#22 Digital Energy Journal - Janruary 2010

DEJ22final:Layout 1 22/01/2010 11:09 Page 1
Prospects in Brazil,
Angola, Uganda
and Siberia
Getting the most

out of reservoir
software
January 2010 Issue 22
Remote monitoring gas wells

Using IT to manage inventory
Connecting mobiles into your network
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What is the “pull” for

new technology?
David Bamford
Consultant Editor, Digital Energy Journal
Digital Energy Journal tells “stories” about tech- to a style of exploration which is ‘hard’, requiring
nology successes, technology innovations. It is of- clever geological work and integrated geoscience,
ten reactive, able to pick and choose from the in deeper targets, in more remote environments.
January 2010 Issue 22 many “stories” that are out there. Nonetheless, the performance levers that
Another, proactive, approach is to look at oil sub-surface folk have available to them are in-
Digital Energy Journal & gas trends, especially in exploration and pro- creasing their success rate at the same time as re-
213 Marsh Wall, London, E14 9FJ, UK duction, to identify the key ‘pulls’ on technology; ducing the cost of what they do: this is true
Digital Energy Journal is part of Finding Petroleum
it seems important to think about the issue this whether drilling exploration wells in a frontier
www.findingpetroleum.com
www.digitalenergyjournal.com way round – as opposed to identifying “wouldn’t province, development wells in a field that is be-
Tel +44 (0)207 510 4935 it be neat if…….” technologies and ‘pushing’ ing brought onto production or new wells in a cur-
Fax +44 (0)207 510 2344 them into the oil & gas world. rently producing field.
So what might be the key themes for the Ultimately, this is about spending less on
Editor next 12 months, and beyond? drilling, completion and well work, these costs be-
Karl Jeffery
jeffery@d-e-j.com Well, as these are personal views, I should ing the single biggest component (typically 50%
first of all declare my views on energy policy, cli- or more) of any campaign to Find Petroleum.
Consultant editor mate change. Where I am on this is that: There's So there should be enormous ‘pull’ on tech-
David Bamford just no point in denying that burning fossil fuels is nologies that allow us to find the required resource
having an impact on the planet. I was very much with significantly less wells and/or spend signifi-
Technical editor
Keith Forward in the 'old' BP position of "as scientists we should cantly less on any one well.
forward@d-e-j.com accept the evidence and think about how to re- Gas will be an increasingly important glob-
spond". Pretty well as Shell articulate today. al theme, particularly unconventional gas, perhaps
Finding Petroleum London Forums As we see in most of life, we will wait a long especially in Europe, emulating the massive suc-
New places new technologies for Finding
Petroleum conference - London Jan 20-21 time for politicians to do anything sensible. I don't cesses onshore in the USA.
Use of collaborative technologies in oil and gas believe wind and solar will provide more than a For some countries, gas storage will be an
London - London February 16 fraction of the energy we need (tides may be a spe- important sub-theme; the UK is very exposed to
Advances in geophysics - London March 16 cial thing for the UK) and I still find nuclear a bit gas market swings, having only about two weeks’
For further information see
scary [partly because of the above. Imagine if our storage capacity whereas Germany for example
www.findingpetroleum.com
UK Government treated the nuclear industry like has more like 100 days.
Social network they treat the armed forces!]. Staying with a storage theme, the oil and gas
network.findingpetroleum.com So I see little alternative to fossil fuels for industry will also increasingly involve itself in the
the foreseeable future. That said, I'm going to trust storage of CO2, the ‘S’ part of CCS, both with the
Advertising and sponsorship our inventiveness and technology. For example, deployment of enhanced oil recovery schemes that
Alec Egan
Tel +44 (0)203 051 6548 you will perhaps have seen that the US has dis- utilise CO2 and its eventual permanent storage in
aegan@onlymedia.co.uk covered enough gas (which is by far the cleanest fully depleted, rightly abandoned fields.
Digital Energy Journal is a magazine for oil and of the fossil fuels) that somebody as experienced This will fit neatly into a focus on increasing
gas company professionals, geoscientists, engi- as T Boone Pickens thinks they could aim at get- the recovery factor of each and every oil or gas
neers, procurement managers, IT professionals, ting by without 'foreign oil'. field, including developing fields that are currently
commercial managers and regulators, to help I like Carbon Capture and Sequestration if it ‘stranded’, extending the life of mature fields and
you keep up to date with developments with means we can use all that coal without choking resurrecting prematurely abandoned ones.
digital technology in the oil and gas industry. everything and everyone. The common ‘pull’ of these last three para-
So the first question I ask myself is, where graphs is on technologies that improve the quality
Subscriptions: Apply for your free print or elec- are the majors (and larger independents) going to and reliability of our insights as to what is going
tronic subscription to Digital Energy Journal on find new oil & gas resources in the next decade? on in the sub-surface – digital technologies for col-
our website www.d-e-j.com It seems to me that they have two distinct options: laboration, visualisation, building static and dy-
One, building relationships of “mutual ad- namic reservoir descriptions, geophysics – espe-
Cover photo - vantage” with resource-rich governments and cially 3D and 4D seismic, understanding rock
Staff onboard a physics away from well penetrations.
their national oil companies who need help in
Petroleum Geo-
Services vessel bringing their current assets to production and in My guess is that the technology break-
monitor the discovering new ones, for example in Iraq and throughs, the real innovations, that I am looking
acquisition of Russia. IOCs bring finance, “Know How” and for will come from the smaller, more entrepre-
seismic data technology. neurial, players rather than the big battalions who
from the Two, re-engagement with Frontier Explo- are perhaps more interested in incremental im-
instrument
room. See page
ration in, for example, the Arctic, onshore (notably provements to established products – let’s see if
12 in central Africa and East Siberia), and in deep- I’m right!
water, the last handful of unexplored areas.
After a decade of ‘easy’ exploration, in David Bamford is non-executive director of
which relatively young (mainly tertiary) sediments Tullow Oil, and a past head of exploration,
were explored offshore using regional 3D seismic West Africa and geophysics with BP
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Contents
L
Exploration
Exploring off Brazil and Angola
Since South East Brazil used to be attached to what is now Angola, you might expect the geologies in both to be similar. Neil McMahon,
senior analyst with Bernstein Research gave his views at the recent Finding Petroleum forum (Oct 20, 2009) about the potential 4
Tullow - success in Uganda
Tullow Oil and its partners have found oil in the Albert Rift of Western Uganda - but still faces the challenge of what to do with it - the
oil is too thick to pump without heating, and the well is 1200km from the coast 6
Reservoir software – false sense of confidence?
Reservoir simulation software can easily give people a false sense of confidence while it takes them up a blind alley, says Luiz Amado,
senior reservoir engineer with Petrobras America. It is very important to have reservoir engineering training 8
Integra – Western exploration technology in difficult places
Moscow based oilfield services company Integra has an interesting business model - applying Western exploration technology in
difficult parts of the world, including Siberia and Kazakhstan 10
Improved marine seismic streamer technology
PGS has developed a new streamer technology using particle velocity sensors as well as conventional pressure sensors, which promises
to greatly improve seismic image resolution, Tom Ziegler told the Finding Petroleum conference 13
Production
PPDM, Energistics and RFID consortium
The Oracle oil and gas OpenWorld event brought together representatives of oil and gas standards bodies PPDM, Energistics and the
RFID consortium, to see how the different standards fit together 14
Weatherford – minimizing inventory costs
Oil services giant Weatherford recently embarked on a project to try to reduce the amount of capital it has tied up in inventory
(storage) 16
Optimising gas wells with remote monitoring
Calgary oil and gas data management company Zedi helped a oil and gas operator
in Southeast Alberta (Canada) to get a much better understanding of how to
optimise production on its 2,500 shallow gas wells – using a fleet of portable flow
measurement systems 17
GE Oil and Gas - new UK support centres
GE Oil and Gas has opened new facilities in the UK for refurbishing control systems
and remote monitoring and diagnostics of subsea equipment 18
How virtual collaborative environments can save $120m
Cap Gemini recently put together two “proof of concept” projects with virtual
collaborative environments for oil companies – and one of them estimated that it
could lead to savings of $120m 19
Software for pipeline networks
Californina company CygNet believes that long distance gas pipeline operators could update their operations software much faster, if
it was available off the shelf rather than custom built – and they have created a product to do it 22
People and the digital oilfield
Unlike many “re-engineering”, or “slash and burn” industry initiatives, the digital oilfield promises to empower people and improve their
working lives. But it only works if people take people management seriously – not discounting it as ‘soft stuff’ which will take care of
itself, writes Dutch Holland 23
Connecting mobiles to the network
Virginia (US) company Reality Mobile has won $6.5m venture capital investment from Energy Ventures, Chevron Technology Partners
and the Dobson Partnership to enable remote workers to gain access to video, data and remote expertise via their mobile phones 24
January 2010 - digital energy journal 3

Exploration
Exploring off Brazil and Angola

Since South East Brazil used to be attached to what is now Angola, you might expect the geologies in
both to be similar. Neil McMahon, senior analyst with Bernstein Research gave his views at the recent
Finding Petroleum forum (Oct 20, 2009) about the potential.
There have been many exciting recent dis- Bahamas Western Sahara
(Occupied by Morocco)
Libya
coveries in the Santos Basin, offshore Brazil,

Cuba Mali
including Tupi and Guara (June 2008). Jamaica Dom.
Puerto
Rico Mauritania
e Haiti
Considering that the land which is now uras
Rep. Cape Verde
Senegal
Niger Chad
Nicaragua Gambia
Southern Angola and Namibia used to be at- Panama Trinidad & Tobago
Guinea-Bissau
Guinea
Burkina Faso
Benin
Nigeria
tached to South East Brazil, you might ex- Rica
Venezuela
Sierra
Leone
Liberia
Cote d'Ivoire Ghana
Togo
Central Africa Republic
pect the geologies, and oil potential, in both Colombia Guyana

Suriname French
Guiana
Equatorial Guinea
Cameroon
regions to be similar. Ecuador Gabon

Congo
Neil McMahon, a senior analyst with Dem. Republ

of Congo
Bernstein Research, a company which serves
Peru B r a z i l
Wall Street and the City of London investors
Angola
and banks, believes both regions have poten-
tial, but also big differences. Bolivia
Namibia
One of the reasons for the large discov- Paraguay
Botswa
Chile
eries on the Brazilian side is the very thick Tupi area
continuous layer of salt, which has served to
South Afric
keep a lot of the oil in place. This means that Uruguay
the potential on the Brazilian side could be Argentina
higher. This is not the case on the Angolan

side.
South East Brazil and Angola used to be attached to each other. Considering the recent large oil
However there is plenty more discov- finds off Brazil, could there be something similar in Angola? Not so fast, says Neil McMahon of
ery to be done. All of these areas are rela- Bernstein Research
tively unexplored. “So little is known about
presalt in the South Atlantic,” he said. er companies. It will also help to steady a Geology
Companies are not very keen about price for ownership of oil reserves. The price On the Brazilian side, the geology is charac-
sharing what the knowledge they have. is currently around $4 a barrel for reserves terized by a very large, thick salt layer, which
“People are very nervous about releas- and may increase to $6. has stopped a lot of the oil from running away.
ing any data whatsoever on the presalt.” Developing the Brazilian oilfields The theory is that there was, for a peri-
Bernstein Research aims to mix togeth- could take a lot of time, particularly because od, a large lake from the Santos to the Cam-
er a certain level of geological skill with fi- of all the associated infrastructure which is pos basins on the Brazilian coast, as it split
nancial skill, to try to assess whether com- needed. apart from what is now West Africa – which
panies are likely to meet exploration success The next question is how Petrobras will means that much of the geology along the
and make a judgment on their progress, to raise the money to develop it. coast is homogenous.
provide advice to investors, based on pub- “Over the next 5 years, we think Petro- “There’s a pretty homogenous set of
licly available data. bras’ spending plans will call for $194bn to well results which indicates that the carbon-
be spent in Brazil and a bit overseas. We’re ate reservoir is pretty much the same type
Brazil talking enormous amounts of money,” he over most of the area,” he said.
In Brazil, there have been some enormously said. The reservoir rock is mainly stromato-
productive test wells, such as Guara, which “We believe that Petrobras could ask lites for hundreds of kilometers.
which tested 50,000 barrels of oil per day. the market for $50bn to buy some of these “In pretty much all of the wells drilled
However Bernstein expects most future reserves.” so far in the Brazilian pre-salt you see this
wells in Brazil to be more like 15,000 to There have been concerns about the unique reservoir rock. There aren’t many ana-
25,000 bopd, which is still enough to make carbon dioxide content of some of the logues of this around the world,” he said.
money as the oil price rises. Brazilian fields. Companies are not stating There are a number of faults in the rock,
Bernstein calculates that an oil price of explicitly how much the carbon dioxide con- which affects the current location of oil (be-
$70 a barrel will give a return of over $5 a tent is, but they are mentioning it as one of cause they may have allowed oil to leak away
barrel in the Tupi field, one of the largest the biggest technical challenges. over time). Many of the rocks have a second-
fields in the Santos Basin. Smaller oil fields This might mean there are concerns ary porosity figure (a second porosity system)
will need a higher oil price to be viable. about both whether the carbon dioxide has due to the fracturing.
There could be a lot of gas production, changed the reservoir properties, and also if
which will be very useful for Brazil, which it might be possible to re-inject it into the Petrobras and seismic
is increasing its gas demand, he said. reservoir. Doing seismic surveys under a thick salt lay-
There will be a new licensing round in If there is a lot of carbon dioxide it will er is very challenging. However “it seems that
Brazil in 2010, which will lead to further need to be either re-injected into the reser- Petrobras has a reasonable handle on this,” he
blocks being allocated to Petrobras and oth- voir or processed on shore. said.
4 digital energy journal - January 2010

Exploration
Mr McMahon believes that there is a Technology
good argument that Petrobras has a much bet- One warning is that technology developed to
ter understanding of the seismic than other explore the subsalt of the Gulf of Mexico
companies, because they control a lot of the might not be so useful offshore Brazil because
production, and can use their data from the the salt structures are different.
wells to understand the seismic better. “It is “In Santos basin you’ve got miles of
so essential to tie the wells to the seismic da- salt. In the Gulf of Mexico the salt is patchy
ta,” he said. and has really mashed the rocks around sig-
“They’re in absolutely every presalt well nificantly.”
– that gives them the potential of developing “A lot of companies feel they have real- “I believe a lot of companies are still playing
a really good velocity model all the way along ly great seismic technology – but frankly I’m catch-up with trying to understand all the
the margin – which is very critical when you not sure if the technology is suitable for pre- seismic bits of pieces in Brazil.” - Neil
look at some of these structural lineaments,” salt in the South Atlantic,” he said. “I don’t McMahon, senior analyst with Bernstein
he says. “It helps you understand where the know if that’s completely transferrable. Research, addressing a packed Finding
Petroleum London forum
secondary porosity could be. “You could be in for quite a shock.
“I get the sense that because they’ve got You’re dealing with (a) carbonates and (b) a
the data they know more than anybody else.” huge salt section.” they think they can apply their understanding
“I believe a lot of companies are still of oilfields offshore Brazil to offshore Ango-
playing catch-up with trying to understand all Africa la. “It makes you think they are taking their
the seismic bits of pieces in Brazil.” Looking across the South Atlantic to Angola, knowledge base and trying to make the most
The seismic data is getting good enough the geology is a bit different – there is no thick of their proprietary knowledge,” he said.
to do attribute analysis (generating a range of blanket of salt, which served to hold in the oil Bernstein Research does not believe the
different data about the rock properties, not on the Brazilian side. potential on the African side is likely to be as
just the rock structure), he said. Companies So far, people have tried to look for oil big as the Brazilian side. “We’ve sort of nar-
are also defining three separate layers of car- by drilling around the salt, but there have not rowed it down and said, there is potential on
bonate rock under the salt. been many attempts to drill through the salt the African side – but it’s mainly Southern
“Companies feel, really only now, and see what is underneath it. Angola and a little bit down towards Namibia
they’ve got a good velocity model and a good Petrobras has been buying a lot of – but not of the same magnitude as you see in
handle on that.” acreage offshore Angola, possibly because the Santos and Campos basin,” he said.
Tullow - success in Uganda

Tullow Oil and its partners have found oil in the Albert Rift of Western Uganda - but still faces the
challenge of what to do with it - the oil is too thick to pump without heating, and the well is 1200km from
the coast.
By the end of 2004, three companies, Her- The discoveries are claimed to be po- to keep the crude oil within the country, ei-
itage Oil, Hardman Resources and Energy tentially Africa’s largest onshore discoveries ther burning it to make electricity (taking it
Africa had spent nearly 5 years exploring for since the discovery of the Rabi-Kounga in to a power station by trucking), or refining it
oil in Blocks 2 and 3 in the Albert Rift in Gabon in 1985. within the country to make gasoline for ve-
Uganda without success, and were ready to However, Uganda is not yet an oil pro- hicles. The in-country refining option is be-
think of pulling out of the country, said Paul ducing country as ways forward for oil pro- ing considered but this is a long term project
Burden, geoscientist with Tullow Oil, speak- duction, utilization, export and/or refining – there is no firm plan for a refinery in Ugan-
ing at the October 20th Finding Petroleum are still being explored by the active compa- da at this time.
forum in London. nies namely Heritage and Tullow, and the
However, Hardman and Energy Africa, Ugandan authorities. Background
partners in Block 2, had further well com- The oil has a pore point of 36 to 39 °C Energy Africa (now Tullow) had originally
mitments – two wells, Mputa-1 and Waraga- (97-102 °Fahrenheit) – which means that it decided to look at Uganda after a chat be-
1 were drilled in the Kaiso-Tonya area in needs to be heated before it will flow. There- tween Mr Burden and a former colleague
Block 2 and both were promising oil discov- fore, export to a coastal port would require a who was then working for Heritage Oil. Mr
eries. Shortly after this Tullow Oil acquired very expensive heated 1200km pipeline Burden said “at the time my thoughts were,
first Energy Africa and then Hardman Re- through mountainous regions and two differ- we go on Safari in East Africa but we don’t
sources. ent countries (Uganda and Kenya), includ- look for oil there. However, when we attend-
During the last 2 years (2007 to 2009), ing a 200 meter vertical rise to get the out of ed the Heritage data room, we found that all
Tullow (50%) and Heritage Oil (50%) in the Albert Rift valley. the fundamentals of an oil basin were there
Blocks 3a and Block 1 and Tullow (100%) An alternative to heating is to inject and we decided to give it a shot.”
in Block 2 have drilled a further 22 wells in chemicals into the oil to reduce the pore The rift area had 52 known oil seeps,
the rift valley, only one of these was a dry point, but it appears to be the more expen- with tales of oil seeping out of the ground in
well. Tullow is currently spends over $200m sive option, Mr Burden said. the folklore of the local people, going back
a year on drilling in this area. The Ugandan government is very keen more than a hundred years.

Exploration
At certain points in the Vic-
ButiabaDiscoveries
Oilseeps
Ngassa
toria Nile River, which runs into
the North of Lake Albert, you can 3 KaisoͲTonyaDiscoveries
KingfisherDiscovery

“see little droplets of oil that
burst on the surface of the river 1
where the river crosscuts a major
4
fault,” he said. This is known as
2
the Paraa Oil Seep. There are al-
so many rock outcrops where you
can see oil impregnated sand- 3DSeismic

stones.
Ug a
Oil seeps alone are not di- nda

AlluvialFan
Blocks I & II, DRC
rect evidence of good sized oil secured subject to DR C
presidental decree
accumulations in the subsurface.
“Questions still remained, how Lowsinuositychannels

much had been generated and
was the basin totally leaky,” he Semiliki
said. This was later to be inves- RiftScarp
Delta
tigated by drilling.
The first serious study of oil
Finding oil in Uganda - Lake Albert Rift Basin Viewed from the Southwest
potential in this area was made in
1925 by E J Wayland (Geologi-
cal survey of Uganda), who documented all a 200m high escarpment with limited road liable roads into the rift valley,” he said.
of the petroleum occurrences and all the pos- access. Drilling on Lake Albert is technically
sible reservoir occurrences that occurred at To acquire seismic over the lake, the feasible because the water is shallow enough
outcrops around the rift. companies initially decided to work with (most of the lake is less than 40m deep).
Syracuse University (New York State) which However, drilling on some other western
Regional had already acquired some seismic in other arm rift lakes, for example, Lake Tanganyi-
The Albert Rift is about 250km long by rift lakes in East Africa. However, more so- ka is far more challenging and “a different
70km wide. Much of it is covered by Lake phisticated recording equipment was needed story altogether,” he said due to water depths
Albert, which is 50km wide by 150km long. for deeper imaging and this proved to be too of up to 1200m.
The basin forms part of the western arm heavy for the Syracuse owned vessel. “The Extended reach drilling (reaching oil-
of the East African Rift system which runs boat was launched and it virtually sunk – it fields under the lake with horizontal wells
from the Red Sea in the north to Mozam- had less than a foot of freeboard [distance from shore) would be challenging because
bique in the south. between the vessel’s deck and the water]. of the soft, unconsolidated rock formations,
The Western arm includes a number of They had to turn around and come back to “wells tend to collapse if they are anything
large lakes including Lakes Tanganyika and the shore,” he said. other than vertical”, he said.
Malawi whilst the Eastern arm has many A larger fishing trawler was eventually “We have had numerous well collaps-
smaller lakes such as Lake Natron. Compa- found in nearby Lake Victoria and transport- es,” he said. “Anything above 20 degrees,
nies formerly active in exploration in the ed by road to the shores of Lake Albert, a has a very good chance of collapsing. The
area include Anglo Persian oil in the 1920s, difficult journey with a mountain range and only way to drill wells reliably in these for-
Petrofina in the early 1990s. 200m rift escarpment to cross. mations is to drill vertically and even some
Drilling in the area was a great chal- of the vertical wells have had enormous
Exploration challenges lenge. To get the heavy equipment for wash-outs.”
Exploring for oil and gas in the region was drilling down into the valley, the companies “We have to run our casing strings into
challenging – not least because most of the had to arrange for 3 road refurbishments. the wells as rapidly as possible before possi-
basin is largely covered by a lake, and be- “That took a lot of time and a lot of work ble collapse, we have even thought about the
cause the area is remote and surrounded by with the government. Now we have three re- option of drilling with casing.”
Finding Petroleum London Forums 2010

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see www.findingpetroleum.com
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• Collaborative technologies - Feb 16 • Marginal fields and field re-development
• Advances in geophysics and subsurface - September
description - March 16 • Carbon storage - October
• Gas and unconventional gas - April 27 • Predicting future oil supply - November
• Deepwater - May 26 • Digital energy technology - December
• Russia - June
Exploration
Reservoir software – false sense of

confidence?
Reservoir simulation software can easily give people a false sense of confidence while it takes them up a
blind alley, says Luiz Amado, senior reservoir engineer with Petrobras America. It is very important to have
reservoir engineering training.
“If you are familiar with reservoir engineer- Volumes to value

ing software, you go to these places and see Mr. Amado has been working on improving
huge software, with nice screens and you Petrobras’ methods of assessing how much
think you can model anything,” says Luiz its reserves are worth – or how much it could
Amado, senior reservoir engineer with earn from them – in a process the company
Petrobras America. “Once you have the da- calls “volumes to value”.
ta and you work with that software you see The process includes working out how
how important you are.” many wells would be needed to develop a
“But the software will suggest several field, what kind of production facility would
avenues that may have no connection with be required, what production levels are an-
reality. It is very important to have reservoir ticipated, what the overall capital costs and
engineering training,” he warns. operating costs will be, and put that together
“Sometimes the software will lead you with the oil and gas price.
in one direction, and if you are not smart Petrobras uses different uncertainty
enough to notice what is wrong, you let the analysis tools, such as Montecarlo simula-
software guide you,” he says. “Although the tors, to run many different models of what
software has nice features, be careful.” might happen, and end up with an idea of the
There is a risk of letting the software P10 and P90 (level which is 10 per cent like-
take too much control, trying to tell the users ly to be exceeded / level which is 90 per cent
what to do, or suggesting what kind of rocks likely to be exceeded).
they are looking at. “It will tell you what The next stage is to put together differ-
you want to hear,” he says. ent scenarios – e.g. a low end, mid range and "Sometimes the software will lead you in one
direction, and if you are not smart enough to
“It should be the opposite. The software high end – and run the economics for each
notice what is wrong, you let the software
is the tool to help you with your knowledge. of them. “You can see if your project will be guide you" - Luiz Amado, senior reservoir
You guide the software not vice versa.” economic for all the case, or maybe just the engineer with Petrobras America
“It is important that the team is in con- p10 case,” he says.
trol and they try to use the software to mod- Both the surface and subsurface have a voir can get crushed by the rock above –
el and achieve the results.” lot of unknown parameters at the start of the leading to reductions in the permeability and
“The human being is behind all of these project – but the subsurface is particularly porosity of the rock. This makes it much
techniques, and even seismic requires a lot hard to predict, with big unknowns includ- harder for any remaining fluid to find its way
of creative and human interpretation.” ing the size of the reservoir, the quality of through the reservoir into the wells.
“I believe good software is important, the oil (whether it is light or heavy), produc- “This is something relatively new to
but it is important that the human being that tion rates, whether the reservoir will com- predict. You really don’t know how big this
is manipulating the software has a good pact over time and how fluid properties will reduction will be with production, what or-
knowledge and good training towards that change over time. der of magnitude it will be. This will have a
particular software, otherwise you will have “Until you have the first production big effect on well rates and field produc-
mistakes.” everything is an estimate based on geologi- tion,” he says.
“Sometimes what you think is good cal models: simulation models that you ex- With good reservoir models, it might be
software is so complicated for the user, and pect to produce at a given rate, but you are possible to implement a better reservoir
it may misguide the user.” really not sure,” he says. management strategy, to restrict field pro-
It is important to have software which duction rates to get a reduced level of com-
can be used by a number of different people, Compaction paction, he says.
not just one individual, he says. “With three A major focus is improving the computer “This may reduce the field economics,
or four people using the same software, they models to predict compaction and find good however if the conditions are favorable one
can see things that one person cannot see.” ways to reduce it. may inject water to keep reservoir pressure
Petrobras is using the standard industry Compaction is the compressing of a and stimulate the wells regularly to keep up
reservoir simulation software packages, he reservoir by the rock above it, as the reser- productivity.”
says. voir is produced. “We have a good research program in
Mr Amado has experience with a num- Reservoirs are under a lot of pressure place with universities and research centres
ber of different software packages. “You find from the rock above them, some of which is to help model compaction,” he says.
out that they all give about the same results,” held by the fluids within them. “We use geomechanical models, geo-
he says. As these fluids are removed, the reser- logical models, characterization studies in

Exploration
order to describe the rock in microscopic
scale and macro scale. So we will improve
the models and consequently the forecasts.”
Compaction can be measured directly
if you have sidewall drilling cores from the
reservoir, which can be analysed for com-
pressibility. If the compressibility of rocks
changes, it might indicate that the reservoir
is being compacted.
Alternatively you can test for perme-
ability in well tests. “If you do well tests,
with time and during the time this well test
give you an expectation that your permeabil-
ity has deteriorated, or is smaller than it was
a year ago – because permeability usually
does not decrease with time – you have a
rock that is being compacted,” he says.
Fluid properties
Another area of focus is getting a better un-
derstanding of how fluid properties can Reservoir models: do they make people forget they are looking at a model, not the actual thing?
change during the life of the reservoir.
Sometimes gas fields can gradually
switch to producing more and more conden- “Sometimes through a partnership you
sate. “The gas composition will change with get information about wells in the area and Dr Amado is a Senior Reservoir Engineer
time,” he says. then you can tie your seismic to the well in- at Petrobras America in Houston, Texas.
Other wells gradually switch from oil formation,” he says. He has over 15 years of experience in
production to gas production, or oil with “This is the true key information that Reservoir Engineering in Exploration and
more gas in solution. “The fluid will have you need: the well and the seismic. You can Development Projects in GOM, Southern
completely different properties.” start this into your model. North Sea (UK) and West Africa.
If you have solids precipitating out of a Once you have an exploratory well, it Previously he worked for Shell EP
liquid (e.g. paraffins) it can block flowlines is important to have a good program of log- international and Schlumberger Geoquest
from a reservoir to the surface. “It doesn’t ging and fluid sampling. “This additional in- Reservoir Technologies, where he had as-
help if you have a good reservoir but your formation is the raw material for building signments in Mexico, UK, Brazil and
flow line is obstructed,” he says. any kind of model,” he says. USA.
Making predictions gets easier if you “It is important that you have a good He has participated in several com-
have good fluid samples to analyse. “It is monitoring in place once you are on-stream mittees for the SPE, chairing technical
something that is really difficult to model if - good pressure devices and rate devices - sessions, coordinating conference com-
you don’t get enough fluids to model up- that can give you reliable data once you are mittees and working as a Technical Edi-
front,” he says. in production,” he says. tor of the SPE Reservoir Engineering and
Reservoir models start basic and im- Evaluation Journal.
Seismic prove over time. “You always have a mini- Amado holds a PhD from Universi-
“The initial building block of any reservoir mum amount of information (to begin ty of Leoben in Austria and MSc from
model is still seismic + geology. Seismic ba- with),” he says. “You have the maps, you Unicamp in Brazil, both in
sically defines your framework together with have the analogue fields (comparison) where Petroleum/Reservoir Engineering.
information coming from wells or regional you believe will provide some kind of infor- Amado has worked as a consultant
geology if there are no wells,” he says. “It mation to new fields.” for CSIRO in Australia for the Genesis
gives you an idea of the horizons that you “Then you create a first pass model and 2000 project and was an associate profes-
need to be modeled and the area and the use this model for initial assessment. As you sor at State University of North Flumi-
thickness of your formations. From the seis- go further down the road with exploration nense, in Macae, Campos Basin, Brazil.
mic and information provided by the geolo- and you get more information, you update He is also the author of the book
gists you build your maps and that’s it.” the models accordingly.” Working Guide to Reservoir Exploration
“Good seismic is crucial to start off “It’s a good practice to start with some and Appraisal to be published by Elsevier
with,” he says. “You need a good program models upfront – although they may not be next year.
of how you are going to acquire data.” so refined models.”
Sometimes it is necessary to reprocess “When you run these models and they
seismic several times to try to see what you can help you understand things like com- Disclaimer: information and materials
need. “It’s very complex,” he says. paction.” presented are provided to you for infor-
Validating seismic is very important; “As you proceed further down the road, mational purposes only. They are solemn-
from exploratory wells, wells you have al- you will narrow that, you will focus more on ly the author's opinion and does not nec-
ready drilled, or wells drilled by other peo- a particular range. Then you can throw away essarily reflect any position of Petrobras,
ple who are willing to share their well log some of the early models.” its officers, or employees.
data.

Exploration
Integra – Western exploration

technology in difficult places
Moscow based oilfield services company Integra has an interesting business model - applying Western
exploration technology in difficult parts of the world, including Siberia and Kazakhstan.
www.integra.ru/eng
Moscow based Integra Group is building up

an interesting business – providing Western
oil and gas exploration and production tech-
nology in difficult parts of the world, includ-
ing East and West Siberia and the Yamal
Peninsula (Russia) and Kazakhstan.
The company does not claim today to
be able to match standards with Western oil-
field service companies on issues such as
health and safety, technology or performance
– it aims to provide a good level of perform-
ance and go to parts of the world which are
more difficult to work in.
Chris Einchcomb, executive vice presi-
dent - geophysics of Integra Group, previ-
ously vice president for exploration and seis-
mic at the TNK / BP joint venture, says that
reaching any of Integra’s operations in West
Siberia can take 2-3 days travel from
Moscow. It is impossible to do much in
Siberia in the summer because most of it
Integra specialises in taking Western technology, like these Vibroseis trucks, to difficult parts of
turns into a swamp. In the winter, the ground the world
is frozen.
Another difficulty of doing business in
Russia is the fact that many good contracts
go to government owned companies – you you increase density rather than try to in- “You find there is not only a lack of
don’t necessarily compete on the basis of crease energy in the ground you get the same commitment from the industry as a whole,
your company’s performance. result,” he said. but also a lack of commitment from manage-
You can find yourself competing “Kazakhstan has got 3 supergiant fields ment to make a change.”
against companies quoting much lower in the infancy – so Kazakhstan as a major oil There is a big difference in the perform-
prices, but which have technology and safe- producer will expand for many years to ance of the different companies.
ty performance which is nowhere near as come,” he says. “You have state run companies with no
good, he said. Integra is keen to build up business in HSE, but who get preferential access to the
Altogether, the company provides a full Kurdistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and contracts,” he said.
range of integrated oilfield services, drilling, India. Mr Einchcomb introduced a company
manufacturing and seismic. It grew from ac- “If you look at Turkmenistan and policy that meetings should be started with a
quisitions of 17 companies and had a $1.5bn Uzbekistan – especially for gas - there’s a lot discussion of any accidents which have oc-
turnover in 2008. of growth and some supergiant fields yet to curred. “This has had a dramatic effect,” he
Integra has its own depth imaging soft- be developed.” said.
ware, which is being used by StatoilHydro. “We’ve had zero fatalities this year –
“We are working with them to use it as an Safety that might not sound like an awful lot but for
R+D project to develop it as their in-house “There is no doubt HSE in Russia is poor,” me that’s a difference of 8 people still work-
technology for depth migration,” he said. he said. ing that would have died last year.”
Its biggest client in 2009 is in Kaza- One of the reasons Mr Einchcomb was “We’ve got a long way to go in reduc-
khstan, where it covered 900km2 with 3D brought into Integra was to try to improve ing the accident frequency rate. But we’ve
seismic in under 6 months, using 19,000 its safety record. The previous winter season seen that drop by 50 per cent.”
channels, with up to 10 vibrators simultane- the company had seen 12 fatalities. “The big thing in Russia is, we have a
ously. 276,000 shot points were acquired in “Russia policies and procedures in HSE lot of staff turnover. We’re very seasonal.
just over 5 months. are better than the West. They are very clear. Each time you have to come in and educate
“That’s just taking equipment that is The only problem is that no-one ever follows people again,” he said.
standard in the West, showing a client that if them,” he said. “Most of the people that work on the

SPE Intelligent Energy

Delivering Value – Creating Opportunities
Conference & Exhibition 23–25 March
Jaarbeurs Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands
HIGHLIGHTS
• Record number of submissions SPE Intelligent Energy provides the Oil & Gas E&P
– 331 from 120 companies industry with a platform to debate fully integrated
• 139 technical papers operations and the issues of people, process and
• 18 Technical sessions change management in a collaborative conference
• 3 Plenary sessions and exhibition environment.
Confirmed Plenary Speakers for 2010

Andy G Inglis, Chief Executive Officer, BP Exploration & Production
Jon Rigby (Moderator), Managing Director, UBS European Oil and Gas Research
Andrew Gould, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Schlumberger
Amin H. Nasser, Senior Vice President, Exploration & Producing, Saudi Aramco
Pieter Kapteijn (Moderator), Director Technology and Innovation Maersk Oil and Gas AS
Timothy Probert, President, D&E and Corporate Development, Halliburton
Ashok Belani, Chief Technology Officer, Schlumberger
Margareth Øvrum, Executive Vice President, Technology and New Energy, StatoilHydro
Samer AlAshgar, Manager EXPEC Advanced, Research Center Saudi Aramco
Melody Meyer, President, Chevron Energy Technology Company
John Brantley, General Manager for Chemicals and Petroleum, IBM
Denis Lemarchal, Director of Block17, Total
Bernard Looney, Managing Director, BP North Sea
Gerbert Schoonman, Asset Manager – East (EM), Brunei Shell Petroleum Co Sdn Bhd
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Exploration
lines, laying out geophones and cutting lines, rels a day, compared to say 50,000 barrels a tion in Russia is that you can only do sur-
are all people who just came in off the street. day for a big well in other parts of the world. veys during winter in much of the country.
Most of them are just interested in making In winter, the Yamal Pensinsula is a
money and sending it back to their families Technology in Russia fantastic place to do seismic acquisition, he
because that’s the way they survive. When implementing new technology in Rus- said. “You can drive the Vibroseis anywhere
“Getting them to understand what it sia you commonly find that people are open you want as long as the lakes are frozen and
means to have zero accidents is still a big to the idea of buying new technology – but the snow cover is really good,” he said.
challenge. But we’re getting there.” not so good at working out how to do things. “There are flat barren areas with no trees.”
“When I joined Integra they decided But in the summer, it all gets swampy.
Russian exploration potential they wanted to do helicopter operations. To add to the difficulty, In the Uvat re-
Mr Einchcomb is very excited by the poten- They bought 2 helicopters. But no-one told gion, 70 to 80 per cent of land is covered by
tial for oil and gas exploration in Russia. them how to project plan with helicopters or forest, with trees up to 80cm thick, which all
“There’s no doubt if anyone wants to move equipment with helicopters.” need to be cut by hand. There are dead trees
be in the oil industry, Russia is a great op- The people can be stubborn and want everywhere. “It is very labour intensive,” he
portunity, with vast areas virtually unex- to do things the way they have always done said.
plored,” he said. “If you want to be in the oil them. “There are real barriers to try to break “You have to have crews equipped to
industry as an explorer I think being in the down,” he said. cover every kind of condition,” he said. “A
region is critical.” The only way to do it is by talking to single crew will have to cover everything
Some Russian oilfields are still only 60 people on an intellectual level and explain- from hard ground to swamp areas where they
to 70 per cent covered with seismic. ing that other ideas might be better. “You can utilize something lighter – to on lakes
Russia is now the world’s largest oil have to give them space to open up to using which are frozen.”
and gas producer. But this isn’t due to any new technology rather than seeing it as a Operations typically start in December,
recent exploration success - most of the new threat to their existence.” but it takes some time to reach a good speed.
oil production is fields which have been However education levels can be high. Then there is a holiday break. “By March-
known about for many years. There are many geophysicists with 40 years April they’re functioning at 100 per cent ca-
A number of East Siberian fields dis- experience. “That counts for something,” he pacity,” he said. “They take 4 months to get
covered in 1960s are only being developed said. “It’s one of the best educated coun- themselves organized.”
now, as the Trans Siberian Pacific Pipeline tries.” It is possible to speed things up – for
has been built. Another West Siberian field Western companies also find that tech- example, by doing tree cutting during the
had original drilling made in the 1970s, but nologies developed in the West don’t always summer – but that has been delayed due to
is only going into full field production now, work in Russia. For example, many new economic difficulties.
he said. seismic technologies are designed for getting “We improved productivity by 20 per
“Seismic as a tool is still not being used detailed information about a small area of cent this year just by getting them really fo-
to its full effect in Russia,” he says. “People land, and not so suitable for getting an cused – and getting topography (tree cutting)
are looking for structural highs – but there’s overview about vast areas, which is what is crews integrated with drilling crews,” he
no qualitative or quantitative analysis.” required in Siberia. said.
“Here is a great opportunity to look in- Wireless seismic technology is very One of the failings of previous regimes
to the market and promote seismic in an area difficult to use because of the temperatures was that they thought the same sort of equip-
which has an awful lot of growth.” involved. “Wireless seismic at -40 degrees ment should work everywhere in Russia, in-
“The technology that we’re using in the C is yet to be proven in terms of battery life,” cluding the tundra, steppes and swamps.
West is still not being used in Russia.” he said. “No-one realized that the ground conditions
TNK-BP’s efforts with seismic paid The Russian industry is starting to take a lot of different technology,” he said.
off, he said. “TNK-BP had success rates of catch up with the West in terms of channel
90 per cent when drilling for small subtle technology and density of data. Seismic siloisation
reefs and closures, after it had done 3D seis- “We’ve seen a 40 per cent increase over A common problem with working with seis-
mic surveys, he said. the last 4 years in terms of the number of mic data is the ‘siloisation’ between differ-
However getting a rough idea of the en- channels clients require,” he said. “We have ent departments for acquiring, processing
tire region using regional seismic “is not deployed up to 19,000 channels on one par- and interpreting data.
something you can do,” he said. “To shoot ticular project. Whereas most projects before Commonly, seismic acquisition compa-
one line will probably take you a whole sea- were only employing about 2,000 channels. nies acquire, process and interpret data, giv-
son.” There has been a gradual shift from dy- ing it to oil companies with a list of well lo-
The reservoirs in East Siberia are often namite to Vibroseis, as a source for seismic cations. Oil companies drill in the marked
very complex with many different types of energy. locations and then the two groups have a big
rock. “The reservoir is only 50ms thick and “West Siberia was all dynamite tech- row when they don’t find oil.
it’s got enormous variability within it,” he nology. As we’ve moved up to Yamal, it’s all TNK-BP adopted a different strategy -
said. “With 100 wells you can’t fully under- Vibroseis. The same thing is happening in outsourcing seismic acquisition and process-
stand the distribution of the reservoir.” Kazakhstan. It’s more efficient,” he said. ing, but doing its own interpretation to en-
Much of the oil and gas business focus “In terms of being able to cover the vast sure that the company really understood it.
in Russia is on drilling, rather than geo- areas they are talking about, Vibroseis is by Integra is keen to be able to offer a
physics. far the most effective.” complete service to oil companies where it
This is perhaps not surprising when you starts by asking “what are you trying to im-
consider that it is rare for an individual well Short seasons age on the subsurface,” and ends by giving
in Siberia to produce more than 1,000 bar- An additional problem with seismic acquisi- the client an earth model, he said.

Exploration
Improved marine seismic streamer

technology
PGS has developed a new streamer technology using particle velocity sensors as well as conventional
pressure sensors, which promises to greatly improve seismic image resolution, Tom Ziegler told the
Finding Petroleum conference.
Oslo seismic survey company Petroleum
Geo-Services (PGS) has developed a way to
use velocity / motion sensors together with
the conventional pressure sensors (hy-
drophones) in streamers towed behind their
vessels, to generate data which can lead to a
massively improved seismic image, Tom
Ziegler, head of MulticCient, told the Find-
ing Petroleum conference on October 20th.
The company does not claim that the
idea is new, but what is new is managing to
implement it - and overcome engineering
challenges. There have been many experi-
ments to date using velocity / motion sensors
towed behind vessels, but they didn’t work
because too much noise was generated by
the towing in the water.
Now, after extensive testing and going
through several generations of the device, Analysing GeoStreamer seismic data
PGS has developed a system which works,
as demonstrated on numerous 2D and 3D
surveys acquired and processed for more inate the ghost reflection from the sea-sur- ity field, the notches are removed after the
than 25 global operators. face. combination of the two measurements.
Particle velocity and pressure are two The towing depth of a seismic streamer The resulting spectrum is flat and
complementary characteristics of the seismic controls the frequency spectrum. Since the broadband and enables the user to optimize
wavefield. The dual sensor technology over- peaks and notches in the frequency spectrum the data quality, not just for one target depth,
comes the bandwidth constraint of conven- for the pressure field are exactly opposite to but for all depths - shallow to deep. This al-
tional seismic data, due to its ability to elim- the peaks and notches for the particle veloc- so means that the streamer can be towed
deep – 15 to 25m below sea surface – where
there is much less wave noise than at the
conventional 6-10m tow depth.
This means that the acquired data are
significantly cleaner and that the vessel can
continue operations in weather where others
have to shut down.
PGS has four 2D seismic survey ves-
sels and two 3D vessels fitted with the new
GeoStreamer technology; it will equip a fur-
ther 3 high capacity Ramform 3D vessels
during 2010 and will continue to invest in
this unique technology going forward.
The company has already collected
more than 90,000 line kilometers of 2D and
9,000 square kilometers of 3D GeoStreamer
data in all major petroleum exploration and
production basins of the world.
“All results have shown distinct uplift
in data quality, and operational efficiency
has also been improved significantly. In ad-
dition, the image uplift in subsalt areas has
PGS seismic vessels - one was recently rigged with 10 GeoStreamers to perform a double proved particularly encouraging,” the com-
GeoStreamer undershoot together with vessel Atlantic Explorer in offshore Congo pany says.

Production
PPDM, Energistics and RFID consortium

The Oracle oil and gas OpenWorld event brought together representatives of oil and gas standards
bodies PPDM, Energistics and the RFID consortium, to see how the different standards fit together.
Software giant Oracle likes to differentiate bedded in 40 different products.

itself internationally on its commitment to Energistics followed its success with
open standards – so it is showing strong sup- WITSML by developing a standard for pro-
port to the oil and gas standards bodies En- duction data called PRODML, starting in
ergistics, PPDM and the RFID Consortium. 2005, and for exchanging earth model data
It brought together representatives of in a standard called RESQML.
the three bodies to Oracle OpenWorld Oil It also has a project to set up a standard
and Gas day in San Francisco on October 12, system for identifying wells together with
to talk about how the standards fit together. IHS Energy, to be used everywhere apart
The idea that oil and gas data standards from North America.
organisations PPDM and Energistics are in It also facilitates a standard for Govern-
competition is a myth, said Jerry Hubbard, ment oil and gas data repositories, with a re-
executive vice president of Energistics. cent meeting in Delhi attracting 200 people
“There's no competitive situation be- from 27 different countries. It will be fol-
tween the standards bodies - I need to de- lowed by a meeting in the first quarter of
bunk that perception.” 2011, probably in Lima, Peru or Rio de
Janeiro, Mr Hubbard said.
PPDM Energistics’ strategy for getting its stan-
The Public Petroleum Data Management As- "We're really not yet solving the problem" - dards adopted is – well – to make sure it hap-
sociation (PPDM) has developed a data Trudy Curtis, CEO, Public Petroleum Data pens. “We have a 3 year plan to deal with
model which can be used for the entire oil Management Association (PPDM) challenges to adoption,” he said.
company exploration and production. “It’s a A typical problem is that a standard
big data model - it’s not simple,” said Trudy use, the better off everybody is going to be.” might lead to small improvements in the
Curtis, CEO. One of the biggest standards when im- lives of many, but one or two individuals feel
It should be possible to use the model plementing standards is getting the support it could lead to a big problem and fight
to store all companies’ data and link it to- right. “You need really skilled people,” she against it.
gether, so the right information can be deliv- said. So you get an uneven fight between
ered to the right people at the right time. A second problem is the different defi- two people actively and strongly opposing
So far, it hasn’t been done. “People nitions people use. “When you look at inte- it, and many people passively seeing a bene-
have solved bits of it, but no-one has solved gration you run headfirst into problems. Ter- fit to it. “It is hard to overcome strong resist-
all of it,” she said. minology and semantics and how we use ance by someone,” he said.
Although “the industry has had a vision terms. We don't agree what a well is, what a “The biggest barriers can be when you
to share information between all departments facility is, what oil is. We have not wrestled have people who feel the standards hurt their
for 20 years,” she said. with this,” she said. competitive edge.”
“We're really not yet solving the prob- Some of the challenges with encourag- Energistics tries to overcome this by
lem. We have many barriers between our da- ing the use and development of open stan- getting people involved in the standard. “We
ta types,” she said. “How do we get these dards go right back to our education system, overcome it by working on bringing them
data types integrated together?” Ms Curtis said. in,” he said.
“We want to create an environment “Our education system teaches people One
where this can all be integrated together.” to solve a problem in isolation. So we don't delegate of
A common problem is that everybody position ourselves as an industry to adopt the audi-
has their own way of doing things but they standards very well.” ence
do it differently to how other people do it. blamed en-
But they don’t want to do things the way that Energistics gineers. “As
other people do it. Jerry Hubbard, executive vice president and long as en-
Ms Curtis compares people’s attitude to treasurer for standards body Energistics, said gineers are
data standards with how they feel about their that it is important that oil companies push in charge
toothbrush. “Everybody has one and nobody their service companies to use standards. we have a
wants to use anybody else's,” she said. “If energy companies don't commit to problem.
What is needed is for the industry to get standards - then the oilfield service compa- Engineers
together and decide on standard ways of nies don’t embed them into their products,” like coming
defining things, she said. he said. up with
Companies are starting to see the bene- For example, a number of oil compa- their own
"We have a 3 year plan to deal
fits though, she said. “We're getting to where nies are now requiring that their drilling way of do- with challenges to adoption" -
companies are recognising the value of in- companies supply drilling data in its XML ing every- Jerry Hubbard, executive vice
dustry standards. The more standards we standard WITSML. As a result it is now em- thing. president, Energistics

“Embedding Energistics open standards into

our E&P products allows Landmark to reduce
R&D costs and enhance connectivity with our
global customers.”
Paul Koeller
President Landmark Software & Services, Halliburton
Production
RFID tion, using RFID standards. “WalMart wanted every item to have RFID -
Dr Ben Zoghi, of the RFID Oil and Gas So- Founding members include Texas it didn't manage yet,” he said.
lution Consortium, said his organisation A&M University, Motorola, Merlin Con- The oil industry doesn’t yet fully trust
based in Texas A&M University, said that cepts & Technology, Shipcom Wireless, Av- the technology. “We have to explain what
the organisation really isn’t a standards body, ery Dennison, Dow Chemical, BP, Universi- can and can't be done,” he said. “Our group
but exists to try to find opportunities for us- ty of Houston, and EPC Global. is a support platform.”
ing RFID in oil and gas and encourage adop- Installing RFID is harder than it looks.
Weatherford – minimizing inventory costs

Oil services giant Weatherford recently embarked on a project to try to reduce the amount of capital it
has tied up in inventory (storage).
The main driver for the project was the fact I went to Oracle and said, “lets put to- sure you are only keeping high value items
that capital is becoming harder to come by – gether a proof of concept to prove this can in long term storage when it is important to
so the company CFO wanted to find ways to be done,” he says. do so.
better utilize the capital the company already All of the data about inventory was al- The system can provide comparative
has, says Weatherford’s vice president of IT ready available, Mr Dove says. The chal- data – for example, you can view the
Michael Dove, who was given the task of lenge was coming up with a better way to amount of money tied up in inventory for
finding a way to do it. view it, which would help the right decisions different items next to their their sales, and
The company was benchmarking the to be put in place to reduce it – and also un- identify items which have far too much in-
amount of working capital it has compared derstand better which parts of the company ventory capital for the amount of sales they
to other companies in the field and was not were doing the best and worst job at manag- generate.
satisfied with the results. ing their inventory. The system can also manage the differ-
Inventory at Weatherford is large and “All we had to worry about was the da- ent ways different departments do their cal-
very complex. At the time the project was ta and we know our data very well.” culations, and present the numbers to differ-
initiated, the company had about $2.5bn The company was very keen to have ent people calculated in different ways – for
worth of goods in inventory. And it operates something installed quickly. example, in the way inventory which is
from around 1,000 different locations, with Implementing the new software tool transferred from one place to another is ac-
inventory stored in nearly all of them. took 60 days, with the software implement- counted for.
The company is also growing very fast ed and data transferred in under 30 days, he This way, it can present data to people
– from $1bn revenues in 2003, to around said. in different departments according to how
$8.5bn in 2009, and expecting $22bn in 2013 By comparison, the company has had they want it calculated, but the CFO’s top
– and all of this growth creates management an ERP (enterprise resource planning) soft- level view has everything calculated in the
challenges. ware implementation going on for a number same way.
Inventories have been allowed to build of years, he said.
up over time, partly because there has been Weatherford’s software
too much emphasis on profit and loss, rather The system Weatherford made a decision to standardise
than the balance sheet, Mr Dove says. The inventory management system Mr Dove on the software applications it was using in
The company also did not hold anyone implemented enabled the CFO to see how 2003.
accountable for inventories as they contin- much inventory there is in the company by It uses JD Edwards software to manage
ued to grow. branch, by region, by product line, and by the supply chain and revenues (this has 6,500
The first step to improve inventory cap- person responsible for it. The CFO can also users); Hyperion software for SEC report-
ital was to implement a system which would set targets and measure progress against ing; and PeopleSoft for human resources and
enable company executives to be able to eas- them. competency management.
ily see where the inventory actually was. The CFO can put together a top level On a company wide level, it emphasis-
The next step would be to work out view, for example to see how the inventory es the importance of staff working with soft-
where the capital was providing most bene- of Weatherford’s 10 major product lines, ware as it is supplied off the shelf, not ask-
fit, and which areas the inventory could be such as artificial lift, is changing. ing for customizations to the software to suit
cut – and then make sure the cuts were actu- It was important to measure inventory the specific needs of one department.
ally implemented. turns per year (the number of times per year As the company grew, it took steps to
The company’s CFO asked Weather- a certain item is brought into inventory and ensure that it had the same part number for
ford’s vice president of IT Mike Dove to try then used). A low turn rate indicates goods the same item (such as a length of 20 foot
to find a way to improve use of inventory being in inventory a long time. drill pipe of certain specifications), despite
capital, with the available data. “You’re al- Keeping items in storage for long the fact that some of the companies it ac-
ways giving me a hard time that we're not lengths of time can be justified in certain sit- quired had their own part numbering sys-
leveraging the data enough,” he told him. uations (where you might urgently need tems. This meant that the overall corporate
Mr Dove thought that it could be something quickly, and it can be difficult to system wouldn’t have duplicate entries for
achieved with Oracle Business software. get hold of). The important thing is to make the same item.

Production
Optimising gas wells with remote

monitoring
Calgary oil and gas data management company Zedi helped a oil and gas operator in Southeast Alberta
(Canada) to get a much better understanding of how to optimise production on its 2,500 shallow gas
wells – using a fleet of portable flow measurement systems.
The Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin has

around 50,000 shallow gas wells – all with
low flow rates.
Operators have a big challenge working
out the best strategy to optimise them. Should
you have continuous artificial lift on them, to
keep the water out of the wells? Should you
just do periodic dewatering operations (Eg
with coiled tubing)? How often should you
do fracturing?
Previously, the oil and gas operator had
done monthly tests on all of its wells, by driv-
ing out to them with testing equipment, but
this wasn’t generating enough data to put to-
gether an optimisation strategy.
So the company asked Zedi to build a
“fleet” of 35 skid mounted portable flow
measurement systems, which could be driven Shallow gas wells in Southeast Alberta
out to the different wells and left to take con-
tinuous measurements of gas flow. The wells are normally drilled in groups The oil company thought that the higher
Each skid contains a metering comput- very close together (see photo). The testing cost fracturing technique was the most effec-
er, which can measure and store data about equipment is run on a group of wells. tive, but wanted to test this theory.
gas flow, and a communications system (cel- The computer is connected to proving He originally came to this view by look-
lular or satellite) which can send the data back taps at the well head, which enable all of the ing at well test results from the different tech-
home. (Zedi also makes the data immediately flow from the well to be diverted through the niques.
available to customers on its portal ZediAc- flowmeter by opening a valve, without build- The Smart Skids were used to test this
cess.com). ing any new piping. in more depth.
By building up data over time, and The operator just connects the system at 6 pairs of new wells, both with the same
watching how flowrates changed after differ- a group of wells, runs the test, communicates dewatering procedure used, with each frac-
ent techniques were tried to improve produc- data about the location and moves to the next tured differently, were monitored closely for
tion, it was possible to get a better idea of the group of wells. their performance
right optimisation strategy for each group of The test showed that the lower cost frac-
wells. Optimising turing technology actually had a better per-
The system was used to work out the opti- formance.
mum time to clean the wells It would have been impossible to do this
Most of the wells do not generate with just monthly data because the dewater-
enough gas to warrant using artificial lift, so ing has a short term impact on production.
they are cleaned out periodically using coil A number of wells were also tested to
tubing rigs or swabbing (taking fluids out of see if very frequent water cleanouts would
the well using cups on a wireline). help.
By gathering data on a group of wells The test showed that some wells with
over a 3 to 6 month period, you can get a continuous liquid removal performed as well
much better idea of how often it is worth as a new well drilled, so the costs of continu-
cleaning out different wells. Some wells ous artificial lift would be justified.
showed an immediate boost in production fol- “There’s a preconceived notion in the
lowing a cleanout, and others indicate that industry that shallow gas wells aren’t worth
longer times between cleanouts was possible. the time of day. But an asset is an asset, and
Many wells, despite going into the same through some inventive ideas, we’ve proved
The Zedi skid mounted portable flow
measurement systems, which were used to reservoir, have very different characteristics. that there is a better, more effective way to
gather detailed information about The system was used to compare hy- manage your operational budgets. Who can
production on 2,500 shallow gas wells draulic fracturing techniques. argue with that,” the operator said.

Production
GE Oil and Gas - new UK support centres

GE Oil and Gas has opened new facilities in the UK for refurbishing control systems and remote monitoring
and diagnostics of subsea equipment.
GE Oil & Gas has opened two new facili-

ties in the UK – a £3m facility upgrade in
Montrose, Scotland, for refurbishing sub-
sea trees and production control equip-
ment, and a £3m facility in Bristol, Eng-
land, for providing remote monitoring &
diagnostic services for subsea equipment.
Scotland
In Montrose, Scotland, it has opened a
£3m, 13 acre equipment refurbishment, re-
pair, warehousing and upgrading facility,
looking after subsea trees and their control
systems, and surface production control
equipment, among other pieces of equip-
ment.
The centre can take subsea trees that
have been operating for a number of years,
and refurbish them.
It will provide services for customers
across Europe. 164 staff are employed
there.
Previously, GE services operated from
two different sites, on opposite sides of Ab- Monitoring subsea equipment remotely: GE Oil and Gas' new subsea monitoring and remote
technology centre (or SmartCenter), located at the VetcoGray subsea control manufacturing site
erdeen.
in Nailsea, near Bristol, UK
“We’ve combined a number of differ-
ent sites into one,” says Nick Dunn, region-
al services leader, UK & Continental Eu-
rope, GE Oil & Gas. “That allows us to dard,” he says. trees, tree tooling systems and seafloor
have one business that’s completely fo- A focus has been on finding ways to well head systems, well head tubing, and
cused on providing all the services associ- speed up the refurbishment process – be- associated connectors.
ated with installation and maintenance.” cause while it is being refurbished, the well You can also upgrade the control
The facility has a 20,000 square foot is out of production. modules, or “pods” on many pieces of sub-
production control systems building for “If they pull a subsea tree, that well sea equipment, to install newer computer
testing and flushing production controls isn’t producing. You can start the clock systems.
equipment, with a clean room for hydraulic ticking. The sooner the operator gets back The facility also has a data link to
component testing and diagnostics, with online, the better it’s going to be.” GE’s new “SmartCenter” in Bristol (see be-
aerospace standards of cleanliness. GE can work 6 months in advance low) where it provides remote monitoring
It is very important that hydraulic oil planning a refurbishment, looking at what and diagnostic services. So it can ask the
is very clean, otherwise it will cause a lot jobs are required and what spare parts are engineers at its Bristol centre to take a look
of problems to the equipment over time. needed. It also has technicians who can go at any equipment, remotely, in real time
To illustrate this, Mr Dunn says that offshore and try to find out as much as pos- and 24/7.
the dust you have on your finger, after plac- sible about the equipment before it is taken Once the refurbishment has been com-
ing it on your desk, is enough to contami- out of service. pleted, and up to date data about the status
nate a whole barrel of hydraulic oil. Each subsea tree has around 4,000 dif- of the equipment has been generated, it
The site also has facilities for welding ferent components, which makes the refur- should be possible to manage the mainte-
and machining. bishment very complex. nance program much more efficiently in
GE anticipates that there will be a big “When it comes into our facility we future, he says.
growth in its brownfield market, helping have a line to refurbish something very
customers to keep their older fields running quickly,” he says. “We have the capability Bristol
longer by refurbishing the equipment. here – we can respond very quickly. We do GE has also opened a new $5m centre in
“There’s obviously a huge drive on a subsea tree turnaround in less than 5 Nailsea, Bristol, offering remote monitor-
operators looking for more effective meth- weeks.” ing & diagnostics for subsea oil and gas
ods of extending the life of their fields. We The facility services production con- drilling around the world. The new centre
can take the equipment back to a new stan- trol equipment, hydraulic parts and subsea will add 30 engineering and managerial

Production
jobs to the area. It is located at GE Oil &

Gas’ existing subsea controls manufactur-
ing site.
The centre was opened on October
15th 2009 by Ove Magne Kallestad, vice
president of subsea technology and opera-
tions with StatoilHydro.
StatoilHydro has been working close-
ly with GE on development of the new
technologies, including remote monitoring
and diagnostics for subsea equipment.
Staff at the facility can monitor the
health of subsea equipment, and use this
data to provide advice about how to oper-
ate it, from installation and commission-
ing, through field start up and onwards in-
to routine operation for operational sup-
port, condition monitoring, diagnostics,
and production optimisation.
The company also manufactures its
SemStar5 subsea electronics modules at the At the opening of GE Oil and Gas' new subsea monitoring and remote technology centre near
site. Bristol, UK: From left to right Dean Arnison, GE; Ove Magne Kallestad, Statoil; Dave Wilkinson,
ExxonMobil and Manuel Terranova, GE
How virtual collaborative environments

can save $120m
Cap Gemini recently put together two “proof of concept” projects with virtual collaborative environments
for oil companies – and one of them estimated that it could lead to savings of $120m.
“Virtual collaborative environment” is a fan- getting live data integrated into the virtual
cy name for what most of us do in immersive model, to making sure that it can’t be hacked.
computer games – except that instead of slay- But the savings could be worth the effort.
ing monsters, we are (for example) walking Clive Holtham, professor of information
around a piece of oil and gas plant with our management at Cass Business School in Lon-
colleagues. don, is quoted as saying that most of the val-
You can visit an offshore platform virtu- ue in 3D virtual environments should be
ally before you have to there, so you are al- found from integrating heavy duty 3D appli-
ready familiar with it. You can try out a plant cations with business processes and helping
design which you are going to be involved in people to learn, not in the consumer sphere.
operating, before it is actually built. You can Shell already uses a computer model of
An oil and gas engineer fixes a problem with
practice (with your team) doing a plant start- its Ormen Lange subsea development for a subsea choke valve - using a computer
up, or what you are going to do in a safety training and intervention planning; Chevron simulation
drill. has a model of parts of its Salt Lake City re-
You can also use it to train new recruits finery and two of its Gulf platforms.
– or to get live experts involved in sorting out Cap Gemini offers services to “drive” ing around in it as avatars. “We set people on
problems. the projects forward – “we help them under- fire on the screen,” says Mr Quinlan. “It's re-
The virtual environment does not need stand what the virtual environment is all ally powerful when you see it. You think,
to be completely separated from the real en- about, help them do pilots, and advise them wow, this has a lot of potential.”
vironment – you can feed data from the live on whether this is something that they should It is a very similar environment to a
plant into the virtual plant. Taken to further be rolling out more broadly,” says Pat Quin- computer game, which most under 45 year
extremes, you could actually operate the ac- lan, vice president of management consulting old people are quite familiar with. “You build
tual plant from standing within the virtual at Cap Gemini. up your data, your performance indicators,
plant. In its recent internal global conference, your scores – that environment is one they are
All of this will take a lot of time to build, Cap Gemini showed the audience a virtual comfortable in,” he says.
with plenty of problems along the way – from world on the screen, with staff members walk- Cap Gemini recently ran two “proof of

Production
concept” projects with clients to find out if They did this and the pressure sensor are doing it right. This is much cheaper and
such a system could work and what would be reading rose, indicating that everything was safer than an actual safety drill.
involved in making it work. As a result of the working properly.
projects, “both operators have broad ambi- Afterwards, the historical pressure read- Stage two – involve live data
tions to extend this capability out,” says Mr ings were adjusted, to reflect the fact that the The second stage of the idea is if you bring in
Quinlan. For one of the projects, the potential sensor had been covered with hydrates at the live data into the virtualization. So the actual
cost savings it could lead to were calculated time. fluid flows, valve positions, equipment status
at $120m. The project was completed with no in- of the actual plant is replicated in the virtual-
terruption in production and no need to send ization.
Problem with subsea pressure sensor engineers out to the platform. By doing this, the virtualization can be
One of Cap Gemini’s “proof of concept” proj- used by live experts to try to solve problems.
ects was used in a real live case on an oil plat- Stage one – build the visualization Like on Second Life, the experts could be
form, when an operator sent a command to a The first step is to build a computer visuali- present in the virtualization as avatars, talk-
control system to open a subsea choke valve zation of the plant. This can be constructed ing to each other, looking at different pieces
5 per cent. using the original CAD (computer aided de- of equipment, or taking different readings.
But (as would have been expected), sign) drawings, if they are available, so it can Plant data streams are increasingly be-
there was no increase in the production pres- be completely accurate. ing provided in standard formats – including
sure, as more oil surged through the well up Without any integration with live data, the Energistics PRODML data standards for
to the surface. So the operator wasn’t sure if the visualization can be used to rehearse dif- production data, and standard automation
the valve had opened or not. ferent business processes with the team – such communication systems.
However he did see a drop in hydraulic as equipment refurbishment or maintenance– “We marry the physical asset – the piece
fluid pressure, which is used to actually open or use it to train people how the plant works. of steel that you’re standing on – with the op-
the valve. This would be particularly useful in a erating environment (production data ). All
So he invited a subsea engineer in Hous- complex operation, such as a plant start-up. that can be now brought into the virtual work
ton to watch the scenario on a visualization, People could join the visualization over environment,” says Mr Quinlan.
as a replay. the internet from anywhere in the world. So, “This isn’t a simulation – this is real op-
Remotely, the subsea engineer did some for example, someone could be given a tour erating conditions but in a virtual environ-
diagnostic tests on the production pressure of a platform they are about to be deployed ment.”
sensor, which seemed to indicate that it was on – by a live person who is actually on the
working properly. platform. Stage three – controlling the plant
So she had an idea that there could be a This model could be used to aid co-or- The third stage is if you can control the actu-
build up of wax in the pipeline, preventing dination between designers of the plant and al plant from within the virtualization. Clear-
more oil from flowing through it. the people who will be operating it. A virtual ly at this stage there are big security and safe-
She invited a production engineer with model of a plant could be built before the real ty concerns which would need to be sorted
experience with hydrates to join the visuali- plant is built – so the operators can try what it out. But it wouldn’t be the first time it has
zation, and the two of them took a look at his- is like to walk around and operate, and maybe been done – the US military already flies un-
torical pressure readings and saw it rose in suggest changes. manned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with staff
steps – indicating that it was probably All of this can be done without spend- viewing the aeroplane in a virtual environ-
plugged with hydrates. ing money on travel costs or physical meet- ment.
They suggested opening the choke 20 ings. Many companies already have automa-
per cent, to get a much bigger and faster in- The model can be used for a rehersal of tion systems connected into wider corporate
crease in pressure downhole, with a rush of emergency procedures, with different people networks one way or another, and already
fluids which could force the hydrate plug having different roles, and other people able good at managing the security.
open. to see everything they are doing to check they
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Production
Software for pipeline networks

Californina company CygNet believes that long distance gas pipeline operators could update their
operations software much faster, if it was available off the shelf rather than custom built – and they have
created a product to do it.
www.cygnetscada.com ing company installs a new software system, a
CygNet, a company based in San Luis Obis- process which typically takes around 14
po, Califonia, believes that long distance months. “We were able to get them operational
pipeline operators would be much better off in 3 months at less than half the cost,” he said.
using off the shelf software, rather than cus- The off the shelf software should also be
tom made software, as most of them currently more robust and easier to install than custom
do. software – which means that companies are
The company has developed what it more likely to be able to do it themselves
claims is the first ever off the shelf complete rather than ask software company staff to in-
software solution for long distance gas stall it. This is very important to oil and gas
pipelines, called CygNet for Pipeline. companies, Mr Robb says.
The software can manage all the data Altogether CygNet produces software
from pipeline sensors such as pressure, for a range of different oil and gas SCADA ap-
flowrate and gas quality (SCADA), and plications, gathering and managing data from
process it so people only see the information plant, equipment and pipelines. Its largest cus-
they need. The software can also manage tomers process data streams from 11,000 lo-
transactional companaants to support the ac- cations. It has been in business for 15 years
counting involved, and help companies bal- and focusing on the oil and gas industry for
ance inflows and outflows, so they deliver about half of that. "Long distance pipeline operators - can start
enough gas into the pipe to meet end users’ Its software is used on 15 per cent of using off the shelf software rather than
needs without letting gas build up by increas- North American oil and gas pipelines. The building their own" - Steve Robb, Vice President
ing the pressure inside the pipeline. company has grown 30 per cent a year for the of Business Development with CygNet
Normally, pipeline companies have soft- past 3 years.
ware specially written, a task which is very ex- It has a board of customer advisors, in- duction companies have to try to predict how
pensive and can take about 18 months. cluding Conoco Phillips, Southern Union Gas, much gas will be consumed and how much
Because it is “off the shelf” not custom Houston Pipeline, Anardarko, and Chesa- they can adjust production to provide that
made, the CygNet software can be installed in peake. “These folks give us fantastic insight amount of gas. Gas distributors have to esti-
just 66 days, the company says. it is already into what are the problems they are facing,” mate how much their customers will need, and
fully tested and able to communicate with all Mr Robb says. how much they should purchase (or “nomi-
standard field devices – and it is very easy to nate”) from exploration and production com-
implement software upgrades. Supply and demand panies.
With conventional custom built software, By having better information readily available,
it can be as much trouble upgrading the soft- it should be easier for companies match the Communications
ware as it is installing completely new soft- flow of gas into the pipeline with the flow out The software is already designed so it can al-
ware, says Steve Robb, Vice President of Busi- of the pipeline at the other end. ready communicate with all known field de-
ness Development with CygNet. “In days gone by, pipeline companies vices, including Allen Bradly, Bristol, Control
Most of the other companies in the field would say, I have a certain capacity in the Microsystems and Emerson.
see their task as selling services, not software, pipeline, I can pack the pressure up and put One customer, in the process of choos-
he says, so they have an incentive to take as some inventory in it which will accommodate ing software, put all the rival software compa-
much time doing it as possible. “We compete swings in the markets that I serve,” Mr Robb nies together in a competition and said it
on the basis that we can be installed faster, says. would give the contract to whichever software
with a higher degree of quality, with function- But compressing gas is very expensive – company could connect up to its field equip-
al compliance, in half the time,” he says. if the demand can be satisfied with a more so- ment fastest.
In one recent request for proposal, phisticated / dynamic model that would be bet- Because the CygNet software is already
CygNet put together two options - install a ter. able to communicate with most field equip-
system in the traditional fashion (taking 18 “The market is moving towards real ment, “we could do it in 90 minutes from
months with custom software), or it could use time adjustments in production,” he says. scratch, including installing the software,” Mr
the software off the shelf, doing the job 6 “People want to be able to produce in align- Robb says. “Some of our competitors took up
months faster and $560,000 cheaper. ment with what’s being consumed.” to a week just to install the software.”
In another price quote, it was asked to “The goal is to get the commodity deliv- The company is currently developing
help a company install new software on a ery to the market with the most effective cost standard interfaces between the software and
pipeline asset it had acquired from another just in time to satisfy the demand, just like standard corporate systems for billing and ac-
company. The usual practice when pipeline Fedex.” counting. “We’re creating standard service
systems are sold is that the divesting company Demand forecasting needs to happen on gateways to the rest of the organisation,” he
will continue to operate it while the purchas- both ends of the pipeline. Exploration and pro- says.

Production
People and the digital oilfield

Unlike many “re-engineering”, or “slash and burn” industry initiatives, the digital oilfield promises to
empower people and improve their working lives. But it only works if people take people management
seriously – not discounting it as ‘soft stuff’ which will take care of itself, writes Dutch Holland.
When the industry last experienced a big nical stuff right and the people will take care stream per-
push similar to that now occurring with of themselves,” they say. sonnel know
DOF, the “re-engineering” label was fre- But to make the digital oilfield work, and grow. For
quently attached and referred to re-design- companies – through their executive and example, the
ing from a clean sheet of paper. senior management, as well as technical pro- University of
While that phase was neither over- fessionals – must take care of the hard side Southern Cal-
whelmingly positive nor negative, the pri- of the “Soft Stuff” - those hard concrete ac- ifornia’s
mary downside is that re-engineering unfor- tions that must be taken on the people side School of En-
tunately became code for “slash and burn” is DOF is to realize its full potential. gineering is
with its hard-edged emphasis on doing more Executive management should deploy re-thinking
with fewer people. DE with clearly and explicitly expressed ex- what the edu-
As DOF flexes its ever-newer capabili- pectations for its use throughout the compa- cation of to-
ties, however, it promises to be quite differ- ny. And that is only the beginning because morrow’s oil
ent – because of its increasingly people-ori- the executives cannot leave deployment dan- industry engi-
ented focus. The driving concept is to enrich gling. They must provide implementation neers needs to “Digital oilfield" is a much
people’s work experience and teach them direction, exert ongoing pressure and look like to- nicer change for people to
new skills rather than bean counter manpow- demonstrate clear insistence on implementa- day and how go through than
"re-engineering" - Dutch
er reduction (see Figure 1). tion. that will Holland, CEO Holland &
As companies get smarter people in- Senior management must wear both translate to Davis
volved, manpower actually goes up and not corporate and business hats without favor- field opera-
down. The “know and grow” theme results ing one set of objectives or profit goals over tions.
in multiple positives including limitless tech- the other. They must be highly attuned to di- Four, accept a performance assessment
nical horizons, ample room for everyone, rectional implementation, with each newly and feedback system oriented to DOF. Man-
jobs gained and a sense of contribution along assigned senior manager expected to sustain agers are key to feedback and must get on
with personal control. that implementation. the train first or they will not be effectively
People in the upstream sector will Technical professionals must adhere to positioned to literally and figuratively look
thrive on greater opportunities. a continuum of highly precise and disci- over young engineers’ shoulders to suggest
DOF’s potential is virtually open-end- plined work and they must engage in active and coach new idea production.
ed as the New Frontier for upstream people collaboration in implementing new DE tech- Five, accept that their financial com-
with no ceilings and enriching those who nology. pensation will include incentives to encour-
play in the new environment which has plen- Here are five “hard” things which indi- age them to learn and use DOF.
ty of room to innovate. viduals need to accept.
One, accept usage of DOF technology Dangers
Needs individuals to get excited integrated into their job description. It is worth considering what dangers may
It’s up to each individual professional to Two, agree and accept goals that relate lurk for companies approaching DOF 2.0.
come and literally get their arms around to development and use of DOF. One is that companies may talk a good
DOF rather than waiting for it to be pushed Three, accept training and education in game about supporting the troops and appear
onto them. DOF. The context for thinking about up- to be on the right track but if they fail to ac-
Sometimes, that enthusiasm is missing stream is changing and must be reflected in tually deliver, it may adversely affect busi-
in the oil industry regarding the exclamation innovative and intensive ways to help up- ness value, expectations and even people’s
“Wow, I can hardly wait to put this into op- careers.
eration so we can make better and quicker Movement Theme Perception/Reality
Two, dangers are right around the cor-
downhole decisions.” ner when companies incorrectly assume that
x Somenewprocessesinplace
It’s imperative for each individual to x
x
Lostjobs
Dispiritedpeople
investing in the Hard Stuff is automatically
recognize the exceptional opportunity right Reengineering SlashandBurn
x
x
Fearanddistrust
Economicgainattheexpenseof
good and that Soft Stuff will just happen nat-
teams/people
in front of them and “take it to the max” x FeelingsofDeadEnd urally.
themselves. Three, on a related point, danger comes
x Limitlesstechnicalhorizons
x PremiumsonLearning to the fore when companies use technology
x Enoughroomforeverybody
The hard side of “Soft Stuff” DigitalOilfield2.0 KnowandGrow
x
x
Jobsgained
Jobrichness
partners that are long on the Hard Stuff but
Management often conveniently splits the x
x
Personalcontrol
FeelingofContribution
short of services on the Soft Stuff.
world into “Hard Stuff” and “Soft Stuff.” x CareerGrowth Dutch Holland is Founder & Chairman
The “Hard Stuff” is the fun technical of Houston-based Holland & Davis LLC
work of DOF while the “Soft Stuff” has to Figure 1: Re-engineering & DOF: Perception / (www.hdinc.com)
do with the people side. “Lets get the tech- Reality

Production
Connecting mobiles to the network

Virginia (US) company Reality Mobile has won $6.5m venture capital investment from Energy Ventures,
Chevron Technology Partners and the Dobson Partnership to enable remote workers to gain access to
video, data and remote expertise via their mobile phones.
Nearly everyone in the industry uses smart Chevron Technology Ventures, and commu- sent to a smart phone.
phones these days, all of which are equipped nications investor the Dobson Partnership, Additionally, the Reality Mobile sys-
with video cameras and the ability to share Reality Mobile is extending its focus to the tem is classed as “enterprise grade,” which
files by e-mail, but there are many limita- oil and gas industry. means it is reliable, secure and meets the re-
tions to using these devices productively for The company expects to greatly im- quirements of most companies’ IT depart-
work purposes. Often the devices operate prove energy companies’ ability to respond ments. All the videos and images generated
outside the corporate firewall and network, in real time to unexpected events ranging from remote devices can be tagged with the
so there are limitations to the information from minor equipment malfunctions to time they were taken, and (if the person tak-
that can be shared on them. drilling rig shutdowns, as well as enhance ing them has a GPS chip in their device) the
There is also no company wide system security operations in remote environments. exact location the images were taken from,
for archiving and managing the data they “Under the way most oil and gas com- which is very useful when sifting through
generate. In addition, they are not particular- panies currently operate, you have experts thousands of images later (particularly in an
ly well suited to the different data connec- sitting in a Houston office, for example, that investigation).
tion speeds the industry has to work with, are responsible for assets in southeast Asia, On the user end, all employees wishing
nor are they equipped to share some of the Europe and Africa,” says Leif Andre Skare, to connect to Reality Mobile’s platform need
very large schematics and visualization files partner at Energy Ventures. only to install a piece of software, or an
that are required to address unforeseen is- An energy services company is already “app”, on their mobile devices. Whether that
sues in the field. exploring using Reality Mobile’s software device can handle instructions in both direc-
Virgina (US) company Reality Mobile platform in Iraq, where it can be difficult to tions (for example, receiving instructions
has been developing a solution to these is- recruit experts for security reasons. Using from off-site experts and sending video
sues since its creation in 2003. Originally Reality Mobile’s software, this company will back) depends on the limitations of the de-
conceived for security applications within be able to connect the technicians on the vice and the data bandwidth available.
the federal government, Reality Mobile’s ground with experts in the home office in- The handheld phone software currently
software platform enables instant collabora- stantly. The technician can then transmit re- works on Windows Mobile devices and
tive problem solving. Once installed, users al-time video of the scene, while the expert Blackberries, and the company is currently
can connect via mobile devices including can send back equipment schematics and working on versions for Symbian (Nokia)
smart phones and portable video cameras, or step-by-step instructions on how to complete and the iPhone.
with more standard devices such as laptop the required repair. Collaboration sessions can be initiated
computers to share data and video in real The software has also been used in the both by the user on the offshore platform, or
time. rail industry, the electric utility industry and from the management console.
The system is currently being used by in bomb disposal, allowing remote experts Reality Mobile’s platform is network
the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. to see what is happening and provide advice, independent, and will transmit over any
Department of Homeland Security, the U.S. as well as to enhance employee security. available system that supports IP. From an
State Department and the Kentucky State Po- Because Reality Mobile got its start in offshore platform, the data could be sent out
lice to enhance their ability to respond to the public sector, it is designed to run on directly to satellite via a portable Inmarsat
crises and provide security. The technology commercially available off-the-shelf hard- satellite terminal. Or it could be sent back to
was also re- ware, a requirement for most U.S. govern- shore using a VSAT connection, connecting
cently used by ment agencies, while its software and servers by a platform Wi-Fi system. Installations
the DC Metro- remain proprietary. This means that purchase closer to the coast might have connectivity
politan Police of the software does not necessarily require available via coastal cellular networks.
Department a significant hardware investment, and that An important feature of the platform is
during Presi- the platform can easily be integrated into a its ability to keep communication going as
dent Obama’s company’s existing infrastructure. the available bandwidth changes. If there
inauguration From the management console, an ad- are drops to the available bandwidth, auto-
and in the ministrator can control where data is routed matic adjustments are made to the number
pope’s visit to and who can access it. Further, this adminis- of frames per second, but there is no inter-
Washington in trator can access feeds from remote cameras ruption to the communication. For example,
2008. and control the behavior of remote devices with cellular communications, the data rate
Backed connected to the network. can decrease as the user gets farther from the
by its recently The software can also be used to con- base station. Additionally, the company has
secured fund- nect desktop users with remote users, and re- found that for many applications, the frame
ing from oil mote users with each other. For example, if rate is not vital – what is most important is
and gas in- Reality Mobile - helping someone is working on a reservoir model that high quality images are captured and
vestors Energy connect mobile phones to and wants to show an image of it to some- fully labeled as to where they were taken and
Ventures and the corporate network one who is traveling, the image can easily be at what time.

www.ipres.com
Field Development
Integrated Petroleum Suite
Resource Well Planning

Management &
Production forecas-
ting & aggregation
Built on our extensive experience on challenging consultancy projects around the world,
we have developed our state-of-the-art software tools that are used in relevant pro-
jects or sold on a stand-alone basis.

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DEJ22final:Layout 1 22/01/2010 11:09 Page 1

Getting the most

January 2010 Issue 22

Remote monitoring gas wells

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What is the “pull” for

January 2010 - digital energy journal 3

Exploring off Brazil and Angola

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4 digital energy journal - January 2010

Tullow - success in Uganda

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Finding Petroleum London Forums 2010

Reservoir software – false sense of

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January 2010 - digital energy journal 9

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Improved marine seismic streamer

January 2010 - digital energy journal 13

PPDM, Energistics and RFID consortium

Software giant Oracle likes to differentiate bedded in 40 different products.

14 digital energy journal - January 2010

“Embedding Energistics open standards into

Weatherford – minimizing inventory costs

16 digital energy journal - January 2010

Optimising gas wells with remote

The Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin has

January 2010 - digital energy journal 17

GE Oil and Gas - new UK support centres

GE Oil & Gas has opened two new facili-

18 digital energy journal - January 2010

jobs to the area. It is located at GE Oil &

How virtual collaborative environments

January 2010 - digital energy journal 19

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20 digital energy journal - January 2010

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22 digital energy journal - January 2010

People and the digital oilfield

January 2010 - digital energy journal 23

Connecting mobiles to the network