Summary This paper describes how an integrated team approach was applied to the design, construction, start up, and ultimately the operation of a high technology drilling rig. The rig was built to conform, wherever possible, to the stringent regulations in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The paper, which also contains a technical description of the rig itself, also addresses the issue of automation and it's effect on manning of a complex drilling unit and the importance of high quality training of the personnel selected to operate the rig. In 1994, Phillips Petroleum Company Norway, the operator of the Greater Ekofisk Area fields in the central North Sea, signed a contract for the construction of a state of the art, fit for purpose drilling rig to be located on the new Ekofisk 2/4 X wellhead production platform. The rig was an element of major importance to the Ekofisk II project, the redevelopment of one the largest fields in the North Sea. The start up of drilling on the 2/4 X platform was the first major milestone in the Ekofisk II project and the timely redrilling of the Ekofisk field wells from the new rig was vital to maintain production levels. On 26th October 1996, exactly on schedule, the first well on the 2/4 X platform was spudded. To date six wells have been drilled by the rig including the fastest well ever drilled in the Ekofisk field. The drilling program is currently on schedule and the rig has operated at an average availability of 98%. The success of this project can be attributed to a number of factors, however, one element stands clearly as the key success factor—a truly integrated team approach to all phases of the delivery of the rig! From the very beginning, representatives of the real customer of the product, the offshore drilling team, joined the rig supplier's design team to work shoulder to shoulder on the specification and preliminary design of the rig. As the design process moved forward, the customer representation on the team was strengthened. Ultimately, the customer participated in an active manner in all aspects of design, construction, commissioning, and start up of the rig. This paper will detail both the underlying philosophy and the practical process by which this state of the art rig was successfully built and put to work. The paper includes a description of the rig itself, a review of how the integrated team approached the various phases of delivery of the rig and an outline of how the project was managed. The paper then discusses the issue of whether an automated rig can lead to a reduction in manning levels and covers the unique way in which the rig crews rig were trained. Some equipment performance figures are included to demonstrate the successful operational capabilities of the rig, and finally some conclusions are drawn from the lessons that have been learned. Introduction The 2/4 X platform is part of a complex of facilities located at the center of the Ekofisk field. Ekofisk is one of eight producing fields making up the Phillips Norway Group's Greater Ekofisk Area (production license 018) located in the southern corner of the Norwegian Sector of the North Sea. The Ekofisk field, discovered in 1969 and put on production in 1971, has recently entered into a new phase of redevelopment. Increasing operating costs, the result of ageing facilities and the need to mitigate the effect of seabed subsidence caused by reservoir compaction, has been the root cause of the redevelopment. Although the field has been on production for nearly 28 years, Ekofisk still has enormous potential. Through 1994, the field had produced some 1,788 MMBOE. It is estimated that by 2028 the field will have produced over 3,200 MMBOE. The total estimated original oil in place is close to 8,000 MMBOE. A number of solutions for redeveloping the field were proposed, however the optimal solution was to locate a single 50 slot drilling and production platform at the geographical center of the field and then to systematically replace the existing wells. Well failure due to the effects of subsidence and compaction is common in the Ekofisk field, therefore the replacement of failed producing wells is the fundamental strategy of the redevelopment program. The strategy of replacing all producing wells in the field from a single central location raised significant drilling challenges involving the planning of long reach, horizontal, and multilateral wells to be able to realize the full potential of the field. With the large number of wells that would have to be drilled, plus the probability of the need to redrill wells which may fail as subsidence and compaction continues, the relatively high cost of a platform based drilling rig was justified. This decision was further supported by the long-term doubt of the availability of harsh environment mobile drilling units that could also provide drilling facilities for 2/4 X in the future. Further value could also be realized if the abandonment of the older production facilities could be accelerated, thus reducing operating costs. To accelerate the redrilling program, plans to locate a jack-up rig at 2/4 X (in cantilever mode) were developed. The jack-up would drill replacement wells parallel with the platform rig for at least the initial 18 months of drilling. Once an optimum level of production has been achieved from the 2/4 X platform, the jack-up will be removed.
SPE and IADC Members Abstract In the early nineties, the challenge to reduce costs while simultaneously improving safety, environmental and drilling performance highlighted the need for a change in the way the drilling business was managed. Since 1992, the Drilling Branch of Phillips Petroleum Company Norway has developed a new operating philosophy with the goal of improving the performance of it's drilling operations. Despite reductions in staffing levels and without major upheavals in the drilling Organization, changes to engineering and operational philosophy have supported significant improvements in safety, environmental and operational performance. The areas of focus described in this paper are based on the company's implementation of Total Quality principles, including the development of a comprehensive performance monitoring system, the move toward a process oriented organization, a strong focus on implementing teamwork principles, and the development of a new contracting philosophy which emphasizes contractor involvement and shared objectives. Over the past three years, measured data has demonstrated a steady improvement in all key areas including safety performance through reductions in lost time accidents and critical events, in environmental performance through the reduction in chemical and drilling fluid discharge, and in drilling performance through reductions in average cost per foot drilled and increased feet drilled per day. This paper seeks to demonstrate how the changes in management philosophy have been the foundation for the engineering, technical and operational efforts leading to performance improvement. The paper will detail some of the major changes which have been made, demonstrate how the changes led to improved performance, highlight some of the key performance statistics and finally outline plans for the future. Introduction Phillips Petroleum Company Norway is the operator of the eight Greater Ekofisk area fields located in the southern region of the Norwegian sector of the North Sea (Fig 1). Since the initial discovery in 1969, the company's Drilling Branch has been responsible for the continued development of the fields in terms of drilling, workover and well service activities. The eight fields have in excess of 250 well slots on 14 platforms on which Phillips owns and operates ten drilling rigs. Reservoir compaction and overburden subsidence have resulted in numerous well failures necessitating a high level of re-drill and workover operations since the mid 80's. The latest addition to the Greater Ekofisk area was the remote operated high pressure / high temperature Embla Field which was put on production in 1993. The largest of the eight, the Ekofisk field itself, will to be produced well into the next century. The company is currently involved in the total redevelopment of the Ekofisk field including the drilling of fifty new wells. Total Quality Management In 1991, Phillips Petroleum Company made the decision to introduce Total Quality Management (TQM) as the company's fundamental business process. Over the last three years, Phillips Petroleum Company Norway's Drilling Branch has used Total Quality Principles as the foundation for a series of managed changes in working processes. During 1992, the Norway division of the company embarked on the training of the entire local workforce in the principles of TQM (Fig 2). P. 281
TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435. AbstractPhillips Petroleum Company Norway has made significant HSE improvements to gain "best in class" results. An industry leadership position has enabled Phillips Petroleum Company Norway (PPCoN) to involve the Norwegian authorities, research institutes, operators, and contractors towards the further development and application of the methods used. An additional benefit of these improvements has been reduced costs of drilling operations. This paper discusses the HSE improvements achieved by PPCoN drilling department and the manner inwhich external organisations have been involved. The paper also identifies the benefits to PPCoN and the external organisations, and how industry-wide improvements have resulted.
This papa was prspared tor presentation at ths 1998 ORshae TechnoloOy Con(mnce held in Hourton, Texas, 4-7 M y 1996.This paper was selected tor presentation by Vie OTC ProOgm Cornmillee tollcwbo review of informatii contaw in m &&ad submitted by the auVla(s). Content8 d the paper, as p r d e d , h a w nol teen revedby tho ORshae T~~ Confacmcr and ae srrbjed to corredi by ths autha(s). The material, as pwnted, does not merarily tWad my p o d i of the Ollshae TechnoloOy Confmnm a its offcam. Eledmnlc repdudh, distribution, a storage of any pert of this paper tor mmmadal pvpooes without ths mittsn conlent of the Omhore TedmoloOy Confamnm is prohibii. P~i s i w b repmdug in pint is rertr'ied to en abstract of nol m a s than 300 word* i l m may nol bo C @ d . The absbad must contain conspicuous advwmlement of whwe and by whom the paper was oresmted. AbstractIn 1994, Phillips Petroleum Company Norway, the operator of the Greater Ekofisk Area fields in the central North Sea, signed a contract for the construction of a state of the art, fit for purpose Drilling Rig to be located on the new Ekofisk 214 X wellhead production platform. The rig was an element of major importance to the Ekofisk I1 project, the redevelopment of one the largest fields in the North Sea. The start-up of drilling on the 214 X platform was the first major milestone in the Ekofisk I1 project and the timely redrilling of the Ekofisk field wells from the new rig was vital to maintain production levels.On 26th October 1996, exactly on schedule, the first well on the 214 X platform was spudded. To date six wells have been drilled by the rig including the fastest well ever drilled in the Ekofisk field. The drilling program is currently on schedule and the rig has operated at an average availability of 98%.The success of this project can be attributed to a number of factors, however, one element stands clearly as the key success factora truly integrated team approach to all phases of the delivery of the rig! From the very beginning, representatives of the real customer of the product, the offshore drilling team, joined the rig supplier's design team to work shoulder to shoulder on the specification and preliminary design of the rig. As the design process moved forward, the customer representation on the team was strengthened. Ultimately, the customer participated in an active manner in all aspects of design, construction, commissioning and start up of the rig. This paper will detail both the underlying philosophy and the practical process by which this state of the art rig was successfully built and put to work.The paper includes a description of the rig itself, a review of how the integrated team approached the various phases of delivery of the rig and an outline of how the project was managed.The paper then discusses the issue of whether an automated rig can lead to a reduction in manning levels and covers the unique way in which the rig crews rig were trained. Some equipment performance figures are included to demonstrate the successful operational cap...
ABSTRACT. This paper reviews the planning, preparation and initial implementation of drilling operations for the latest phase of development of Phillips Petroleum's Ekofisk Field in the Norwegian Sector of the North Sea. This development includes the addition of 32 new production and injection wells to the existing t 80 well field. The unique aspect of the project was that, at the time of conception of the project, only 8 spare slots were available on existing structures, and preliminary economics proved the addition of a new structure unfavorable. The decision to utilize existing structures for the additional wells created many challenges for Phillips Petroleum Norway's engineers and this paper describes a number of the more interesting and unexpected of those challenges and their solutions. BACKGROUND. The Ekofisk field is the largest of the Phillips Norway Group's seven field " Greater Ekofisk" operation, located in the south west corner of the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. An overview of the " Greater Ekofisk" infrastructure is shown in fig.1. The Ekofisk field itself now comprises three production and two injection platforms, as well as eight other accommodation, process and transportation facility platforms. Production from the Ekofisk field peaked in 1980 with production figures of 618rO00 BOPD and 1,860 NMSCFD of gas. production decline, led to the evaluation and pilot study of a field water injection program. In 1986, the Ekofisk field water injection program commenced from the 2/4 Kilo injection platform (30 well slots capacity). Water injection into the Ekofisk reservoir reached 375rO00 BWPD in 1990 into a total of 20 wells. Positive results prompted Phillips to evaluate further development of water injection coverage, as well as adding producers to optimize recovery from the reservoir. The location of 2/4 Kilo, near the north end of the Ekofisk field, limits access to the center and south end of the field for injection purposes. Also, in 1986r nearly all 56 well slots located on the three Ekofisk production platforms, 2/4 Alpha (16 slots), 2/4 Bravo (24 slots) and 2/4 Charlie (16 slots) had been utilized. As a result, studies were initiated to evaluate the options for increasing the number of well slots at different locations in the field. Various scenarios were considered including new wellhead platforms, cantilever extensions to existing structures, and modifications to existing facilities. The decision was finally made a) to modify two of the existing production platforms (2/4 Alpha in the South of the field, and 2/4 Charlie near the field center) to add eight extra well slots on each structure, and b) to modify one of the bridge support tripods at the south end of the Ekofisk complex to accept a wellhead module for eight water injection wells. The location of the bridge support was ideal, in that it gave access to center and southern areas of the field for improved water injection coverage. The new injection platform was assigned the designation - 2/4 W.
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