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E & P November 2019 PDF

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segunoyes
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© © All Rights Reserved
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HartEnergy.

com

NOVEMBER 2019

Basin Modeling
Cementing Advances
Fracture Fluid
Optimization
Emissions
Management
Decommissioning
Special Section:
ADIPEC Technology
Showcase

Unconventional
Report:
OKLAHOMA
EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION NO VEMBER 20 19
VOLUME 92 n ISSUE 11
WORLDWIDE COVERAGE

A H AR T E N E RG Y P U B L IC ATI ON ww w . H ar t E n e rg y. c o m

COVER STORY: DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION


SPECIAL SECTION:
ADIPEC TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE
Digital transformation:
66 E&P highlights some of the latest
technologies that will be featured at the
2019 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum
18 in progress

Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC).

BASIN MODELING
50 Minimizing the effects of fracture hits using
real-time designs
CEMENTING ADVANCES
52 Modern cementing for today’s
horizontal wells

54 MPC in narrow pressure windows


FRACTURE FLUID OPTIMIZATION
56 Next-generation green friction reducer

58 A clean approach to radioactive


waste management in hydraulic
fracturing operations
EMISSIONS MANAGEMENT
60 Advances in technology enable 20 The strategic path to digital
transformation
engineered emissions controls
DECOMMISSIONING
Driving down the dollars
24 Putting Big Data to work for
offshore insights
62
64 Avoiding demolition dangers through
effective planning 32 Moving past the hype at
Pluto LNG
UNCONVENTIONAL REPORT:

76 OKLAHOMA
INDUSTRY PULSE

8 Structural integrity
management data help
decommissioning

REGIONAL REPORT

78 Australia bustling with


exploration and discovery
DEPARTMENTS AND COMMENTARY

AS I SEE IT
Permission to fail 7

MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Three blasts from the past 12

DRILLING TECHNOLOGIES
Waste not, want not 15

COMPLETIONS & PRODUCTION


Can the industry meet the ‘challenge of a generation’? 17

SHALE SOLUTIONS
Recent trends in perforating for limited-entry stimulation 36
Unconventional diagnostics for unconventional wells 40

OPERATOR SOLUTIONS
Subsea compression: developing solutions to keep gas flowing 42
Isolate vertical movement resulting from heave 46

TECH WATCH
Optimizing production of mature waterflood assets with physics-based AI 85
Ensuring the four-way match 88

TECH TRENDS 90

INTERNATIONAL HIGHLIGHTS 92

ON THE MOVE/INDEX TO ADVERTISERS 94-95

LAST WORD
A value-chain approach to reducing emissions 96

COMING NEXT MONTH The December edition of E&P will be our special 2020
Unconventional Yearbook issue. Chapters will include an overview, key players, technolo-
gy, logistics, environment and production forecast. As always, while you’re waiting for your
next copy of E&P, be sure to visit HartEnergy.com for the latest news, industry updates and
unique industry analysis.

ABOUT THE COVER The oil and gas industry’s digital transformation
is underway, potentially saving the industry $100 billion in the process.
Left, shifting market winds are keeping Oklahoma operators swaying,
but they are bending, not breaking as they stand their ground. (Cover
image courtesy of archy13/Shutterstock.com; Left photo by Jennifer
Presley, Hart Energy; Cover design by Felicia Hammons)

E&P (ISSN 1527-4063) (PM40036185) is published monthly by Hart Energy Publishing, LP, 1616 S. Voss Road, Suite 1000, Houston, Texas 77057.
Periodicals postage paid at Houston, TX, and additional mailing offices. Subscription rates: 1 year (12 issues), US $149; 2 years (24 issues), US $279.
Single copies are US $18 (prepayment required). Advertising rates furnished upon request. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to E&P, P.O. Box 3001,
Northbrook, IL 60065-9977. Address all non-subscriber correspondence to E&P, 1616 S. Voss Road, Suite 1000, Houston, Texas 77057; Telephone:
713-260-6442. All subscriber inquiries should be addressed to E&P, 1616 S. Voss Road, Suite 1000, Houston, TX 77057; Telephone: 713-260-6442
Fax: 713-840-1449; [email protected]. Copyright © Hart Energy Publishing, LP, 2019. Hart Energy Publishing, LP reserves all rights to editorial
matter in this magazine. No article may be reproduced or transmitted in whole or in parts by any means without written permission of the publisher,
excepting that permission to photocopy is granted to users registered with Copyright Clearance Center/0164-8322/91 $3/$2. Indexed by Applied Science,
Technology Index and Engineering Index Inc. Federal copyright law prohibits unauthorized reproduction by any means and imposes fines of up to $25,000
for violations.
ONLINE CONTENT NOVEMBER 2019

AVAILABLE ONLY ONLINE Subscribe at HartEnergy.com/subscribe

Grim outlook for natural gas prices


By Susan Klann, Contributing Editor
Pipeline infrastructure coming online is expected to unleash associated
gas from the Permian Basin’s vast oil production, overwhelming the market,
a recent IHS Markit report says.

Undiscovered Marcellus, Utica natural gas resources soar


By Velda Addison, Senior Editor, Digital News Group
An assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey shows the estimated amount
of undiscovered technically recoverable natural gas jumped to 214 Tcf in
the Marcellus and Utica shale formations.

Artificial intelligence key to unlocking oil, gas sector’s


treasure trove of data
By Mark Venables, Contributing Editor
For the oil and gas sector to benefit from the vast amounts of data it
generates each day, it needs to collect, sort and analyze these effectively
and in a time-efficient manner. According to Ulisses T. Mello, director of
IBM Research, the secret to unleashing the value from these data is
artificial intelligence.

Well interaction data can foster ideal parent/


child relationship
By Mary Holcomb, Associate Editor, Digital News Group
Data are the gateway to mitigating parent/child well interference and
returning productivity, according to experts at the Well Interference Forum
at the DUG Eagle Ford conference.

ConocoPhillips driving data analytics, refracs in the Eagle


Ford Shale
By Blake Wright, Senior Editor, Oil and Gas Investor
ConocoPhillips executive Erec Isaacson offered the audience at the DUG
Eagle Ford conference several lessons that the company has learned
during its decade of operating in the basin.

Technology capital: OFS investment opportunity


By Travis E. Poling, Contributing Editor
Private-equity firms are seeking new technology for oilfield service assets.

Regulator urges Brazil to discuss potential for shale


gas activity
By Brunno Braga, Contributing Editor
Brazil could hold about 514 Tcf of recoverable shale gas resources
combined in the Parnaiba, Reconcavo, São Francisco, Paraná and
Parecis basins, according to ANP.

VIDEOS:
n Venado Oil & Gas on fast cycle times
Venado Oil & Gas CFO Branden Kennedy explained why the company
is sticking to its roots in the Eagle Ford and how that holds its own
against “Permania.”
n SilverBow rebranded, diversifying
Steve Adam, executive vice president and COO of SilverBow Resources,
discusses the company’s rebranding and acreage position in the
western Eagle Ford.
n Well interference, focus on drilling inventories
Peter Duncan, president and CEO of MicroSeismic, describes a few key
takeaways from the DUG Eagle Ford conference.

By Jessica Morales, Video Reporter, Digital News Group


As I
1616 S. VOSS ROAD, STE 1000 JENNIFER PRESLEY SEE IT
HOUSTON, TEXAS 77057 Executive Editor
P: +1 713.260.6400 F: +1 713.840.0923
HartEnergy.com
EPmag.com
[email protected]

Executive Editor JENNIFER PRESLEY Read more commentary at


Chief Technical Director RICHARD MASON HartEnergy.com
Senior Editor, Exploration RHONDA DUEY
Digital News Group VELDA ADDISON
Senior Editor,
Associate Editor,
Digital News Group VELDA ADDISON
Production Technologies BRIAN WALZEL
Senior Contributing Editor,
Offshore Editor
Associate JUDY MURRAY
FAIZA RIZVI
Associate
Activity
Digital
Editor,
Editor,
Production
News
Assistant
Group
Technologies
Group
Editor Editor,
Managing
LARRY PRADO
BRIAN WALZEL
ALEXA WEST
Permission to fail
Print Media
Group Managing Editor
JO ANN DAVY
JO ANN DAVY The only way to fly is to first trust the fall.
Associate Managing Editor ARIANA HURTADO

F
Associate Managing Editor ARIANA BENAVIDEZ
Creative Director ALEXA SANDERS ailure must be avoided at all costs, or so we humans are conditioned to
Corporate Art Director ALEXA SANDERS
Senior Graphic Designer FELICIA HAMMONS believe. It starts early: straight As on a report card from school, a perfect
Senior Graphic Designer FELICIA HAMMONS
Publisher HENRY TINNE 10 in a diving competition or a first-place blue ribbon on a science project are
Vice President of Publishing RUSSELL LAAS all examples of how failing to fail can garner praise or reward.
Editorial Advisory Board
Editorial Advisory Board Failure can, however, be its own reward. Sure, it is one way to ensure the
CHRIS BARTON swift ending of a painful project. It also can provide the inspiration needed to
CHRIS BARTON
Wood
Wood step away from the old way of doing something by trying something new. How
KEVIN BRADY many iterations of an invention are tossed onto the reject pile before success
KEVIN9 BRADY
Highway Consulting is realized?
Highway 9 Consulting
At Hart Energy’s DUG Eagle Ford conference in San Antonio, I had the
MIKE FORREST
MIKE FORREST
Consultant pleasure of speaking with a drilling engineer who had made the transition
Consultant from offshore to onshore operations. He mentioned how risk is perceived
GARRETT FRAZIER
GARRETT FRAZIER
Magnum Oil Tools
in the industry as negative if success was not the initial result. It’s what I’ve
Magnum Oil Tools heard called the “everybody lines up to purchase Serial Number 002 if Serial
RICHARD “DICK” GHISELIN, P.E. Number 001 was successful” rule of equipment manufacturing. He said the
DICK
Qittitut GHISELIN LLC
Consulting
Consultant industry needs to give itself permission to fail, citing the current revitalization
PETER LOVIE of the offshore oil and gas space as a key example.
PeterOLGA KOPER
M Lovie PE LLC
Battelle
ERIC NAMTVEDT
Namtvedt PETER LOVIEAdvisors
Energy
Peter M Lovie PE LLC
Make technology your
DONALD PAUL
ERIC NAMTVEDT
USC
enabler, not your bottleneck.
Namtvedt Energy Advisors
KEITH RAPPOLD
DONALD
Aramco PAUL
Services
USC The focus of this month’s issue is on the digital transformation underway
EVE SPRUNT in the oil and gas industry, a transformation that is delivering real change to
KEITH RAPPOLD
Consultant
the value chain. For example, it is inspirational to see the time-savings and
Aramco Services
SCOTT WEEDEN reduced “windshield” time that real-time field monitoring applications have
EVE SPRUNT
Consultant delivered. Quickly fading are the days when a field operator would drive from
Consultant well to well, checking fluid levels and pressure fluctuations on a strip chart
TOM WILLIAMS
SCOTT WEEDEN
RPSEA and more.
Consultant However, for every successful deployment of a monitoring system, there’s
significant time spent working through a process of trial and error to ensure
TOM WILLIAMS
RPSEA the system runs optimally. For every successful digital transformation project
scaled up and made operational, there are many that have stalled out. Of the
Senior Vice President, Media
E&P/Conferences
five steps McKinsey & Co. list for successful scale-up of a project, “making
RUSSELL LAAS technology your enabler, not your bottleneck” is the step that stands out most.
Editorial Director Multiple projects come to mind where the technology didn’t quite exist just
Vice President,
PEGGY Editorial
WILLIAMS Director
PEGGY WILLIAMS
yet, but after a few years—or decades even—the technol-
Chief Financial Officer ogy arrives and the bottleneck clears.
ChiefCHRIS
Financial
ARNDTOfficer
CHRIS ARNDT
There’s no harm in failing, except in failing to start.
Chief Executive Officer
Chief Executive
RICHARD Officer
A. EICHLER
RICHARD A. EICHLER 7
industry
PULSE

Structural integrity management data


help decommissioning
A SIM system ensures that assumptions made in the design phase are safely controlled
and managed throughout the life cycle of the structure.

throughout the life cycle of the structure. The assess-


Yang Guo, Aaron Zigeng Du and Manish Patel, DNV GL ments, according to API RP 2SIM, are continuous with
interactions that broadly fall into four key areas: data

F or aging assets that can no longer produce at eco-


nomically sustainable rates, identifying the right
time, method and model for decommissioning is consid-
collection, data evaluation, SIM strategy and inspec-
tion program.
A data management system is the backbone of the
ered by many as the decision to have a major impact on SIM system. It is set up for archival and retrieval of
achieving this target. structural data, inspection data and pertinent records,
But to conduct decommissioning as efficiently and and collected during design, construction and opera-
cost-effectively as possible, there is now a growing con- tional stages of an asset.
sensus that more can be done well before the late stages Comparing the common activities associated with
of an asset’s life. a decommissioning project, such as removal, lift and
transportation, there are many interrelated areas in the
Explore SIM data for decommissioning SIM data management system where efficiency can be
A structural integrity management (SIM) system is targeted during an asset’s operational life.
widely adopted by many offshore operators to look after Over the past two decades, DNV GL’s Fixed and
their asset. Apart from capturing degradation, it records Floating Structures team has been responsible for more
changes in loading, modifications catering for new mod- than 30 offshore assets worldwide using the SIM system.
ules and all design documents used for the assets from
installation through to decommissioning. Weight control
The SIM system ensures that assumptions made in For any asset to be decommissioned, adopting and
the design phase are safely controlled and managed maintaining a good weight control procedure as early
as possible can be vital in choosing the right decommis-
sioning method, avoiding schedule delays and prevent-
ing cost escalation.
For instance, when the lifting methodology needs to
be developed and the estimated weight of an asset is
close to the capacity of the crane or the removal ves-
sels, the completeness and credibility of existing weight
records can play a major role during the decision-mak-
ing process.
Any proposed weight change needs to be verified to
ensure the installation remains safe within the allowable
limits. It is not unusual that some small weight changes,
once safely approved, are not recorded properly in a
central weight database, either because the extra weight
is considered trivial, hence making little impact to the
overall center of gravity, or simply due to the noncom-
pliance of an established procedure.
Minor changes once deemed inconsequential can
The assessments are continuous with interactions that broadly accumulate and have a significant impact on the overall
fall into four key areas. (Source: DNV GL) center of gravity, which is crucial for offshore lifting

8 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


industry
PULSE

and transport operations. If many unregistered items Knowledge of structural conditions


are identified, without a proper record, severe delays The inspection program in the SIM system details work
can be expected. Therefore, it is necessary for a clear scopes to obtain quality inspection data, which show
weight change procedure to be established for offshore the as-is structural conditions with structural anomaly
installations and for all weight changes to be registered details. While several codes of practice are available,
promptly and correctly. what is less common is a sound anomaly management
If neither design nor installation records are avail- system to follow up on those identified variances.
able, obtaining the exact weight of certain topsides All offshore assets under the care of DNV GL’s Fixed
items on offshore facilities can be practically impos- and Floating Structures unit have a centralized anomaly
sible. Weight allowances are introduced to provide database that records the details of all historical anom-
a certain degree of flexibility throughout the deci- alies. During the operation of the asset, this database
sion-making process. Such figures can vary signifi- has the benefits of monitoring the evolving history of an
cantly between 5% and 15% of the proposed weight. anomaly and feeding into the development of regular
A robust weight control record would help this con- inspection plans.
tingency to lean toward the lower end, indicating sub- As an example, during discussions on the removal
stantial cost savings. lifting method for a North Sea jacket platform,
DNV GL’s latest code of practice for marine removal various possible lifting scenarios were considered
operations provides guidelines on the level of allowance against the cost and schedule. Without the existence
to be introduced, in line with the details and sources of of a well-kept anomaly database, the asset owner
information available. would need to commission and wait for the results

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 9


industry
PULSE

tioned to provide help in identifying any miss-


Data Management System ing or inconsistent information that may affect
key decisions.
Construction Operational Natural
Asset-specific knowledge, together with
Design External
Data Data Data Changes Changes the weight database, can help minimize the
efforts associated with weight reviews and off-
Fabrication Inspection Regulatory
shore surveys.
Drawings Records Scour Changes
Data Even if all information is well maintained
and available, to fully digest and then prepare
Installation Weight Marine Performance it into a list of actions requires an uncertain
Design Basis Standards
Records Change Data Growth Changes length of time, which can be unfavorable. The
SIM provider can expertly justify and prioritize
Design Material Test Equipment the required mitigation measures.
Certificates Updates Corrosion
Reports
The dynamic nature of offshore operations
means all aging assets may have experienced
Structural
Anaylsis Models Structural Repair Fatigue
substantial modifications. From a decom-
& Modification
& Reports missioning point of view, SIM providers can
help verify the records of all implemented
Weight Report Monitoring Catastrophe changes and identify key information that is
Data Events
relevant to the decommissioning exercise.
The other is to review, justify and close out
Metocean Accidental Climate all incoming changes as well as make simul-
Data Events Changes
taneous updates to the weight database and
structural model. Therefore, an up-to-date
Soil Data asset profile is always maintained.

This diagram showcases a typical data management system, which is the Reaping the benefit of the digital age
backbone of the SIM technology. Note, possible data used for decommissioning More than 400 oil and gas fields have stopped
are highlighted with a red box. (Source: DNV GL) producing in the last five years, and analysts
expect $32 billion to be spent on decommis-
of predecommissioning survey findings, which can sioning to 2025.
cause inefficiency. Digital innovation through artificial intelligence, auto-
For integrity issues that are difficult to be spotted from mation and machine learning are expected to play a
a topside decommissioning survey, an anomaly database stronger role in decommissioning activity in the future.
is a useful guide for any decommissioning project to DNV GL has been working with Rolls-Royce and the
minimize the number of unwelcome surprises. Norwegian University of Technology Science to fully
For instance, loose bolts for a section of a J-tube close explore the idea of digital twins and develop a cloud-
to the seabed were recorded in the anomaly database based virtual representation of marine assets.
but missed from the commissioned subsea survey. The The creation of a global weight library is also under-
reality is, no matter how thorough a decommissioning way to provide a valuable benchmark tool for decom-
survey is, there is always a possibility of missing certain missioning weight assessments. This will be available on
issues that may become critical during the incoming Veracity, an open and secure platform built by DNV
decommissioning operation. This margin of error can GL, facilitating the exchange of datasets, APIs, applica-
be reduced by a properly maintained inspection data tions and insights.
and anomaly database, saving hundreds, if not more
man-hours. References available.

Information management Have a story idea for Industry Pulse? This feature looks at
Given any aging asset’s long service life, a SIM service big-picture trends that are likely to affect the upstream oil
and gas industry. Submit story ideas to Group Managing
provider, along with its understanding of the historical Editor Jo Ann Davy at [email protected].
and ongoing issues concerning the weight, is well-posi-

10 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


market
INTELLIGENCE

Three blasts from the past


Experimental nuclear detonations 50 years ago served as early day precursors to the
horizontal drilling and multistage fracture stimulation methodology that has boosted U.S.
natural gas supply to levels well beyond domestic consumption.

techniques reflective of the technology of the time.


Richard Mason, Chief Technical Director In the early days, stimulation was part of an openhole
completion that used explosives, such as nitroglycerin,

T his one is a blast from the past.


It is Project Gasbuggy, or an Atomic Energy
Commission experiment in conjunction with the El
delivered via torpedoes assembled on the rig platform
and lowered by wireline to the pay zone.
New Mexico’s Project Gasbuggy was the first of
Paso Natural Gas Co., and the U.S. Bureau of Mines three nuclear experiments. The detonation created
and Department of the Interior to fracture stimulate a 78-ft cavity that collapsed into a rubble-filled chim-
the Lewis Shale for tight formation gas in Rio Arriba ney. Scientists drilled a borehole in 1968 and per-
County, N.M., 55 miles east of Farmington. formed gas tests regularly until 1976, at which point
Stage count? One. There was no proppant. Instead the project moved to site restoration.
the test was a 29-kiloton nuclear warhead detonated The second test, Project Rulison, occurred 50
in December 1967 at 4,240 ft below the surface. The years ago in September 1969 on Battlement Mesa
nuclear device was twice as large as the bomb used in Garfield County, Colo., and incorporated a
on Hiroshima, Japan, during World War II. As is 43-kiloton device, three times the size of the nuclear
usual with fracture stimula- device used at Hiroshima.
tion, there was a seismic array Fears of a natural gas shortage Rulison also generated a
to track the Gasbuggy event created innovative early efforts 70-ft cavity and another
with seismic monitoring to develop tight formation gas rubble-filled chimney upon
extended out hundreds of via fracture stimulation. collapse. Reentry drilling
miles from the test site. began in April 1970 and pro-
Worries about a potential duction testing for natural
nationwide energy shortage involving natural gas gas occurred through April 1971, at which time the
served as a rationale for the project. New Mexico’s project was abandoned for remediation.
Project Gasbuggy was part of Project Plowshare, At Rio Blanco, about 50 miles north of Grand
or an effort to repurpose nuclear weapons for Junction, Project Plowshare moved to multistage
peaceful application that originated in 1957. The fracturing when three 30-kiloton devices were deto-
power of nuclear energy was proposed as a solution nated in May 1973 in the upper Williams Fork and
for extracting tight formation gas. In all, Project lower Fort Union formations, followed by a reentry
Plowshare featured three tests, including the larger well to the top of the chimney in 1973 and a second
and more widely known test at Project Rulison east well to the bottom of the chimney in 1974. In all,
of Grand Junction, Colo. The third and last test the site produced 125 MMcf of natural gas.
occurred at Rio Blanco, Colo. Of note, the three nuclear devices were detonated
In theory, the detonations would create artificial almost simultaneously and created three indepen-
cavities for the accumulation of tight formation nat- dent cavities that were not connected. It turns out
ural gas. This unusual program was an early day the- the fracture stimulation zone was confined to the
matic precursor to the horizontal/directional drill- area around each detonation and did not extend
ing and multistage fracture stimulation treatment out as far as predicted.
that has boosted U.S. natural gas supply to levels well While Project Plowshare generated accessible nat-
beyond domestic consumption. ural gas, the high temperatures cooked the gas,
It is also an illustration that the concept of fracture lowering its Btu content. It was the second issue
stimulation for hydrocarbon production has existed in that brought the project to a close. The natural gas
various forms for decades and incorporated different was radioactive.

12 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


drilling
TECHNOLOGIES

Waste not, want not


Innovation delivers first deployment of a hybrid energy storage system aboard a
floating drilling unit.

W hile “check the flashlight batteries” is a com-


monly heard phrase before a severe weather
event hits, it is “don’t waste the batteries” that is heard
JENNIFER PRESLEY
Executive Editor
[email protected]
during the event. Great strides have been made in
the development of energy storage systems, from the
Read more commentary at
first voltaic pile that consisted of pairs of copper and
zinc discs stacked on top of each other, separated HartEnergy.com
with a layer of brine-soaked cloth of the early 1800s,
to today’s pink Energizer bunny that keeps going,
going, going. With the deployment of a hybrid energy Thigpen touched on the safety benefits provided
storage system, Transocean can now power one pro- by the hybrid power system in his presentation at Bar-
cess with the excess energy stored from generating for clay’s 2019 CEO Energy Power Conference in Septem-
another process. ber. “We’re storing energy in these batteries, such that
The system is now operational on the Transocean if we do have a blackout at any point in time, we’ll
Spitsbergen, which is engaged in drilling operations have enough power to maintain station and control
at the Snorre Field in Norway, according to a press the critical components on the rig,” he said. “And that
release. The patented hybrid power system was just ticks the box on every single front.”
“developed in partnership with Aspin Kemp Innovations like the hybrid power sys-
and Associates, reduces fuel consumption tem are what Thigpen referred to in his
and increases a dynamically positioned remarks earlier this year at the Offshore
rig’s station-keeping reliability by Technology Conference (OTC) in May.
capturing energy generated during He encouraged industry leaders in the
normal rig operations that would offshore drilling space to continue
otherwise be wasted, and storing it focusing on opportunities to innovate.
in batteries. This energy is then used To become more economically viable,
to power the rig’s thrusters,” the press he noted that the offshore industry’s
release stated. A 14% reduction in fuel continued focus on safety and improve-
use during normal operations is targeted, ments in drilling efficiency can help reduce
which leads to a significant reduction in NOx costs and improve time to first oil.
and CO2 emissions. (Source: petrmalinak/ “Innovation has been going on in the
“This first of its kind hybrid power upgrade Shutterstock.com) industry for multiple years, ever since the
will further enhance the reliability of our downturn. It has been quite healthy for the
operations, while simultaneously reducing fuel con- industry,” he said during his OTC presentation. “It has
sumption, operating costs and our environmental foot- forced innovation across the industry. We have been
print,” said Transocean’s President and CEO Jeremy innovating, whether it has been reorganizing our busi-
Thigpen in the release. “We are pleased and proud to ness so we’re more efficient, streamlining automation
work alongside Equinor to jointly identify and imple- and processes, or changing commercial models.”
ment more efficient and sustainable technology to Innovative thinking and the industry’s willingness to
deliver high-value wells to the industry.” apply those innovations will continue to carry it into
The company’s investment in the technology is and through the next decade. By not wasting
funded in part through fuel-saving incentives in its those opportunities, the industry
contract with Equinor and by the Norwegian NOx is providing for the wants and
Fund, according to the release. needs of many.

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 15


completions &
PRODUCTION

Can the industry meet the


‘challenge of a generation’?
Industry leaders are making responsible energy development a priority.

T his year’s Society of Petroleum Engineers Annual


Technical Conference and Exhibition (ATCE) in
Calgary brought together more than 6,000 industry
BRIAN WALZEL
Associate Editor,
leaders from companies from around the world to Production Technologies
share ideas and technologies. But without question, [email protected]
the overriding theme was how the oil and gas industry Read more commentary at
will meet the demands of current and future genera- HartEnergy.com
tions on environmental sustainability.
Speaking during the opening keynote on responsi-
ble energy development, Jackie Forrest, senior direc- that helps identify and quantify methane leaks and
tor of research at ARC Energy Research Institute, concentrations in the air. The company’s modular
said the oil and gas industry is “facing the challenge gas processing system treats and fractionates flared
of a generation.” natural gas that otherwise would be flared into the
Indeed the challenge is a substantial one. More atmosphere and uses the gas in other products. Sun
than 1 billion people globally are without reliable sup- said that in a project in Iraq, the system has helped
plies of energy. Leigh-Ann Russell, head of upstream avoid flaring of 200 MMcf/d, which translates to 5.7
procurement and supply chain management for BP, MMtons/year.
noted at ATCE that energy demand will grow by one- Baker Hughes’ Becker Zero-Bleed Valve System
third by 2030. captures gas escaping when valves actuate and
“It’s a dual energy challenge,” Russell said. “How re-pipes the gas back into the system. Sun said
do we provide the oil and gas the world needs more the system can capture 25 tons of CO2 equivalent
cleanly and more efficiently, and at the same time per year.
break down emissions?” “We’ve taken a look at the emissions that occur all
There is a third component to that challenge: doing through the value chain,” she said. “We’ve quantified
those things economically and in a way that makes a that, and we have an understanding of the types of
company a profit and pleases shareholders. Paying emissions and the types of activities that drive those
back investors while maintaining a social license to emissions. And all of our solutions are designed to
operate is a tricky balancing act. address those drivers.”
However, Jeanne-Mey Sun, executive of energy tran- In addition to innovative technologies capturing
sition and clean energy solutions at Baker Hughes, carbon emissions before they are released into the
believes it doesn’t have to be an either/or proposi- atmosphere, incentives are emerging for carbon cap-
tion. In January Baker Hughes announced its effort ture, utilization and storage.
toward achieving net-zero carbon emissions. Accord- Any energy transition will be a methodical one, and
ing to the company, that commitment includes “a oil and gas will play a role in the energy mix of the
50% reduction in CO2-equivalent emissions by 2030 future. But if the oil and gas industry is to meet the
(compared to a 2012 baseline) and net-zero CO2 emis- challenge of a generation, and not fail future genera-
sions by 2050.” tions, it will take the industry coming together as a
In a conversation with E&P at ATCE, Sun described whole. Discussions such as those had at ATCE are an
a number of technologies designed to reduce carbon important step in the process, but actu-
emissions that Baker Hughes has deployed. ally deploying successful technologies
Lumen is a methane monitoring and inspection that reduce emissions will prove to be
system that works as a stationary tool or a drone the ultimate test.

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 17


COVER STORY:
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

try’s effo rts to reinvent itself


The indus are un derway.
al w orld
in a digit
18 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com
COVER STORY:
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

safety and environment of workers and


Jennifer Presley, Executive Editor
minimizing greenhouse emissions—all of
which have significant value creation,” said

O ne hundred billion dollars—that’s the


amount that the oil and gas industry could
save through digitalization, according to a
Audun Martinsen, head of oilfield services
research for Rystad, in the report.
The digital transformation is in progress, as
recent Rystad Energy report. To unlock these new digital products are rapidly making their
potential savings, E&P and service companies way into the marketplace. For example, one
are transforming to meet energy demands. of the largest digitalization initiatives to date,
According to the report, about 10% of the according to Rystad, is the collaboration by
$1 trillion spend on opex in 2018 could be Chevron, Schlumberger and Microsoft to obtain
erased through the use of more efficient and meaningful insights from multiple data sources
productive operations possible with automation across the upstream and midstream sectors (see
and digitalization. details on pg. 90).
“In addition to cost savings, digitalization This month E&P’s cover stories examine how
initiatives can also increase productivity operators, technology innovators and govern-
by increasing uptime, optimizing reservoir ment researchers are furthering the progress of
depletion strategies, improving the health, the digital transformation.

(Source: archy13/Shutterstock.com;
design by Felicia Hammons)

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 19


COVER STORY:
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

The strategic path to


digital transformation
Energy companies work to identify opportunities, challenges and
methodologies of new technologies.

can get frustrated,” said Stuart Harris, group president


Faiza Rizvi, Associate Editor of Emerson’s newly formed digital transformation busi-
ness line, speaking at the recent Emerson Global Users

D uring the past decade, digital transformation


emerged as a driver of revolutionary business prac-
tices in the energy industry, empowering organizations
Exchange event in Nashville, Tenn. “We define digital
transformation as smart, connected technologies used
to solve problems, usually involving changes in business
with unparalleled opportunities. Upstream companies are practices. Digital transformation must be guided by
catching up on the digitalization uptake, integrating tech- specific problems, but it won’t work unless people are
nologies in their field operations, including the Industrial engaged and appropriate technologies are adopted.”
Internet of Things (IIoT), cloud computing and artificial Harris noted that the challenge most companies face
intelligence. According to a recent study by Rystad Energy, when conducting digital pilots is trying to scale those
the upstream industry can save up to $100 billion through pilots. “Those who start with technology first tend to get
automation and digitalization initiatives in the 2020s. frustrated because a return on investment [ROI] can be
Despite the huge potential, Deloitte’s digital maturity difficult to achieve [with that approach],” he said. “That’s
index shows that the oil and gas industry is lagging behind why it’s important to have a focus, know the metrics of
all the other sectors in the digitalization race. EY estimated success and measure your performance against those.”
that only 10% to 20% of the industry is digitalized.
“We’re still at a critical stage because even though Taking a step further
many companies have gained the vision to pursue digi- Recognizing the need for a dedicated organization
tal transformation, they don’t know where to start and focused on digital transformation technologies and

FIGURE 1. By engaging the five competencies of digital transformation, companies will unlock the potential of employees and sustain
top-quartile performance. (Source: Emerson)

20 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


COVER STORY:
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

programs, Emerson recently announced its new Digital as well as helps participants to scale up their solutions to
Transformation business line. The new department will many more applications that can achieve similar advan-
bring together critical resources to help manufacturers tages and benefits.
develop and implement pragmatic digital transformation “Many digital transformation pilots can get started for
strategies that deliver top-quartile performance, accord- $50,000 to $100,000 in one or a few processes, prove
ing to a press release. The $650-plus
million business combines existing
expertise in consulting, project execu-
tion, smart sensor technologies, data
management and analytics, which are
all a part of Emerson’s Plantweb digital
ecosystem. The organization will help
customers establish a clear vision for
digital transformation and gradually
execute and realize measurable results
at each step of their journey.
Speaking at a press conference during
the Emerson Global Users Exchange
event, Harris identified automated
workflow, decision support, workforce
upskilling, mobility and change manage-
ment as the five competencies of digital
transformation that companies need to
unlock the potential of employees and
sustain top-quartile performance (Figure
1). He also pointed out that the three
critical success factors of digital transfor-
mation are technology decisions driven
by business outcomes, scalable approach
guided by vision instead of doing it all
at once and technology investments that
also are seen as investments in people.
Harris pointed out that while some
companies are executing pilot pro-
grams and seeing early benefits, every-
one needs to connect their businesses
and digital transformation strategies
with practical applications. “Strategy
and business cases are what come first
with digital transformation—not the
technology. Once ROI is captured for
a solution, it can be scaled across the
whole enterprise,” he said.
On a broader scale, once digital
transformation initiatives define the
goals and identify challenges and
opportunities, companies must develop
proofs of concept and pilot projects
that can demonstrate some of that
much-needed ROI. This encourages
further commitment and investment

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 21


COVER STORY:
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

themselves and then scale up to many processes and approach can solve the majority of the issues and help
save millions or tens of millions of dollars,” Harris said. companies in delivering value through digitalization.
“We’ve learned that digital transformation is urgent “We had 300 wells, which we couldn’t monitor
because it can help users achieve top-quartile perfor- remotely, so whenever there was a drop in production,
mance, add two weeks of uptime, cut maintenance inci- we had to send someone out in a helicopter,” said
dents in half or reduce safety incidents by 30%.” Todd Anslinger, control systems engineer of the IIoT
Center of Excellence at Chevron. He said it took 37
Empowering the workforce helicopter trips and two weeks to check those wells,
Energy companies face a number of challenges on and identify and resolve the issues.
their path to digital transformation, many of which are “Since we added Emerson transmitters and Digi
attributed to the aging workforce. Moreover, several gateways that transfer 4 to 20 milliamp signals to the
studies reveal that since the industry is viewed as envi- cloud via LTE cellular wireless networking, we can
ronmentally unfriendly and technologically backward by monitor when they go below a certain output pressure,
the future workforce, companies are in danger of losing for example, and determine if they really need a visit
fresh digital talent to other sectors. or not. We estimate to save about $25,000 per event,”
Beyond specifying problems, goals and technologies, Anslinger said.
digital transformation is impossible without the deep One of the main advantages of the IIoT and digitali-
and continuous engagement of people, especially those zation in general is that users can collect more signals
on the plant floor, Harris explained. and data as well as get them much more often. “With
“Executive support is essential and information tech- our wireless devices, we can check process or equip-
nology [IT] has to be involved, but it’s most important ment status every hour. For instance, when we inject
for the operations folks to be engaged because they CO2 and water into wells, we can see the downhole
have the domain knowledge about where it’s best to pressure more frequently and make better decisions,”
apply digital transformation,” he said. “Every functional Anslinger said.
group can contribute and take on new roles. They can Occidental Petroleum implemented the Internet of
serve as bridges connecting lines of stakeholders or Things (IoT) last year and began by proving its viability
develop internal academies to train colleagues on how and value, researching available IoT platforms, deter-
to use new analytics tools.” mining device connections and validating how to create
Emerson provides technical resources and curric- software containers and analytics, according to Jim Sage,
ulum development to more than 350 educational IT principal for emerging technology at Occidental.
institutions to help students develop the skills that “We learned that it’s important to determine the IoT-
employers need. Recently Emerson collaborated readiness of the larger organization, so over the last
with San Jacinto College to help design, equip and year and a half, we got ready with a cloud computing
provide training tools for the college’s Center for that we could plug our IoT solution into. Now, we can
Petrochemical, Energy and Technology, which is connect edge-computing devices to help control shut-
designed to empower students of all levels with the down devices,” Sage said.
skills and training needed to support careers in the According to Tim White, asset management director
evolving petrochemical and refining industries. at Valaris (formerly Ensco Rowan), “When events hap-
pen offshore, managers onshore want to know what’s
Digitizing upstream happening. However, it can be risky to have calls com-
For the upstream industry, the advantages of IIoT ing in every hour, so we’ve been trying to correlate our
applications lie in creating value through an inte- data to better inform our rig managers, so they don’t
grated deployment strategy, which can potentially have to call as much.”
increase production, reduce downtime, limit emissions White added that Valaris will use its increased data
and improve safety. volume and speed to improve maintenance as well as
During an upstream panel discussion at the Emerson optimize operations. “One of our big goals is condi-
Global Users Exchange event, executives of major oil tion-based maintenance, and we know the IIoT will help
companies reported that legacy assets, workforce attri- accomplish it as well as reduce staff and deploy ‘tiger
tion, political climate and cybersecurity are the main teams’ that can manage multiple rigs,” he said.
challenges that slow down IIoT and digitalization. Gary Baxter, former production operations director
However, they agreed that a well-planned and careful at EQT Corp., said the natural gas producer recently

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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

implemented IBM Maximo asset management software going to change anyway,” Anslinger said. “Behavior
to help its supervisors and managers by showing pro- changes with familiarity and training, so it’s crucial to
duction data on their PCs and smart phones. “This solu- show people what the IIoT can do for them, what dol-
tion got us involved with IIoT, but we soon found that lars and cents they can gain and that it’s cost-effective
we needed 78 database revisions. We couldn’t do all of to implement.”
them, so we had to revise and implement Emerson’s In addition to returns, IIoT must also show it can
ROC800 remote operations controller, which let us do ease user workloads, White said. He explained that it’s
more analytics,” he said. important to demonstrate the benefits of IIoT to senior
management and convince them that new technologies
Returns on digital investments can automate tasks and ease the workload of employees.
New technologies typically involve heavy capital invest- Adding to that, Sage explained that any effort to
ments and extended supply chains. get potential users accustomed to the IIoT can be
Since new innovations also face scarce funding and helpful because disruptive changes have been coming
hesitation from higher management, executives at the so fast. “Most changes in process control and automa-
upstream panel discussion said IIoT and associated new tion have been incremental, but what’s happening
technologies must demonstrate their value quickly to now is a reallocation of people to learn the new skills
gain acceptance. needed as we transition from previous methods to
“We look to see financial benefits within one year those based on the IIoT. And once we connect to our
because if it’s two or three years, then it won’t get edge devices, the benefits of their data will start to
funded because everyone assumes the technology is come in,” he said.

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 23


COVER STORY:
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Putting Big Data to work for


offshore insights
A modeling suite addresses key knowledge gaps to improve the prediction and
evaluation of offshore systems for improved spill prevention and more.

and support planning, prevention and rapid response


Abby Humphreys, Kelly Rose and the ORM Team, NETL needs for future spills are required to protect human
life and the environment.

T he Deepwater Horizon disaster in 2010 released


more than 130 MMgal of oil into the Gulf of Mexico
(GoM) over 87 days and is the largest accidental marine
The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL)
is one of 17 U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) national
laboratories and the only laboratory dedicated to fossil
oil spill to date. Teams of experts assembled to mitigate energy research. NETL’s researchers work to develop,
the catastrophe, but rapid emergency response and con- integrate and mature technology solutions to enhance
trol efforts were hindered by inadequate tools and large the nation’s energy foundation and protect the environ-
uncertainties associated with this extreme offshore play. ment for future generations. Ensuring the safe, effective
The tragedy emphasized the need for tools to assess development of the nation’s oil and gas resources is a
risks and predict behaviors of a range of offshore engi- key priority in this mission. The advances taking place
neered-natural systems from the reservoir to the shore. within NETL’s offshore research portfolio are available
Offshore U.S. oil production in the GoM accounts for to help reduce the likelihood of damaging geohazard-
16% of total U.S. crude production, and globally, off- induced events that are associated with offshore hydro-
shore drilling accounts for less than 5% of the world’s carbon E&P. Additionally, these technologies can reveal
wells, yet accounts for 30% of total global oil produc- the economic potential of these domestic resources in
tion. The efficiency and production from offshore wells greater detail.
are notable; however, as offshore development contin-
ues to expand and venture into new territories, meth- Modeling offshore risk
ods and resources to improve systemwide knowledge Developed by a team of geodata science researchers
at NETL, the Offshore Risk Modeling
(ORM) suite improves the prediction
and evaluation of offshore systems by
addressing key gaps in knowledge and
the need for spill prevention aligned to
data-computing solutions across time,
space or regions. Fundamentally, many
of the tools offered in the ORM suite
leverage Big Data and Big Data comput-
ing to help users assess local questions
(e.g., rig placement risks, geohazard
and reservoir property predictions)
using a “big picture” approach. Work-
ing with existing commercial tools and
software systems, this first-of-its-kind
suite provides a comprehensive frame-
work for future predictions, analyses
and visualizations to better inform
offshore hydrocarbon E&P, predict
The ORM models and tools can be used in the rapid assessment of oil spill response the fate and transport of potential
preparedness for the GoM. (Source: NETL) spills, improve prediction of subsurface

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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

properties for areas with no prior data and identify The Blowout Spill Occurrence Model (BLOSOM) is
regional vulnerabilities. an open-source, comprehensive modeling program that
The NETL team designed the tools and models in predicts the fate and transport of oil for hypothetical
the ORM suite to be easily accessible to the industry, and actual offshore spill events to support planning and
regulators and scientists for a range of commercial- spill response preparedness needs. BLOSOM is the first
and research-related efforts. The ORM suite comprises open-source oil spill and blowout model in 4-D, which
digital applications that can be deployed directly on a has been compared to and validated against traditional
personal device, such as a desktop computer, laptop or and industry-applied spill models. Built upon a flexible
tablet, or run through a virtual cloud-computing frame- framework, BLOSOM consists of several modules to
work. All tools are available for download or web use. help visualize and predict the scope of environmental
In addition, there are instances of the ORM suite being damage in the event of a blowout, which include behav-
developed for specific users in an online, Dockerized ior in high-pressure environments, subsea dispersants,
computing platform to offer greater portability and gas and hydrate dynamics and other features as well as
utility, as the models and tools are maintained on one utilizing knowledge of how particulates move through-
server while data are hosted and/or streamed in real out all levels of the water column.
time from authoritative sources. Cumulative Spatial Impact Layers (CSIL) is a geo-
ORM suite tools can handle large amounts of data in graphic information system-based tool that rapidly iden-
the range of gigabytes to petabytes depending on the tifies and quantifies potential socioeconomic and envi-
scale of the analyses being performed, efficiently utilizing ronmental risk. The CSIL tool is capable of handling
millions of data from numerous sources. This makes the multiple disparate datasets, can measure data density
ORM suite a comprehensive solution for providing pre- and produce multivariable layers that identify vulner-
dictions of potential hazards and mitigating challenges abilities within a given area. It can be used in concert
faced during common offshore oil and gas activities. with other ORM tools to support planning, such as
When the tools and models are used either individ- ingesting BLOSOM simulation outputs and summariz-
ually or together, the ORM suite can help the offshore ing the potential risks or response availability associated
energy industry with worst-case discharge planning and with hydrocarbon events. The CSIL tool can be used to
preparedness, evaluation of site-specific metocean geo- assess onshore response capabilities to determine what
hazards and improved prediction of subsurface proper- areas are at risk and how prepared emergency officials
ties for reserves and drilling calculations. are in the event of a spill.
The Spatially Weighted Impact Model (SWIM) is a
Components decision-support tool that incorporates relationships
The ORM comprises two data management and curation among oil spill information, response availability and
tools and six analytical components that allow end users potential risk. Users can apply weights to evaluate mod-
to assess and combine data surrounding many environ- eled spill events based on potential impacts, the magni-
mental, socioeconomic and geological factors. When tude of the oil spill and response preparedness against a
used together, the analytical tools provide more holistic “baseline” scenario, which might consist of what differ-
analyses that aid in predicting and preventing risks and ent users consider to be worst-case events. This feature
operational costs. The analytical tools included in the allows users to rank and compare different scenarios
ORM at present are noted below. and come up with varying plans of action for planning
The Climatological Isolation and Attraction Model and response needs.
(CIAM) is a quick prediction and response tool that The Subsurface Trend Analysis improves the predic-
applies mathematical theories of dynamical systems and tions of subsurface property values using a combination
metocean data, including real-time ocean current pat- of geologic knowledge and advanced spatio-temporal
terns, to determine where oil and other particles in the statistical methods. The approach leverages information
ocean (e.g., debris, hazardous waste and plankton) are about geologic systems to improve prediction of subsur-
likely to be attracted or repulsed. CIAM offers offshore face properties critical for reserves calculations, explora-
commercial and scientific communities a novel and tion and resource identification, geohazard prediction,
efficient way to summarize big ocean current and/or drilling safety and improved well design.
large wind data and generalizes previous approaches by The Variable Grid Method communicates uncertainty
calculating transport patterns independent of where a for data and model results, which is critical when utiliz-
spill may originate. ing multiple tools and approaches. The Variable Grid

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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Method tool provides the flexibility to


use different data types and uncertainty
qualifications, and it preserves overall
trends and patterns observed within the
data while enabling users to customize
the analysis and final product to meet
their needs and best communicate
results in an intuitive manner.
Two ORM applications support data
acquisition, curation and collaboration
useful to both the offshore and broader
fossil energy community. There has
been growing recognition of the value
and challenges associated with data
preservation, curation, management
and reuse, and the ORM team has been
addressing these needs for almost a
decade. This resulted in the building of NETL’s open-source BLOSOM is capable of following the fate and transport of
the Energy Data eXchange (EDX) and hydrocarbon discharge events from an array of anthropogenic and natural sources.
the GeoCube to address data access, (Source: NETL)
curation and reuse challenges specific
to fossil energy and ORM users. EDX, although one could host BLOSOM-compatible
EDX is the DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy’s (FE) vir- data on EDX for download, which can be visualized
tual data library and laboratory. Launched in 2011 and through GeoCube. Together, BLOSOM and CIAM-
based on data access challenges identified during the coupled models offer an improved prediction of the
Deepwater Horizon spill response, FE’s EDX platform fate of oil spill particles, which offers critical informa-
is an online data curation and collaboration platform. tion to inform oil spill prevention, response and pre-
EDX fosters and supports the life cycle of data for FE paredness efforts.
users and includes public and private resources for Identifying critical subsurface characteristics: Various sub-
FE teams. Presently, EDX curates products from fossil surface conditions can negatively impact hydrocarbon
energy research, including data, tools and models, and exploration safety and costs. The Subsurface Trend
it supports select virtual analytical needs of FE users, Analysis can be used to define potential hazards based
such as those performed by the virtual ORM suite. on geologic data and expertise to improve predictions
GeoCube is a custom web-mapping application hosted of subsurface characteristics that may impact drilling,
via EDX that allows users to quickly view and visualize such as areas of overpressure. The uncertainty associ-
spatial data, download resources, identify overall trends ated with these predictions can be quantified and visu-
and patterns in the data and share these discoveries alized using the Variable Grid Method. Together, the
with others. The application allows users to upload and Subsurface Trend Analysis and Variable Grid Method
visualize their own data in a user-friendly manner as help decision-makers pinpoint areas where overpres-
well as spatial datasets served via the EDX platform. sure might be present and make confident decisions
regarding mitigation strategies that ensure safe operat-
Capabilities ing conditions.
The ORM suite can be applied to improve safe and Evaluating response preparedness: CSIL can be used to
efficient operations in offshore systems for a range of summarize and visualize oil spill fate and transport
stakeholder needs. from BLOSOM with the spatial and temporal distribu-
Simulating 4-D oil spill and blowout scenarios: BLOSOM tion of socioeconomic and environmental variables.
can model multiple hypothetical and historic oil spill Overlapping these data with CSIL helps identify gaps in
simulations at various locations and times. BLOSOM response infrastructure readiness. SWIM can compare
simulations can be coupled with the CIAM to enhance and rank multiple scenarios to strategically identify
and validate the predicted fate and transport of oil regions where additional prevention equipment is
spills. BLOSOM does not presently pull data through needed to improve oil spill preparedness.

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COVER STORY:
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

the time, leading to oil materials such as tarballs


washing up in unforeseen locations. This had
immediate and long-lasting impacts on tourism
and other ocean-dependent industries in the
area. The efficiency of response operations also
was affected by a lack of knowledge about the
geohazards, subsurface reservoir properties and
Deepwater Horizon well infrastructure pre- and
post-blowout, which hampered efficiency and
confidence in subsea and subsurface spill con-
trol efforts.
The tools of the ORM suite were designed to
aid in preventing these and other environmen-
tal hazards from occurring in similar spill sce-
narios through better prediction methods and
risk assessment. With more information on oil
fate and transportation, as well as emergency
response preparedness and geologic properties
Three tools from the ORM suite—BLOSOM, CSIL and SWIM—have been streamlined from drilling operations, many of the chal-
internally to model worst-case hydrocarbon release scenarios and account for lenges from the Deepwater Horizon spill may
environmental and socioeconomic impacts, with resulting simulations ranked on have been prevented or had their impact dras-
user-applied weights. (Source: NETL) tically reduced.
Outside of spill events, similar data and mod-
Assessing offshore infrastructure integrity: Data from EDX eling challenges impact daily operations, planning and
and GeoCube have been leveraged to identify and visu- decisions by regulators and the industry alike. While
alize historic pipeline and platform failure incidents. the capabilities of the ORM suite were influenced and
CSIL has summarized metocean data (e.g., wave height, informed by the lessons learned from the catastrophic
current velocity and wind speed) to statistically evalu- Deepwater Horizon event, they also address daily, “nor-
ate the effect of extreme environmental conditions on mal” challenges, leveraging Big Data to inform small-
infrastructure integrity over time. scale needs and preventing vulnerabilities.
While initially developed with a focus on the GoM,
Implications the capabilities of the ORM suite are not limited to that
The approach of the ORM suite is a paradigm shift from region and have been extended to other U.S. and inter-
how the industry and regulators traditionally evaluate national waters. The ORM suite is flexible and can be
the offshore environment. In the past, local analyses and adapted and integrated into other models to suit end
smaller-scale datasets were the primary focus in inform- users’ needs and account for differences in location.
ing decisions. Industry and regulators have convention- In practice, several components of the ORM have been
ally based their models on limited data or information; leveraged to the DOE and external users to assess oper-
however, because of the advanced, data-computing ational and environmental risks for regions around the
nature of the tools in the ORM suite, end users now U.S., including offshore Southern California and the
have access to streamlined, analytical results that incor- Gulf of Alaska. Components of the ORM also have been
porate larger and more diverse spatiotemporal systems utilized beyond the U.S., including users in Australia,
than conventional models or methods can afford. Brazil, India, Mexico, Spain and the U.K.
Response to the Deepwater Horizon blowout met chal- By applying novel and efficient methods to cross-exam-
lenges in critical areas. Traditional response resources, ine data across space and time, the ORM suite supports
such as booms, oil skimming methods and dispersants, predictive analyses for safer, more prudent efforts and
were used in cleanup efforts, but oil traveling under- rapid-response, real-time assessments. The ORM suite is
neath the sea surface at such extreme water depths posed able to adapt from one need to the next, filling knowl-
new, unforeseen and lasting challenges to both contain- edge gaps, reducing resource uncertainty, assessing geo-
ment and fate analyses. Predictions of oil transport were hazard potential and supporting decision-making,
inadequate due to limitations of spill models available at thereby improving operational efficiency and safety.

30 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


COVER STORY:
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

Woodside Energy has operated the


Pluto LNG facility since its startup in 2012.
(Source: Woodside Energy)

Moving past the hype at Pluto LNG


An Australian operator is putting AI to good use in its flagship facility.

What can AI do?


Mark Venables, Contributing Editor There are many interpretations of what AI entails, but
Barnes likes to define it as the ability to mimic human

L ike most oil and gas majors, Australia’s Woodside


Energy is grappling with how best to harness the
myriad opportunities presented to the oil and gas sector
intelligence and/or behavior.
“Many of the examples are familiar in our daily
life, and a lot of what the industry is applying is still
by artificial intelligence (AI). Unlike some, however, very much in that narrow band isolated to specific
Woodside has some projects underway that are already parameters and context,” she said. “The key is obvi-
delivering significant results. ously moving past all the hype and making it useful
One of the people charged with overseeing this and applicable. We have all seen the shiny brochures,
transition is Alison Barnes, head of robotics. She is the presentation packs, the emotive news articles, but
tasked with leading the efforts to incorporate the use hopefully, some, like me, have had a chance to play
of intelligence systems on Woodside’s new assets that with this technology.”
are being designed at various engineering houses Woodside already uses AI in many business processes,
around the world. For the role, Barnes leans heavily much of it in collaboration with the IBM Watson deep
on her background as an instrumentation and con- learning AI platforms. “In implementing several Watson
trols engineer. systems, we discovered that we needed a system that could
“I lived up in Karratha in northwest Australia for sev- work across and outside them. Sometimes it may not be
eral years, working on LNG plants and supporting our clear which system holds the information we need, or
gas assets,” she said in a presentation at Offshore Europe. related information lives in several systems,” Barnes said.
“I was then moved from production into technology to This led to Woodside developing its own cognitive
head up the robotics lab, and now I get to execute the assistant, Willow. “Our data science team also works
executive’s vision for using digital technologies.” directly with asset engineering and operations to build a

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DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

range of statistical and analytics tools, using live stream- “It is still a work in progress, but part of the vision is
ing data from our facilities,” Barnes said. The Maximum to create a tool that provides better than human aware-
Possible Production tool Pluto LNG uses to compare ness,” Barnes said. “I want someone to feel like they
current and historical performance is in use to maxi- can use this tool to look at a piece of equipment and
mize daily production. get more information than they could if they got on a
The Maximum Possible Production tool runs every plane up to Karratha, put on their PPE [personal pro-
10 minutes and creates a model that looks at all the tective equipment], went out in a helicopter and stood
uncontrollable variables and compares them to the in front of the piece of equipment themselves. That is
last time they came together in that way. With these a challenging thing to do, especially having worked in
data, the tool advises the operator what it can do with operational sites myself.”
all the controllable variables. Woodside also has a sur- As to how Woodside is going about achieving this
veillance hub for engineers, which collects data from lofty ambition, it is a combination of deploying the best
thousands of tags in the plant so they can monitor technology available and integrating that with its own
and look at specific plant and processes so they can proprietary innovation that fills the gaps the company
improve maintenance reference plans and better mon- felt are in the market. “We are integrating existing
itor equipment performance. plants, sensors and data,” Barnes said. “But then we
have also had to deploy hundreds of additional sensors
Adding intelligence to Pluto LNG to get the data that we required.”
One AI project that Barnes and her team are cur-
rently working on is also at the Pluto LNG facility in Gap in the market
northwest Australia and is focused on intelligent edge When Woodside analyzed what was available in the
assets. Woodside has operated the Pluto LNG facility market, it found that the best that was on offer did not
since startup in 2012. Gas from the offshore Pluto fit the requirements. The sensors were either too expen-
and Xena fields is piped through a 180-km pipeline sive or too complex to integrate and required specialist
to Pluto LNG’s single onshore LNG processing train skills. The team’s response was to prototype, develop,
located on the Burrup Peninsula near Karratha in build and certify their own sensors.
Western Australia. “Hopefully there will be new IoT [Internet of Things]
“The project has moved past proof of concept and sensors in the market, which we can utilize in the future
pilot trial, but it is still very much a working piece,” as we have no desire to become a sensor company,”
Barnes said. “Our goal is to build this intelligent asset. Barnes said. “But in the meantime, it’s helping us
We want to install a data-driven digital nerve system at achieve our goal.”
the heart of our operating facilities to capture, analyze The development of these smart sensors created
and make use of all the available data. Ultimately, this another, although not an unexpected, problem for
will enable better decision-making. Our tagline for the Woodside—the sheer volume of additional data to man-
project is to make things work harder, so people can age. “We had all this additional data that we never had
work smarter.” before,” Barnes said. “It was too much for operations to
When it came to naming the AI system, the team monitor. That is where we deployed analytics tools and
kept coming back to precisely what they were hoping data science to process and understand it.”
to achieve, which was to integrate all the data into one She continued, “We have a camera that has a view
holistic view. “We all agreed to name it Fuse,” Barnes of a gauge somewhere in its vision, we can digitize
said. “What we are working on is fusing technologies the reading, look at it over time and, more excitingly,
and data to create these intelligent assets.” look at it compared to other pumps, because every-
thing’s now connected. Our algorithm can learn what
A new breed of technology is normal, alert you when it sees a case that is not
The essence of Fuse is to use existing data from the site and then offer some insight or action as to what you
and integrate those with a host of new data that are made should do.”
available by installing a new breed of smart sensors. This
is all combined with what Barnes calls a new breed of More to come from AI
technology such as networks, visualization tools, data This is just the start of the journey for Woodside. The
science and robotics, which when combined, provides next step is to visualize those data and create what has
continuous feedback of data that learns over time. been dubbed a version of a 4-D digital twin that was

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 33


COVER STORY:
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION

spatially referenced—a virtual replica of the site with scale fast. We are taking a very hands-on approach to
embedded real-time data analytics. assess the usefulness of each technology. We need to
“When we are solving problems, I think it is fascinat- work with our people to identify where best to employ
ing because we can now better enable the collective the technology and bring those who have the technical
wisdom and collaboration of many,” she said. “We can expertise on board to change the discussion and show
even draw on those different assets and different points us how we could do things differently. We must be criti-
of time if we get it right.” cal about their usefulness and mindful to changes to
Barnes concluded, “I think the best way to succeed is people’s roles and the skills required. And we’re going
to start and try it. We need to think big, start small and to need to collaborate within and across sectors.”

AI-enabled tech targets offshore safety


Mary Holcomb, Associate Editor, Digital News Group, Hart Energy

A partnership develops an autonomous solution to mitigate safety in an offshore drilling rig’s


most dangerous area: the Red Zone.

“We’ve been very conscious of people’s individual


S eadrill has launched a new technology aimed at safety
management on drilling rigs in one of offshore’s most
dangerous areas. Developed by The Marsden Group,
identity and not capturing tons of sensitive personal data
about [them],” said Andy Pratt, The Marsden Group’s
Vision IQ is an artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled safety president. “We don’t track the names or the individual
technology aimed at monitoring risks within a rig’s Red biometrics of people. This is about people being safe as
Zone. The high-risk area is the portion of the rig floor a whole, not individualizing.”
where heavy drilling equipment moves, making it a vul- Pratt said Marsden intentionally left out more detail-
nerable spot for injuries. Thus, Seadrill tapped Marsden oriented technology like facial recognition that would track
to mitigate the danger and ensure a safe environment for people to avoid Vision IQ becoming a “blaming toolset.”
the workers. “We’re not trying to identify you; we’re trying to iden-
“You hear about this digital transformation and every- tify the role you do and how you do that, and that’s the
one’s focused on technology first. We’re focused on data [workers] contribution to the system,” he said.
humans first,” said Jennifer Hohman, Seadrill’s CIO and Incoming technology into the industry often raises
vice president, at The Marsden Group’s R&D facility tour concerns that it will replace humans. But in developing
in September. Vision IQ, Pratt said his team worked closely with drill
The partnership, she said, focused on leveraging tech- floor workers, which “made all the difference.”
nology that informs both people on the platform and “It’s not about replacing the driller; it’s about giving the
those watching the platform. To optimize rig operations, driller new jobs where he can focus on how to optimize
the safety system utilizes AI, laser imaging, detection and and make things better,” he said.
ranging, and high-power computing technology. Seadrill plans to deploy Vision IQ on a rig located
In perspective, the concept builds on driver-assistance in the Gulf of Mexico and install the technology on 12
technology where the radars provide alerts to drivers to more rigs globally following high interest, according to
reduce human error and promote safety. Seadrill’s director of solutions, John Alvarado. Marsden
Being laser-based and equipped with three high-reso- also is working on a downsized camera-only module of
lution cameras, each Vision IQ unit can conduct 3-D scan- the technology for smaller, less critical corridors.
ning to create a dynamically monitored environment of the “We’re putting our resources, time and money where
Red Zone in real time. The two features work in unison to our mouth is,” Hohman said. “We are very serious
identify crew members and provide an advanced alert for about the culture of our company and making sure
potential danger both in the Red Zone and in the rig’s dog everybody on our platform is safe and everybody in
house. But Marsden and Seadrill wanted to exercise safety any part of our operations goes home to their family,
by protecting the worker’s privacy from the technology. friends and children.” ■

34 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


shale
SOLUTIONS

Recent trends in perforating for


limited-entry stimulation
Economic improvement is driving technology.

ing of “correct” Cv factors, initial perforation hole sizes


Phil Snider, Consultant and perforation erosion rates during pumping and realiz-
ing low treating pressures are not a measure of success.

S haped charge designers have improved their thought


processes in support of operators and unconventional
well stimulations. Perforating systems for the limited-
Engineers are finally abandoning the old rule of thumb
of “two barrels per minute per perf” for more robust tech-
nical approaches. At a 2-bbl/min injection rate, a .30-in.
entry stimulation market were traditionally approached diameter perforation has an about 1,540-psi differential
by simply making short versions of longer gun systems pressure, whereas a .40-in. hole has about a 480-psi differ-
the industry had always used. A lot has changed. ential. Perforation erosion reduces differential pressure,
Those conducting the perforations and those con- leading to understimulated clusters. Operators want to
ducting the fracs are communicating. The U.S. activity know actual perforation hole sizes in their specific weight
downturn at the end of 2014, with associated layoffs and and grade of casing. The datasheets published by the
company failures, made everybody improve. Operators American Petroleum Institute are of limited value as gun
that had success with direct sourcing (sand and plugs) systems are tested in a smaller diameter, lower-grade cas-
began talking about other category applications, includ- ing. Industry is increasing testing in P-110 casing in par-
ing perforating. Operators, manufacturers/service com- ticular and publishing those results. Older style deep-pen-
panies and the investment community can now easily etrating charges had hole size variation ranging from .50
access and analyze data, both public data and private in. (zero clearance) to .28 in. (maximum clearance) for
databases merged to them. a 3.125-in. gun inside 5.5-in. P-110 casing. The resulting
People are analyzing their well results and are forced several-fold variation in injection rate per perforation led
to consider changes when offsetting acreage performs operators’ requests for equal-entry hole charges, which
better. Other contributing factors to perforating gained market acceptance.
change include increasing cluster counts, equipment
shortages, higher temperature explosives shortages Recent trends, changes and why
and the ever-changing trade relations with China and Equal-entry/equal-shallow penetration charges without
steel tariffs. carrier centralization have worked extremely well, as have
design variations where the charges shoot at an angle to
Orifice flow equation the casing rather than perpendicular. Success has been
In most of today’s designs, it is accepted (perhaps more realized fracturing wells using these style charges, which
than it should be) that injectivity rate of fluid follows the penetrate very few inches into the formation. Product
orifice flow equation and proppants and fluids move uni- suppliers now compete on cost, lowest percent hole size
formly together. The orifice flow equation is as follows: variation, number of different sizes they can provide
0.237 ρQ2 for specific weights and grades of casing, and ability to
∆P perf = D4 Cv2 achieve results through two strings of casing in refractur-
∆P perf = total perforation friction (psi); ing applications. Operators can obtain the specific hole
Q = flow rate through each perforation (bbl/min); size of their request, within about .02 in. This enhances
D = diameter of perforation (in.); the ability for engineered perforating designs.
Cv = perforation coefficient; and Equal-entry hole charges led operators to conduct
ρ = fluid density (lb/gal). more step-rate testing and determine perf efficiency/
The differential pressure across the casing is the near-wellbore tortuosity. Analysis confidence level
method to treat all the clusters in a stage. Injection rate is increased with known, consistent size holes. Focus has
primarily influenced by perforation hole diameter to the moved to higher differential pressures across the casing.
4th power. Operators are developing a better understand- The Society of Petroleum Engineers’ technical papers

36 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


shale
SOLUTIONS

especially plug setting tools and “ball-in-place”


methodologies. The trend in zonal isolation is
increasing where operators pressure test the plug
with the ball in place before perforating. It makes
operational and economic sense not to pump a
whole stage away without a plug holding.
FIGURE 1. Wells with a higher cluster count were a technology driver for A word of caution: operators’ completion
limited-entry perforating gun designs where 1 to 6 equal-entry hole charges teams are not electronics experts. They rely heav-
are shot in a short space. This had the added benefit of shortening gun lengths ily on service companies for how wireline trucks/
(about 70% shorter for the gun section) to reduce lubricator lengths and crane downhole electronics components, and especially
size requirements. The photo on the right is an example of the same cluster detonators, function. More explosives accidents
count perforating assemblies, conventionally and with the technology and near misses occur than one hears about, and
improvement. (Source: GEODynamics) companies with incidents typically do not want to
discuss it. Perforating systems have tremendous
energy, and one cannot afford a mistake. A few
years ago, industry experts estimated greater than
90% of accidents occurred after a misrun. People
developing electronics today must ensure systems
are highly reliable, properly interface with other
components and no misruns occur.

Other trends
FIGURE 2. An aerial photo ahead of a proppant transport surface test helps Perforating cluster count per stage continues to
develop understandings of proppant placement and perforation erosion for increase in most basins. The long-term produc-
each cluster at full frac rates. (Source: GEODynamics) tion history is reaching the point where data ana-
lytics can determine if economics look as good
on “extreme limited-entry,” written by operators rou- as early production results indicated with high cluster
tinely designing stimulations with 2,500-psi differential counts. The northeast U.S., with its gas production, gen-
pressures, were well-read and created conversations erally has fewer clusters and different geology. Diverters
across industry. are finding applications.
Shaped-charge design accomplished desired hole size Operators utilizing higher (1,500 psi or greater after
results with less explosive weight and smaller charges. initial erosion) differential pressures generally obtain
This opened up design possibilities including small about 90% perf efficiency. High clay content forma-
charges placed beside each other on the same plane, tions, notably in some areas of Oklahoma, observe
rather than individual, sequential charges in the gun. lower perf efficiencies.
Field introduction of these gun systems began in 2017, Perforating hole size is decreasing in the last 18
usually in three-shot/cluster configurations. These months. Operators are having success with single,
shorter gun assembly length systems having all the larger holes per cluster.
perforations in a single plane reduced near-wellbore The “gorilla in the room” is associated with particle
tortuosity—as step-rate analysis proved. Figure 1 shows transport and perf erosion studies. Several universi-
information on these systems. ties, operators and a few service companies are trying
to better understand how uniformly the proppants
New gun systems, safety and regulations move with the fracturing fluids and are progressing
After the aforementioned turndown in completion activ- numerical simulation. This will lead to a very different
ity, stuck gun issues with “blown port plugs” and associ- thought process and has implications to frac hits and
ated remedial costs escalated. The resulting technology proppant flowback. Figure 2 shows one of the more
improvement is industry’s migration to disposable sys- interesting tests in this arena that a group of opera-
tems rather than managing reusable equipment nearing tors and others are conducting.
the end of its life. One will continue to see improvement
in gun string systems: electric disconnects, data acqui- Editor’s note: Phil Snider is a completions consultant to
sition, gun detonating/hardware components, and GEODynamics.

38 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


shale
SOLUTIONS

Unconventional diagnostics for


unconventional wells
New fracture flow diagnostics help operators elevate fracture performance.

Julian Martin, TGT

I n recent years, the Permian Basin has been the most


prolific shale play in the U.S. Production in this area
increased to 3.8 MMbbl by 2019, representing almost
70% of the whole U.S. production growth from 2011
to 2019, according to the International Energy Agency.
The impressive aspect of this achievement is that the
growth has not stopped. On the contrary, the Permian FIGURE 1. Fluid and gas moving through a reservoir generate
is expected to continue growing and is estimated to acoustic noise. Inside TGT’s Chorus sensor is a highly sensitive
achieve up to 5.8 MMbbl by the end of 2023. piezoelectric hydrophone that converts acoustic pressure waves
Such growth doesn’t come easy. Significant advances into an electric charge. (Source: TGT)
in drilling, completing and multistage fracturing will
continue to drive production increases. But evaluating ized completion design and fracturing treatment. The
the performance of fracturing programs and the wells completion included more than 50 stages and sand was
they deliver is key to optimizing resources and ensuring pumped along more than 2,200 ft of the reservoir to
maximum return on investment (ROI). Conventional increase the well productivity.
diagnostic, such as production logging tools, can’t pro- These extended laterals have been engineered
vide all the insights required to ensure the operator is to optimize production performance and leverage
achieving the best returns. This article focuses on the improvements in drilling, fracturing treatments and
challenges faced when assessing unconventional reser- completion designs. The operators have overcome
voirs in terms of production and TGT’s new Fracture a number of well construction challenges and have
Flow diagnostic tool that evaluates the flow perfor- quickly moved up a steep learning curve.
mance of hydraulically fractured wells stage by stage. Like the challenges encountered with well con-
struction, the Permian Basin faces its own challenges.
Pushing the boundaries Following such an extensive multistage hydraulic frac-
Operators have been drilling aggressively and pushing turing program, the wells are brought onstream at high
the boundaries of hydraulic fracturing beyond conven- IP rates. But most of these extended-lateral producers
tional standards compared to other plays. The drilled tend to decline dramatically over a very short period.
length of lateral sections has been constantly boosted, To help combat this challenge and many others, TGT
adding more footage as well as more production stages. has developed a number of application-specific diagnos-
The ultimate objective is to penetrate deep into the tic products using its True Flow System to quantitively
target formation, increasing the area of contact with the evaluate flow dynamics throughout the entire well sys-
specific reservoir or formation, therefore making the tem—from the reservoir to wellbore and the dynamic
well, its completion and the reservoir one dynamic pro- interplay between the two.
duction system. When talking about a hydraulic fracturing job, the
Champions of this approach include a Houston- importance of the program design prior to execution
based operator that recently drilled such a well at the is well-known. During this phase, sophisticated soft-
Wolfcamp Formation. The completion included a lat- ware is utilized to model and optimize the fracturing
eral section of more than 17,900 ft running through the program, taking into consideration multiple variables.
Spraberry Formation. The completed well had a total These variables include formation properties, lithol-
measured depth exceeding 24,500 ft with a custom- ogy, depth, mechanical stresses and other parameters

40 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


shale
SOLUTIONS

FIGURE 2. Fracture Flow diagnostics compare fractured intervals (blue) to main producing intervals (green) at different choke sizes to
evaluate the true effectiveness of hydraulic fracturing programs and maximize well performance. (Source: TGT)

that can affect the final outcome. Another important reservoir has a gross thickness of about 1,200 ft and is
consideration is the formulation of the hydraulic frac- fully cased.
turing fluid. This fluid normally comprises sand (or The operator’s objectives in this case were to evaluate
proppant), gels (foam or sleek water) and additives that the post-fracture performance of three zones and com-
are pumped downhole following the job design to prop pare the effectiveness of fractured stages by assessing the
open the induced fractures and maximize the extension production contribution from each fractured interval,
of the fracture in terms of length, height and aperture identify crossflow or behind-casing communication, and
as well as the integrity of the fractured conduit itself, so increase production efficiency by identifying the opti-
hydrocarbons can flow unabated. mum production choke for this well system.
The results revealed by the Fracture Flow analysis
Evaluating fracture inflows revealed that the fractured intervals (Figure 2, blue cod-
TGT’s diagnostic Fracture Flow is able to locate and ing) were not contributing fully to production in their
evaluate fracture inflows and quantify inflow profiles in entirety. Furthermore, it identified the active zones and
hydraulically fractured wells. The product is delivered where the main production was coming from (Figure
by the company’s analysts using the True Flow System, 2, green coding). Fracture Flow revealed that only 62%,
which combines several technology platforms—Chorus 59% and 56% of each zone was actually producing at
(acoustic), Cascade (thermal), Indigo (multisense) and the outset. The Fracture Flow analysis also indicated
Maxim (digital workspace)—to acquire, interrogate and there were no crossflows among the three zones, which
analyze the acoustic spectra and temperature changes was another key finding from an integrity perspective.
generated by the hydrocarbons or any other fluid flow- Thirdly, the Fracture Flow diagnostic program helped
ing from the reservoir through active fractures and into determine the optimal choke size required to ensure the
the completion (Figure 1). This diagnostic capability fractured zones were contributing at the maximum rate.
goes beyond conventional flow measurement techniques TGT works in close collaboration with operators using
that generally stop sensing at the wellbore and are there- Fracture Flow to help them reach their frac evaluation
fore unable to quantify flow within the reservoir itself. objectives, locate effective fracture inflows, quantify
The Fracture Flow product extract shown in Figure 2 inflow profiles and assess the effectiveness of fracture
represents the diagnosis of a hydraulically fractured oil programs, helping to optimize future programs and
producer with greater than 80 degrees deviation. The maximize ROI.

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 41


operator
SOLUTIONS

Subsea compression: developing


solutions to keep gas flowing
As oil and gas fields become depleted, energy companies are looking at how they can
extend the life of operating fields, unlocking low-pressure reserves from reservoirs to
maintain plateau production rates.

Subsea compression
Asmund Maland, ABB Producing oil and gas from reservoirs located at long
distances from land is a costly proposition that presents

S ubsea exploration is needing to take place in increas-


ingly extreme harsh environments, as the oil and gas
reservoirs are no longer easy to find close to the shore.
many challenges to offshore operators. Subsea installa-
tions situated far from shore or remote platforms can
be a very cost-efficient solution, as it may eliminate the
At the same time, the industry faces several key chal- need for a fixed or floating topside installation.
lenges, such as high costs and risks, low efficiency, and Moving the required pumps and compressors from
reliability and nonsustainable issues. the topside installation to the seabed increases the
New technology that goes beyond today’s current effectiveness of oil and gas extraction. Compressors
capabilities is required to go deeper and farther than are used to maintain output by restoring reservoir
ever before. In an oil or gas field, the more depleted pressure at gas-producing fields as it drops over time.
the existing reservoir, or the more inaccessible it is due Traditionally, they have been installed on platforms
to distance, the greater the need for subsea pumps and above sea level, but with subsea compression, the com-
compressors and the technology that powers them. This pressor can now be placed on the seabed. Putting the
is especially crucial to extending the operating life of compressor on the seabed near the wellheads improves
existing fields. recovery rates, reduces costs and minimizes environ-
mental impact. Additionally, it reduces the number of
people working in harsh environments offshore, cutting
labor costs and enhancing safety at the same time.

Jansz-Io compression project


The Jansz-Io Field is located about 200 km offshore on
the northwest coast of Western Australia at about 1,350
m below the surface. It is a part of the Chevron Austra-
lia-operated Gorgon Project, one of the world’s largest
natural gas developments. Here, subsea compression is
applied to enhance the recovery and maintain a long-
term natural gas supply of 17.1 ton per year to LNG
and domestic gas plants on Barrow Island. The system
increases the pressure close to the wells and pushes the
gas toward the large LNG plants onshore.
ABB is collaborating in the delivery of a subsea com-
pression system with Aker Solutions and MAN Energy
Solutions for Chevron, where the compression system
will boost recovery of gas more cost-effectively, leaving
a smaller environmental footprint than the traditional
use of semisubmersible compressor solutions. ABB’s
ABB is collaborating in the delivery of the Jansz-Io subsea compression role in the FEED of a subsea compression station is
system with Aker Solutions and MAN Energy Solutions for Chevron. designing the electrical power system that will distribute
(Source: ABB) onshore power to the subsea compression station. It

42 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


operator
SOLUTIONS

needs to be designed in the right way and tested


under many different scenarios to ensure power
is delivered to the compressor reliably and is con-
trolled and optimized. This subsea power will go
deeper and farther with reliable communication,
monitoring and control.

From Åsgard to Jansz-Io


The Jansz-Io offshore field in Australia is the first
location outside of Norway to use subsea com-
pression technology. ABB has been involved in
the development of subsea equipment and sys-
tems for three decades.
This collaborative project is an outcome of sev-
eral years of joint work that includes landmark
developments such as the 2015 delivery of the The subsea gas compression system at Jansz-Io will improve gas recovery
world’s first subsea compression system for the more cost-effectively and with a smaller environmental footprint than a
Åsgard Field offshore Norway, where the operator conventional semisubmersible compressor station. (Source: Aker Solutions)
had discovered that the internal pressure of the
well was dropping rapidly, although there were consid- systems at the seabed decreases overall costs per unit.
erable resources remaining. New ways of boosting the Looking at the Åsgard project, the world’s first subsea
pressure were investigated with subsea compression. gas compressor system, as an example, it is predicted to
Although Jansz-Io represents the first time subsea enable an additional 306 MMboe, corresponding to a
compression has been used outside of Norway, there medium-sized field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
is the potential for subsea compression to be used It also will extend the field’s life to 2032.
globally, wherever the environment requires it. The The systems also are more reliable and come with less
company’s collaborative work combines strengths in risk as cables and transformers that have been rigor-
subsea, power and automation technologies to develop ously tested are being used. Maintenance is decreased
solutions that will improve oil and gas production for and decommissioning is reduced to towing the substa-
the global energy industry. tion away and replacing it with another. With a reduced
There are many challenges in optimizing and extend- environmental impact, the solution is also more sus-
ing the life of the fields in Jansz-Io. Not only are we tainable for operators, with a lower carbon footprint.
building a resilient and reliable system to maintain It uses less energy as compressors are closer to the gas
high levels of production, but the company also is reservoir in the Jansz-Io Field.
using its expertise to design them in a robust way to The deeper and farther afield the location of the
withstand the harsh environment. The company also subsea compression is, the higher the corresponding
needs to plan and manage the installation, as there are economic benefits with this approach. There is also
lots of components that all need to work together. For less downtime, as there are no or minimal modifica-
example, the equipment is lowered to the seabed and tions to be made to existing infrastructure. Removing
integrated with the technology without causing dam- the need for local power generation means it uses less
age. Long power cables also require careful handling. energy to produce the same amount of gas. It can be
The company needs to enable maintenance in hostile up to eight times more energy-efficient. Overall, this
environments and not forget about handling the data represents a considerable leap as the industry looks to
securely and intelligently. a new digital future for the industry toward autono-
mous operations.
Benefits of subsea compression
The main benefit at Jansz-Io will be the enhanced recov- Have a story idea for Operator Solutions? This feature
ery and maintained long-term natural gas supply. This highlights technologies and techniques that are helping
also brings economic benefits, as increasing the amount upstream operators overcome their challenges. Submit your
story ideas to Group Managing Editor Jo Ann Davy at
of oil and gas that can be recovered from new and
[email protected].
existing fields by deploying compression or pumping

44 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


operator
SOLUTIONS

Isolate vertical movement resulting


from heave
A direct line compensator improved safety and reduced conventional rigup time during
a two-well offshore intervention program.

vessels—specifically, how wind, loop currents and tidal


Maka Borja and Stephen Forrester, NOV changes affect operations.
As far back as the 1960s, ship heave motion was noted

W hen discussing offshore projects, much has been


said about how advancements in technology
are enabling increases in efficiency and driving down
as a concern by the drilling industry, though at that
point it was largely ignored due to the relative newness
of deepwater exploration. From the 1970s, numerous
per-barrel breakeven levels. These advances are crit- equipment and technology developments were invented
ical, given persistent uncertainty around long-term and used to address the various issues arising from
commodity pricing and the need to increase profit- improper (or a lack of) motion compensation on off-
ability in a challenging market. An area of continued shore vessels. In the late 1990s, Shaffer designed and
interest has been in developing systems that better sold a direct line compensator (DLC) to a major oper-
address the impact of the environment on offshore ator. After being upgraded to higher capacity on a full
cylinder extension, the
unit was eventually sold,
and the company, now
National Oilwell Varco
(NOV), continued using it
to protect offshore equip-
ment from variable tensile
and compression loads.

Technology
NOV uses the Shaffer
DLC to isolate vertical
movement resulting
from heave, a problem
especially prominent
on offshore rigs with-
out an active heave top
drive, spars, tension-leg
platforms and so forth.
The DLC is a completely
pneumatic system that was
developed for landing and
retrieving operations and
other applications requir-
ing the elimination of
in-hole drillstring motion.
The DLC is composed of
a single compression-type
The DLC is a completely pneumatic system that was developed for landing and retrieving operations and air/oil cylinder pres-
other applications requiring the elimination of in-hole drillstring motion. (Source: NOV) surized by air/nitrogen

46 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


operator
SOLUTIONS

pressure vessels. The compensation force (i.e., the pull the injector head, swing arms crane, and beams and
on the hook) is determined by the magnitude of the sys- clamps. The team also provided engineering drawings
tem air/nitrogen pressure. As the drilling vessel heaves for all equipment installation and mobilized qualified
upward with wave action, the hook load moves down- compensation specialists and technicians to the rig
ward, and the compensator cylinder is compressed. This to assist with the process as necessary. The benefit of
downward hook motion is relative to the drilling vessel onsite support was that the solution minimized the
but is fixed relative to the seafloor. weight of the added intervention equipment and com-
As the hook extends, the air is transmitted through pletion string as well as the creation of redundant safety
the 3-in. hose back to the pressure vessels. When drill- measures in the event of an N2 failure and during nor-
ing vessel motion is reversed, the air/nitrogen flows mal well intervention operations.
from the pressure vessels to the DLC cylinder, retract- Providing detailed procedures and engineering draw-
ing the rod and hook. During operation, the DLC com- ings helped the operator determine optimal equipment
pensates for the hook load, and the only movement spacing, reducing the amount of rigup time typically
relative to the drilling vessel is that of the hook load involved in such operations. The team safely transferred
and the cylinder rod. The traveling block, hose and cyl- the DLC/CTLF package and other well intervention
inder assembly remain motionless relative to the vessel. equipment while skidding the spar 55 ft to the next well
Using the DLC, the driller also can increase, decrease location, reducing rigup and rigdown time by about
or maintain at a preset level the drillstring weight by 36 hours, or 1.5 days, of rig costs. The beams provided
adjusting the compensator pressure. The DLC has a better CT reel weight distribution on the pipe deck,
total compensating hook load of 650,000 lb, weighs while the custom clamps locked all equipment loads
15,500 lb on the traveling block and operates with a securely to the deck. The team helped safely flow back
5-ft stroke. the first well before bringing the second well online
to the production facility, with the DLC providing a
Case history primary means of compensation support for the entire
An operator in the Gulf of Mexico needed to clean up spar on both wells. The total amount of time that the
paraffin and scale in two wells, with operations being DLC compensated the spars was 40 days latched to sea
conducted from a spar. The proposed plan required bottom. The operator was extremely satisfied with the
equipment that would help account for high and low system, commenting positively on the professionalism of
tide cycle variations, ensuring motion compensation the NOV personnel involved and the improvements to
during well intervention and flowback operations. The safety and efficiency enabled through its use.
solution also needed to improve safety during inclem-
ent weather and while conducting coiled tubing (CT) Conclusion
and slickline operations and pumping solvent. To meet As the industry moves into 2020 and beyond, deepwater
this objective, the solution had to be able to increase, and ultradeepwater E&P activities are expected to slowly
decrease and maintain a preset level of drillstring weight and modestly rise. While fluctuations in commodity pric-
by controlling the DLC pressure. The operator also ing will certainly drive the volatility and cyclicality typical
needed beams and clamps to support the CT reel and of these markets, it appears that declines in maturing
help with deck weight distribution as well as a swing arm fields and a subsequent need for new exploration will
crane for slickline and e-line operations. Finally, the yield more wells and new project sanctions. In efforts to
chosen equipment would need to be able to be quickly cut capex spending and improve efficiencies, operators
rigged up from well to well to meet the operator’s will look to new technologies to help them overcome
expected time frame. their unique challenges. Finding innovative ways to use
By thoroughly analyzing the project, NOV deter- existing technologies that have proven reliability
mined the correct product and service package to meet through decades of operation will ensure ongoing rele-
the operator’s needs. The Devin team installed the DLC vance in more and more applications.
equipment package, including an N2 compensation
skid, to account for tidal movements and inclement Have a story idea for Operator Solutions? This feature
weather by maintaining a constant hook height during highlights technologies and techniques that are helping
vessel movement. In addition to the DLC, the team upstream operators overcome their challenges. Submit your
story ideas to Group Managing Editor Jo Ann Davy at
installed a 350-ton CT lift frame (CTLF) and CTLF
[email protected].
stabilizer, bails, elevator, CT mini-track and adapter for

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 47


BASIN MODELING

Minimizing the effects of fracture


hits using real-time designs
A Delaware Basin case study demonstrates various techniques to
minimize parent and child well interactions.

Raj Malpani, Farhan Alimahomed, Cyrille Defeu, camp A and B formations. The wells described in Figure
Schlumberger; and Larrez Green, Laine Valle, 1 were drilled and completed at various times over a
Adnan Alimahomed, MDC Texas Energy 10-month time frame and grouped by generation:
• Parent well (Generation I);

T he oil boom in the Permian Basin has been made pos-


sible in part by an increase in pad and infill drilling.
This drilling practice also has resulted in fracture hits.
• Child 1 and 2 wells (Generation II); and
• Child 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D wells (Generation III).
The parent well experienced fracture hits during
Fracture hits occur when a child well is completed completion of Child 1 and Child 2. Because the parent
near a parent well. Production from the parent well and well was spaced about 2,500 ft away from Child 1 and
associated depletion results in a pressure sink around the 2, no communication was expected. Chemical tracers
parent well, which causes the hydraulic treatment from and the productivity index (PI) of the parent, Child 1
the child well to communicate with the parent well. and Child 2 wells suggested that even a few months of
Operators have tried various techniques to reduce production led to pressure and fluid communication
the effect of parent well depletion on the production between the parent and Generation II wells.
of the parent and child wells. These techniques include Before the completion of the Generation III wells, the
shutting in the parent well to build up pressure before existing producing wells (Generations I and II) were
completing the child well, refracturing the parent well, estimated to have 80% of EUR remaining in the ground.
repressuring the parent well, creating a pressure wall With the earlier experience of pressure flux while com-
by stimulating wells closest to the parent wells first and pleting offsets and the remaining potential of the exist-
using control aids for the far-field fracture geometry. ing wells, protecting the existing wells was important.
Today, half of the wells drilled in the Permian Basin’s Downhole and surface gauges were installed on the
Midland and Delaware sub-basins are child wells (Xu et parent, Child 1 and Child 2 wells during the comple-
al. 2019). As well density in a section increases, drilling tion of the Child 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D wells. To protect
and completions decisions regarding the stimulation of the Generation I and II wells, the decision was made to
child wells are increasingly shaped by changes in the in drill some Generation III wells with a slight offset in true
situ stress, mechanical properties and material balance vertical depth from the existing producing wells. Water
that result from depletion around parent wells. This is a injection treatment was performed on wells prior to com-
multifaceted reservoir-dependent 4-D problem with many pleting the Generation III wells. The team chose fluid
different dependencies such as the size of the completion, injection without diversion aids on the Generation I and
well spacing and timing of infill drilling. As a result, more II wells. A total of 35,000 bbl was pumped in the parent
projects involving parent/child interactions are being well, 15,000 bbl in Child 1 and 5,000 bbl in Child 2.
carefully preplanned using sound engineering principles The Child 3A well led the completion sequence to
that enable real-time changes to completion designs to build up pressure on the west side of the section. The
avoid negative effects of depletion and fracture hits. Child 3B, 3C and 3D wells were drilled from the same
By adopting real-time completion designs of infill pad and zipper fractured. Design changes were made to
wells, MDC Texas Energy successfully mitigated deple- the completion program with built-in contingencies to
tion effects from parent wells in a section development make additional changes on the fly to incorporate frac-
in the Delaware Basin. ture geometry control aids and reduction to injection
rate, fluid volume and proppant volume. Prior to pad
Case study operations, the Schlumberger team ran multiple com-
This case study focuses on a section development com- pletion sensitivity analysis models to enable the design
prising seven wells in the Delaware Basin in the Wolf- changes in real time.

50 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


BASIN MODELING

SECTION LAYOUT PI profile after all the wells were put back on
production, except for Child 3A, which was
the closest well to the parent well.
The infill wells in Wolfcamp A have an
increased water cut compared with the par-
ent, Child 1 and Child 2 wells. The Child 3D
well is in Wolfcamp B, which has higher in
situ water saturation compared with that of
the Wolfcamp A. Wells with spacing above
1,000 ft show equivalent productivity, but
wells less than 500 ft apart show inferior pro-
ductivity. The optimal well spacing with the
general completion and stimulation design
in the area seems to be within 500 ft to 1,000
ft (five to 10 wells in a section) in this area
in Wolfcamp A. The higher PI of Child 3D
suggests that there is hydraulic connectivity
between Wolfcamp B and Wolfcamp A, but
the production behaviors seem to be isolated
from Wolfcamp A.
FIGURE 1. The description of the parent and child wells and the vertical and Developing a section with depletion effects
lateral distance between wells are shown. (Source: Schlumberger) occurring at various distances and durations is
challenging. A proactive approach of plan-
During completion of the Child 3A, 3B, 3C and 3D ning wells, preloading wells (water injection), observing
wells, multiple pressure increases were observed on the real-time pressure changes for diagnostics and respond-
parent and Child 2 wells with varying degrees of severity. ing to the pressure communication by changing fluid
The stress buffer (shadow) created by carefully sequenc- and proppant volumes and pumping rates provides an
ing the stimulation program aided in reducing the effective strategy for completing infill wells in a multigen-
fracture communication. The fluid injection strategy was eration section development in the Wolfcamp Formation
effective in reducing the magnitude of pressure com- and in similar settings around North America.
munication. Additionally, an active pressure monitoring
program informed real-time completion design changes Editor’s note: This article was adapted from URTeC 2019-472.
to reduce the magnitude of pres-
sure communications on the par- NORMALIZED PI OVER TIME
ent, Child 1 and Child 2 wells.
The tracer data and PI profile
suggest that during stimulation the
wells have been hydraulically con-
nected. Even though the connec-
tions fade over time, the observed
communication between the wells
results in the overall lowering of
reservoir pressure. Some comple-
tion sections of the lateral showed
abnormal behavior that is likely
due to localized geological features.
Figure 2 shows the initial PI for the
Child 3A, 3B and 3C wells is smaller
than that of the parent well, like for
the Child 1 and Child 2 wells. All FIGURE 2. The normalized (to time zero) PI for all wells over time is shown.
wells in Wolfcamp A show a similar (Source: Schlumberger)

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 51


CEMENTING
ADVANCES

Modern cementing for today’s


horizontal wells
Utilizing the most modern practices for cementing is one area that offers significant value.

can result in insufficient zonal isolation. Selecting the


Joseph Huwel, Nine Energy Service right cement for these tasks becomes vital, as the wrong
cement can inhibit bottom-line impact by limiting the

T he oil and gas industry is more competitive today


than ever before. Organizations are aware that every
decision made has a direct impact on well productivity
well’s production, creating the need for costly remedia-
tion. With these challenges and risks in mind, picking the
right cement and strategy is more crucial than ever.
and the bottom line. To remain competitive, today’s oil Leveraging lightweight or ultralightweight types
and gas organizations have to be vigilantly proactive in of cement is a common tactic that is used to reduce
remaining up to date with the best practices within the hydrostatic pressure and consequently minimize fluid
industry. The scope of this practice extends from staying loss. Two approaches are generally used for these light-
on top of the latest in technological advancements to weight types of cement.
ensuring the right maintenance techniques are being One strategy involves adding hollow glass microspheres
used for pump equipment. to the cement mix. This creates a predictable slurry mix-
ture because the glass microspheres are precisely manu-
Selecting cement factured with every batch, making variations very unlikely.
For starters, the quality of cement used has a significant These types of cement also have a fast compressive
impact on the performance of today’s horizontal wells. strength development, a high-set cement strength and
In the Permian Basin, the majority of existing Texas wells can retain their strength at high temperatures.
have demonstrated annular pressure and the need to get While cement may have the needed properties at sur-
through depleted zones to drill. These low-pressure zones face levels, downhole conditions can be quite different
present a variety of challenges, including the potential and cause shattering and a loss of buoyancy, ultimately
for severe fluid loss, which has an impact on cement and leading to unsuccessful cementing. The slurry design
should account for the crush strength and minimize the
separation of low-density microspheres to prevent free
water and loss of zonal isolation downhole to overcome
this challenge.
Another approach to slurry design is injecting nitro-
gen gas. This offers good fluid loss control, high-ten-
sile strength and ductility, efficient mud-displacement
and hole-cleaning properties as well as creating better
strength overall.
Cement setting time is also very important. The
sooner the slurry sets, the quicker the operator can
drill. Two options, in particular, can help speed up the
process. Accelerators can speed it up, getting it down
to as few as 12 hours while a preblended, quick-setting
cement can set in as few as 6 hours. Utilizing either of
these options for cementing jobs can improve an opera-
tion’s bottom line.

Low-pressure zones in the Permian Basin can cause severe fluid losses, Planning a job to completion
making it difficult to achieve the desired top of cement and leading to The planning and execution of a cement job cannot
inadequate zonal isolation. (Source: Nine Energy Service) be undervalued. By selecting the right partner with the

52 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


CEMENTING
ADVANCES

necessary expertise, resources and reli-


ability helps ensure that every aspect
of a cement job is optimized. As that
partner, the service team can recom-
mend the optimal solution for each
individual case. Additionally, the team
can assist with designing, testing and
executing specialized slurries utiliz-
ing low- and high-density ingredients
at an R&D laboratory to achieve the
required balance between well eco-
nomics and cement quality.
Building upon the above qualities,
the service team should be easily acces-
sible and provide local testing facilities.
Having a partner with experience in
the location also can be helpful, as this
provides another level of expertise.

Using modern equipment


Technology in the oil and gas industry
has evolved substantially over the last
several years, and the modern equip- With remote monitoring and communication capabilities, cement jobs can be monitored in
ment and technology available today real time anywhere with the use of a smartphone or tablet PC. (Source: Nine Energy Service)
can deliver better and more predict-
able results. Investing in this equipment can increase Leveraging Nine Energy Service, the operator tried a
efficiencies, reduce risks and save time. new approach. Nine utilized its Rapid Set One line of
Remote monitoring is one modern piece of equip- cement, which reached 500 psi in less than 8 hours by
ment that can be helpful for cementing jobs. A smart- using a combination of cement materials and additives.
phone or tablet can enable the maintaining of real-time The first slurry tested and run by Nine was at a den-
monitoring and communication from anywhere while a sity of 15.6 lb/gal, which consistently reached 500 psi
job takes place. This provides multiple benefits, includ- in less than 6 hours after dynamic conditioning time
ing removing the time and costs of driving to a well equaled the placement time on the job (about 2 hours).
site and HSE risks. It also allows the user to manage After continuing to develop its Rapid Set One
multiple jobs in multiple locations. Additionally, remote cement, Nine created formulations with densities
monitoring allows cementing crews to stay connected between 13.5 and 14.2 lb/gal for formations requiring
with experts back at the base for support if necessary. a lighter weight tail slurry while still remaining under
8 hours to reach 500 psi. The operator reached 500 psi
Putting best practices to the test up to 3 hours sooner than it had previously achieved,
One operator in the Delaware Basin put modern reducing wait time to the minimum regulatory require-
best practices in cementing to the test. The opera- ments. This saved the operator approximately $8,000 in
tor wanted faster set times for cement, which would nonproductive time (NPT) per well.
enable drilling of the intermediate shoe at the eight- As operators seek to refine and optimize their pro-
hour regulated time or earlier, reducing the downtime cesses to improve their profits, it is clear that each
while waiting on cement. aspect of their operation should be examined to deter-
The operator had been using a conventional Class H mine how digitalization, new technologies and new best
slurry at 15.6 lb/gal, which resulted in reaching 500 psi practices can shape what happens on site. Cementing
in 10 to 13 hours. This led to a two- to three-hour wait improvement and modernizations are an important
period. At a spread rate of $3,200/hr, this grew to be area to consider, as cementing optimizations can pro-
a big expense that ultimately hurt the organization’s duce cost savings and reduce NPT, improving overall
bottom line. revenue per well.

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 53


CEMENTING
ADVANCES

MPC in narrow pressure windows


The use of managed pressure cementing delivers success in difficult deepwater wells.

Juan Carlos Valecillos, Maurizio Arnone and


pressures profiles to be obtained during the cement cir-
Julian Hernandez, Weatherford International culation. When a narrow pressure window between the
pore and fracture gradients are added to the mix, the

P reventing fluid losses during slurry placement is


generally necessary when implementing a cost-effec-
tive cement design. Achieving effective zonal isolation
cementing operation becomes even more challenging.
State-of-the-art MPD control systems and hydraulic mod-
eling software have extended the reach of the surface
behind the casing of the liner wall is intimately related pressure control approach to include well cementing.
to preventing losses toward the formation as well as flow
from it during and after the cement circulation. Case study
When cementing a casing or liner string within lim- Since 2018, several deepwater wells in the Gulf of Mex-
ited margins, maintaining the bottomhole circulating ico (GoM) have demonstrated the advantages of man-
pressure below the fracture gradient in many cases is aged pressure drilling (MPD) in challenging offshore
not possible when implementing conventional cement- environments. On these wells, all riser sections were
ing techniques. In most cases, this condition can lead to drilled, cased and cemented using statically under-
fluid loss while cementing, additional costs to conduct a balanced mud weights combined with the application
logging operation to evaluate cement results and reme- of surface backpressure control to maintain annular
dial operations to comply with regulations. pressures within the available operating window, which
Cementing fluid dynamics are generally more com- at some depths was as narrow as 0.3 lb/gal equivalent.
plex than those during the drilling phase. Narrow annu- There was zero nonproductive time related to mud
lar spaces, combined with multiple fluids being pumped losses or well control recorded, and major capex savings
at different rates with diverse properties, make it diffi- were achieved by the operator as compared to past con-
cult to accurately predict the annular temperatures and ventional drilling operations in the area in similar wells.
The greatest well construction challenge
for these deepwater wells is to cement
within a narrow window due to high equiv-
alent circulating densities (ECDs) that
needed to be obtained. Given the limited
margins that are verified by the operators
while drilling, conventional cementing for
the lower strings were unfeasible without
expecting severe losses. Weatherford devel-
oped a structured engineering process
to solve the high ECD levels issue during
cementing by creating pump schedules
that worked with surface backpressure to
permit the use of statically underbalanced
mud weights. The objective was to main-
tain annular pressures within the avail-
able margins throughout the cement job
(Figure 1).
The main limitation for conventional
cementing within a limited margin is the
fact that the fluid properties and annular
FIGURE 1. The MPC closed-loop circulation system was used for primary cementing space configurations lead to peak ECDs
operations onboard a drillship. (Source: Weatherford) and final equivalent mud weight columns

54 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


CEMENTING
ADVANCES

that exceed the fracture limit at the final stages CONVENTIONAL CEMENTING MAX ECD AND
of the cement job. The peak or max ECD is FINAL ESD PROFILES
reached when at the instant prior to shutting
down the cement pump. At this moment, the
spacer and slurry volumes are contributing at
the maximum effect on the bottomhole hydro-
static pressure as well as to the annular fric-
tional pressure loss in the annular space.
To address the issue using the MPD method-
ology, the bottomhole pressure (BHP) plan for
the cement job is based on the analysis, model-
ing and manipulation of all the variables affect-
ing annular pressure profile and BHP during
the cement job. The objective of the managed
pressure cementing (MPC) calculation during
the planning phase is to find the right set of MANAGED PRESSURE CEMENTING MAX ECD AND
FINAL ESD PROFILES
conditions and the required surface back-
pressure levels that will lead to annular pres-
sures within the available operational window
throughout the entire cementing operation.
The engineering process implemented to
plan the MPC operations on these wells con-
sisted of three main stages: data collection,
MPC engineering and program elaboration.
Data collection could be one of the most
important stages of the engineering planning
of any well operation. Accurate data from all
parties involved in the cementing operation
are necessary to reduce the number of assump- FIGURE 2. The peak ECD and final equivalent static density (ESD) profiles
tions to be made during the modeling and show the results of conventional cementing versus the MPC Plan using
iteration phase. Some of the most relevant 95⁄8-in. by 101⁄8-in. casing. (Source: Weatherford)
information utilized to plan the operation
included pore pressure, wellbore stability and fracture cal to find a set of conditions that, complemented with
profiles, geothermal profile, well survey, mechanical the application of surface backpressure, will enable the
configuration details and mud properties. In addi- annular pressure profile to fit within the available mar-
tion, accurate information from the pumping services gin throughout the entire operation (Figure 2).
company was crucial regarding the cement properties, The last step of the implemented MPC engineering
volumes, intended densities and pumping conditions process included the MPC program creation and disclo-
based on its experience to obtain proper isolation. The sure. Once all calculations were done, it was considered
data collection also includes the inputs from the opera- of paramount importance to communicate the results,
tor regarding the goals and targets to be accomplished instructions and suggestions in a clear way to all person-
during the job. nel involved in the cement job. The surface backpres-
During the MPC engineering process, the gathered sure plan and actions needed to be communicated
information is used to calculate and predict the annu- clearly to the MPD crew on site to facilitate a smooth
lar temperatures and pressures to be obtained during execution and prevent any confusion or misunderstand-
the cement job. Besides evaluating variations of the ings. The cement representatives, site supervisors and
circulating conditions and surface pressure, additional operator’s engineers and supervisors who were making
variables can be manipulated to evaluate the effect of the operational decisions needed to have a clear under-
the adjustment on the resultant pressure profiles. Fluid standing of the calculations performed and the inputs
densities, viscosities, volumes, water-oil ratios and other used as well as the pressures, flow rates and sequence of
fluid properties can be adjusted as operationally practi- actions to be conducted during the cement jobs.

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 55


FRACTURE FLUID
OPTIMIZATION

Next-generation green
friction reducer
An alternative to the conventional inverse emulsion polymers improves performance
in freshwater to high TDS produced waters.

Inverse emulsion polymerization is a widely used tech-


Fulya Sudur Zalluhoglu, Solvay nique to obtain high molecular weight polymers; how-
ever, it may exacerbate environmental concerns and

L imited freshwater resources, strict water disposal leg-


islation and costly recycling regulations lead to the
ever-increasing use of produced and flowback water for
requires extensive research to develop an environmen-
tally friendly formulation. This, in turn, could increase
cost and add to the environmental footprint during
hydraulic fracturing processes. Despite the economic field operations. It is ideal to have a friction reducer
and environmental benefits of using produced or flow- that is free of hydrocarbon solvents and surfactants,
back water for fracturing, high concentrations of total which releases the polymer instantaneously, especially
dissolved solids (TDS) and multivalent cationic and in high TDS produced water in the presence of iron.
anionic species present significant challenges to current Utilizing a new dispersion polymerization technique,
friction reduction technologies. Solvay’s new friction reducer significantly improves
The industry demands new chemistries to address the efficiency of operations with instant hydration and
the challenges of maximizing and sustaining the per- improved friction reduction properties in produced
formance of friction reducers up to 300,000 mg/L TDS waters. It functions due to absence of complexities from
brine. Attempts to tailor molecular properties of fric- an inverse emulsion approach such as those related to
tion reducer formulations include incorporating salt- oil migration and stripping/capture of oil and addi-
tolerant polymers and improving the surfactant pack- tional surfactants, which can alter formation wetting
age’s rapid and complete polymer release while maxi- profiles and produced oil/water emulsification, to
mizing product stability and shelf life. These reformula- invert the emulsion. This approach delivers an environ-
tions exhibit potential in the field; however, they incur mentally friendly and cost-effective friction reducer by
additional performance challenges and production, reducing the freshwater volume demand and the cost of
application and cost concerns. water disposal operations.
Conventional friction reduction polymeric products
(friction reducers) are water-in-oil emulsion formu- Polymerization technology
lations (inverse emulsions), wherein long-chain poly- Dispersion polymerization utilizes water-soluble mono-
acrylamide co-polymers are stored inside water droplets mers and aqueous salt solution instead of oil, water and
and dispersed in a continuous oil phase. The hydraulic surfactants as reaction media. A specially engineered
fracturing process involves pumping a friction reducer polymeric stabilizer enables the monomers to grow and
into a large volume of hydraulic fracturing brine water build micron-size polymer particles. In the conventional
(fracturing fluid) at a high flow rate, thus releasing fric- application of dispersion polymerization, polymer par-
tion-reducing polymer into the fracturing fluid. ticles are stabilized by the physical adsorption of a poly-
The hydrated and disentangled polymers alter gen- meric stabilizer to prevent the formation of aggregates
eralized flow from turbulent to laminar, resulting in and coagulates during polymerization progression.
increased pumping efficiency. These polymers are Solvay has recently developed a dispersion polymer-
less effective, remaining in a compressed state and ization technique that significantly improves the phase
are unable to expand and effectively reduce friction separation that results from the physical adsorption
when introduced into produced waters containing pos- of the stabilizer. This new technology is centered on
itively charged ions such as calcium and magnesium. Solvay patented technology and involves a telomeric
Produced waters containing positively charged iron may hydrophilic stabilizer, which promotes polymerization
crosslink, flocculate or lyse the polymer potentially caus- on the stabilizer leading to the formation of stable poly-
ing formation damage. acrylamide particles via chemical adsorption in aqueous

56 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


FRACTURE FLUID
OPTIMIZATION

media. The molecular weight, architecture


and particle size of the polymeric stabi-
lizer from this new polymerization can be
controlled, creating a unique and stable
dispersion in salt media eliminating the
current challenges observed with the con-
ventional dispersion polymers.

Green friction reducer


Friction reduction efficiency of the novel
Solvay dispersion PAM co-polymer is inves-
tigated via friction loop tests in freshwater
and high TDS synthetic produced waters
up to 300,000 mg/L. The equipment is
designed to measure the pressure drop
during the recirculation process, which
helps simulate the friction reduction per- FIGURE 1. The chart depicts the friction reduction performance of Solvay’s new friction
formance under practical treating pres- reducer from freshwater up to 300,000 mg/L TDS brine. (Source: Solvay)
sures in a laboratory setup.
Friction reduction performance can be
evaluated by two main factors: hydration
speed and performance at an extended
period of time. Hydration speed indicates
how fast the polymer is released to the
base fluid during a stimulation treatment.
Friction reduction performance at an
extended period shows how resistant the
friction reducer is to mechanical shear
over time.
The friction reduction performance
for a spectrum between freshwater up to
300,000 mg/L TDS synthetic produced
water (for 5 gal/min flow rate within FIGURE 2. The chart depicts the friction reduction performance of Solvay’s new friction
0.1875-in inside diameter tube) is shown reducer in the presence of iron (iii) (0 ppm to 50 ppm). (Source: Solvay)
in Figure 1. With only 0.5 gallon per thou-
sand (gpt) loading in freshwater and 1 gpt in high TDS the polymer during hydraulic fracturing operations and
waters, the dispersion polymer begins to reduce friction eliminate potential formation damage when compared to
rapidly after injection into the flowloop tank. This new conventional friction reducers.
polymer hydrates within a few seconds even in the high In addition, Solvay’s friction reducer performance is
TDS waters and can withstand the mechanical shear robust when used with common stimulation additives. It
over 5 minutes. The absence of an oil phase in this dis- is compatible with many common nonemulsifiers, flow-
persion polymer enables instant hydration and shows back surfactants, scale inhibitors, biocides and breakers
performance insensitivity to high TDS conditions. in freshwater and produced waters.
The friction reduction performance of Solvay’s new Solvay’s water-based friction reducer is an environ-
friction reducer in the presence of iron also is tested at mentally friendly alternative to the conventional inverse
200,000 mg/L TDS brine for a spectrum between 0 to emulsion polymers with significantly improved hydra-
50 ppm iron (iii) as seen in Figure 2. With only 0.5 gpt tion and long-term performance in freshwater to high
loading, the new friction reducer formulation is tolerant TDS produced waters, even in the presence of iron. In
to iron, and the friction reduction performance is not addition to the environmental benefits, it provides the
affected by its presence in the synthetic produced water. potential for cost savings through reduced water dis-
Being resistant to iron would prevent the flocculation of posal cost and freshwater demands.

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 57


FRACTURE FLUID
OPTIMIZATION

A clean approach to radioactive


waste management in hydraulic
fracturing operations
Resin-coated proppant selectively sequesters radium downhole.

Juan Carlos Medina and Arjun Raghuraman,


ter contamination while ensuring sustainable hydraulic
Dow Polyurethanes fracturing operations.
This is one reason why U.S. state agencies regulate

T he U.S. has turned to unconventional shale oil and


gas, intent on becoming energy independent and
a leading supplier of energy resources globally. The
the combined levels of Ra-226 and Ra-288 radioac-
tive radium isotopes, also known as technologically
enhanced naturally occurring radioactive materials.
benefits of the shale boom include lower natural gas
prices, competitive advantages for domestic manufactur- Problem prevention
ing, economic development and more. With the help VORARAD technology for resin-coated sand prop-
of advanced oilfield chemistries and technologies, the pant prevents the contamination of water containing
U.S. already produces in excess of 10 MMbbl/d, thereby naturally occurring radioactive materials in hydraulic
reducing its dependence on oil importation. fracturing operations by keeping responsible elements
Today there is a growing trend toward resin-coated downhole and elevates proppant performance and pro-
sand, which is engineered to increase productivity. duction efficiency.
Uncoated or raw sand particles comprise a majority
Managing radium of the proppant used in hydraulic fracturing. During
Drilling and stimulating a single well typically requires operations, flowback water can carry the raw sand to
up to 6 MMgal of water and up to 20 MMlb of proppant. the surface. These sand particles can cause pipe and
Generally, 10% to 40% of the drilling fluid is recovered pump blockages, which significantly reduce productiv-
during the initial period (first 90 days) of production ity. Proppant coated with VORARAD form a polymer
and is referred to as flowback water. After this initial network that drives the fusion of particles so they stay
phase, the well will typically continue to produce water, in place and avoid transportation to the surface. As a
referred to as produced water. Both flowback and result, production can continue uninterrupted.
produced wastewaters comprise several dissolved sol- VORARAD is designed to trap radium from the
ids, including naturally occurring radioactive radium flowing water and sequester it underground within
isotopes, Ra-226 and Ra-288, which are decay products fractures, thereby reducing the concentration of
from uranium and thorium. radium isotopes in flowback water and simplifying or
Radium is particularly problematic because unlike eliminating the topside treatment of the wastewater.
uranium, the Ra2+ ion is soluble in water and decays This reduces the amount of radioactive material that
into radon gas, further exposing workers to inhalation could be exposed to the environment. It also boosts the
hazards. Ra-226 also can partition into any associated recyclability and reusability of wastewater in operations
solid phase, which can result in the settling of sus- before its eventual disposal.
pended solids (wet sludge), precipitation of dissolved
solids in waste treatment facilities, scale deposition in Test results
tank and pipes, and accumulation in filter media and VORARAD for resin-coated sand proppant has the
filter socks. Because wastewater is stored in holding potential to transform conventional understanding and
tanks on site before it is treated or safely disposed of, practices around radium removal. Subsequently, there
the concentration of Ra-226 in waste streams can lead are two adjacent “next best alternatives” worth mention-
to high levels of radioactivity. Responsible waste man- ing for comparison purposes (Figure 1). One of these
agement is critical to prevent air, surface and groundwa- technologies is standard coated proppant, while the

58 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


FRACTURE FLUID
OPTIMIZATION

FIGURE 1. This table offers a comparison of the VORARAD technology for resin-coated sand proppant versus incumbent technologies.
(Source: Dow Polyurethanes)

other is essentially a network of topside waste- FLOWBACK WATER


water treatment facilities.
The ability of VORARAD to selectively
sequester radium from field water sam-
ples was extensively demonstrated in a
laboratory. A series of experiments were
conducted in which radium uptake by
VORARAD-coated proppant was measured
from five flowback and two produced water
samples. These field water samples con-
tained multiple anions and cations, and
their concentrations varied widely.
The first graph depicted in Figure 2 high-
lights that the cumulative uptake of Ra-226
from a flowback water sample with an initial
concentration of 1,490 pCi/L was 455 pCi
per pound of proppant. The second graph in
Figure 2 demonstrates that higher cumulative
uptake of 823 pCi of Ra-226 per pound of PRODUCED WATER
proppant was achieved from a produced water
sample that had an initial radium concentra-
tion of 9,750 pCi/L. These results show that
resin-coated sand proppant with VORARAD
technology can capture a significant amount
of Ra-226 under wide conditions that span
from the early (flowback period) to the later
stages in the life cycle of a well.
As a whole, resin-coated sand with
VORARAD technology helps improve the
environmental and safety profile of hydraulic
fracturing by dealing with radioactive materi-
als at their source—deep downhole where the
radium resides as a naturally occurring mate-
rial. The technology significantly reduces the
release of radium and its radioactive product
radon to the atmosphere, while lowering the FIGURE 2. The charts depict field samples of the radium uptake by resin-coated
costs of handling and disposal of radioactive sand proppant using VORARAD in flowback and produced water.
waste in oil and gas exploration. (Source: Dow Polyurethanes)

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 59


EMISSIONS
MANAGEMENT

Advances in technology enable


engineered emissions controls
Combining technology and engineering produces efficiency in emissions management.

on the platform. By understanding the challenges and


Mike Joacim, Covenant Testing Technologies differences between operating a closed-loop system off-
shore versus land-based operations, the Covenant team

I n an industry that has been historically slow to inte-


grate new technology and take time to develop engi-
neered systems for efficiency, more and more operators
adapted the offshore system in a simplified manner
while retaining the targeted functionality.
As more requests from Permian producers emerged to
are trying to maintain revenue in the reality of a con- create solutions that addressed the challenge of captur-
tinually stressed market while at the same time creating ing flash gas and stewarding environmental responsibil-
emissions solutions. ity, the engineering team was now able to offer systems
Between advocacy groups, persistent emissions bills, that increased efficiency and produced results. Their
and environment, social and governance having more efforts resulted in a menu of customizable emissions
weight in C-suite conversations, successful E&P com- controls that would address a variety of challenges.
panies have shifted the mindset of operating on the
defense and are laser-focused on engaging new oppor- Engineered systems
tunities for innovation. The Covenant team built the FlareZero system to
Uncovering solutions for decreased or eliminated increase the quality of the flow and capture all flash
emissions during the flowback phase is one piece of the gas. This system includes a multistage separation
puzzle that has some operators hungry for more as they approach that separates out the gas, oil and water
see benefits that affect operating costs, risk manage- more efficiently and gradually before it reaches the
ment and overall return. tanks or flare. This is the first step to creating a cleaner
flow and greatly reducing blockage.
The challenge Frac tanks were engineered to capture excess gas that
In the not so distant past, well production and IP num- would have otherwise been flared. Myriad benefits come
bers were not causes for concern. However, as frac tech- with capturing flash gas, including the ability to mea-
niques and technology evolved along with the increased sure the quantity of gas for future planning. Gas can be
pressure and desire to achieve faster and higher IP, so pushed into a sales line via a compression component
have the values and rates that create an environment to increase revenue or even for use to run electric
requiring a solution for increased emissions controls. frac fleets. By capturing the gas, the risk of personnel
The challenge is largely a result of the lack of engineer- becoming exposed to any level of benzine is eliminated
ing happening on the service side of flowback. Few as well as eliminating the risk of high lower explosion
companies invested in the engineering horsepower to limits as a result of buildup.
take on a task like this, while the larger companies that Ultimately, the goal of most operators is to have
could, often did not feel the urgency to allocate the their production systems and central tank batteries
bandwidth away from product lines that were at the fore- running at full capacity as soon as the wells are cleaned
front of their business models. up and stabilized. However, due to the challenges and
costs incurred by the ramp-up in infrastructure to do
Steps to a solution so, it’s become ever more prevalent that options like
Covenant Testing Technologies turned to its offshore Covenant’s FlareZero are available. These systems, when
experience where systems like this have been utilized for properly planned and engineered, allow the operator to
decades in offshore well testing and flowback. Offshore, rapidly bring step-out appraisal assets online that would
venting on a platform is strictly prohibited, and flaring possibly produce more than the capacity of their central
is typically done in emergency shut-in situations or until tank batteries and still achieve high IP without the con-
a well is stable enough to be pushed through the system cern of exceeding infrastructure capacity while eliminat-

60 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


EMISSIONS
MANAGEMENT

ing the risk of the creation of a


dangerous lower-explosion-limits
environment on the pad.

Streamlining technology
The technology team added data
acquisition technology to the
FlareZero system, opening the
door for producers to have the
ability to increase accuracy and
future planning through data
collection. Through a system of
sensors and transmitter technol-
ogy, real-time data monitoring
offers another level of efficiency
and cost control when it comes
to emissions management. This
technology eliminates the need An artist’s rendering depicts an example of a multiwell configuration optimized for minimum
for personnel to stay on top of emissions. (Source: Covenant Testing Technologies)
tanks to measure tank levels,
therefore reducing headcount on location and allowing surface that could then be put back into the drawdown
personnel to have more focused tasks. Real-time infor- were able to be predicted. This operator was impressed
mation is stored in a web-based portal, allowing opera- with the success of the well flowing at liquid rates as high
tors to review data in real time on location or remotely. as 18,000 bbl/d with 89% water cut and 8.5 MMcf/d
Finally, monitoring data from flash gas and capturing of gas. The operator went on to say it had never been
flowback data, the operator can better understand able to achieve differential pressures that low at those
choke schedules and production optimization models. rates. The additional 300 psi to 400 psi of drawdown was
Some operators also integrated Covenant’s Nexus applied to the reservoir and made the predicted impact.
platform, which offers data consolidation. This platform This producer is now planning to implement this system
pulls all data together in a concise format for operators for the rest of its multiwell programs in the Permian.
and engineers to create a variety of reports. The Nexus and data acquisition technologies were
used on a successful trial in the Eagle Ford and are
Case study predicted to be an ongoing piece of the FlareZero con-
Covenant partnered with a major Permian Basin figuration going forward with this same producer in the
operator that utilized the engineered FlareZero and Permian. Covenant has the ability to move quickly on
Nexus platform systems. Covenant employed complex the engineering side and rapidly generate the simula-
simulation software to model the surface system based tions and models needed to achieve efficient planning.
on parameters and pressure-volume-temperature data The future of emissions management will likely con-
gathered from the operator directly. By doing so, the sist of a recipe for having functional central tank bat-
complete system could be manipulated to understand teries and production facilities ready sooner in which
where efficiencies could be improved upon and capital- flowback can be turned directly to bulk separators with
ized. This allowed the physical layout and configuration the assistance of sand management, pressure control
of the surface flowback system to be planned specifically and real-time data. At the same time, individual multi-
for the well, the pad dimensions and configuration phase flowmeters will take the place of smaller test
as well as the expected performance of the well. This separators, thereby shrinking the flowback footprint to
exclusively allowed for a mass reduction in delta P (pres- things more compact and designed to operate with
sure drop) across the entire surface system, which could minimal manpower. The companies that establish
then be reinvested downhole. teams of engineers that work alongside production
By coupling the outputs and model of the surface sys- and technology experts are able to develop sustainable
tem with transient pressure analysis software, the effects systems to affect emissions management as well as the
and benefits of the newly available pressure saved at the big picture of well economics.

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 61


DECOMMISSIONING

Driving down the dollars


Developments in P&A technology can encourage decommissioning progress.

Alistair Geddes, Expro

R ecent research from Bloomberg suggests the global


offshore decommissioning market will reach $9.5
billion by 2027, led by mature regions such as the Gulf
of Mexico and the North Sea. According to industry
body Oil & Gas UK, 1,832 wells on the U.K. Continental
Shelf (UKCS) and the Norwegian Continental Shelf are
mature and expected to be decommissioned through
2025. A potential inhibitor to future decommissioning
activity is the high cost currently associated with the pro-
cess. However, those costs are coming down.
The Oil and Gas Authority, the U.K. industry’s reg-
ulator, recently reported a drop in estimated decom-
missioning costs for the UKCS, largely due to improve-
ments in planning and execution of processes such as
plug and abandonment (P&A).
The underlying drivers for global decommissioning
and P&A activity include regulatory or legislation trends
toward the implementation of comprehensive legal reg-
ulation for the decommissioning and safe abandonment
of oil and gas wells as well as an increased focus on
operational safety offshore. In terms of the P&A market, The CoilHose Light Well Circulation System is shown being rigged
a low oil price and increased rig availability can shift up. (Source: Expro)
the emphasis from enhancing late-life production for
maturing fields and infrastructure to accelerating eco- head remediation tooling to its product and services
nomic cut-off dates. Operationally, there is an increased range. This has enabled Expro to build on its existing
focus on innovative systems to enhance safety while P&A offering and expand into a CT and pumping ser-
reducing time, cost and operational complexity related vice market estimated to be valued by the company at
to P&A. approximately $6.3 billion.

Technology evolution Lightweight, heavy-duty system


With cost reduction a key challenge in the modern Conventional CT delivers high-rate circulation, but
industry, the focus on safely managing abandonment it can be heavy, bulky and time-consuming to plan
has never been greater. A response to this has been and mobilize. The process can involve potential HSE
the development of a range of new technologies and a exposure, significant rigup and lifting (about two to
review of conventional practices and processes to enable three days), considerable costs (more than $1 million),
P&A at an appropriate cost. personnel, and a relatively heavy and large footprint.
Oilfield services company Expro offers a recently Furthermore, CT can only be deployed on large rigs or
developed technology that has a safe, cost-efficient low platforms, or spooled from a vessel.
footprint and is an agile alternative to conventional The CoilHose Light Well Circulation System (LWCS)
coiled tubing (CT). The company recently acquired from Expro substitutes hose for the conventional steel
Quality Intervention (QI), which added new CT tech- pipe currently in widespread use. The system enables
nology, annular integrity technology and in-situ well- rigless light circulation services from a package with a

62 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


DECOMMISSIONING

relatively small footprint and offers operators an alterna- Applications include downhole circulation in the well
tive to CT that can be rapidly deployed across all types annulus, remediation of sustained casing pressure
of installations onshore and offshore, reducing overall and cementing, annulus fluid replacement, sealant
HSE exposure while maximizing operational uptime. for downhole leak repair, corrosive fluid displace-
Rigup time for the new system is no more than 4 ment, diagnostics and logging, and environmental and
hours, and the number of personnel required ranges groundwater protection.
from four to six (compared to up to 11 or even more The WellSpring annulus intervention system offers
for CT). Lifting requirements are limited. It can be minimally intrusive equipment allowing the wellhead
deployed almost universally across all types of installa- remediation of annular integrity issues without the
tions and into the most challenging of wellbores at tem- use of a heavy workover rig, resulting in significantly
peratures ranging up to 150 C and to depths in excess reduced cost (up to 95%). This system, which can be
of 10,000 ft. rapidly mobilized, helps operators prolong the life of
The LWCS does not utilize an injector (like CT). wells and increase recovery through the revitalizations
Instead, it is weighted down by the bottomhole assem- of shut-in and low production wells.
bly (BHA) connected on the downhole end of the hose
and run in hole by gravity feed, in a similar way to wire- Multiple runs
line. The CoilHose unit is used to deploy and retrieve The CoilHose LWCS system has been deployed on mul-
the CoilHose and BHA from the wellbore. tiple occasions with more than 100 runs in live wells. It
The tubing itself is a flexible and reinforced high-pres- was used recently to successfully remediate a failed
sure hose. It incorporates several layers of high-tensile downhole safety valve in a well in the North Sea where
steel wires and an outer layer made of thermoplastic scale buildup was suspected of having impeded full
materials. With a safety factor of four, the specially travel of the flow tube resulting in the failed test for the
designed hose has a working pressure of 12,500 psi. valve at 1,740 ft. Following a thorough assessment and
The pressure control package used to deploy planning process, including high-pressure pumps and a
CoilHose into the wellbore consists of a customized filter/suction package, a 2,500-ft-long hose was run in
pressure control head and triple or quad ram BOP. the well and a nozzle was used to jet a solution, includ-
The ram configuration is set to be the same as for a ing 15% hydrogen chloride at 3 ft per minute across the
CT operation, with a shear/seal on top and pipe rams valve. Subsequent tests on the downhole safety valve pro-
in the middle and at the bottom. The pipe ram is vided positive results for the operation undertaken, with
designed to seal without damaging the hose. full flow tube travel restored.
All BHA components such as the end connector,
dual flapper valves, straight-pull release, swivel,
weight bars, turbine and variations of cleaning
nozzles have been designed and manufactured
to complement the system. Applications include
downhole safety valve and wellhead cleanout,
nitrogen gas lift or unloading wells, memory log-
ging services, halite and hydrate removal, tubing
cleanout and fluid displacement.
This technology provides the further efficiency
of being able to deploy wireline from the same
unit, thus avoiding lengthy and costly idle rigup
and rigdown periods between the different types
of intervention.
In addition to the intervention of the main
wellbore, Expro has the ability to enter and
intervene in the annuli. With casing integrity
issues, such as pressure in the annulus (a grow-
ing concern due to the industry’s stock of aging
wells), Expro’s annulus intervention technologies The CoilHose Light Well Circulation System minimizes the loss of hydrocarbon
are helping to address well integrity challenges. production and lowers the overall cost of intervention. (Source: Expro)

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 63


DECOMMISSIONING

Avoiding demolition dangers


through effective planning
These insights into how best to approach decommissioning and demolition will
help companies achieve optimal success.

carried out by specialist engineers that have the appro-


Steve Andrew, ABB priate skills and extensive industry experience.
Taking all this into account, it is critical that opera-

O il and gas companies are operating in increasingly


dynamic and competitive environments, with grow-
ing demands for new ways to add value, reduce costs,
tors mark upon a robust decommissioning and demoli-
tion planning process (Figure 1) before embarking on
the physical breakdown of plants, assets and equipment.
improve performance and ultimately increase profitability.
Having to consider closing assets in the high-hazard It’s all in the planning
industries, or a part of assets, due to a company’s com- When an asset is no longer required, the biggest mistake
petitive position is a reality of the current economy. most operators make is to decommission and isolate—still
Operators, proficient at managing and maintaining their protecting the asset value—by using existing operating
assets for production, are entering into the new domain procedures. In many cases, this can unnecessarily put
of decommissioning and potentially demolition people at risk. The demolition process and meth-
of their facilities. For many, this is a first- odology are very different from that of manu-
time experience. facturing operations aimed at producing
A major misconception in regard to highest and most efficient yields. To
demolition and decommissioning is achieve the highest standards of dem-
that it is akin to the upfront con- olition, manage occupational safety
struction process. This is far from and minimize incident risk, demo-
the truth. Before installation, the lition experts should be employed
number of known variables is low, early in the project to help plan,
as each critical issue is assessed, design and manage the process.
reviewed and tested. When it comes
to the deconstruction process, Importance of having a
however, there are a number of demolition mindset
unknown variables, based around the The only way to effectively reduce
condition of assets and lifespan of the risk is to combine an operator’s
plant. Therefore, a demolition planning unprecedented knowledge of the pro-
process is essential to move from a poten- cess, systems and materials, as well as
tially unknown state to a known state. FIGURE 1. It’s critical to stick to the day-to-day risks and hazards, with an
There are many factors that can plan before, during and after the expert demolition team’s strategic
influence demolition outcomes: decommissioning and demolition know-how of how best to isolate individ-
poor-quality information, low-quality process. (Source: ABB) ual or multiple plant controls, equip-
decommissioning, contract type, unre- ment or assets.
alistic timescales, inadequate funding, and ecological Collaboration and sharing of this essential knowledge
and environmental restrictions. from both parties only serve to support effective and
Demolition, as its name suggests, is a destructive pro- efficient decision-making regarding demolition risks,
cess. There has been a perception in the past that dem- which include dealing with explosive remote detonation;
olition could be undertaken by unskilled workers and, working at heights; managing exposure to vibration,
as a result, routinely it would be. Today the industry is noise, pressure and hazardous materials; and enabling
much more savvy to the fact that demolition, especially appropriate levels of equipment decontamination. By
where hazardous substances are concerned, must be working together in this early demolition design stage,

64 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


DECOMMISSIONING

FIGURE 2. Failure to determine in advance that the fire alarm system of the three plants was interconnected resulted in significant downtime
and costly cleanup. (Source: ABB)

appropriate approaches can be prepared for every sce- the condenser under 40 tons of sand and let the fire
nario to reduce project risk for everybody involved. burn out.
Clearly, this was a serious and potentially deadly
Case studies incident with high risks had it not been successfully
Despite more awareness of the importance of planning and quickly controlled. The loss of potentially sellable
and adopting a strategic and expert approach to demo- material was estimated at about £50,000, which could
lition, the industry is still within a step change of under- have been avoided with careful and insightful planning.
standing and committing to spend a little more on the Unfortunately, this was not the only, or end of, inci-
process to get a better result. dents that occurred during this plant demolition.
In one case study, a process condenser when origi- In another case study, the plant to be demolished was
nally installed was constructed of titanium with a mild one of three facilities, and the other two were to remain
steel outer jacket. During operational issues, this was live and operational. Despite preparation and receipt of
changed to stainless steel to enable easier cleaning. a handover document and work control permits confirm-
When it came to decommissioning and demolition, the ing that all of Plant 1’s (i.e., the one to be decommis-
as-built drawings did not reflect this change, as no one sioned and demolished) equipment had been de-ener-
had foreseen the need to update and detail it. gized, isolated and decontaminated, it came to light after
The change to stainless steel was not a good one, as the event that the fire alarm system of the three plants
the material could not handle the corrosive nature of was interconnected (Figure 2). The automatic fire fight-
the product it was holding. As a result, the old titanium ing response system was deployed in the two operational
condenser was re-installed with some modifications plants when the alarm was set off within the plant being
during operations. Once again, the blueprints were not decommissioned. In failing to identify this issue upfront,
adapted or even noted. Luckily, this was not an issue the two neighboring live plants were quickly filled to
during operation, but it quickly became a major one the brim with firefighting foam. As a result, both plants
during the demolition. incurred significant downtime and costly cleanups.
Many operators look to recoup demolition costs by
selling on the material recovered at the end of decom- Experience delivers good decisions
missioning. This case was no different from the com- These use cases show how the smallest factors can create
pany in question looking to sell on its scrap metal. To the biggest issues. It takes expert support to understand
achieve this, however, the different composite metals and foresee how potential pitfalls can have risky and
needed to be separated. Air tests are generally carried expensive fallouts. It is not a process easily shortcut, nor
out alongside hot work to separate, for example, tita- should it be.
nium from steel. With so many potential hazards at play, the same
In this case, what was believed to be steel versus level of importance should and must be placed on
stainless was inaccurate. As a result, a metal fire, decommissioning as is for installation to ensure the
which was very hard to extinguish, occurred. The best possible outcome of reduced hazards, lower risk
operator acted quickly and with guidance, and as the and, where applicable, little to zero counter effect on
condenser was in a remote area, it was agreed to bury any ongoing operations.

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 65


ADIPEC TECHNOLOGY
SHOWCASE

ADIPEC to feature the industry’s


latest tech developments
Along with technical sessions, conference panels and networking events,
new technologies will be one of the major highlights of the show.

frames released in 2018. These compressors have proven


Compiled by Ariana Hurtado, Associate Managing Editor to be a great success all over the world with more than
150 compressors sold in the past 15 months (as of Sept.

T he Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition


and Conference (ADIPEC) is scheduled for Nov.
11-14 in the United Arab Emirates. ADIPEC is expected
3). Regionally, the KBK and KBT compressors are oper-
ating in Pakistan, Iraq and Egypt with more expected to
go into operation in the United Arab Emirates, Oman,
to host 145,000-plus visitors, more than 2,200 exhibiting Bahrain and Kuwait in 2020. Ariel sees a strong market
companies, over 1,000 expert speakers and more than for high-speed reciprocating compressors in the Mid-
160 conference sessions. dle East and Africa regions. Customers in the regions
Last year $17.99 billion worth of business was con- are moving forward with a focus on budget and lead
cluded at the event, according to the ADIPEC website. time for compression projects based on reciprocating
“ADIPEC is a place to learn about new innovative tech- compressors built to API11P or ISO13631 standards, as
nologies, share information and unlock the possibilities opposed to the more expensive and longer lead time
of our collective future,” the website stated. centrifugal compressors or reciprocating compressors
The following is a sampling of some of those innova- based on API618. arielcorp.com
tions that will be showcased at ADIPEC this year.
Upstream technologies support MENA’s oil,
Editor’s note: The copy herein is contributed from service com- gas needs
panies and does not reflect the opinions of Hart Energy. Baker Hughes has been present in the Middle East and
North Africa (MENA) region for more than 80 years
and has been leveraging ADIPEC as a key industry
Frames for pipeline transmission and platform to showcase how its full-stream portfolio can
high-pressure injection applications support the region’s oil and gas needs. At ADIPEC, the
Ariel Corp. will showcase its complete range of standard company’s upstream technology showcase will feature
reciprocating compressors including the KBK and KBT its oilfield services, which include evaluation, drilling,

As Ariel’s largest compressor frames, the KBB and KBV are rated Baker Hughes’ engineers take part in the Completions &
up to 10,000 bhp and feature a modern, durable design with a Wellbore Intervention workshop in Saudi Arabia.
strengthened internal structure. (Source: Ariel Corp.) (Source: Baker Hughes)

66 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


ADIPEC TECHNOLOGY
SHOWCASE

completion, and production and optimization, as well Program facilitates efficient management of
as its equipment, specifically flexible pipes and Baker replacement inventory
Hughes’ latest subsea equipment. The company also will Gardner Denver’s Parts on Demand (POD) service is a
be showcasing its latest artificial intelligence solutions, part of Experience 360, a comprehensive set of solutions
which deliver digital transformation technologies that built around pumps, parts, presence and people, and it is
will drive new levels of productivity for the oil and gas utilized in more than 100 customer sites in North America
industry. bakerhughes.com and the Middle East. The POD program facilitates efficient
management of replacement parts inventory at regional
Run a more productive job site and improve locations, facilities or well sites. Gardner Denver will place
safety culture physical inventory at the customer’s location in their ware-
At ADIPEC, Caterpillar Oil and Gas will showcase the house or in a Gardner Denver container for onsite avail-
latest technological solutions from Cat Connect and ability at any time. In addition, Gardner Denver’s Thunder
different service options available for the industry. Cat Quintuplex frac pump combines 3,000 bhp with an 11-in.
Connect is an intelligent suite of hardware, software and stroke to reduce running speed and extend consumable
services designed to help operators run a more prof- life. The new pump was designed for longevity with stainless
itable operation while boosting efficiency, improving steel construction, a new geometry to minimize stress and
safety and saving time and money. From simple asset a design that is more conducive to efficient maintenance.
tracking to full data and fleet management, Cat Con- gardnerdenver.com
nect offers options for every need and budget, and the
technology works on both Cat and other manufacturers’
equipment. cat.com/oilandgas

New tool for rapid stuck-pipe recovery


Churchill Drilling Tools will show-
case its HyPR HoleSaver tool, which
enables safe and quick recovery
from a stuck pipe by severing the
drillstring. By pumping a “smart
dart,” operators redirect the flow of
mud creating a high-velocity stream
of fluid to erode and sever the drill-
pipe. The smooth profile of the cut Gardner Denver’s Thunder Quintuplex pump combines
enables drilling teams to get back 3,000 bhp with an 11-in. stroke to reduce running speed and
on track quickly through fishing or extend consumable life. (Source: Gardner Denver)
by opting to plug and sidetrack. A
major Middle East operator used All-attitude, high-accuracy surveys in real
the HyPR tool, preplaced in the time while drilling
string as extra stuck pipe contin- Gyrodata will be showcasing its new gyro-while-drilling
gency, and successfully severed its tool, Quest GWD, at ADIPEC 2019. The Quest GWD
drillsting after becoming differen- service provides all-attitude, high-accuracy surveys in real
tially stuck. When jarring attempts time while drilling. The system utilizes Gyrodata’s SPEAR
failed, and having previously spent solid-state gyro technology, which substantially reduces
two days mobilizing explosives to gyro surveying time and operational cost. Performance
manage an earlier stuck-pipe inci- Churchill Drilling is improved for increased speed, precision, efficiency,
dent, the operator deployed the Tools’ HyPR HoleSaver accuracy and reliability. The improved accuracy of this
HyPR. Requiring no additional provides operators technology results in a smaller ellipse of uncertainty,
topside equipment or personnel, with a rapid and allowing wellbore trajectory to be precisely delivered.
the tool severed the string in 60 safe alternative to The improved accuracy helps operators avoid lease lines,
minutes allowing the operator to stuck-pipe recovery. mitigate frac hits, mitigate well-to-well production losses
recommence operations shortly (Source: Churchill and enhanced ability to hit hydrocarbon-rich target
after. circsub.com Drilling Tools) zones. Additionally, Quest GWD’s high-performance

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 67


ADIPEC TECHNOLOGY
SHOWCASE

Coriolis vibratory gyros assure precise wellbore guidance critical failure modes, are
for collision avoidance. The tool also provides continu- tougher and more resis-
ous inclination and toolface from the vertical while slid- tant to abrasion while
ing as well as full surveys on demand. gyrodata.com in difficult downhole
environments. Deep-
Enterprise-level analytics platform collects, leach technology helps
analyzes and acts on data ION cutters maintain
The major focus area for Honeywell at ADIPEC 2019 will thermal stability, and as
be the advancement of digitalization across the Middle the cutters are designed
East’s oil and gas industry. At the show, the company will for fracturing and shear-
debut a new enterprise-level analytics platform for the first ing, they are more effective
time in the region. Honeywell Forge for Industrial is a new in brittle formations such
category of software that improves the way companies col- as carbonates and clastic
lect, analyze and act on data from their operations. It con- rock. The Falcon bit also
verts massive quantities of data from processes, assets and incorporates depth-of- Optimized blade height, forward
people into actionable insights and enables top-to-bottom cut control components lean and root geometry on
visibility into how operations are performing from a single that maximize surface Falcon bits address downhole
screen. This new enterprise performance management contact area to improve loading and improve drilling
software leverages predictive analytics to help identify cutter engagement, performance. (Source: NOV)
maintenance issues before they happen, enables workers which provides a signifi-
to be more productive and safe, and reduces costs while cant reduction in torque fluctuations. Finally, improved
increasing productivity. honeywell.com HydroShear nozzles increase hydraulic shear close to
the formation surface and cutter interface, overcoming
Tool allows compromised area to be clad, typical issues with cuttings evacuations and heat accumu-
sealed with minimal ID loss lation on PDC cutters. nov.com
Mohawk Energy develops, manufactures and installs
expandable tubular technologies that are designed to Demulsifiers more than 60% biodegradable
solve the most critical downhole challenges. Casing, tub- in seawater
ing or completion equipment in the wellbore may fail With the growing environmental regulations surround-
or deteriorate over the life of the well. This may occur ing the oil and gas industry, companies are faced with
due to multiple reasons including corrosion, leaking the challenge of employing sustainable and environ-
tubular connections or failed sliding sleeves. Mohawk mentally acceptable materials in oil and gas applications.
Energy’s ReLine MNS product allows the compromised Demulsifiers are an essential component of upstream
area to be clad and sealed with minimal inner diameter production chemicals that are necessary to separate
(ID) loss, while providing high burst and collapse rating. oil from water once crude oil is produced from a well.
The ReLine MNS is designed for deployment on jointed High-performance and environmentally compliant
pipe. The patch can cover an area ranging from 30 ft materials for this application are still scarce. Nouryon
to more than 7,000 ft in length. The ReLine MNS also has released a range of demulsifiers that provide oil
can be deployed through various ID restrictions in the producers with a more sustainable option to separate
wellbore such as nipples, frac sleeves or mixed strings of crude oil from natural gas and water. The Witbreak NEO
heavyweight casing. mohawkenergy.com range is more than 60% biodegradable in seawater based
on OECD 306 and holds no substitution warnings per
Bit designed for drilling challenges of the CEFAS classification. nouryon.com
Middle East and North Africa
National Oilwell Varco (NOV) will be highlighting its New gas pressure regulator valve reduces
Falcon regional bit line at ADIPEC 2019. The new Falcon weight and costs
bit is based on the proven Tektonic platform but incor- Oxford Flow designs and manufactures pressure con-
porates a number of new features designed to address trol equipment using technology originally developed
the drilling challenges of the Middle East and North Afri- at Oxford University. Oxford Flow’s pressure reducing
can markets. ION application-specific multidimensional valves can significantly reduce costs for the oil and gas,
cutter geometries, which are fine-tuned to overcome water and process industries. The company’s new IM

68 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


ADIPEC TECHNOLOGY
SHOWCASE

gas pressure regulator valve is designed to increase tNavigator is a single program covering seismic inter-
reliability and reduce costs for operators. The valve pretation, well correlation, geological modeling, fluid
offers superior pressure control compared to con- characterization, well modeling, reservoir simulation
ventional technologies, and its compact construction and surface network design. The program creates value
considerably reduces weight and therefore the need for conventional and unconventional assets. This means
for expensive lifting equipment. The design also users deal with only one interface and only one point
removes the valve components most prone to failure, of data entry. This avoids extra work and makes learn-
almost entirely eliminating the need for maintenance. ing easier. In addition, workflows can be put under the
Oxford Flow’s most recent advance is a valve designed control of tNavigator’s optimization and uncertainty
specifically to handle oil and gas fluids. This control engine. These workflows can improve understanding of
valve has no valve stem, which removes the most prone the interactions between the individual elements of the
leak path and reduces the risk of fugitive emissions. workflow. For example, the impact of uncertainty in seis-
oxford-flow.com mic velocity modeling on water handling capacity can be
quickly and easily determined in a single workflow in the
Mixer treats natural gas for the LNG industry same program using robust physics. Answers to this ques-
ProSep’s Annular Injection Mixer (AIM) has demon- tion on water handling capacity can help avoid the need
strated its high efficiency in treating natural gas for for expensive retrofitting of surface facilities. rfdyn.com
the LNG industry, providing an optimized method to
increase the LNG’s heating value and removing BTEX Tubing products designed to
contaminants. The high-efficiency AIM design com- enhance productivity
prises an inlet convergent cone, injection spool and Sandvik is a developer and producer of advanced stain-
divergent cone, which allows for a liquid hydrocarbon less steels, special alloys, titanium and other high-perfor-
stream to be blended (quenching) into natural gas, mance materials. At ADIPEC 2019, Sandvik will showcase
achieving 100% vaporization. The AIM mechanical an extended range of tube products for upstream and
design delivers enhanced fluid dispersion using the downstream markets, including high-corrosion-resistant
momentum transfer between the gas stream and the products such as hydraulic and instrumentation, heat
injected stream creating high mass-transfer properties, exchanger, and oil country tubular goods tubing, control
while the annular injection ring generates a homoge- lines and umbilicals. Sandvik also will showcase its produc-
neous downstream process fluid. prosep.com tivity-enhancing transportable onsite or container-based
coiled tubing production unit. The onsite unit allows
installation of equipment at the customer’s facilities for
final stage production, while the container unit provides a
temporary installation with equipment built within a fully
mobile container. These provide Middle East customers a
solution for decoiling, straightening and line marking to
any lengths in remote areas. In addition, generator oper-
ation and air conditioning make it ideal for use in desert
environments. sandvik.com

AI-based application enables operators to


predict and preempt costly ESP failures
ProSep’s AIM comprises an inlet convergent cone, injection Due to the nature of electric submersible pumps (ESPs)
spool and divergent cone, which allows fluid dispersion using being buried at the bottom of the borehole, monitoring
the momentum transfer from the main gas stream and the their performance is a significant challenge. Existing
injected liquids to achieve high-efficiency mixing. monitoring and control technologies on the market
(Source: ProSep) look retrospectively at sensor data and are primarily
used for troubleshooting and forensic analysis. Addi-
Reservoir management program tionally, most traditional control systems can only make
creates value for assets use of current sensor values and do not consider histor-
At ADIPEC, Rock Flow Dynamics will present its tNavi- ical data, which are critical to developing performance
gator comprehensive reservoir management program. trends for predictive maintenance. Siemens developed

70 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


ADIPEC TECHNOLOGY
SHOWCASE

12 DAYS EARLY WARNING EXAMPLE

AI4ESP has performed as expected, enabling operators to predict ESP failures up to 12 days in advance and reducing production
downtime by roughly one-third. (Source: Siemens)

and field-tested AI4ESP, an autonomous well surveil- duction enabling benefits of DIAL in both single and
lance tool for remotely monitoring ESP performance dual-string completions. silverwellenergy.com
that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to predict failures
days before they occur. Incorporating self-learning Next generation of centralization
models, AI4ESP uses operating data (real-time and his- Some companies face the challenge of centralization
torical) from a variety of sensors as “fuel” to build an in an under-reamed open hole. To date, it has proven
increasingly robust ESP behavior profile for anomaly very difficult to run casing and liners through tight
detection and predictive maintenance. siemens.com cased-hole restrictions with oversized large diameter
centralizers. This is due to the high accumulative
Digital gas-lift system enables more
production with less intervention
At ADIPEC 2019, Silverwell will be exhibiting its Digital
Intelligent Artificial Lift (DIAL) gas-lift production
optimization system. DIAL overcomes the production
constraining limitations of existing gas-lift technology,
enabling on-demand adjustment of gas-lift injection
rate and depth from the surface without intervention.
Typical achievable production uplifts are in the order
of 10% to 20%, although this can be even greater
in dual-string applications that Silverwell is piloting
with a client in the United Arab Emirates. In addition
to enabling more production with less intervention,
DIAL provides a continuous stream of in-well pressure
and temperature data. More data significantly reduce
uncertainty in gas-lift well design and when making The PHAZER under-reamed centralizer has been designed to
production and reservoir management decisions. In glide through previous cased-hole restrictions and open up to
addition to showcasing DIAL, Silverwell will be unveil- provide a high level of standoff in the open hole.
ing a new demonstration unit to illustrate the pro- (Source: Vulcan)

72 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


ADIPEC TECHNOLOGY
SHOWCASE

drag forces that provide effective centralization in while allowing remedial repairs to be made to surface
the larger under-reamed openhole sections. After equipment. Using cost-effective engineered services like
more than two years of R&D, Vulcan has engineered Freeze, Hot Tap and Valve Drilling, Wild Well’s clients
a slip-on centralizer called PHAZER: FLEX. Its new save time and money by putting the well back on pro-
blade design maintains low run into hole drag forces duction safely and quickly. wildwell.com
when passing through the cased-hole restrictions.
Upon entering the under-reamed openhole sections, Robotic catalyst removal technology
superior standoff also is achieved, in turn providing increases uptime
ideal conditions for zonal isolation. This design offers Launched commercially in May, Worley’s CAROL (Cata-
a 100% performance improvement over the existing lyst Removal Amphirol) is the world’s first commercially
centralizer products available in the market and, in available robotic catalyst removal technology. CAROL
most cases, replaces expensive centralizer sub alterna- minimizes the time spent by workers unloading catalyst
tives. vulcan-cp.com in confined refinery and petrochemical vessels and
increases uptime, thereby reducing the unloading dura-
First single-trip openhole cementing and tion. Human safety is improved by a factor of 10. Effi-
sidetrack system ciency is improved by at least 20%. Until now, catalyst
Weatherford has announced the market launch of its unloading has typically been performed by catalyst con-
AlphaST single-trip openhole cementing sidetrack sys- tractors that enter the vessel with a breathing apparatus.
tem, a market-first capability to initiate sidetrack oper- Contractors spend about 10,000 hours unloading cata-
ations without the need of a cement plug. Designed to lyst every year in a nitrogen atmosphere that does not
increase operator flexibility, eliminate multiple trips and support life. By inventing a robot that can remove this
avoid costly cementing operations, AlphaST is the world’s catalyst and eliminate the need for human entry into an
only single-trip openhole cementing and sidetrack sys- inert atmosphere, CAROL has the potential to save
tem. The system enables operators to never again need to many lives. The robot also provides an alternative to
sidetrack from a cement plug and avoid the cost and time waterflooding and the associated disposal of the poten-
of setting a cement plug, waiting on cement and time tially contaminated water. worleyparsons.com
drilling. The bottom line is opex savings equal
to days of rig time. weatherford.com

Services help put well back on


production safely and quickly
During ADIPEC 2019, Wild Well will be dis-
playing its Unconventional Intervention ser-
vices of Freeze, Hot Tap and Valve Drilling to
highlight the challenges clients face to gain
access to inoperable valves, usually as part of
the plug and abandonment process. The goal
of the Unconventional Intervention service
line is to provide clients with safe well access
by determining if trapped pressure exists in
the wellhead. Valve Drilling services can help
return a well to production by fully opening a
stuck lower master valve. Most projects focus
on the vertical wellhead or completion tree
components aligned with the wellbore. Valve
Drilling can also work in a horizontal position
for side-entry applications on valves and other
wellhead components. In addition, Wild Well
provides Cryogenic Freeze services, which
are used to place a temporary ice plug bar- The CAROL robotic catalyst removal technology has the potential to save
rier in tubulars to maintain pressure control many lives. (Source: Worley)

74 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


UNCONVENTIONAL REPORT:
OKLAHOMA

Oklahoma producers still standing


Leasing hot spots, improved drilling metrics and more reveal some silver lining in the
cloud hanging over Midcontinent producers.

LEASING HOT SPOTS


Jennifer Presley, Executive Editor

T he shifting winds of exploration and development


have kept Oklahoma’s Midcontinent producers
swaying. Man-made forces like market volatility to the
nature-made complexities of the state’s subsurface have
led many early entrants into the state’s Scoop/Stack play
to exit or reset expectations and restrategize their devel-
opment approach.
In an exclusive report provided to E&P, Enverus
noted that prior to 2016, the Scoop/Stack play was
a relatively quiet and isolated unconventional play.
Private-equity-backed operators successfully drilled and
flipped acreage across the region, with impressive well
results bringing more public operators into the play.
After remaining relatively level throughout 2018, the
permit count in the Midcontinent has steadily dropped FIGURE 1. Two large leasing hot spots (in red) in the southern
from 474 in the first quarter of 2019 to 179 in the third Scoop and western Stack do not line up very well with active
quarter. The Stack’s Kingfisher, Canadian and Blaine permits and could possibly indicate a shift in activity toward
counties have all seen a significant decrease in the these regions. (Source: Enverus)
count, with Kingfisher being the most notable. The per-
mit count in the Scoop’s Grady and McClain counties, has declined. This decline is due to a variety of factors,
while still decreasing, has not been as dramatic as that including the poor performance from infill wells and
of the Stack counties (Figure 1), according to Enverus. mixed results of expanding outside the core of the play
Drilling metrics have improved year over year (YoY) (Figure 3). For the Stack, Enverus projects nearly flat
for the past five years, with average total rig days on loca- production for the next 18 months, while production is
tion dropping to 30 in 2018, while footage drilled per expected to grow in the Scoop (Figure 4).
day surpassed 700 ft, as compared to more than 45 days “This disparity in the production forecast is driven by
in 2014 drilling a little more than 400 ft/d (Figure 2). the difference in lower rig counts in the Stack (-25 from
According to the report, completion trends in terms the start of 2019 to the end of the second quarter) ver-
of frac intensity and perforated lengths have been con- sus the Scoop (-5 from the start of 2019 to the end of
sistent since 2016, while normalized well performance the second quarter),” according to the report.

(Source: westtexasfish/Shutterstock.com)

76 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


UNCONVENTIONAL REPORT:
OKLAHOMA

WELL SPUD COUNT BY YEAR MIDCONTINENT DRILLING METRICS

1,800 120% 50 800


1,600 100% 700

Feet Drilled Per Day


40

Days on Location
1,400 600
80%

YoY Change
1,200 500
Spud Count

30
1,000 60% 400
800 40% 20 300
600 200
20% 10
400 100
200 0%
0 0
0 -20% 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Average Total Rig Days Average of Footage
Spud Count YoY On Location Per Day

FIGURE 2. The number of wells spudded in the Scoop/Stack has steadily increased, while the average total rig days has decreased. (Source: Enverus)

FIGURE 3 (right). Perf lengths in the Scoop/ COMPLETION PRACTICES OVER TIME
Stack have increased slightly over the past 8,000 60
three years while the volume of proppant
Perf Length, Proppant per Foot

7,000
and fluid per foot has remained steady. 50
6,000
(Source: Enverus Engineering Explorer)
40

Fluid per Foot


5,000

FIGURE 4 (bottom). Production is expected to 4,000 30


grow in the Scoop in part due to Continental
3,000
Resources’ Project Springboard that is 20
2,000
projected to add 17,500 bbl/d from the third
10
quarter of 2018 to the third quarter of 2019, 1,000

accounting for more than half of the play’s 0 0


2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
oil growth YoY. (Source: Enverus Prodcast)
Perf Length Proppant Per Foot Fluid Per Foot

MIDCONTINENT PRODUCTION
350 3.5
Oil Q3 2019 300 3
STACK: 295 Mbbl/d
SCOOP: 202 Mbbl/d 250 2.5
Oil (Mbbl/d)

Gas (Bcf/d)

Oil 2020 YE
200 2
STACK: 298 Mbbl/d
SCOOP: 237 Mbbl/d 150 1.5
Gas Q3 2019
100 1
STACK: 2.67 Bcf/d
SCOOP: 2.23 Bcf/d
50 0.5
Gas 2020 YE
0 0
STACK: 2.86 Bcf/d
1/1/2014
3/1/2014
5/1/2014
7/1/2014
9/1/2014
11/1/2014
1/1/2015
3/1/2015
5/1/2015
7/1/2015
9/1/2015
11/1/2015
1/1/2016
3/1/2016
5/1/2016
7/1/2016
9/1/2016
11/1/2016
1/1/2017
3/1/2017
5/1/2017
7/1/2017
9/1/2017
11/1/2017
1/1/2018
3/1/2018
5/1/2018
7/1/2018
9/1/2018
11/1/2018
1/1/2019
3/1/2019
5/1/2019
7/1/2019
9/1/2019
11/1/2019
1/1/2020
3/1/2020
5/1/2020
7/1/2020
9/1/2020
11/1/2020

SCOOP: 2.72 Bcf/d

Date
Sum of Crude Oil Production (Bbl/d) - Scoop - EIA Sum of Crude Oil Production (Bbl/d) - Stack - EIA
Sum of Gross Gas Production (Mcf/d) - Scoop - EIA Sum of Gross Gas Production (Mcf/d) - Stack - EIA

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 77


REGIONAL REPORT:
AUSTRALIA

Australia bustling with exploration


and discovery
The energy industry witnessed record production as state governments and operators
ramped up operations.

environment. The ban was lifted last year with strict


Faiza Rizvi, Associate Editor new rules to administer fracturing in the region. The
Northern Territory government said it granted approval

A ustralia has a number of ongoing large-scale LNG


projects operating across the nation’s gas basins.
In the first few months of 2019, Australia and Qatar jos-
to Santos’ drilling plan in the McArthur Basin after the
company revised its wastewater management and spill
management plans. Others waiting to drill there include
tled for the title of the world’s largest LNG exporter, as Origin Energy, which has holdings in the Beetaloo
stated in a recent report by the Australian government. Basin, and Empire Energy Group and Armour Energy,
Australia recorded its highest ever oil and gas pro- both of which have acreage in the McArthur Basin.
duction in the 2019 financial year, according to a quar- In November 2018, the government of Western
terly report published in September by EnergyQuest. Australia lifted its moratorium on hydraulic fracturing
Moreover, Australian petroleum and gas production but promised that 98% of the state would remain “frac
both rose by 16% compared to previous years to achieve free.” However, in September of this year, the govern-
record numbers, with petroleum hitting 1,010 MMboe ment of Western Australia lifted the fracking moratori-
and gas reaching 5,082 petajoules. Compared to last um on existing petroleum titles in the region.
year, LNG production also rose by 22% to a record 75
MMtons, the report stated. Exploration gains momentum
According to Rystad Energy, Australia drilled 60 explo-
Fracking gets the green light ration wells in 2018, which resulted in both “exciting
In July Santos won the first approval from the Northern discoveries and disappointing dry holes.” Rystad Energy
Territory government to resume shale drilling, nearly predicted this figure would rise to 65 in 2019, with off-
three years after the territory had banned fracking amid shore exploration increasing to the highest level seen
concerns that the completions method could harm the since 2014.

A gas tanker is moored offshore the Northern Territory where officials have approved the use of hydraulic fracturing after a nearly
three-year ban on its use in the territory. (Source: KDS Photographics/Shutterstock.com)

78 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


REGIONAL REPORT:
AUSTRALIA

In August the Australian government unveiled 64 areas Dorado oil and gas field development, and the acquired
as part of its 2019 offshore petroleum acreage release. seismic data may lead to potential drilling of some
According to industry reports, it is the largest release high-graded exploration targets, such as Pavo and Apus.
since 2000 and involves more than 120,000 sq km of acre- Meanwhile, the Queensland government earlier this
age to be offered in a single round of bidding. year named the preferred tenderers for natural gas
Areas are available for exploration across five basins exploration acreages in the Surat Basin. Senex Energy
in Commonwealth waters offshore Western Australia, and Galilee Energy have been awarded land for explo-
Victoria and the Territory of Ashmore and Cartier Islands. ration, with all the gas produced from these areas to be
During the same month, the Department of Mines, supplied exclusively to the domestic market.
Industry Regulation and Safety opened applications
for round 20 of its co-funded exploration drilling Western Australia
scheme, which provides $5 million per year to encour- In August Strike Energy made a significant gas discovery
age drilling in greenfields and underexplored areas of about 4.7 km deep in the Kingia sandstone as part of
Western Australia. the West Erregulla-2 drilling campaign north of Perth.
In May Carnarvon Petroleum commenced work on a The company also announced a gas discovery in the
new 3-D seismic survey over the Dorado and Roc discov- Wagina sandstone. Stuart Nicholls, managing director
eries and a number of nearby prospects off the north- of Strike Energy, called it a “significant discovery” from
west coast of Western Australia. a secondary target that carried a low predrill probability
According to industry reports, the Keraudren 3-D of success. In September the company announced the
survey will contribute to the advancement of the completion of all drilling and completion activities at

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 79


REGIONAL REPORT:
AUSTRALIA

the West Errregulla-2 well. “The flow test is expected at the Annie-1exploration well, making it the first new
to commence in early October and activities will take Otway Basin gas field discovery from offshore drilling
approximately two weeks to gather flow and pressure in 11 years. Following the discovery, Cooper Energy
data from the reservoir,” according to a press release. secured another offshore exploration permit in the
In addition, Woodside announced on Aug. 25 that the Otway Basin surrounded by gas fields and the adjoining
Greater Enfield Project produced first oil through the Annie-1 gas discovery.
FPSO vessel located off the northwest coast of Western Additionally, in February Exxon Mobil submitted
Australia. Installation of subsea infrastructure and the a revised environment plan for drilling an ultradeep-
project’s 12 development wells have been completed. water exploration well in the Gippsland Basin to the
Woodside CEO Peter Coleman confirmed in a press National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental
release that the first oil from Greater Enfield was pro- Management Authority (NOPSEMA). Following several
duced on schedule and under the project’s budgeted cost. requests for further information by the regulator, the
In June Chevron began the second stage of develop- plan was accepted on June 17. According to Reuters,
ment and commenced expansion of subsea gas-gather- which cited a statement by Exxon Mobil on Sept. 18,
ing network capacity at the Gorgon LNG project. The the oil company is looking to sell its 50% stake in the
company will drill seven new wells in the Gorgon Field Gippsland Basin assets. The other 50% is held by BHP.
and four new wells in the Jansz-Io Field to maintain
supply to the existing gas facilities on Barrow Island. South Australia
Gorgon is one of the world’s largest LNG projects, with In August Senex Energy Ltd. completed the production
a plant capacity of 15.6 million tonnes per annum. The test of the Gemba-1 gas exploration well in the Cooper
campaign also will include system upgrades on Barrow Basin, enabling the well to be brought online by the
Island and the offshore installation of vertical subsea end of the year, according to a press release. The com-
production trees, production pipelines, control umbili- pany announced the successful completion of a five-day
cals and subsea structures. production test, following a seven-stage hydraulic frac-
During the same month, a joint venture (JV) between turing program.
Santos and Carnarvon Petroleum confirmed a major During the same month, Cooper Energy announced
oil and gas discovery with the Dorado-2 appraisal well the successful conclusion of the three-well appraisal
drilled in the Bedout sub-basin. According to prelimi- program at the Parsons oil field.
nary wellsite analysis, the upper zone is oil-bearing but Meanwhile, Red Sky Energy recently announced plans
is subject to further analysis to confirm the hydrocarbon to develop its newly acquired Yarrow Gas Project. With
phase. In September Carnarvon Petroleum announced a goal to start production within three years, Red Sky
that wireline logging of the Dorado-3 well successfully Energy intends to acquire a 3-D seismic survey to increase
confirmed a hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir within the field definition, complete a field development plan, drill
Caley, Baxter and Crespin intervals. a series of wells and deliver production infrastructure.
Meanwhile, in the Browse Basin, McDermott and
Baker Hughes were awarded contracts to provide joint Northern Territory
solutions for subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines In May a ConocoPhillips-led JV awarded a contract to
(SURF) and subsea production systems (SPS) for Technip Oceania to supply the SPS and associated instal-
the Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG field development. lation support for the Barossa gas development project
Offshore installation of the SURF and SPS equipment in the Timor Sea north of Darwin. The SPS contract
will commence in 2020 and be completed in 2023, includes the engineering, design and fabrication of well-
according to a press release. heads, manifolds and control systems as well as installa-
tion and commissioning assistance.
Victoria
In September Cooper Energy secured a six-year explo- Queensland
ration permit offshore Gippsland Basin, one of the key Equinor submitted an environment plan to the NOPSEMA
hydrocarbon-producing regions in southeast Australia. earlier this year for its proposed petroleum drilling activity
In the first three years, seismic reprocessing and geo- in the Great Australian Bight amid claims of risk by envi-
logical/geophysical studies will be carried out as part of ronmental groups. On June 27, the Australian offshore
a guaranteed work program. During the same month, regulator requested additional information from Equinor
Cooper Energy announced a new gas field discovery on its environment plan, further delaying its decision.

80 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


tech
WATCH

Optimizing production of mature water-


flood assets with physics-based AI
Technology is applied to injector reactivation to assess flexibility in new workflows for
reservoir management.

Eugenio Ferrigno and Lucas Gonzalez Day, YPF; and


Operators instead turn to analytical solutions and/
Carlos Calad, Pallav Sarma, Fernando Gutierrez and or simplistic models such as material balance models
Paola Pastor, Tachyus and sector models for short-term forecasting needs that
have the advantage of speed but lack the predictivity

O ptimizing production in mature fields is a com-


plex problem that is poorly addressed by the
current spectra of subsurface modeling solutions. On
capabilities of full-field simulation. Argentine energy
company YPF saw the business potential for new, data-
driven technologies that combined the predictive
one side, conventional 3-D numerical fluid simulators power of a numerical simulator with the speed and
model the physics of multiphase porous media flow computational requirements of an analytical solution,
with a high degree of fidelity, offering the advantage partnering with Tachyus, a provider of physics-based
of long-range forecasting accuracy. However, intricate data-driven reservoir optimization, to test these new
and time-consuming workflows and difficulty assimilat- technologies on mature fields in Argentina.
ing continuous data streams mean that the models and
forecasts are immediately out of date. Furthermore, the Reservoir modeling technology
computational cost of simulation means it is practically YPF used Tachyus’ Data Physics technology, which
impossible to run the thousands of scenarios needed to integrates physical governing equations into a data-
quantify uncertainty. driven machine learning model. Data Physics models
are created by assimilat-
INJECTION SCENARIOS ing historical production
and injection data to
generate a set of petro-
physical parameters
that reproduce reser-
voir behavior over time.
Unlike traditional data
analytics techniques, the
Data Physics model is
permanently constrained
by physical laws describ-
ing the movement of
fluids in porous media—
Darcy’s Law, Mass and
Energy conservation
and other constitutive
relationships. Contrary
to traditional reservoir
simulators, Data Physics
models can be created
quickly once the initial
FIGURE 1. Each dot in the Pareto front represents a water-injection scenario. In this case, two and 15 years data quality control and
were analyzed, as shown by the bubble map. Each bubble is a graphic representation of the changes in onboarding are com-
water-injection volume recommended by the optimizer. (Source: YPF and Tachyus) pleted. Understanding

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 85


tech
WATCH

data quality and integrity proved pivotal to obtaining model was built at the well level. The optimization crite-
operationally relevant results. ria were mainly production increases at constant injec-
The first step in the modeling process is data assimi- tion within the limits of the existing facilities, though
lation or training, using a modified Ensemble Kalman for one of the fields the technology was used to evaluate
Filter (EnKF) that enables assimilation of data from a 12-well injector reactivation campaign.
thousands of wells and different data sources with a rel-
atively small ensemble. Additionally, because the EnKF Evaluating the injector reactivation program
is known to underestimate uncertainty, statistical tech- Along with increasing production, YPF aimed to reacti-
niques are used to correct the uncertainty estimates to vate 12 inactive injectors using a Data Physics reservoir
conform with empirical estimates. model to find the best way to execute the reactivation
The predictive capacity of the calibrated models for program. Specifically, YPF needed to assess the optimum
waterflood is demonstrated through a statistical back- way to redistribute existing injection of 42,000 bbl/d of
test process, where the model is fitted to part of the water and allocate an additional 9,000 bbl/d of water
historical data (training data), and the predictions from while reactivating the 12 inactive injectors.
the model are statistically compared to the rest of the A blind test was performed to increase confidence
historical data (test data) at the field and well level. The in the data-driven model in which the base-case
predictive capability of the model is then assessed by (unoptimized) predictions for 15-year cumulative
using correlation coefficients between predicted and production (9,000 bbl of oil) were compared to a
observed data. In this case, a minimum of 0.6 for both previously existing forecast obtained via a 3-D grid-
Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficients was ded simulation using a common commercial sim-
deemed required to confirm predictivity, and values ulator (8,800 bbl of oil). This benchmark yielded
obtained were above this threshold in every case. agreement to within 2.5%, well within the individual
Once a predictive model is available for a specific forecast uncertainties, suggesting the data-driven
field, the model can be used to predict future perfor- model was at least as accurate as YPF’s previous
mance for different injection plans and to optimize for model obtained by best-practice workflows.
the best injection prescription. The technology uses Furthermore, this base case could be optimized by
evolutionary algorithms to handle the multi-objective redistributing the same amount of water to add an addi-
optimization problem, which in this case involved sev- tional 700,000 bbl of oil (+7.7%) over the 15-year period.
eral operational constraints, such as injection limits After further modeling of efficient scenarios, YPF
across different formations or wells. The result is a selected a target scenario for implementation in the
Pareto front (efficient frontier) that displays produc- field to increase injection from 42,000 bbl/d to 51,000
tion values resulting from applying different injection bbl/d of water. This scenario presents an optimized
regimes (Figure 1). cumulative production increase of 1,500 bbl of oil
Scenarios on the Pareto front are used to make (+16%) compared to the base scenario.
optimization decisions, such as reducing opex by The injection reactivation analysis shows that nine is
maintaining production while slowing down water the optimum number of injectors to reactivate, leaving
injection, increasing revenue by boosting production three injectors inactive. This turns into significant addi-
via water redistribution, reactivating injectors to boost tional savings when compared to the analysis performed
production assessing infill drilling opportunities and with the traditional commercial simulator. Additionally,
many more. the impact of each individual injector was assessed, pro-
ducing an optimum reactivation schedule.
Field selection and predictions
YPF selected three mature fields in each of the main Conclusion
producing basins in Argentina (Cuyo, Neuquén and In this study, YPF has taken the first steps toward imple-
Golfo San Jorge). A large number of wells and historical menting new workflows for reservoir management using
production and injection data at these fields indicated a data-driven approach grounded in the physics of flow.
a high technical probability of training a predictive Applying the technology to injector reactivation
model. Each field has unique petrophysical charac- demonstrated the flexibility of these new technologies,
teristics. Two of the models were built at the level of and YPF is investigating new applications and exten-
individual production zones. With the other, in which sions, including infill drilling and real-time closed-
back-allocation data were not readily available, the loop optimization.

86 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


tech
WATCH

Ensuring the four-way match


Mobile field operations software ensures accuracy in pressure pumping invoicing.

retrieved from wells if


Travis Parigi, LiquidFrameworks the software and plat-
forms are too compli-

H ydraulic fracturing has been around for many


years; however, more recently, it has jumpstarted
new technologies and ideas for improving access to
cated to understand.

Streamlining
the shale deposits that were believed to be unobtain- processes
able. An important aspect of accomplishing this is Companies rely heavily
understanding what technology—in the field and in on spreadsheets and
the office—is needed for increased productivity and other documents to
improved fieldwork. organize the data they
are receiving from
Four-way match standard jobs. Job tickets can
In operations, there is a standard known as the “four- average six rounds of
way match” that ensures an accurate quote produces the approval before they
right field ticket. From this, the correct invoice is cre- are invoiced, causing
ated, which is pulled from the pricing book. Achieving FieldFX captures job data both delays between com-
the four-way match is a critical concept due to the com- online and while disconnected pletion and invoice.
plexity and high costs associated with pressure pumping from the internet. Implementing a
jobs. Relying on the four-way match is crucial for the (Source: LiquidFrameworks) streamlined digital
specificity of billing associated with pressure pumping. process incorporates
Cross-referencing invoices can take countless hours and everything from operations to field personnel and
a lot of work to ensure all have been accounted for and depicts the details and pertinent information needed
correctly documented. Reducing that amount of time, for invoicing at the time the service is performed. This
while still maintaining accuracy, is vital for businesses to information can then go through the approval process
bill as precisely as possible. Implementing technology quicker because all of the information is readily avail-
that can guarantee the four-way match helps companies able and documented. Implementing technology that
manage their services and uphold their standards. accounts for streamlining a process keeps companies
accountable for maintaining their workers and equip-
Well design management ment while also deciphering the data that are collected
Well designs are important for safe and innovative all in one vicinity.
drilling, especially in potentially unstable areas.
Designing a successful well allows better productivity Invoicing
and the ability to gather data on areas with potential Invoicing for projects requires accurate logging and
leakage or other failures. Software solutions can be quick return. Reducing the time it takes to send out
implemented into a well design for gathering this invoices allows for decreased days of sales outstanding.
information and maintaining workbook data integ- Operators can be selective about how they want the
rity. When looking at the software of a digital solu- invoice formatted (i.e., where some require a great
tion for managing well design, it must be easy to use. deal of information and a breakdown of each subtotal,
While on a pressure pumping job, field operators others prefer minimal information). Priority is placed
need to be able to quickly input the information not on technology that works with customizable invoicing
directly obtainable from the well into the system so and keeps track of clients and their needs. This keeps
the back office can process that information. Com- invoicing efficient and puts time back into fieldwork
panies could be losing out on important information rather than a focus on determining pricing and layout
if field teams are unable to input or collect data of invoices.

88 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


tech
WATCH

The FX Analytics module provides real-time access to powerful business intelligence. (Source: LiquidFrameworks)

Real-time data Mobile field operations software


Gathering data in real time allows companies to under- Safeguarding the four-way match is critical for pressure
stand job performance and prepare their strategic pumping companies because of the complexity and
decisions. Technology that has the ability to track jobs high costs associated with each job. Companies cannot
in real time can determine how productive a team is afford billing mistakes and therefore spend countless
and where improvements can be made. Information hours ensuring each invoice is accurate.
gathered supports management to intervene where LiquidFrameworks’ FieldFX technology is a cloud-based,
needed to keep workers efficient and job performance mobile field operations software suite designed to guaran-
at its peak. tee the four-way match. The four-way match ensures that
Data gathered from jobs keep management account- an accurate quote produces an accurate field ticket, which
able for reviewing and evaluating peak performance leads to an accurate invoice with the price book serving as
overall for the company. Technology that provides the common foundation throughout the process.
insight into everyday work in the field, shows require- In addition to reducing the time associated with the
ments for operating more efficiently and explains how billing approval process, FieldFX provides insightful
strategic planning could be implemented for prospec- data into each job, allowing management to keep their
tive projects can greatly impact the business. For exam- finger on the pulse of their business-making.
ple, tracking the time line on the failure of generators Many oil and gas service companies use FieldFX
can allow management to intervene before it causes a because it is flexible, scalable and allows them to make
problem in the future. This saves time and money for changes that very day—even offline. This software gives
companies by implementing appropriate actions before users the power to connect from the field to the office
something happens, rather than wasting time waiting from anywhere in the world, even when they do not
for the problem to be fixed at a potentially higher cost. have a network connection. FieldFX streamlines com-
Pumping equipment and other machinery are not munication between accounting, field operations and
the only tools used for fracturing. Technology for office management while shrinking revenue leakage
field operations management maintains standards and and accelerating revenue capture.
improves performance in the field. Integrated software
in the fracturing industry is crucial for achieving the Have a story idea for Tech Watch? This feature highlights
best strategies and moving forward with projects. New leading-edge technology that has the potential to eventually
innovations for data collection, invoicing requirements address real-life upstream challenges. Submit your story
ideas to Group Managing Editor Jo Ann Davy at
and streamlining information make a major difference [email protected].
in the efficiency from office to fieldwork.

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 89


tech
TRENDS

Companies collaborate to deliver actionable and processes across offshore and onshore platforms,
data insights for the industry compressor stations, refineries and petrochemical
Schlumberger, Chevron and Microsoft announced the plants, reducing downtime and increasing productivity.
industry’s first three-party collaboration to accelerate The AI-enabled BHC3 Reliability application, powered
the creation of petrotechnical and digital technolo- by the BHC3 AI Suite, draws on Baker Hughes’ domain
gies, a press release stated. Data are quickly emerging expertise by augmenting application alerts with failure
as one of the most valuable assets to any company, yet prevention recommendations and prescriptive actions.
extracting insights from those data is often difficult as bakerhughesc3.ai
information gets trapped in internal silos. As part of the
collaboration, the three companies will work together New ocean-bottom node offers accurate
to build Azure-native applications in the DELFI cog- seismic imaging
nitive E&P environment initially for Chevron, which CGG’s equipment business Sercel has released its GPR, a
will enable companies to process, visualize, interpret new ocean-bottom node, jointly developed in partnership
and ultimately obtain meaningful insights from multi- with BGP, according to a press release. GPR leverages
ple data sources. DELFI is a secure, scalable and open Sercel’s QuietSeis broadband digital sensor technology to
cloud-based environment providing E&P software collect data for seismic imaging, which is more accurate
technology across exploration, development, produc- compared to the data compiled by conventional sensors.
tion and midstream. Chevron and Schlumberger will The launch of GPR coincides with the continuing growth
combine their expertise and resources to accelerate the and maturity of the global node market and further
deployment of DELFI solutions in Azure, with support strengthens CGG’s portfolio of products and services that
and guidance from Microsoft. The parties will ensure are designed to reduce the risks and increase the success
the software developments meet the latest standards of its clients’ reservoir exploration and development
in terms of security, performance and release manage- efforts. The new node has successfully completed sea
ment, and are compatible with the Open Subsurface trials, and BGP’s input from the field has ensured GPR’s
Data Universe Data Platform. The collaboration will be performance is tailored to meet industry requirements. It
completed in three phases starting with the deployment has a compact design and benefits from the fidelity and
of the Petrotechnical Suite in the DELFI environment, ultraquiet performance of QuietSeis as well as flexible
followed by the development of cloud-native applica- deployment options. cgg.com, sercel.com, bgp.com.cn
tions on Azure, and then the co-innovation of a suite of
cognitive computing native capabilities across the E&P
value chain tailored to Chevron’s objectives. slb.com,
chevron.com, microsoft.com

AI application identifies production


downtime and process risks
Baker Hughes and C3.ai have released BHC3 Reliability,
the first artificial intelligence (AI) software application
developed by the BakerHughesC3.ai joint venture, a
press release stated. The software application uses deep
learning predictive models, natural language processing Sercel and BGP have drawn on their long-standing partnership
and machine vision to continuously aggregate data from and complementary seismic expertise and experience to design,
plantwide sensor networks, enterprise systems, main- develop and deploy GPR. (Source: CGG)
tenance notes, and piping and instrumentation sche-
matics. Using historical and real-time data from entire Structural monitoring for offshore
systems, the BHC3 Reliability machine learning models construction, inspection and repair
identify anomalous conditions that lead to equipment Ashtead Technology’s integrated Deflection Monitoring
failure and process upsets. Application alerts enable System (DMS) monitors, calculates, displays and logs
proactive action by operators to reduce downtime and structure deflection, heading, pitch, roll, depth, suction
lost revenue. Applicable to operations across all sec- and differential pressures in real time, according to the
tors of the energy value chain, BHC3 Reliability’s sys- company. Live streaming of data is vital to detect poten-
tem-of-systems approach scales to any number of assets tial issues without delay, reducing the risk of structural

90 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


tech
TRENDS

damage. The DMS system has hopper design calms the flow of fluids, helping the sand
been used for monitoring settle as it goes over the baffles. Water from its fourth
the installation of suction-can compartment can be reused on location for drillout
based structures such as man- applications. cpenergy.com
ifolds, templates and pipeline
end terminations. In a recent Initiative aims to overcome drone
subsea installation project for inspection challenges
Ocean Installer AS, the DMS Flylogix Ltd. has launched a North Sea drone initiative
was configured for autono- in collaboration with Total SA, NATS and the Oil &
mous independent operation, Gas Technology Centre, as stated in a press release.
communicating data to instal- The project aims to overcome the challenges associated
lation ROVs. Ashtead utilized The DMS, shown being with drone inspection activities in the North Sea and
measurement sensors and lowered into the sea, allow commercial operators of unmanned aerial vehi-
positioning tools along with monitors, calculates and cles (UAVs) easier access to U.K.-controlled airspace
techniques to enhance the logs structural data. for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) operations.
accuracy of the data collected, (Source: Ashtead The collaboration is developing and testing a concept
ensuring maximum perfor- Technology) for drone operations that will allow UAV operators to
mance of the system. Data react within hours of an inspection request and enable
analysis and installation reports for the installation of routine BVLOS in the North Sea. The project involves
eight structures were compiled within 24 hours of each extensive consultation with stakeholders and aims to
installation. The project took place over a 25-day period establish safe and reliable drone operations alongside
and was completed well ahead of schedule, resulting in existing users in controlled airspace. flylogix.co.uk,
significant cost efficiencies. ashtead-technology.com total.com, theogtc.com, nats.aero/drones-overview

New separator eliminates hazardous material Companies collaborate on well data platform
during drilling and completions Lower48 Analytics, a software-as-a-service platform for
CP Energy Services’ Sand Commander is a four-way sep- oil and gas portfolio management, recently announced
arator used during the drillout of the well completion its collaboration with BLR Digital, which allows Lower48
process to separate all hazardous material, removing subscribers to streamline their workflow with access to
99% of harmful gases and 95% of the sand, according extensive oil and gas well production and forecast data.
to the company. Sand Commander is designed for eco- Lower48 integrated BLR Digital’s Well Cloud that con-
friendly completions, cost-effective drillouts, flowback tains information on more than 3.5 million oil and gas
optimization and enhanced safety. The separator is wells and related production and test data. Lower48 also
equipped with an improved vertical gas buster where integrated BLR Digital’s PetroCurveFit, which is a sys-
gas is vented out through the top. Return fluids are tem designed to project production trends for each pro-
churned up to enhance gas removal efficiency while ducing well based on the most current information.
keeping sand from clogging up in the bottom. Its multi- This means that well production and future forecasts
are calculated for more than 1 million producing wells
each month as new data come in and are made available
in Lower48’s geolocated database to support the plat-
form’s financial analytics. lower48.com, blrdigital.com

The Sand Commander promotes eco-friendly completions and


is equipped with hydraulic controls, an environmental scrubber
pot and improved flare system. (Source: CP Energy Services)

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 91


international
HIGHLIGHTS

high-quality, oil-bearing sandstone gas and 3,000 bbl of associated con-


1 US
reservoir. The well was drilled in densates per day.
A Hess Corp. completion in McKen- 6,572 ft of water. After completion
zie County, N.D., was tested flowing operations, the drillship was moved
6 Croatia
10,626 bbl of oil, 27.6 MMcf of gas to drill Uaru-1 to the east of the Liza
and 5,599 bbl of water per day. The Field. Exxon Mobil plans to have a Croatian oil and gas company Indus-
An-Bohmbach 153-94-2734H-8 well total of four drillships operating in truja Nafte has reported the discovery
is in Section 22-153n-94w. Produc- the area. of a gas ledge at the Severovci-1 well
tion is from a horizontal Middle Bak- in the Drava-02 exploration block.
ken interval at 11,084 ft to 20,749 ft. According to the company, the well
4 UK
The Antelope Field well was drilled is capable of producing about 1.8
to 20,749 ft (10,749 ft true vertical Hurricane Energy announced an MMcf/d of gas. The venture was
depth) to the south and bottomed oil discovery at the Lincoln Crestal drilled to 3,410 m, and additional
in Section 34-153n-94w. Gauged on 205/26b-14 exploration well in testing and exploration is planned.
a 76/76-in. choke, the flowing casing the Greater Warwick Area of the
pressure was 1,666 psi. U.K. sector of Block 205/26b in
7 Romania
the North Sea. The well was tested
flowing 9,800 bbl/d of oil with the Serbia’s national oil and gas company
2 Guyana
use of electric submersible pumps. Naftna Industrija Srbije plans to drill
Tullow Oil has tested the Joe-1 The average rate was 4,682 bbl/d of two additional wells by the end of
exploration well and has opened a 43-degree-gravity oil. No formation 2019 at its EX8 exploration block in
new Upper Tertiary oil play in the water was produced. The Lincoln western Romania. Partner East-West
offshore Guyana Basin. The well Crestal is the second well in a three- Petroleum drilled the first explora-
was drilled to 2,175 m and is in 780 well program in the Greater Warwick tion well on the block, 1000-Bvs, in
m of water. Evaluation of logging Area. It was drilled to 1,780 m and March and testing operations are
and sampling data has confirmed included a 720-m horizontal section underway. Seismic data processing
that the venture encountered 14 of fractured basement reservoir. The (3-D) has been completed and inter-
m of net oil pay in high-quality, well will be suspended, and the rig pretation is ongoing, and another
oil-bearing sandstone reservoirs of will move to drill the third well, War- 3-D survey is planned on Block EXA-2
Upper Tertiary age. The Joe-l well is wick West 204/30b-A, in the 2019 as well as experimental production at
the first oil discovery to be made in drilling program. 1000-Ter in Block EX7.
the Upper Tertiary and de-risks the
petroleum system in the west of the
5 Nigeria 8 Turkey
Orinduik Block, where a number of
Tertiary and Cretaceous age pros- Eni announced a gas and condensate Results from a flow test in the sec-
pects have been identified. The data find in the deeper sequences of the ond stimulated zone at the Inanli-1
from Joe-1 will be evaluated with a Obiafu-Obrikom fields in the OML61 well in Turkey’s Thrace Basin were
previous discovery at Jethro-1. A fol- Block in Nigeria’s onshore Niger announced by Valeura Energy. The
low-up well is planned at Carapa-1 Delta. The Obiafu-41 Deep well was zone at 4,176 m to 4,217 m was tar-
on the Kanuku license. drilled to 4,374 m and encountered geted to test a shallower area of tighter
a gas and condensate accumulation and less fractured rock to determine
within the deltaic sequence of Oli- gas flow potential and fluid character-
3 Guyana
gocene age of more than 130 m of istics. The well flowed 130,000 cf/d of
Exxon Mobil reported an oil discov- high-quality, hydrocarbon-bearing gas along with a condensate-gas ratio
ery on the Stabroek Block offshore sands. Initial estimates indicated that of about 10 bbl/MMcf, with 4 bbl/d of
Guyana at the Tripletail-1 well in discovery holds 1 Tcf of gas and 60 water. According to the company, the
the Turbot area. The discovery adds MMbbl of associated condensate in results indicated that gas can be pro-
to the previously announced esti- the deep drilled sequences. Addi- duced from the lower quality reservoir
mated recoverable resource of more tional testing and appraisal work is and also confirms the low water rates
than 6 Bboe on the Stabroek Block. planned. Eni expects that the well associated with the gas production at
The discovery hit about 108 ft of a can deliver in excess of 100 MMcf of these depths. The current estimate

92 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


international
HIGHLIGHTS

1 7
6
8

2 5
3

10

11

of resource on the site is 10 Tcfe of The well was drilled to 2,442 m in


10 Australia
unrisked gas, including 236 MMbbl of 58 m of water and encountered pro-
condensate. Valuera is preparing the Strike Energy has announced a new ductive Waarre C and Waarre A
well for the stimulation and expected conventional gas discovery at the sandstones. The primary target,
to extend into late 2019. West Erregulla-2 well in Kingia Sand- Waarre C, hit a gross gas column of
stones in Western Australia. The well 70 m with a net pay thickness of 62
is in EP 469, was drilled to 5,017 m m. Wireline logging operations to
9 Pakistan
and encountered a 97-m gas column collect pressure and sample data
An oilfield discovery has been with a net pay of 41 m and porosities have been completed and collected
announced by operator MOL in of up to 19%. No gas-water contact for resource volume estimates and
the TAL Block in Pakistan’s Khyber has been observed. Drilling will con- to determine gas composition with
Pakhtunkhwa Province. New reserves tinue through the High Cliff For- additional testing planned. The
were discovered in the TAL conces- mation. The West Erregulla-1 well well will be plugged and abandoned
sion on the Kohat Plateau at the flowed 23 bbl of 47-degree-gravity and will move to drill the second
Makori-2 well. Well testing indicated oil during a drillstem test. Total pro- well in the program at the Elan-
that it is capable of producing about spective P50 resources are estimated ora-1 well.
1,844 bbl of oil with 18.25 MMcf/d of to be 1.16 Tcf of gas and 7 MMbbl
gas. The new discovery has de-risked of oil. By Larry Prado, Activity Editor, Digital
exploration in deeper fault blocks in News Group, Hart Energy
the TAL Block leading to new upside
11 Australia
opportunities. Production from the For additional information on these projects
TAL Block accounts for about 20% Cooper Energy Ltd. announced a and other global developments, visit the
of Pakistan’s oil production (about new offshore gas field discovery at activity highlights database at
17,000 bbl/d). The most recent dis- the Annie-1 exploration well in
covery was made in 2011. VIC/P44 in Victoria’s Otway Basin.

HartEnergy.com | E&P | November 2019 93


on the
MOVE

PEOPLE executive vice president of corporate directors. In addition, Valceschini


development and external relations. will assume the role of chairman
Laredo Petroleum Inc. appointed of the board and Alves has been
Jason Pigott to succeed Randy A. OMV Aktienge- named senior independent director.
Foutch as the company’s CEO. Pigott sellschaft has reap-
will continue in his role as president. pointed Rainer EnerMech has welcomed
Foutch will remain chairman of Lar- Seele (left) CEO Paul McCarthy as regional
edo’s board of directors through the and chairman of the executive board. director for Australasia.
company’s 2020 Annual Meeting, but Johann Pleininger (right) has been
he will not stand for re-election to the reappointed executive board member Rob Gill has joined Aquaterra
board. Additionally, the board has and deputy chairman of the board. Energy as platforms business devel-
decided the roles of chairman and opment director.
CEO will remain separate and the Infrastructure Networks
future chairman will be independent. Inc. (INET) and Osprey RETTEW has promoted
Informatics have swapped Suhail Khan (left) to chief
Saudi Arabia has appointed senior leaders, with strategy and innovation
Prince Abdulaziz bin Sal- Mark Slaughter (left) appointed officer and Clayton Bubeck
man (left) energy minister, INET’s CEO and Scott Crist named to president.
replacing Khalid Al-Falih, Osprey’s CEO. Slaughter and Crist
who has been relieved of his position. will continue serving on the boards Stephen Rivers has been
of Osprey and INET, respectively. named manager of subsea
After a 40-year career with BP and and pipelines for Asia-
over nine years as group chief execu- Mark McCabe has been named CFO Pacific at Xodus Group.
tive, Bob Dudley has decided to step of Senex Energy Ltd., effective in
down as group chief executive and early December. Matador Resources Co. has appointed
from the BP board. He will retire on Monika U. Ehrman to its board of
March 31, 2020. Bernard Looney, Devon Energy Corp. has promoted directors.
currently chief executive, Upstream, David Harris as executive vice pres-
will succeed Dudley as group chief ident of E&P. He will succeed Tony COMPANIES
executive and join the BP board on Vaughn, who has retired after 20
Feb. 5, 2020. years of service. Occidental announced the startup
of the company’s first solar facil-
Nicholas O’Grady has been named Jennifer Maki has been named ity to directly power an EOR field
president of Northern Oil and Gas director of Baytex Energy Corp. operation in the Permian Basin.
Inc., in addition to his current role The company, through its Oxy Low
as CFO. Ben Hunt (left) has been Carbon Ventures subsidiary, has
appointed new global head signed a long-term power purchase
Total has named Jean-Pierre Sbraire of corporate affairs for Sie- agreement for 109 MW of solar
CFO and member of the executive mens Gamesa, and María energy, beginning in 2021, for use
committee. He succeeds Patrick de La Cortina will now lead a strategic proj- in its Permian operations.
Chevardière, who has retired. Helle ect for the company and act as senior
Kristoffersen has been appointed adviser for corporate affairs in Spain. Emerson has established a dedi-
president of strategy and innovation cated organization focused on dig-
and executive committee member. Welaptega, an Ashtead ital transformation technologies
The position was previously held by Technology company, has and programs. The new $650-plus
Philippe Sauquet, who will focus on promoted Tyler de Gier million Digital Transformation
his responsibilities as president of gas, as general manager for its business combines existing exper-
renewables and power. global business. tise in consulting, project execu-
tion, smart sensor technologies,
Encana Corp. has promoted Michael JKX has appointed Charles Val- data management and analytics-–
McAllister to president, Greg Givens ceschini, Tony Alves and Rashid all part of Emerson’s Plantweb dig-
to COO and Brendan McCracken to Javanshir independent nonexecutive ital ecosystem.

94 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


on the
MOVE

MARKETING | SALES | CIRCULATION

ODE has opened a new office in Aber- Subsea 7 acquired 4Subsea, a provider
deen to facilitate further expansion of of technology and services that deliver
its operations and engineering offering, key decision support to oil and gas and
Publisher providing technical and operational offshore wind operators worldwide.
HENRY TINNE support to a number of companies
Tel: 713-260-6478 operating in the North Sea. Hicor Technologies has changed its
[email protected]
name to Reach Production Solutions.
Eaton contributed more than $2 mil- The name change follows the commer-
Vice President of Sales
DARRIN WEST
lion to help San Jacinto College estab- cialization of the company’s artificial
Tel: 713-260-6449 lish its new Center for Petrochemical, lift system and represents the transition
[email protected] Energy & Technology, which held its from a compression technology com-
grand opening on Sept. 18 in Houston. pany to a full-service artificial lift and
Senior Marketing Manager Eaton’s consulting, electrical design ser- frac hit recovery solutions provider.
BILL MILLER vices and equipment donations helped
Tel: 713-260-1067
San Jacinto create a hands-on environ- TGS has acquired Lasser Inc., a pro-
[email protected]
ment and curriculum for students to vider of historical and monthly oil and
Executive Director—Digital Media
study complex energy technologies. gas production data.
DANNY FOSTER
Tel: 713-260-6437 Kongsberg Maritime has expanded its Camber Energy Inc. has acquired
[email protected] Canadian operation by establishing its Lineal Star Holdings LLC as part of
presence at the Centre for Ocean Ven- a merger.
Sales Manager, Eastern Hemisphere tures and Entrepreneurship, in Dart-
DAVID HOGGARTH mouth, Nova Scotia. Proserv announced a significant
Tel: 44 (0) 7930 380782 corporate restructure and has established
Fax: 44 (0) 1276 482806
Hi-Crush Inc. has rebranded as HCR two separate divisions: Proserv Controls
[email protected]
and restructured into four independent and Gilmore, a Proserv company, which
Business Development Representative business units: Hi-Crush, NexStage, will sit under the umbrella of the parent
KELLI MUHL Pronghorn and PropDispatch. company, Proserv Group.
Tel: 713-260-6450
[email protected]
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HartEnergy.com || E&P
E&P| |
Nov.
November
2019 2019 95
last
WORD

A value-chain approach to
reducing emissions
A group of companies is working together to reduce methane emissions across the supply
chain to ensure the sustainability of natural gas.

methane has an impact on greenhouse gas. To reduce


Richard Hyde, ONE Future that impact, ONE Future believes in utilizing a market
and performance-based approach to achieve reduction

T here has been a lot of discussion around decarboniz-


ing the economy, some calling for the end of all fossil
fuel use and instead relying solely on renewable energy
objectives as opposed to a top-down command and con-
trol approach. Coalition members are confident that
by setting a goal and letting companies decide how to
sources. However, America’s economy needs abundant, deploy capital and resources in the most cost-effective
affordable energy to thrive, and as such, all fuel sources and efficient ways, the results show that the goal can be
should be in the mix. Visible market forces, such as the reached and even exceeded.
investment community and large users of natural gas, ONE Future takes a value chain approach to reduce
require its sourcing in a sustainable manner. Market methane. Its members represent all sectors of the
forces, complemented by appropriate environmental natural gas value chain, and in 2014 it established a
standards, should determine how America’s energy goal of reducing methane intensity to 1% by 2025. In
needs are met. Wind, solar and other renewable sources November 2018, the coalition issued its first report
are nowhere near advanced enough to provide all of showing that it had exceeded the goal, achieving a
America’s energy needs. methane intensity level of 0.552% in 2017. The 2018
When the government tries to mandate policies numbers released last month revealed that the coa-
that are of a one-size-fits-all nature, the results seem lition’s methane intensity was recorded at 0.333%
to always have unintended consequences. For exam- showing improvement from the previous year with
ple, the Power Plant and Industrial Fuel Use Act of each segment realizing decreases by varying magni-
1978 prevented the construction of natural gas elec- tudes. Methane intensity, broadly speaking, is calcu-
tric power plants because the industry was “running lated by dividing total methane emissions by produc-
out of natural gas,” yet the U.S. was not even close to tion or throughput. The U.S.’s overall throughput of
that. Look at how market forces and innovation have natural gas increased in 2018, yet methane intensity
transformed the natural gas industry; the industry has decreased by 41%, demonstrating that the natural
sparked a revolution whereby the U.S. is on the cusp of gas industry can supply much-needed power to the
long-awaited energy independence and has achieved country and around the globe in an environmentally
energy dominance as the world’s leading producer of friendly manner.
natural gas. This reduction in methane illustrates that a perfor-
While striving for a zero-carbon economy may sound mance-based approach works. It also indicates that
good, trying to phase out and eliminate the use of reducing methane intensity in the natural gas industry is
natural gas doesn’t. Natural gas has been responsible achievable using today’s technology.
for the American energy resurgence, while at the same Achieving zero carbon emissions requires killing mul-
time reducing its greenhouse-gas emissions. According tiple industries, eliminating millions of jobs, devastating
to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, methane a flourishing American economy and ultimately chang-
emissions from the energy sector decreased 14% from ing our way of life. There is a better way; ONE Future
1990 to 2016, while natural gas output increased by and other like-minded groups are working to ensure
more than 50% during the same period. that natural gas achieves long-term sustainability and
The ONE Future Coalition is a group of natural gas competitiveness in a low carbon economy, which will
companies that have come together to collectively lower allow for continued economic growth while preserving
methane emissions. The coalition believes that science America’s leadership in energy production and reduc-
should drive policy and that science demonstrates tion of emissions.

96 November 2019 | E&P | HartEnergy.com


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