8 1/2-in. hole section. An MPD system that applies constant bottom hole pressure would enable drilling the section with the least possible mud weight and as close as possible to the pore pressure line. In the event that heavy to total losses were encountered because of the predicted fault, the system could be switched over to UBD flow drilling. By switching over to UBD, the equivalent circulating density (ECD) would be reduced further and allow the well to flow while drilling and mitigating losses.

An MPD and UBD system was also expected to offer numerous benefits in drilling, including reduced chances of differential sticking, reduced formation damage, increased rate of penetration and bit life, less washouts in the drillstring and pumps, reduced nonproductive time, and enhanced abilities to execute well control with the pipe in motion without fear of getting stuck.

The MPD and UBD hybrid system was deployed to the location. The operator was able to drill the 8 1/2- in. section to the target depth. The operator commenced drilling with an MPD system but, as expected, heavy losses were encountered. Drilling then proceeded with UB flow drilling until reaching target depth. The hybrid system enabled the operator to achieve target depth, eliminate an entire casing string, and substantially reduce NPT. This paper discusses the planning, design, and execution of the MPD and UBD hybrid system.
Recoverable Oil Mapping and Infill Drilling Optimization for Mixed-Wet Carbonate Reservoirs
Authors: Huang Qingfeng , Sadok Abdel Aziz , Baslaib Mohamed A.
Published: November 2018

Hysteresis commonly exists in relative permeability curves, especially during a cyclic process. To describe hysteresis impact on fluid behaviors, scanning curves are normally applied in numerical simulation models. Hysteresis pertains to saturation history, in which scanning curves and trapped oil saturation are dependent on the initial oil saturation. For mixed-wet carbonate reservoirs that have thick transition zones, initial water saturations greater than irreducible water saturations are distributed conforming to saturation-height functions and rock types. Therefore, water-flood follows the scanning curve path where intermediate saturation reversal occurs, altering the trapped oil saturation.

In the field development plan during water-flooding process, infill drilling identification is traditionally based on simulation model remaining-oil-in-place map or single residual oil saturation attributed to rock types. In this paper, hysteresis-model derived recoverable oil is computed from history-matched model and employed to assist wells planning. An automated infill-drilling program has been coded by considering Killough hysteresis model. First, initial and current saturation at development time are extracted, and end-point residual saturation is identified from saturation functions. Second, the amount of trapped and up-to-date remaining recoverable oil is calculated for each grid cell. Then, the optimum infill locations are identified to maximize contact area with mobile oil. Completion data are generated as output for reservoir simulation.

Since optimum infill locations are identified, better oil-recovery is achieved by implementing the proposed approach, which targets both oil zone and transition zone. Single residual oil by rock types may not help identify the anticipated wells locations in the mature reservoirs. The approach is validated by suggesting less and optimum number of wells while bringing higher recovery according to simulation results. Potential of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) can be further evaluated after quantifying the remaining oil saturation. In the transition zone, larger pores are filled with oil and the trapped oil saturation is lower than that above dry oil intervals, enabling possible wells production in the transition zone.

Initial-saturation-dependent residual oil saturation is used to better map the infill drilling. Rather than adopting the single residual oil saturation by roc type, this approach considers hysteresis-led trapped oil saturation for the preliminary automatic wells screening and optimization prior to dynamic simulation. This process is repeatable and adjustable in line with the development strategy. For the giant and mature oil reservoirs, it demonstrates a better and more efficient development plan.
Measurement of CO2 Diffusion Coefficient in the Oil-Saturated Porous Media
Authors: Jia Bao , Tsau Jyun-Syung , Barati Reza
Published: November 2018

Molecular diffusion is an important EOR mechanism in naturally fractured reservoirs. However, the laboratory-measured diffusion coefficient in the fractured porous media is still limited; and grid sensitivity analysis is missing in the literature when the single-porosity system is applied to history match the pressure decline curve. We aimed to fill the gaps using Radial Constant Volume Diffusion (RCVD) method experimentally to investigate diffusion coefficients at different pressures in hydrocarbon saturated porous media. A special in-house cell is designed to hold the core sample in the center with the annulus around simulating the fracture. The core is initially saturated with oil while the annulus was filled with CO2 at the same pressure. During the measurements, the system pressure declines as gas diffuses into the oil phase until it reaches chemical equilibrium. The pressure decline curve is history matched to determine the diffusion coefficient. The initial pressure is 597 psi, and the diffusion coefficient is determined in numerical models accordingly. Molecular diffusion coefficients are estimated at different experiment periods to reveal the pressure-dependency. Models with different grid numbers are applied to reveal the scale dependency when including molecular diffusion in reservoir simulations. Besides, flow characteristics in the RCVD system are characterized and capillary pressure effect is investigated in this study.
Multi-Objective Optimization to Predict Minimum Temperature for Efficient BTEX Destruction to Minimize Fuel Gas Consumption in Sulfur Recovery Units
Authors: Rahman Ramees K. , Ibrahim Salisu , Raj Abhijeet
Published: November 2018

Benzene, Toluene, Ethylbenzene and Xylene (BTEX) present in feed gases to Sulfur Recovery Units (SRU) cause frequent catalyst deactivation. BTEX can be oxidized at the recommended temperatures above 1050°C. High temperatures are achieved through feed preheating and co-firing acid gas with fuel gas. However, temperatures above 1050°C is not required when BTEX concentration is low. A multi-objective optimization approach is deployed to minimize feed preheating temperature and fuel gas co-firing, while maintaining high BTEX destruction. A well validated model for Claus furnace from previous studies was used for furnace simulations. Claus furnace was modelled using Chemkin Pro, while catalytic section (including condensers, re-heaters and incinerator) was modelled using Aspen Hysys (Sulsim). MATLAB was used as a platform to link Chemkin Pro with Aspen Hysys. Optimization was performed in MATLAB using genetic algorithm. The objectives of optimization were to 1) Maximize sulfur recovery, 2) Minimize fuel gas consumption to furnace, 3) Minimize air and acid gas preheating temperature. As a constraint, total BTEX at waste heat boiler outlet (WHB) was maintained below 1ppm. The optimization range for fuel gas flow rate was from 29 to 2034 nm3/hr, air temperature from 180 to 360°C and for acid gas temperature, 180 to 230°C was considered. The feed properties and physical dimensions of SRU were obtained from an industrial SRU plant. Results show that furnace temperature of 1028°C needs to be maintained for maintaining BTEX destruction for the given feed condition examined. Thus, fuel gas co-firing can be reduced from base case value of 1773 nm3/hr to 29 nm3/hr, while air preheating temperature can also reduce from 325°C to 223°C. This can assist in reducing operational costs in sulfur recovery units considerably. The present work predicts the ideal conditions for BTEX destruction in SRUs based on inlet feed conditions. This approach can be used to seek favorable means of optimizing Sulfur recovery, decreasing fuel gas consumption in sulfur recovery units to reduce operating cost.
Overcome Slug Related Operational Issues in Brownfield Facilities by Using Bypass Pigging
Authors: Kollamgunta Saikiran , G. V. R. A. Srinivasa Rao , Singh Harendra , Kamal Faris Ragheb , Takieddine Oussama
Published: November 2018

One of the major challenges in the upstream oil and gas industry is de-bottlenecking of existing slug catcher/ inlet separator system during facilities up-gradation or due to changes in production rates for any other reasons. It is often found that upgrades or changes result in increased slug volume from the upstream pipelines thus making existing slug catcher or separators inadequate to handle the increased load. Even in cases of normal pigging not involving debottlenecking of existing facilities, production rates are required to be lowered. This is done as excess liquid slugs generated due to pigging may show severe operational problems in terms of level and pressure fluctuations in a separator leading to poor separation, potential liquid flooding, increased flaring, emergency shutdown and production loss. The use of by-pass pigs can effectively reduce the liquid arrival rate at the slug catcher over conventional approach by delivering a more uniformly mixed fluid even at relatively higher production rates. It thereby reduces the slug volume and hence, the requirement of increased surge capacity. Further, in brownfield applications, it enables optimal use of existing assets or avoiding new slug catcher.

Operators are reluctant to reduce the production flow rate to very low value for pigging, as this normally results in reduction in revenue. Bypass pigging, as compared with conventional pigging, is able to reduce the pig velocity even at relatively higher production rates. It, however, requires careful evaluation and design as in many cases, such as well fluid having wax, solids or high asphaltenes may result in blockage of the bypass holes thus impacting the effectiveness of the operation. Transient modeling and simulation of bypass pigging using OLGA Dynamic Multiphase Flow Simulator has been performed to address such issues.

This paper describes the strategies to address de-bottlenecking challenges due to increased surge volumes to be accommodated in the existing slug catcher/ separator system and use of by-pass pigging to overcome these. The application of the technique used i.e. bypass pigging is demonstrated by transient multiphase simulation using OLGA dynamic simulator. Proposed design solutions are based on NPCC's extensive and successful experience in tackling challenging Brownfield projects.
Drilling Cube - A State of the Art & Innovative Dynamic Well Data Platform - Monitor Wells Delivery Performance, Predict for Enhancement Opportunity & Decision Making & to Manage Well Cost More Efficiently
Authors: Al Shamsi Juma , Zahran Hussain
Published: November 2018

Drilling a successful well means reaching the target on time and on budget, getting a clear insight on the well operations data can provide a clear view of any risk that would impact the well delivery. With the analysis of the drilling activities data drilling teams can build the corrective actions and define the productivity best practices to apply for their future activities.

When highlighting "data analysis" we refer to the process by which large amount of raw data is reviewed in order to determine conclusions based on that data. With the number of wells ADNOC Onshore drill every year it gives a clear view of the amount of data that is being generated from each operated rig and the massive amount it is required to build an insight on this data.

The teams in ADNOC ONSHORE utilized the latest tools and technologies to build Drilling Cube, using big data techniques the massive amount of drilling data across different data sources were aggregated to a unified data model where drilling data is segmented to provide the required data insight, some of the measures being visualized includes Invisible Loss Time, Non Productive Time, Rate Of Penetration Analysis, Well Cost Analysis, Well Activities Breakdown Analysis

With the above mentioned and the fact that wells are becoming more challenging to drill, ADNOC ONSHORE decided to build a data analytical dashboard "Drilling Cube" by which drilling teams can get a full insight on the drilling operations and drilling management are able to proactively take the necessary actions on time.

By adding Drilling Cube as part of the tools drilling engineers utilizes to manage their day to day activities, a number of benefits are gained, the following are just some of the benefits of the data insight drilling engineers are getting:

Allows for the identification of important drilling operations trends Helps drilling engineers identify performance problems that require some sort of action Drilling operations data is visualized in a modern charting capabilities, which leads to faster and better decisions Full awareness regarding the drilling activities

Drilling Cube is currently providing a data insight from data that is being aggregated from different systems, the roadmap for the platform is to move towards a more advanced stage to apply techniques where it delivers predictive analytics and forecasts based on real time data and machine learning approaches, this will maximize the drilling teams insight over every day well operations and will help minimizing the risks surrounding the drilling operations.
Re-Defining the Talen Engagement Experience
Authors: Al Mansoori Bader
Published: November 2018

Objectives/Scope

While organizations envisage flawless strategies and impeccable objectives to reach their ambitious missions, the unseen blind spot always happen to be the resources through which these objectives or initiatives have to be executed. Specifically with in the resources of people, process and technology, it is the people element that always take the back seat for the primary reason that it's an inside out process as compared to outside in. This paper aims to look at how to possibly solve this age long issue of talent engagement and what necessary easy to implement steps can be taken in order to address the issue with in organizations and thus build a workforce who are not just physically present during work but very much mentally as well. Below are a few objectives and outcomes we aim to achieve through the right implementation of engagement strategies.

Create a Sense of Belonging

Once we manage to create a sense of belonging in the workforce through constructing an ecosystem where everyone feels valued, safe, and empowered; employees will manifest positive attitude in the workplace and strengthen one another thus achieving greater business results with no extra resource.

Brand Identity

often times we tend to forget that our employees are actually the face of our organization and they represent us in every single transaction we make with our stakeholders.

Innovation

With an engaged workforce we have more possibility of concept sharing, interaction and ideation that stems right from the lowest to the top most layers in the organizational ladder.

Retention & Loyalty

This is to prompt the employee to make him / her feel as part of the organization which contributes directly to higher efficiency, lesser leaves and even lesser attrition rate and better visibility for attracting talented workforce.

Sense of Purpose & Happiness

Most importantly Talent engagement is about bridging the gap between the organizational goals and that of the workforce and building a workforce with a sense of fulfillment and happiness.

While organizations give immense consideration in bringing in world class technologies and implementing fool proof processes, the inevitable failure happens due to their inadequate attention to people who will drive the change. In highly challenging times where organizations are forced to consider various initiatives to sustain the show, the importance of Talent Engagement is more prevalent than ever because, the efficient use of talent and resources at large within would pretty much make or break the organization in the time to come.
Subsea Pipeline Anchor Drag Dent at Girth Weld: Advanced Simulation and Case Study
Authors: Al Omari Ammar , Loubani Mahmoud , AL-Mukhmari Hisham , El Nabris Samer
Published: November 2018

Hydrocarbon subsea pipelines are considered one of the most significant underwater assets. The importance of integrity assurance for such equipment comes from the huge impact on operation continuity, safety hazards and high repair cost. The scope of this paper is to provide a fitness for service assessment on a subsea pipeline with mechanical damage. The pipeline was displaced and dented during an anchor drag incident.

This research analyzes a case study of an oil subsea pipeline which has experienced an excessive displacement and localized dents due to accidental anchor dragging. Three- Dimensional (3-D) Nonlinear Finite Element (FE) model of the anchor dragging was developed. The FE model mimics the incident probable scenarios in order to reproduce the real deformation in the pipeline for further assessment. The results of the FE Model were compared to divers inspection reports to validate and confirm the deformation pattern of the pipeline, dent location and dent profile.

During a routine intelligent pigging of a subsea pipeline, an anomaly was noticed to the cross sectional profile of the line and was interpreted as a dent. Further diving inspection successfully confirmed and characterized the dent geometries and described a severe dislocation of the pipeline. The inspection reports revealed that the dent took place at filed joints girth weld. The incident took place at a crossing location with another oil line. The incident produced local dent in the pipeline, caused damage in many sleepers in the vicinity, displaced the line from its original location and caused local damages of the concrete coating in some locations. The study included a finite element analysis to assess the acceptance criteria of the dent. Excellent agreement between FE analysis results and actual failure was noticed. The FE stress and strain levels were analyzed and compared to the international design codes. Recommendations related to the required repair against de-rating of the line for future safe operation were provided.
The Evolution of the Non-Damaging Fluids Design and Implementation Offshore Abu Dhabi
Authors: Ivan Catalin , Al Katheeri Yousif Saleh , Reichle Melanie , Akyabi Khalid , Ryan James Thomas , Seales Sheldon Peter , Kustanto Sigit , Hayden Laurie , Steele Christoper
Published: November 2018

This paper covers the seven year history of the reservoir drilling campaign offshore Abu Dhabi, from the early use of a solids free, brine/water-based mud to the recent application of non-damaging, non-aqueous fluids with micronized acid-soluble ilmenite. Details are provided on the integration of the filter-cake breakers with the various types of drilling fluids, from dormant drilling fluid additives to delayed, pH and temperature activated breakers. The paper will cover on the operational implementation and lessons learned from applying all these fluids, both in the drilling and completion/breaker placement phases and describes the avenues undertaken to achieve these performance goals.

Data related to well information, reservoir rock type and completion type was gathered and analysed. Fluid Interaction and other studies were performed to determine the suitable fluid type, formulation etc. Various additional things were taken into consideration such as offset well data, drilling requirements, environmental considerations, logging requirements and likely mud damaging mechanisms. Extensive lab tests were conducted, some of which included compatibility of various fluids, return permeability, changes to the oil-water ratio, internal phase composition (heavier CaBr2 instead of CaCl2) and a micronized, acid soluble ilmenite as a weighting agent. The breaker systems saw the same extent of refinement, from enzymes to delayed organic acid precursors and chelating agents to evaluate the removal of the fluid filter cake by the breaker. Fluids formulations were evaluated and optimized based on observations.

Over eighty extended reach drilling (ERD) wells have been drilled using both Reservoir Drill-in Fluid (RDF) systems: water-based mud RDF, and Non-Aqueous Fluid (NAF) RDF, each with specially formulated Breakers. These wells provided lessons learned which contributed to the current design and formulations which are in use today. Friction Factors (FF) obtained using RDF NAF proved to be much lower than those with RDF WBM. The lower friction factors enabled wells with longer horizontal sections within the reservoir to be drilled successfully and at significantly higher Rates of Penetration (ROP). The use of micronized, acid soluble ilmenite also led to achieving lower ECD as compared to sized calcium carbonate. The evolution of breaker formulations also allowed for longer breakthrough time to be obtained which allowed for better coverage of the lateral, better removal of the filter cake, and ultimately enhanced production through improved inflow profiles. The end result of the continuous improvement in reservoir drilling fluid was a first of its kind non-aqueous fluid that combined the desired properties of low rheological profile for ECD management, low coefficient of friction and being non-damaging.
Compaction and Subsidence Assessment to Optimize Field Development Planning for an Oil Field in Sultanate of Oman
Authors: Mahajan Sandeep , Hassan Hala , Duggan Timothy , Dhir Rakesh
Published: November 2018

The Middle to Late Cretaceous Natih formation in Oman can be highly compressible and undergo large compaction during depletion. Significant reservoir compaction and surface subsidence has potential risks for fault reactivation, integrity of wells and surface facilities. Petroleum Development Oman produces oil and gas from the Natih formation in a number of fields within its concession area. There are existing experiences in one of the analogue field in Oman, where the compaction of Natih formation has resulted in issues of well damage, well integrity, subsidence damage to facilities and experiences of surface tremors due to fault reactivation.

The focus of this work was for Fahud West oil field producing oil and gas from a Natih reservoir, where analysis of an analogue field had indicated a high potential impact of compaction. A Geomechanical assessment of the formation within the field was therefore undertaken to mitigate operational risks, and to assess the permeability impact with increased depletion.

The Integrated Geomechanical data acquisition and modeling minimized uncertainty and provided clarity on whether the reservoir can continue with increased depletion – without increased geomechanical risks of loss of integrity for wells and facilities, cap rock integrity or reduced productivity. Properly planned and rock mechanics measurements were conducted in the laboratory on core samples.

The measurements revealed that the expected compaction of Natih reservoir in Fahud West field is less severe compared to the analogue field. The maximum predicted surface subsidence expected at depleted reservoir pressure of 10 bars, is within the tolerable subsidence limit for surface facilities. In addition, permeability measurements showed that the permeability at reservoir pressure of 22 bars (the previous base case for end of production), will not change significantly with further depletion of reservoir pressure to as low as 10 bars.

The outcome of this integrated geomechanical assessment demonstrates that the field can be produced down to 10 bars from the previously estimated 22 bars (base case) limit, adding significant risked volume of oil production, allowing further drilling of wells to raise the final field recovery while ensuring safe well and facility integrity
Process Synthesis and Simulation of Amine Solvent Regeneration in Natural Gas Sweetening Units Using Heat Pump Assisted Configurations
Authors: Jagannath Anoop , Almansoori Ali
Published: November 2018

For natural gas sweetening, amine based chemical absorption is the most used process. However, large energy requirements in the regeneration of the amine solvent makes this process energy intensive. The concept of heat pump assisted distillation has been known to reduce energy requirements in distillation processes. In this work, we study, simulate and analyze four different configurations for the regeneration of amine employing the concept of heat pump. The studied configurations are based on the concepts of Mechanical Vapor Recompression (MVR) and Self-Heat Recuperation (SHR). The configurations were simulated using Aspen HYSYS software. The configurations were mainly analyzed by comparing their overall energy consumption, overall cooling energy and operational costs. The developed configurations were also compared with the conventional regeneration unit design. The results show that the best obtained configuration uses both MVR and SHR based design of heat pump. The SHR aspect related to further preheating of the feed stream. This resulted in savings in the overall energy consumption, cooling energy and operational costs were 10.11%, 10.92% and 8.28% (savings of about 41,000 $/yr) as compared to a conventional regeneration unit design for this configuration.
A Novel Automatic Detection and Diagnosis Module for Quantitative Lithofacies Modeling
Authors: Tewari Saurabh , Dwivedi U. D.
Published: November 2018

Quantitative lithofacies modeling is an essential part of reservoir characterization that involves recognition of lithofacies along with depth. It is a difficult task due to diverse, nonlinear, high-dimensional, noisy and imbalanced nature of sensory well logs data. To overcome the above-mentioned issues, we propose a novel automatic detection and diagnosis module (ADD), comprising of Wavelet associated Twin support vector machine (TwinSVM) for Quantitative Lithofacies Modeling. ADD module comprises of three stages i.e. pre-processing stage, model development stage, and post-processing stage. In the pre-processing stage, resampling, data normalization, wavelet package denoising, and feature extraction (Relief algorithm) have been performed on input sets for data smoothening and enhancement of lithofacies detection capability of ADD module. During the model development stage, TwinSVM has been trained and tested on processed data obtained from preprocessing stage. The parameters of TwinSVM were properly tuned using Genetic algorithm. The optimized ADD module has also been tested on an additional set of unseen well logs data to validate its effectiveness and reliability during the post-processing stage. The performance of five conventional classifiers models has also been compared with the proposed ADD module. The test outcomes clearly indicate the superiority of ADD module over other conventional classifiers for Quantitative lithofacies modeling.
Drill Cuttings Injection Done Right: First Million Barrels Injected with Ultimate Subsurface Uptime Offshore Abu Dhabi
Authors: Haddad Mohamed , Rashed Al-Aleeli Ahmed , Toki Takahiro , Pratap Narayan Singh Rudra , Gumarov Salamat , Benelkadi Said , Bianco Eduardo , Mitchel Craig , Burton Phil
Published: November 2018

Injection of drilling waste into subsurface formations proves to be an environmentally-friendly and cost-effective waste management method that complies with zero discharge requirements. It has now become the technology of choice in offshore Abu Dhabi.

The aim of cuttings reinjection (CRI) is to mitigate risks associated with subsurface waste injection and reduce cuttings processing time and cost. In order to meet these goals, a cuttings reinjection subsurface assurance methodology was developed to improve cuttings processing and continuously monitor drilling waste injection operations.

Preparing for CRI operations required extensive drilling cuttings slurry testing to minimize processing time and develop optimum particle size distribution to reduce cost and increase the injected waste volume. The improvements were accompanied by downhole pressure and temperature monitoring of the injection well, thus facilitating analysis of injection pressures. Fracture containment was verified through a combination of pressure decline analysis, periodic injectivity test, temperature survey, and periodic modelling for fracture waste domain mapping. A backup injection well was used also as an observation well to monitor the pressure signitures in the injection formation.

More than 1 million barrels of drill cuttings and associated drilling waste have been safely and successfully disposed of into a single injection zone of CRI well over three years of operations.

The cuttings reinjection subsurface assurance method optimizes grinded cuttings particle size distribution, detects and identifies potential risks to provide mitigation options to prolong the life of the injector.

The proactive subsurface injection monitoring-assurance program was built into the fit for purpose CRI injection procedure to continually avoid injecting any rejected hard material, improve and update the process as per subsurface injection pressure responses, thus reducing processing time and cost, mitigating injection risks, and extending the injection well life.

This paper presents the unique and technically challenging cuttings slurry properties design and pressure interpretation experience learned in this project; the enhancement of cuttings processing helped increase injection volumes and an in-depth interpretation of fracture behavior which behaved like a risk-prevention tool with mitigation options. Significant enhancement was developed in slurry treatment procedures to avoid injectivity loss and maximize the disposal capacity.