Driving efficiency to ensure cost and risk reduction in well operations is paramount for any operating company; to achieve this, the main objective was to implement a continuous improvement process that measures performance to then improve it, acquiring lessons learned and finally implement new technologies to reduce non-productive time, invisible loss time and push the technical limit to the limit. The first step was to measure the current performance to determine average and best references to compare against. The drilling operations and engineering teams defined KPIs for each well type and respective sections and activities involving all levels of the organization including every individual, ensuring effective communication inclusive of Rig Crew and Service Providers. The initial KPIs were defined, discussed, validated and agreed by both operations and engineering management, all engineers were informed and challenged to measure their performance against KPIs. Once new records were achieved, a workflow to document best practices initiated, once identified, validated and documented, becoming the new standards. Similarly, once average performance was not achieved, a ‘Lessons Learned’ workflow was initiated. Aiming to get the team engaged a communication protocol of the Highlights and Lowlights was put in place, including recognition during operations meeting and emails. The primary results of the deployment of this initiative include the delivery of a 10% additional well count compared to the initial year's plan. An overall improvement of the overall Drilling and Completion Performance was also noted. An important improvement of the overall Rate of Penetration (ROP) was observed, as one of the key performance indicators. It was also notice a considerable reduction of the Flat time. New practices for losses mitigation in hazardous areas were stablished. The lower completion design was enhanced. The upper completion design and utilize Dual Hydraulic Packer in Oil producer well was optimized. Finally, the 1st Maximum Reservoir Contact Well was completed for two of the three Fields in the Team. The added value achieved by the implementation of these innovative practices includes the implementation of the KPI Gauges as a visual instrument to be used on daily operations meeting by the engineers and management, to quickly and effectively understand performance and improvement in multiple dimensions. Additionally, the implementation of a continuous improvement mind-set, focus in introducing changes gradually instead of radically to ensure a soft and solid adoption embraced by all team members. Finally, the improvement of the office-field communications, including a sense of ownership and achievement for each goal to achieve and record to break, to the point that every colleague involved in a specific operation, independently of their organization (Operator, Contractor or Service Company) is equally committed and engaged.
This paper describes the step performance improvement of a 16’’ section in a UAE offshore application. Through close collaboration between directional drilling services, drill bits and operator, a 44% improvement in the section ROP from the field average was achieved. The novel solutions of bit and drive system and drilling practices which allowed for this improvement will be detailed in this paper. A key contributor to this achievement was utilizing a new hybrid bit technology platform which incorporates the dual cutting mechanisms of both polycrystalline Diamond Compact (PDC) and tricone bits. This allows for more efficient drilling through bringing together the improved ROP performance of a PDC bit and the reduced torque fluctuations of a tricone bit. Where initially drilled by tricone bits, the application posed potential for performance improvement, which was to be explored with this bit and BHA solution. Continuous optimization of drilling parameters was essential to minimizing the vibrations and improving the overall drilling efficiency. As a result of the proposed bit and drive system solution and the considerations in execution, the 4900ft long section was drilled in a shoe to shoe run, from surface to Fiqa formation. The unique compatibility between the bit design and the drilling motor allowed for exceeding the intended performance KPI set by the operator. The directional objectives were met as the well was precisely steered between offset wells with critical proximity, where the minimum ellipse separation expected was as low as 1.2ft. The new bit design was seen to not compromise the directional steerability as may be of concern with a PDC bit with a motor. The ROP achieved on the section was a 44% improvement from the field average. Given this being the first run from this new hybrid bit platform, this application still holds potential for further improvements upon design changes based on learnings from the first run. The outcome ultimately would be to take the conventional tricone drilling of this 16’’ section to a complete other performance level.
An integrated and collaborative study was required in order to determine the most cost effective field development scenario while ensuring collision risk mitigation, to define and validate the well planning and slot allocation for the wells scheduled for the next ten years as part of the re-development due to a new sub-surface strategic scheme that was later extended to the full lifecycle of a green field offshore Abu Dhabi. The workflow included data, feedback and participation of four main stakeholders: Sub-surface Team, Petroleum Engineering Team, Drilling & Completion Team and Surface Facilities Engineering Team. The process started with the provision of the targets by the Petroleum Engineering Team, previously validated by the Sub-Surface Team to the Drilling & Completion Team. The second step included generation of preliminary trajectories including high-level anti-collision analysis against existing wells as well as other planned wells; this step also included validation of the Completion requirements based on the preliminary drilling schedule and equipment availability. The trajectories were then sent back to the Petroleum Engineering Team for well objectives validation and finally a multi-disciplinary session with the Surface Facilities Engineering Team, Petroleum Engineering Team and Drilling & Completion Team was executed to ensure readiness of surface installations based on the drilling schedule; as part of the outcome of this session multiple iterations occurred until alignment and agreement of all the stakeholders was achieved. The outcome of the workflow was the generation of full field development study including the preliminary trajectories, their respective slot allocation, high-level anti-collisions and estimated Drillex (Drilling Capex) validated and agreed by all stakeholders. This novel approach to the integrated multi-disciplinary collaborative field development well planning provides multiple benefits such as: 1. Fast delivery of scenarios for field development well planning, reducing the cycle time to less than half of the conventional time required. 2. Generation of multiple scenarios instead of a single scenario, allowing further optimization of cost and risk reduction without compromising expected production targets. 3. Early understanding of the completion equipment requirements to ensure availability based on the drilling schedule. 4. Quick response to unplanned changes based on the understanding of the full field scale planning allowing swapping of wells with minimum to impact on cost, risk and operations. 5. Full In-House process that represents a continuous and dynamic project allowing constant fine tuning based on new data and new models instead of a fixed time stamp, static, project with a single report outcome.
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