bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Development and Installation of a High-Pressure-Rated Bridge Plug With Metal-to-Metal Sealing System
Authors: Adam M. , Lundemo K. , Mackenzie G. , Garfield G. L. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
This paper will describe the development, testing and installation of a high pressure rated mechanical bridge plug for a major oil and gas operator on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Due to low reservoir pressure a mechanical high pressure rated bridge plug was required to be set as a zonal isolation barrier prior to a frac operation.
The plug was set in a heavy wall liner with a 4.375" ID, but had to pass a 3.725" ID minimum restriction and hold 7500 psi differential pressure during the frac operation. The combination of high pressure rating and expansion ratio was a challenge to solve. A new metal-to-metal sealing technology was the solution to meet the required criteria.
In July 2005, the first plug was successfully set, conveyed on coiled tubing. This new plug technology has improved the way of performing the zonal isolation and frac operation in low pressure reservoirs.
Capability Development With Remote Drilling Operations
Authors: Lauche K. , Sawaryn S. J. , Thorogood J. L. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
Improved capabilities for real-time data transfer have given rise to remote monitoring and support for drilling operations, providing faster access to information onshore, reducing personnel on board (POB) and cost. The challenge lays not so much with the technical feasibility but with the impact on work processes, which is still poorly understood. This study investigated the human factors implication for Onshore Operation Centres (OOCs) in four centres in Norway and the UK, which all successfully delivered wells but addressed different strategic aims.
The sample comprised 25 semi-structured interviews, observations over three months and a longitudinal attitude study with 33 participants. Results were content-analysed by a team of industrial psychologists. The findings show that remote operations in drilling produce similar effects as virtual teams and computer-mediated process control in other industries; the monitoring work in the OOC was deprived of some of the physical activity, sensory information and informal interaction. Potentially some of these tasks could be further automated while more cross-trained staff would be required offshore. Different user groups responded differently to the OOC implementation. Onshore teams generally approved of the concept as the OOC helped to create more situation awareness and present an ideal environment for collaborative decision making and learning. The offshore response was mixed, with both strong support for its innovative potential and critical voices about system reliability, contractual concerns and the impact on work-life balance.
OOCs can add value to drilling operations by enabling better-informed decisions but the findings showed that success depends on how well the introduction of organisational change is managed. The study provides evidence how prospective users can be involved in the change process in this dispersed and fluctuating industry and which social and cognitive skills are important for effective collaboration in e-operations.
Seismic Surveillance in the Field of the Future
Authors: Watts G. , Barkved O. , Dickens J. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
Seismic 4D data has traditionally been acquired using repeat towed streamer surveys every 2–5 years. This is used to track fluid and pressure and has proved highly effective for influencing infill well locations and calibrating the reservoir simulator. Over the last 10 years the technology has evolved and is now relatively mature with several well documented case-studies demonstrating value of 3–5% reserves increase in post-plateau oil fields with a strong fluid response (1).
However, the long elapsed time between surveys limits its value in Reservoir Management where we would like to use time-lapse seismic to monitor the pressure field and the fluid flood fronts and therefore make decisions which maximise the sweep conformance and achieve ‘technical limits’ rate and reserves.
To do this, seismic data needs to be acquired at a frequency consistent with the timescale on which the decisions are made. Thus monitoring gas movement to minimise gas production in oil field may require seismic surveys every 3–6 months whilst providing data useful for optimising Base Well Management decisions on reperforations, restimulations, water shut-off and injection rates may benefit from seismic data every few months or even weeks.
As a first stage towards active management using "seismic surveillance", and specifically to aid in waterflood management, BP has installed a permanent seismic array over 70% of the Valhall field. The array cost $45million but the results have been technically spectacular (2, 3, 4). Learnings from this experience are still evolving but already cover aspects of reservoir management, infill drilling, Base Well Management, flow performance prediction and surveillance including the use of "Seismic PLTs" (2).
Following on from this success, BP is looking at the next wave of field applications as an integrated part of its FIELD OF THE FUTURE programme (5). Plans are now at an advanced stage to take forward two new projects in 2006 and several more are being discussed for application later this decade.
The Challenges of Implementing at Scale: Field of the Future—Technologies in the North Sea
Authors: Dudley G. , Perry J. , Goodwin S. , Critchley C. , Hocking P. , Shahly M. , Barkved O. I. , Saul D. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
For BP the North Sea is an important mature basin which produces around 15% of the company's total global production of around 4000 mboed. However, like many mature basins sustaining a profitable and competitive future is challenged by the overall decline in oil and gas production rates, increasing trend in unit operating costs, the integrity and operability of the ageing infrastructure and the changing demographics of the work force. In this perspective, North Sea has become a key exemplar that illustrates how BP's FIELD OF THE FUTURE programme can help to meet numerous challenges in the management of mature areas.
To help manage and reduce the negative impact of these business challenges BP is implementing a North Sea regional FIELD OF THE FUTURE Technology programme. The vision over the next 5 years is to deploy FIELD OF THE FUTURE technologies at scale across most BP operated fields with the aspiration to improve overall production by 5% and reduce operating cost by 10%.
For the North Sea mature assets the main focus is around four technical projects: Advanced Collaborative Environments (ACE); Real time data monitoring and surveillance; Advanced control and optimization; Automation and remote control. From the outset BP has discovered many challenges in deploying and implementing at scale across a region. This paper will share some of the key challenges and insights involved in implementing at scale the technical projects through the appropriate process, organisation capability and technology across the region.
Intelligent-Well Technology: Are We Ready for Closed-Loop Control?
Authors: Going W. S. , Thigpen B. L. , Chok P. M. , Anderson A. B. , Vachon G. P. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
Over a few short years surface control of the reservoir by intelligent well technology has become a reality allowing improved efficiencies and economics by well documented measures. Downhole control valves have evolved from simple open/close zonal control to downhole chokes that allow metering of fluid rates from or to multiple producing zones. Complementary instrumentation of the wellbore provides real time data for pressure, temperature and flow. These capabilities along with computational and communication technologies provide the necessary ingredients to allow remote control of production in a variety of settings. In addition to remote control, the opportunity also exists to automate production even to the extent of closed loop control. As the complexity of surface controlled reservoir control valves has increased, so has the frequency of operators selecting microprocessor controlled surface hydraulic control systems to manipulate the valves. With microprocessor control in place at the well location, remote control options become the next logical step in the evolution of intelligent wells. Once remote operation has been chosen, the options for system architecture and communication are quite extensive. Successful implementation is a matter of effective interface engineering between the operator and the various service providers. Lessons learned in developing remote control solutions will be presented along with an outline of the remaining steps that will be needed to implement closed loop control.
Wireless Condition Monitoring
Authors: Cassar Harry Michael Paul 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
A 130,000-ton oil tanker might be a surprising place to find cutting edge wireless technology, but on BP's Loch Rannoch the world's first maritime "mote" network was developed to prevent critical machinery breakdowns before they happen. Standard monitoring practice is manual and time-consuming, an innovative solution developed by a BP-led team of BP, Intel, Rockwell and Crossbow applied leading edge sensory network technology to create the world's first mote network onboard an oil tanker. Rotating machines begin to vibrate imperceptibly as bearings wear and shafts become mis-aligned. Accelerometers placed on critical machinery capture equipment vibration, the data is passed wirelessly through a mesh-network to a datalogging computer so that machinery status can be monitored every day rather than manually every six weeks. ---helping improve preventative maintenance and safety!
Given the large number of rotating machines on modern oil tankers, it is not feasible for the crew to take readings more than every six weeks using hand-held dataloggers. Faults can develop up to six weeks before detection. Some machines require engineers to take measurements in confined or awkward spaces; wireless sampling removes this safety risk.
30 motes were installed in engine room locations logging vibration signals from 98 accelerometers for 5 months. The wireless, battery-operated motes allowed for rapid installation (17 hours) where traditional wired solutions were not feasible. Motes enable much more frequent sampling (every 6–18 Hours), increasing the quality of predictive analyses and enhancing our ability to spot machine defects early on before serious damage.
Loch Rannoch is an example of how the FIELD OF THE FUTURE programme develops technologies to improve management of BP's assets.
This paper describes the challenges faced in modern day operations and how BP is beginning to face these challenges with modern mesh sensor net technology.
Next-Generation Fluidic Oscillator
Authors: Webb E. D. , Schultz R. L. , Howard R. G. , Tucker J. C. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
This paper describes the development of a downhole cleaning device based on fluidic oscillation. This fluidic oscillator is used for removal of deposits from the near-wellbore area, perforations, and screens. The cleaning device creates pressure waves within the wellbore and formation fluids that (1) break up near-wellbore damage and (2) restore and enhance the permeability of the perforations and near-wellbore area.
Fluidic oscillators have been used for various purposes in a wide range of industries for many years. They typically exhibit reliable oscillation over a wide range of flow rates and have no moving parts. The cleaning tools presented here are specifically designed for high-pressure, submerged operation and maximum pressure-pulse amplitude. The unique design has been carefully refined through theoretical and experimental methods.
This paper discusses fluidic oscillator theory and presents a numerical analysis of a specific oscillator design, as well as an analysis of experimental test data at various flow rates. The provided case histories demonstrate the utility of fluidic oscillation as a wellbore-cleaning device.
Innovative Approach to Assist History Matching Using Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Al-Thuwaini J. S. , Zangl G. , Phelps R. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
The study objective is to investigate the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) methods to accelerate the history matching process.
A new criterion for measuring the deviation of the simulation model from measured and/or observed parameters has been introduced. Instead of comparing parameter deviations in wells to input changes on regional basis, it is proposed to calculate a regional RMS (Root Mean Square)-error, so that the impact of input changes can be directly evaluated. Instead of grouping grid blocks based on geology, it is proposed here, to generate regions of similar trends based on all available information. Artificial intelligence (AI) is used via Self Organizing Maps (SOM) to cluster grid blocks of similar behavior. SOMs can process any kind of information; in this case these types of parameters have been particularly used:
geological description: lithofacies type hydraulic flow units (HFU): permeabilities, porosities initialization: water saturations (initial and critical), initial pressure discretization: spatial discretization (e.g. DZ), grid block pore volumes secondary phase movement: relative permeability endpoints
A three fold approach for improving and/or assisting the history matching (AHM) work-flow using Artificial Intelligence has been tested:
Use production plots, Neural Networks and "Material Balance with Interference (MBI) method for quality control and consistency check of time dependent and static data. Use the multi-dimensional cross-plot and SOM to evaluate reservoir and well performance. Use SOMs and the region RMS error to evaluate the performance of history matching runs.
This new approach is simple and leads to a clear improvement of the match quality and significantly reduces the number of runs needed to achieve the match. Different field models have been used to develop this new AHM workflow. Finally in this paper, two of them are selected to demonstrate the improvement of model pressure and watercut matches using this new method.
Identifying Future Leaders Through Knowledge Management
Authors: Paylow K. , Hickman A. , Zappa D. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
Simply retaining knowledge within an organization is not enough to ensure its survival unless talented employees are ready to leverage that knowledge. Changing demographics within the petroleum industry raises many concerns for the coming decade including the identification, development and retention of an organization's future leaders.
An existing, advanced knowledge management (KM) community gives an organization's upper management a unique view into key employees' ability and willingness to solve technical problems, communicate, innovate, influence peers and lead group consensus. Disciplined review of collaborative efforts captures peer recognition and provides a more impartial means of generating a list of talented personnel who exhibit leadership qualities and technical ability. This informal list can be used to complement formal succession planning, generating a wider base of candidates and enhancing the selection process.
Examples demonstrate how this application of KM identifies ‘natural thought leaders’, evaluates candidates for key positions, and develops succession plans for future leaders who will drive the direction of the organization.
Production Planning in an Operations-Centre Environment
Authors: Fløysand I. , Nordtvedt J. -E. , Sekkingstad F. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
The real-time asset management (RTAM) domain has received a lot of attention over the past several years. A key RTAM component has been the uptake and utilization of operations centers for implementing new work processes. In early stages of this development, the operations centers have been utilized for conducting, e.g., morning meetings and increase the communication between the asset and operational teams (e.g., between onshore and offshore teams). In this paper we will address how existing work processes can be implemented in new ways in such environment, in an attempt to take advantage of the new communication opportunities and data and model availability.
Our focus is on parts of the production optimization work process, namely that connected with production planning. Production optimization requires knowledge of well behaviour and topside processing constraints. The production engineer must consider all wells simultaneously in order to optimize the production from the wells to the processing plant. The objective is to use the equipment effectively to maximize oil and gas production. Finding the operating conditions where this is achieved, requires an integrated production planning-with participation from production engineers, reservoir engineers, offshore operators, and topside processing engineers. A typical challenge related to this is the lack of a common framework for integration of work processes between the disciplines, preventing decisions to be made based on a common view of the status and challenges ahead. This paper outlines how this challenge can be addressed using a real time system approach to production optimization work processes. Features of the real-time system will be described and a new work process for production planning using this system will be outlined.
Should "Proactive" or "Reactive" Control Be Chosen for Intelligent Well Management?
Authors: Ebadi F. , Davies D. R. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
Intelligent Well (IW) Technology combines zonal production control using Interval Control Valves (ICVs) together with installation of appropriate flow monitoring devices to improve well and field performance management. Zonal flow control can maximise produced oil value, minimise unwanted fluids or a combination of both objectives.
We have previously shown1 that a minimum degree of un-evenness of an invading fluid front is needed for effective ICV control. This work studies scenarios to identify when "Proactive" rather than "Reactive" ICV choking policy can add greater value. Reservoir scenarios were created in which inter-zone connection, permeability contrast between zones, zonal length and other reservoir parameters were systematically varied. The interaction between the aquifer and reservoir was observed when producing these reservoirs with a horizontal IW using a range of "Reactive" and "Proactive" choking policies.
An example of successful "Proactive Control" is when the wellbore is intersected by a high-permeability channel. Here, early water or gas breakthrough leads to unwanted fluid being produced along with reduced volume of oil. Too early choking (or being "too Proactive") can result in losing oil as the "Good Water" is also blocked. "Proactive Control" will also be successful when reduced water or gas inflow is required due to tubing or surface handling limitations.
The key factor in successful Single Well "Proactive Control" is that other zone(s) can compensate for the loss of fluid from the choked zone(s). Its value thus increases when Artificial Lift is installed.
The value of "Proactive Control" is well known in multiple well scenarios. Here, value creation requires even-flood front management of an injected fluid at the field level. There is also the opportunity for other wells to supply extra oil production capacity when a (single) well is choked.
The results from this study can be used to screen for scenarios suitable for "Proactive Control", increasing the range of Intelligent Well Technology applications.
Integrated Multizone Low-Cost Intelligent Completion for Mature Fields
Authors: Pinto H. L. da C. P. , Silva M. F. , Izetti R. G. , Guimarães G. B. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
A well equipped with downhole flow control and monitoring devices provide tools to manage reservoir and well performance. Many optimization techniques have been applied in conjunction with commercial reservoir simulators with detailed multisegment well model to improve ultimate recovery. It is important to know that all the benefits of the reservoir optimization can be lost if the availability and appropriate control of the artificial lift is not used.
A well equipped with three on-off type flow control valves and four pressure and temperature optical transducer: one for each zone plus one more above the production packer in combination with a rod-pump control with moderate service condition specifications is described.
Standardization of the connectivity between automation of the intelligent completion and artificial lift is necessary for a vendor-independent integration, which becomes more cost-effective by using open industry standard protocols. This also allows the use of different supervisory software, reducing the impact of changing systems already in use without losing the flexibility of choosing a solution that has some custom features or that are cheaper.
This paper will discuss both the benefits resulting of the integration between intelligent completion and artificial lift automation. The value added to provide better decision making to respond immediately to unexpected changes, the need of satisfy reliability demands of the operational people and the issues involving the use of intelligent completion in mature fields.
Real-Time Field Surveillance and Well Services Management in a Large Mature Onshore Field: Case Study
Authors: Ormerod L. , Sardoff H. , Wilkinson J. , Erlendson B. , Cox B. , Stephenson G. 
Published: December 2007

Abstract
This paper describes the planning for, implementation of and results generated by a real-time field surveillance and well services management system, as it was deployed in an onshore mature field in California USA. The motivation behind the deployment of this system was simultaneously to improve efficiency and reduce operating costs in this large field with over 1,000 wells.
The paper will describe how the business processes and supporting workflows were defined. This is an essential step before any technology can be deployed. The challenges of data management included not only the automatic handling of very large quantities of real-time data, but also the management of inventory, and the integration of field-level data with corporate-level data. Historical data had to be brought into, and made compatible with, the new system. The technologies required for this project included the software systems themselves, but also the integration of these with remote intelligent field sensors and data transmission systems.
The impact of the system has been material to the performance of the asset. Examples will be given of tangible improvements in performance across the disciplines of surveillance, production engineering and well services. What was found was that critical to the successful deployment of this system was the organizational changes needed to support the new working practices it enabled. The paper will discuss the required Change Management programs.
The success of this project has established without doubt that a "smart" solution integrating intelligent remote devices, communications networks and workflow management software can be successfully deployed on large, mature fields. The deployment process to achieve this has been assimilated and is now being reproduced in many other similar fields across North America. The paper will indicate some of the areas where this combination of technology and supporting change management will be expanded in the future.