VEDLIKEHOLD: Undis- covered Planning for future extraction

1ST EDITION - OCTOBER 2008

Well technologyTHIS SupplemenT IS An ADVeRTISemenT FROm meDIAplAneT

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NEW TECHNOLOGIES: RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT: MPD:

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Planning for future extraction

Collaboration be-tween different industries is im-portant to meet

the challenges of the future.

R&D for future supply

Page10

research and development will be key measures in increasing recovery rates from mature oil fi elds.

VEDLIKEHOLD:

Page 12Page 12

Undis-covered potential

SMART WELL:

NO BOTTOMLESS PIT: Decreasing oil reserves and mature fi elds represent vast challenges re-garding extraction effi ciency. The industry points to extensive planning and stepping up the pace in technology uptake as essential to address the challenges. Page 4-5

Foto: eriK JørGenSen

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2 October 2008THIS SupplemenT IS An ADVeRTISemenT FROm meDIAplAneT

50% were the easiest to fi nd, develop and produce. The next will be signifi can-tly more demanding. Much of the

production will have to come from improved oil recovery (IOR) from fi elds in production – the yardstick is the Stat-fjord fi eld’s 70% recovery rate. IOR necessitates drilling and constructing wells in depleted reservoirs, wells that are often associated with major challenges vis-à-vis controlled, safe drilling and completion. Much of the last 50% will also have to come from the environmentally sensitive northern regions and will be subject to requirements concerning zero dischar-ges into the external environment.

The world needs energy to support a growing world po-pulation properly. Norwegian petroleum resources will be produced. The challenges associated with the last 50% will also be resolved, and the solutions lie in competence and un-derstanding the whole picture, technology, HSE attitudes and effective interaction between the players involved in the pe-troleum industry.

Drilling and well construction are undergoing furious de-velopment in the direction of being more ”high tech” and in-creasingly more knowledge intensive. All drilling and well projects are different. At one end of the scale we fi nd conven-tional projects that can be handled satisfactorily with existing technology and a general good level of knowledge. At the other end we fi nd complex projects that require new techno-

logy and/or a sig-nifi cantly higher level of knowledge and competence to succeed. Dril-ling and well con-struction in deple-

ted reservoirs for IOR purposes are often complex and present major challenges associated with controlled and safe imple-mentation, well integrity, choosing the right technology and the drilling method. At the same time, the execution must take place within cost limits that can be justifi ed by the addi-tional reserves that can be recovered. In any case, the factors that need to be contributed are technology and knowledge. Cost considerations indicate that one should try as long as possible as one can manage with existing technologies. The limits of the complexity that can be handled can be stretched when one possesses extensive knowledge and has a compre-hensive understanding of the general conditions and down-hole issues associated with the individual project. Drilling requires pressure control. The margins one must stay within in IOR projects are often small and at the same time there will be great uncertainty associated with the pressure and stres-ses in the different zones that are being produced and the reservoir pressure that must be maintained by the injection of water or gas. In general, well optimisation – drilling and well construction based on a good, comprehensive understanding of reservoir geology, the rock mechanical restrictions and challenges, relevant technologies and drilling methods – is an area in which there is room for major improvements in most companies. Well optimisation requires interdisciplinary cooperation between competent people from many different fi elds and the capacity to work with information collection and analyses, planning, operations supervision, and learning. Integrated operations, IO, can in this case make a signifi cant contribution to effective cooperation between the experts

and fi elds involved.Existing technologies cannot cope with many of the chal-

lenges and problems we will face in the future in complex drilling and well construction projects that are aimed at IOR. Technology development will have to focus on specifi c issues, especially those associated with instrumentation and pressure control, isolating pressure zones without reducing hole size, and the effect of ECD, as well as well integrity and reducing the time from drilling to lining. A number of new technologi-es are on their way. Some are already available and are being used in pilot projects. Examples of these include the use of pressure control equipment, expanding casing, and drilling using casing or liner as the drill stem. Other new technologies are still at the R&D stage, such as drilling in deepwater with drilling rigs located on the seabed, or in the testing phase, as is the case with the use of coil pipe as drill string.

Oil and gas resources are not renewable. Drilling and well construction with the goal of IOR are therefore important. The most critical success factors are competent and creative people in effective partnerships – and this resource is renewable! A key term in this context is integrated operations. The challen-ges here do not lie in the technology, but rather in company cultures that stimulate creativity and learning, and contract forms and standardisation that stimulate interaction and at the same time address the technology and service suppliers’ need to protect their own technology without the oil companies compromising the principle of open and fair competition.

Key to IOR lies in drilling and well construction!Around 50% of the recoverable petroleum resources in the Norwegian continental shelf have been produced. Pessimists see a downturn coming – for the Norwegian economy, petroleum-oriented research and technology development, and the Norwegian supply industry. Optimists look forward to the fantastic ripple effects the fi rst 40 years and 50% have had for Norwegian society, and the opportunities the lie in the next 50% for at least a further two generations!

challanges challanges ” Existing technologies cannot cope with many of the challenges and problems we will face in the future...

WELL TECHNOLOGY1st Edition October2008

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Sales Manager: Sigurd GranProduction Manager: Bjarne S. BrokkeSub Editor: Tonja Ingrid Sødal

Project Manager: Nicolai KjølnerPhone: 22 59 30 34e-mail: [email protected]

Distributed with Upstream, October 2008Print: Dagblad-Trykk

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Oil and gas resources are not renewable. Drilling and well con-struction with the goal of IOR are there-fore important.

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Stein Karl-sen, chief executive officer with Subsea Group AS

Forward planning:

Key in race to avoid extraction issuesJJ Worrall

In this time of decreased oil re-serves in what were once con-sidered near bottomless pits

for those in the oil industry me-ans that many of the industry’s big players will have to step up to the plate in terms of planning from now on. Speaking from the head offices of Statoil Hydro, Sigve Hovda (chief engineer of drilling facilities) says that there are a few ‘headline issues’ when it comes to extraction issues in the industry.

‘Firstly there is a large focus on the planning process of the well and, while this has been around for a few years, there must be a good involvement of the people who are going to perform the operations – that is key – in most cases that’s the offshore drilling company. The planning process of a large scale NS well is huge.’

Continuing on his point, Hovda notes, ‘Secondly it’s key to have a drilling rig that works, surface equipment and down-hole equip-ment must be reliable and cur-rent. ‘With an infrastructure, rigs et cetera, up to twenty years old, it is a challenge to maintain good reliability and efficiency’.

Mature region Hovda says that the North Sea as a whole is a ‘ma-ture region’. He continues, ‘A kind of popular phrasing is to say that all the easy oil has been produced and what we’re left with now is the difficult part and there is a lot of truth in that now. As the reser-voirs are getting more and more mature, you’ll have your oil re-serves coming from smaller pools

wide technology uptake may indeed be a factor. ‘Large facili-ties require a lot of people to run them, require a lot of maintenan-ce to keep going and at the same time our daily production is decreasing. On the other hand it’s not practical to replace the platforms you have in there with new ones, and of course then in sub-sea environment it gets even more difficult because the maintenance involved in order to keep things going when the field gets older is extremely high cost.

‘We have to blame ourselves to some degree maybe. It’s a fact, and a global challenge, that we are not quite famous for our up-

take of new technology. Actually in relation to the oil industry as a whole some people say that we are poor when it comes to taking on board new technology.’

Outside influences One other point concerning efficiency – and something brought up by seve-ral experts contacted on the mat-ter – was that outside influences such as health and safety require-ments are also affecting the work of those in the business of oil extraction. While terming them ‘essential’ due to previous dan-gerous incidents on oil rigs, one expert who preferred to remain un-named said that ‘it can mean more people and slower work’.

from BP noted how technology development in regards to ex-traction methods will be key in the coming months and years. ‘With oil and gas set to remain the planet’s main source of energy in the coming decades, there is eve-ry incentive to recover the maxi-mum amount of oil possible from known reserves. Oil recovery ra-tes – the amount extracted from a reservoir – average just 35 per cent worldwide. BP estimates that a one percentage point increased recovery from its reservoirs would yield an additional two billion barrels of oil equivalent. Clearly, within this context, technologies that improve recovery offer a va-luable prize.’

The big fear of course is simply running out of oil, but as a se-parate BP publication notes, this threat is “not immediate”. By most estimates, they say, today’s known reserves would last for at least another 40 years at current usage levels. In other words, the-se estimates don’t take new disco-veries into account. Meanwhile, new technologies are helping lar-ge companies tap large amounts of oil and gas that were once con-sidered unreachable.

‘Our Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska is a good example,’ notes the BP publication. ‘It has been in operation for over 30 years. Originally we expected to extract just 40 per cent of the oil there. But with the help of new techno-logies we’ve raised that estimate to 60 per cent. Our technology experts and research partners are constantly experimenting with new techniques, including new twists on tried and tested techni-ques. We develop and use new technologies to recover oil and gas from hard to reach corners of our reservoirs.’

Technology Hovda says that the relatively slow pace in industry-

scattered around in the reservoir and you have problems with pres-sure depletion. It’s a fact that part of our performance challenge in the North Sea region is due to all this. Both Norway as well as the UK have a lot of mature fields.’

He added, ‘More and more we have to get out of these establis-hed oil fields; as far as extraction problems go, while our cost to get the oil out is increasing, the vo-lume we get out of every well is decreasing so this is also a profi-tability challenge, in particular in times with low oil price.’

Subsea Stein Karlsen, chief execu-tive officer with Subsea Group AS notes that at the moment the issues of maintaining the quality of wells will also prove a challenge to tho-se in the industry, ‘On subsea level right now there are not enough vessels to do the maintenance on the subsea wells. We have done a study based on wells on where we do regular maintenance compared to subsea wells treated on an in-frequent basis and the results were quite interesting.’

Elsewhere, a recent statement

The North Sea is the not the ‘bottomless pit’ some hoped it would be.

Sigve Hovda, chief engineer of drilling facilities, Statoil Hydro, points out two ‘headline issues’ when it comes to extraction issues in the industry. – Firstly there is a large focus on the planning process of the well, and secondly it’s key to have a drilling rig that works.

Stein KarlSen, chieF executive oFFicer, SubSea Group aS

On subsea level right now there are not enough vessels to do the main-tenance on the subsea wells.


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Riser-less light well intervention gaining attention

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Riser-less Light Well Intervention

JJ Worrall

Increasing oil recovery is the prime reason behind the rise in popularity of riserless light well

intervention (LWI). In existence since the late 1980s, it has only re-cently become a true fixture within the oil industry. Providing impro-ved access to sub-sea wells, the cost of maintenance is reduced by LWI in general and the riserless version includes a lubricator system with a recirculation of hydrocarbons into the well. Deployed through a moon-pool from a dynamically positioned vessel, the system is installed on the sub-sea Christmas tree without the use of anchors or, as the name sug-gests, risers.

‘The advantage is that companies can move fast,’ says Terje Varne of Aker Solutions, who specialise in the area. A Statoil Hydro representative confirms that they are using the ri-serless method and will do ‘for some time’. Banner name uses such as Sta-toil will no doubt help promote this LWI method.

One billion barrels It has been repor-ted that riserless LWI technology can increase the potential to recover one billion barrels of oil off the coast of Norway. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) released figures which suggest that conventional sub-sea wells extract eight per cent less oil than regular sea wells.

The intention of the riserless LWI technology is to equalize this gap – and this in turn would represent a

staggering US$30 billion increase for Norway’s oil recovery over a ten-year period. Increased oil recovery and revenue is not limited to Norway but can be experienced worldwide.

Meanwhile, Oceaneering remotely operated vehicle (ROV) manager, Es-pen Ingebretsen, recently told dele-gates of the Underwater Technology Conference 2008 in Bergen, western Norway that the ‘new frontier’ for ROV deployment, is in support of ri-serless LWI. Experts in the field also tell how “scale squeeze” is a typical chemical treatment service that can be performed using the RLWI system. By being able to carry out these ty-pes of services at an economical rate, the oil companies can better plan for heavier, workover-type jobs.

Light well intervention is booming with one method gaining huge recognition.

Foto: eriK JørGenSen


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DaviD Jørgensen

However, at the time of wri-ting, both candidates were making very different

noises about how the oil industry should develop under their terms in offi ce. McCain, considered the ‘pro-oil’ candidate, wishes to in-crease offshore drilling for oil, alt-hough by how much has not been stipulated. However, he is also op-posed to drilling in Alaska, a po-sition that would perhaps put him on a collision course with others in the Republican Party. McCain also wants to supplement increa-sed drilling with the construction of 45 new nuclear power plants by 2030.

Living up to that ‘pro-oil’ tag, Mc-Cain was quoted recently by CNN, saying: “We have to drill here and drill now - not wait and see whether there’s areas to explore, not wait and see whether there’s a package that needs to be put together, but drill here and drill now.”

Commenting on a bipartisan energy proposal, and fi rmly back-ing the need for more oil explora-tion, it is clear that McCain is fol-lowing a course set by the current incumbent of the White House,

who has consistently erred on the side of increased oil production.

Obama, the Democratic candi-date, also wishes to increase off-shore drilling. He has, however, described such an increase as ’li-mited’. What this means for pos-sible future drilling has yet to be determined. Like McCain, he is also opposed to drilling in Alaska. In addition, he also advocates a windfall tax on the larger oil com-panies in order to fund an energy rebate of US$1,000. He has also suggested the release of some 70 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

Discussing the same energy proposal, Obama (also quoted by CNN) said: “It includes a limited amount of new offshore drilling, and while I still don’t believe that’s a particularly meaningful short-term or long-term solution, I am willing to consider it if it’s necessary to actually pass a com-prehensive plan.

“I am not interested in ma-king the perfect the enemy of the good - particularly since there’s so much good in this compromise that would actually reduce our de-pendence on foreign oil.”

It is clear, then, that offshore drilling will most certainly con-tinue to be a major aspect of the energy policy of either potential administration. By just how much, however, remains to be seen.

The forthcoming presidential election in the United States could have a profound impact on the oil industry not just in North America, but also around the globe. With both candidates eager to present their environmentally aware credentials, it is also likely that neither Senators Obama nor McCain would underestimate the importance of oil to energy production.

A deciding factor in the US presidential election?

Offshore drilling:

The bipartisan energy proposal would see the ban on drilling in Alaska upheld. However, it would also increase offshore drilling around the United Sta-tes. It also has major tax impli-cations for oil companies, redu-cing tax concessions for many industry players.

The bipartisan energy proposal

President George W. Bush speaks during a meeting with Bicameral and Bipartisan members of Congress, in the Cabinet Room of the White House.

Mars Ice island, Beaufort Sea Alaska. A 60 day exploratory well built offshore, 8 km off Cape Halkut near NPR-A.


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Keeping abreast of new advances in the techno-logy of finding reservoirs will be key going into the future.

Paul Byron

Sigmund Stokka, research di-rector in improved oil reco-very at IRIS (the Internatio-

nal Research Institute of Stavanger) believes that a continued dedica-tion to finding new technologies will keep certain companies ahead of the game in terms of finding and managing reservoirs.

‘Emerging technologies are elec-tromagnetic geological survey, which in some cases will distin-guish oil from water better than seismics, and a new concept is Bad-ger Explorer which is being develo-ped to go into the subsurface, fill the hole behind itself, and log for oil and gas,’ says Stokka.

The Badger Explorer is an exam-ple of a new generation of methods and devices used to explore for and map the extent of hydrocarbon resources. In this case, the tool pe-netrates the sea bed and the under-ground by using a mechanical drill bit driven by an electrical motor to loosen and crush the formation ahead of the tool. The crushed for-mation is transported through the device and deposited in the void behind the tool and the excess vo-lume forced and injected into the formation through fractures.

The key to the whole process to finding that reservoir is as tradi-tional as ever of course. As Stokka notes, ‘To evaluate the probability of finding a prospect containing an oil or gas reservoir, seismic data are

New technology leading the way to new reservoirs

gathered and analysis using geo-logical models developed for the specific area. Promising prospects are selected for drilling explora-tion wells which are logged, cut-tings from the wells are analysed and core samples are taken and analysed. If oil or gas is found in sufficient volumes the well will be production tested.’

Management The process of reservoir management is something which a BP says isn’t undergoing ‘any revo-lution at the moment’, and instead those in the industry are sticking to the tried and tested methods to keep-ing their reservoirs in order. Reservoir management is concerned with the geo-science and reservoir production engineering required to plan and op-timise the development of discovered or producing oil and gas assets.

Such management works in con-junction with the financial mana-gement of the asset, and also must work alongside the disciplines responsible for all types of field operations so as to deliver what is “operationally optimal”.

Known resevoirs In the case then of more established sites, what are the methods are out there to help those in the industry to get more oil and gas from known re-servoirs. Perhaps the aforemen-tioned process of fracturing the rocks; by exerting the right level and type of pressure into rocks with tight pores, companies can cause fine cracks that stimulate a freer flow of natural gas deposits that would previously have re-mained trapped there.

Elsewhere, the idea of injecting water into a reservoir to flush out some of the remaining oil trapped in rock pores is a long-established technique which may yield some joy for those in the industry. In-deed, BP claims that using water with a lower salt content appears to boost oil recovery by as much as 40 per cent.

The idea of injecting CO2 into wells is also another favourite for many out there – as tests have shown that carbon dioxide, which can be separated from oil and other hydrocarbons during hydrogen

power production, may be an ef-fective substitute. ‘Putting this CO2 back into the reservoir means it won’t be released into the at-mosphere, where it would add to the greenhouse gases believed to cause global warming,’ claims a re-cent BP statement.

The BP statement went on to tell how the use of micro-orga-nisms ‘may sound like science fiction, but with DuPont and the Energy Biosciences Institute we are studying whether microbes could help stuck oil to flow’. Con-tinued the BP source, ‘Feeding certain micro-organisms in re-servoirs might help lubricate rock surfaces, while others may simply munch on the oil until it breaks down, becoming runnier.’

Concepts Two concepts which have found some fans within the industry are intelligent upscaling and multi-reservoir coupling, both of which have been earmarked by major companies as ways of ma-ximising the productivity of reser-voirs.

¢ E-drilling is set to become a mainstay for many companies; the new technol-gy has now laid the fundament for control of remote drilling. Elements include:- Transient simulators for the drilling sub-processes;- Availability of drilling and geological data in real time;- Control of the drilling status by diagnosing abnormal trends and signals;- Drilling control systems with computer controlled drilling machines;- Links to reservoir description;- Development of advanced visualisation technology.

¢ Waste to liquid gold! A New Zealand-based company is said to be putting the finishing touches to a machine capable of turning human waste into petrol and other fuels fuel. BL Rayners Ltd is working in tandem with Christchurch company, Solvent Rescue Ltd, to develop the machinery

which will turn sewage algae into crude oil, which then can be refined into diesel, petrol and aviation fuel. The companies plan to market and manufacture the machinery in their local are as early as next year. City co-uncils are likely clients.

Sigmund Stokka, research director in improved oil recovery at IRIS (the Internatio-nal Research Institute of Stavanger).

– To evaluate the probability of finding a prospect containing an oil or gas reservoir, seismic data are gathered and analysis using geological models developed for the specific area. Promising prospects are se-lected for drilling exploration wells which are logged, cuttings from the wells are analysed and core samples are taken and analysed. If oil or gas is found in sufficient volumes the well will be production tested, says Sigmund Stokka research director IRIS.


- Pressure control issues represent the single largest component of non productive time during drilling, states Gunnerød. - Conventional drilling methods have several limitations when it comes to managing and regulating downhole pressure. For the first time in history, with technology developed and patented by ORS, drilling operations from a floating drilling unit can safely and efficiently be conducted allowing drill-ing with constant Bottom Hole Pressure, Gunnerød explains.

Technology from ORS is met with considerable inter-est internationally, simply because the solution funda-mentally changes the drilling operation, allowing im-proved well control and safety. Operators can achieve new levels of drilling performance and responsiveness to potentially critical well events. Gunnerød sums up:

- In particular in deep waters we see that our system allows 20-40 % faster drilling. Naturally this implies substantial economic benefits. Equally important is vastly reduced CO2 emissions, environmental foot-print and the risk of accidental spills and blowouts.

The technology behind the solution has been devel-oped in close collaboration with key industry expertise at NTNU. Significant support and funding is provided by StatoilHydro.

- Our plan is to have a fully proven MPD system in commercial operation by early 2012. An intermedi-ate solution could be operational in 2011, Gunnerød concludes.

Uncertainly has been associated with petro-leum reservoirs for some years, this should no longer be true.

John McDerMott

It has been a long accepted fact that when it comes to making economic decisions around

reservoir management, (be it bid valuations, new field development and operational plans, production estimates, or divestments), a large element of uncertainty will be in-volved in these decisions.

This is all despite the fact that there has been a huge increase in the sophistication of reservoir mo-delling techniques; while expen-sive alternatives, such as drilling more wells or conducting more thorough reservoir sampling are also now common. Such innova-tion has helped reduce uncertainty. But eliminate it? No.

Reservoir uncertainty should be left in the past

Detailed analysis A recent report from reservoir geologist David Har-dy (also a product manager for oil industry technology experts Roxar) states that, ‘By better quantifying uncertainty, areas of the reservoir that require more detailed analysis can be determined, and more ac-curate assessments and predictions of reservoir performance can be generated for the purpose of guid-ing development and operational decisions.’

He added that, ‘with new disco-veries becoming smaller, evaluating uncertainty is today an essential means of maximising the value of assets and optimising production from one’s reservoirs. The better able you are to quantify the risk, the more you can improve the financial performance of the operator.’

Hardy argues that reservoir un-certainty requires a completely integrated approach where un-certainty is evaluated across the entire reservoir model – covering both static and dynamic modeling workflow and which is based on a shared earth model consistent with all known geological information.

Multiple scenarios Commenting directly on viable answers to the reservoir uncertainty, Hardy says, ‘Properly utilising multiple sce-narios and realisations for risk analysis is a technique that requi-res a powerful and wide-reaching modelling package across the en-tire reservoir workflow. From well planning to fault seal analysis, 3D

modeling can bring uncertainty management to the entire reser-voir workflow.’

Hardy’s assessment that uncer-tainty over reservoir management can be almost eliminated with ca-reful planning and keeping up with the latest technology is also backed up by a recent report from the Chev-ron Corporation.

A spokesperson from Chevron no-ted recently how the company have, ‘developed a modeling technology that increases our ability to forecast the effectiveness of using enhanced heavy-oil recovery techniques to increase the productivity and life of a reservoir.’ Such forward thinking is no doubt necessary in the current economic climate.

Foto: øyvind haGen/Statoilhydro

With new discoveries becoming smaller, evaluating uncertainty is today an essential means of maximising the value of assets and optimising production from one’s reservoirs, says David Hardy, product manager at Roxar.


Extracting the best from the oil industry

Mary McnaMara

With the oil industry fa-cing the triple challenge posed by the current

economic environment, the task of equating demand with supply and meeting environmental regulations - research and development (R&D) is becoming an increasingly impor-tant tool in expanding the frontiers of oil availability, whether by ex-ploring for new fields or increasing recovery rates from existing fields.

Many believe that the most cost-effective way of increasing supply is to concentrate on develo-ping new ways to extract the vast amount of oil that remains in ma-ture fields.

One third According to Shell Oil, approximately just one third of a field’s oil capacity has been ex-tracted when it nears the end of its life. It is estimated that by ex-tracting just one per cent extra of the remaining oil, an internatio-nal increase of 20-30 billion bar-rels of oil would be incurred. For some experts, the future of extrac-tion from existing fields lies with a concentration on tertiary methods

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mation and a reservoir rock of high permeability.’

In Norway, tertiary extraction methods that utilise water and gas injection have been successful in yielding high amounts of oil form fields, but there is also continued development into the use of chemi-cal and Co2 injection.

‘In Norway, we have plans for 46 per cent recovery in average, and ambitions to reach 55 per cent. The main reasons for high recovery so far are: good reservoir description, high quality wells, and successful water injection and WAG (Water Alternation Gas injection)’ says Sigmund Stokka, Research Director for Improved Oil Recovery at the International Research Institute of Stavanger.

Enhance recovery ‘Presently, in-jection of CO2 and chemicals are being evaluated to enhance reco-very further. It is also anticipated that smart wells and integrated operations will contribute, as well as cost-efficient subsea well intervention.

The use of chemicals in oil ex-traction reduces the oil/water in-terfacial tension and improves water imbibitions. When success-ful, injecting water with chemicals increases oil return by mobilising trapped oil. While the use of Co2 swells the oil to increase return from the reservoir, simultaneously light oil components are also eva-porated in the Co2 phase.

or Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), utilising steam, gas, and chemical injection.

According to Shell’s Leading on Innovation report published in summer 2008: ‘By 2030, EOR will be responsible for around 20 per cent of total oil production, up from only three per cent today. This would mean that in a little over twenty years time, EOR could acco-unt for up to 20 million barrels of oil production per day, equivalent to nearly a quarter of what is cur-rently produced in total today.’

The report, however, points out that this proposed increase co-uld not be expected uniformly, as fields with thicker oil or more awkward reservoir conditions will pose challenges.

Shell chief scientist reservoir en-gineer, Willem Schulte says in the Leading On Innovation Report that ‘Norway’s Shell-operated Drau-gen field, for example, is expected to have a recovery factor of more than 70 per cent because it contains light oil, has an ideal reservoir for-

JJ Worrall

The importance of a quality wireline tractor “cannot be underestimated” according

to experts in the field. Speak-ing from the Norwegian head of-fices of Statoil Hydro, one of the company’s leaders in well opera-tions Leiv Arne Døssland noted how a “robust wireline tractor” is vital for such operations as sliding sleeve operations.

‘They (wireline tractors) are es-

The wireline tractor market is heating up at present with several ad-vanced products making a dent on the market.

Research and develop-ment key to ensuring future business.

Willem Schulte, chief scientist reservoir engi-neer Shell.

Wireline tractors are essential, we have used them in quite a lot of well operations during the last ten years and the quality keeps going up and up. We use them quite often, maybe 30 to 40 jobs a year,’ says one of the StatoilHydro´s leaders in well operations Leiv Arne Døssland.


Well intervention remains vital service

Importance of wireline tractor products not to be underestimated

John McDerMott

Chief executive officer of Sub-sea Group AS believes the importance of well run, well

managed well intervention services cannot be underestimated, both at sea and onshore. Stein Karlsen com-ments that, ‘What we’re giving over to companies we work with is an invaluable service, something that while still not industry wide is very, very important to those who use it.’

Having carved out a niche in the sub-sea intervention market, Karlsen says that companies specialising in this area are not ‘enormous’ but that those already within the industry will be kept ‘very busy’ for some time to come. Sub-sea operations such as those carried out by Karlsen’s compa-ny are commonly executed from light or medium intervention vessels or mobile offshore drilling units (MODU) for the heavier interventions such as snubbing and workover drilling rigs. Advanced planning and investment

in the correct equipment is essential. ‘There’s a lot (of people) going

into it but it’s expensive; to develop the equipment is more expense. You need the right personnel and the right equipment,’ adds Karlsen. The equipment he’s talking about inclu-des an integrated handling system, integrated control system, well lubri-cator as well as a fluids handling and processing system.

Moving away from the subsea market, well intervention can take many forms and is normally perfor-med using coiled tubing, hydraulic workover, or slickline units. ‘Anyone in the industry must understand the importance of getting well invention right,’ claims Karlsen.

sential, we have used them in quite a lot of well operations during the last ten years and the quality keeps going up and up. We use them quite often, maybe 30 to 40 jobs a year,’ says Døssland.

The wireline tractor of course provides a viable alternative to coiled tubing operations which are cost demanding and time-consu-ming requiring several more peo-ple on the crew.

‘Over the coming years we will take part in more and more sliding-sleeve operations, we need wireline tractors to not only shut off flow from one or more reservoir zones but also at times to regulate pres-sure between zones.’

Most companies will be looking for a product capable of manipu-lating sliding sleeves, changing gas lift valves, as well as mill away scale and debris in the well, brush

and hone damaged seal bores, mill through failed valves and more. Re-motely operated wireline tractors from an office onboard the instal-lation, or even operated from an on-shore location are also popular.

‘We keep any eye out for upco-ming developments,’ adds Statoil’s Døssland, ‘certainly they’re coming bit by bit and everyone should be on the lookout at the moment for better products.’

Well intervention is a process which has become vital to many businesses.

Wireline tractors are essential, we have used them in quite a lot of well operations during the last ten years and the quality keeps going up and up. We use them quite often, maybe 30 to 40 jobs a year,’ says one of the StatoilHydro´s leaders in well operations Leiv Arne Døssland.

Foto: aKer SolutionS aSa.

Integrated Handling Sys- ¢tem: Safe and efficient method of deployment, operation and recovery of the lubricator, modu-les and tools.

Integrated Control System: ¢Single, centralized operations control centre.

Subsea tools

– Well run, well managed well intervention services cannot be underestimated, both at sea and onshore, says Stein Karlsen, Chief executive officer of Subsea Group AS.


Smart wells

Keep it clean

The technology invol-ved within smart wells will offer great advan-tages to those who are yet to move towards this method.

Increased well productivi-ty may lie in good main-tenance and a careful approach to fracturing.

JJ Worrall

The advantages of smart well technology may be well documented at this

stage but there are still some vital improvements to be made in the area. StatoilHydro’s chief engi-neer of drilling facilities, Sigve

Paul Byron

For those looking to increase the productivity of your wells, continued maintenance and

making sure that the methods used to dig the wells in the first place are of a high standard will have a lasting effect. Sigmund Stokka, research director in improved oil recovery at IRIS (the International Research Institute of Stavanger) says that the importance of following this advice

Hovda, notes that the practice (which refers to wells completed with valves or chokes downhole in the reservoir and with equip-ment which can be operated from the surface) is still not something being used ‘industry-wide’.

‘It’s very interesting, even though smart well technology has been on the market for the re-gion of eight to ten years it has yet to penetrate the entire mar-ket. StatoilHydro is certainly one of the companies that have used the technology a lot – other major operators also to a certain extent.’

Vital advantages to using smart well hardware include being able to shut off unwanted production, controlling water injection, eli-minating the need for well in-tervention as well improving the reservoir description and increase the ultimate recovery factor.

Noting that the Middle East is proving to be a large new market for smart wells in the recent past, Hovda continues on, ‘It’s still qui-

et expensive (to use smart wells) and I think also what makes some companies apprehensive is that it

is vital.‘High quality production wells

must be drilled with care, selection adequate drilling fluids to avoid formation instability problems, and the mud could invade into the pro-ductive zone causing serious for-mation damage as well.’ Stokka also recommends that any company who practices fracturing for well stimula-tion should design the job with care to have high quality fractures well placed in the productive zone.

While with regards to perforations in oil wells (which connect them to a reservoir), Stokka mentions that ‘it is a challenge to have them long and the job should be designed for good cleaning of the perforation holes be-fore the well is put into production’.

Sveinung Robert-sen, Statoil Hydro

Foto:Statoilhydro

Even though smart well technology has been on the market for the region of eight to ten years it has yet to penetrate the entire market, Sigve Hovda StatoilHydro.

To increase well productivity, Sigmund Stokka points out that the methods used to dig the wells in first place are of a high standard.


The environmental challenges

Making a commitment:

Whilst oil production and environmental politics may not be generally considered the most compatible of bedfellows, it is the oil industry that has arguably been at the forefront of efforts to reduce the impacts of its own practices on the environment.

DaviD Jørgensen

As fossil fuels continue to be the dominant source of energy (general estimates

put the proportion at around 90 per-cent, with petroleum representing well over 30 percent of that total), the challenges of finding more en-vironmentally sound ways of con-tinuing efficient oil production is an issue of increasing importance.

As in many industries, dealing with the complex issue of CO2 emissions is one that presents a number of issues. For the oil in-dustry, however, CO2 production from sources such as electricity and gas generation is now being used to improve oil recovery. One exam-

takes significantly more time to install a smart well completion compared to a standard comple-tion.

‘There’s competition between smart wells – which allow you to control the output of the reservoir in a much more optimal way – and what we might call the simpler wells, and the advantage with the latter is that you will be able to make more wells in the time used. The advantages to smart wells are pretty clear though and really the companies who use smart wells will continue to do so. However, there is indeed a need to make the smart well technology much more time efficient when it comes to installation time and also more reliable.’

Another area also noted for a somewhat stunted development rate is that of plugging (used to plug abandoned wells, and a vital practice for companies moving over towards smart wells). Sta-toil Hydro’s Sveinung Robertsen says, ‘We have continuous tech-nology development, but more or less it’s in small steps that bring us forward.’ The leading advisor adds, ‘We don’t necessarily have any revolution taking place at the moment but all oil compani-es must use this practice and it’s worth investigating what’s new in this market.’

ple of this is the project managed by Statoil and Shell, involving the Tjeldbergodden gas-fired plant in Norway, which will provide carbon dioxide to two offshore oil and gas fields, in addition to power – resul-ting in an almost nil output of CO2 from the offshore plants.

The geological storage of CO2 is also being examined. Attempting to prevent the release of CO2 into the atmosphere, such projects cap-ture CO2 gas and then store it. The Weyburn-Midale project in the Ca-nadian province of Saskatchewan, co-sponsored by Shell, is utilising captured CO2 in order to thin light-to-medium oil, making it viable for recovery.

“What makes the Weyburn-Mi-dale CO2 Project a win-win pro-ject for Shell and other industry partners is the potential to store a man-made greenhouse gas in a na-tural hydrocarbon container, while realizing the economic benefits of increased oil recovery thanks to the CO2,” says Ray Knudsen, project director.

Obviously, another major focus for oil companies is that of alterna-tive fuel sources. Without a con-vincing alternative to oil and gas available, the work of oil producers continues to be integral in areas such as bio fuels, hydrogen fuel, and renewable energy sources like

wine and solar power.Whilst awareness of projects

such as CO2 storage is increas-ing, other areas of environmental concern for the industry remain. Dealing with the aftermath of ac-cidents that result in oil spillage re-mains one such challenge. Whilst the industry comes in for a huge amount of negative press as a re-sult of such incidents, projects such as the Strandrens scheme are hel-ping the industry to literally clean up its own waste.

A joint project between Norway’s Eni Norge and StatoilHydro, the aim of the project is to achieve a more environmentally friendly way of cleaning up spillages on coastlines by using improved technology. Such solutions in-clude new vacuuming techniques, and heat management systems for areas where temperatures are low, or below freezing. A field test was completed in April this year at a beach in Tromsø, in the far north of Norway.

“The test looked promising and is an important step for further ef-ficiency improvement in restoring oil polluted beach areas, but it is still work to be done before the method can be implemented,” says Ole Hansen, an advisor for Oil Spill Response for Eni Norge.

The project was inspired as a re-

sult of the efforts made to clean up the pollution caused by the ground-ing of the John R vessel off the cost of Norway in December 2000. De-veloping the vacuum methods used in that operation, the project aims to build on the lessons learned, and to create new techniques for more efficient cleaning.

Strandrens is one of a number of joint projects between Eni Nor-ge and StatoilHydro to create an environment in the far northern regions of Norway where both oil and fishing industries can co-exist, particularly in the Barents Sea and along the coasts of Lofoten and Vesterålen.

Foto: roxar

Foto: Sleipner/Statoilhydro

According to projections from the US Government’s Energy Information Administration, the demand for oil in the North American region will increase from c.25m barrels a day cur-rently to c.33m barrels by 2030. In Europe, that figure will increase from c.15.5m to c.16m in the same period. At the moment, China consumes c.8m barrels - set to increase to c.15m by the same time.

Increase

SiGve hovda, chieF enGineer, drillinG FacilitieS, Statoilhydro.

It’s very interesting, even though smart well technology has been on the market for the region of eight to ten years it has yet to penetrate the entire market.

Even though smart well technology has been on the market for the region of eight to ten years it has yet to penetrate the entire market, Sigve Hovda StatoilHydro.

The geological storage of CO2 is also being examined. Attempting to prevent the release of CO2 into theatmosphere, such projects capture CO2 gas and then store it.


Sandaband Main benefits:

Your Challenges?

an environmental and cost saving

technical revolution


DaviD Jørgensen

It would seem that the need to ensure optimum production levels of extraction would be

one of the most important aspects of operations. However, the PSA

discovered that one in five wells examined exhibited degrees of in-tegrity weakness – impacting di-rectly on recovery rates, costs and safety.

Such issues can lead to serious problems: one such incident that

Understanding the chal-lenges of maintaining well integrity was the focus of a recent audit commissioned by the Norwegian Petroleum Safety Authority (PSA).

Well integrity – the unknown problem?

led to the research was the Snorre gas blowout that occurred in 2004. The incident is a reminder that such accidents can and do happen

The audit, conducted in 2006, examined 406 wells from 12 facili-ties on the Norwegian shelf.

“At that time, the estimated value from the shelf was around 500 bil-lion NOK per year,” says Stein Ton-ning of the PSA. “Well integrity problems may cost around ten per-cent of that – 50 billion NOK each year – which is a huge burden.”

Problems included – indeed, continue to include - issues with tubing, casing, wellheads and annular safety valves, amongst

DaviD Jørgensen

Essentially, MPD has the aim of calculating the limits of the downhole pressure environ-

ment, and subsequently to manage the wellbore hydraulic pressure pro-file according to those limits.

The point of MPD is to refine as much as possible the drilling pro-cess, and to ensure that an optimum drilling process can occur and be completed safer than conventional methods. By actively controlling the wellbore pressure profile through a closed and pressurisable system this enables a more stable downhole en-vironment and can reduce wellbore stability issues. By better managing these pressures, reduced mud weights can often be employed thus reducing the extent of formation damage and potentially increasing ultimate reser-voir production.

“MPD is practiced on about 45 percent of US land drilling programs – up from just ten percent in the mid-nineties,” says James Chopty, Product Line Manager for Controlled Pressure Drilling and Testing Servi-ces for Weatherford UK Ltd. “That translates to about 500 wells that are being drilled with a closed and pres-surable circulating fluids system.”

As the economic impact of opera-tions becomes an ever-increasing fac-tor in determining where extraction can take place, MPD is offering a clear alternative for many companies.

As defined by the In-ternational Association of Drilling Contractors, managed pressure dril-ling (MPD) is: ‘an adap-tive drilling process used to precisely control the annular pressure profile throughout the wellbore.’

Increasing control Well Integrity – and the Well Barrier Envelope Concept

Primary Well Barrier

Secondary Well Barrier

Ref. “Swiss cheese model”

• The Primary Well Barrier Envelope is the first objectto prevent unintentional flow from the source

• The Secondary Well Barrier Envelope preventsfurther unintentional flow, if the primary fail

Common production wellw/ the 2 ”barrier envelopes”

Source

Activities Regulation §76 w/ref. to NORSOK D010

others. The audit highlights the need to improve the monitoring systems in place, and to coordinate industry efforts to reduce the im-pact of preventable issues.

According to the report, the main areas where improvement is needed are in the monitoring of well conditions, training and edu-cation, up-to-date and accessible data about wells, and the efficient transfer of such data between dif-ferent phases.

“Even an improvement of one, two or three percent would be a major step,” says Tonning.

For More inForMation, and to download the report, viSit www.ptil.no

Stein Tonning, PSA

The picture illustates the link between well barrier schematics (WBS) and the primary & secondary well barrier envelopes that should be developed and easy accessable as part of a well integrity management system.

illuStration: norweGian petroleuM SaFety authority (pSa)


There is a growing requirement for training in the industry for personnel working on-/offshore.

PNI Training Centre have a strongly interdisciplinary environment that works with training within areas like HES, crane and lifting, drilling and well, as well as training of inspectors.The company have been delivering training services to the industry over a period of 10 years and have now moved into new modern facilities at Forus west in Stavanger.

We often do courses in our customer’s premises and out at the installations Mrs Gislason said.This means both on-/offshore, she adds that the company also do courses outside Norway, among countries like Japan, Australia, and several African countries.The reason that the courses is popular abroad, is that Norwegian companieswant the same procedures and the same standard when working outside the Norwegian border

The industry has in recent years focused on rigging operations, use of working equipment, lifting operation, securing and packing of loads, rescue/hardness, just to mention some of their focus areas and PNI has been a major contributor within these areas.

PNI Training Centre as

On- /Offshore training

There are new requirements for safety and practices in the industry, and many of the companies feels that its not easy to keep up with all new requirementThis challenge will resolve many by holdingregular contact with PNI Training. Ourcustomers receive periodic newsletters with updated information, and we are organizing seminars where the updated regulations will be reviewed.In spring 2008 there was, for example, new recommendation guidelines from OLF, related to Fall protection and rescue, PNI took the challenge and we have today a two days course for personnel that procure, use and maintain fall protection equipment.

The course is a practical course (20/80) • Rigging and use of rescue equipment • Rescue of a freely suspended person • Lowering / hoisting of a person • Stabilisation of a person • Knowledge of suspension trauma

PNI Training Centre have instructors that keep a high professional level, they are trained by Lexow as. which represent the Capital Safety

About PNI: Delivers services all around the world, Turnover 18 mill NOK Main office in Stavanger, Norway, web; www.pni.no

annonSeannonSe


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Well Technology_246x107.indd 1 10.10.2008 09:52:21


DaviD Jørgensen

Taking into account the of-ten difficult and complex issues that accompany oil

exploration in such areas, the project brings together repre-sentative from oil and gas com-panies, as well as people from knowledge-based industries, such as ICT professionals and defence specialists, to form strategies for the integration of all aspects of operations.

The project is a collaboration between Abelia, a Norwegian bu-siness association, the Norwegian Oil Industry Association (OLF), and the Defence and Security In-dustries Association, as well as a host companies involved in IO. DNV has taken the responsibility of project managing the study.

“Collaboration between dif-ferent industries is important to meet the challenges of the futu-re,” says Heidi Brovold, responsi-ble for IO at Den Norske Veritas (DNV). “IO in the High North shows how the Norwegian know-ledge industry is taking a leading role in the global oil and gas in-dustry.”

A four-year study, the project will examine a wide range of are-as, including digital aspects such as IT system architecture and bu-siness software, autonomous dril-ling control, working in sub-ice locations, smart agent software, consolidated ontologies, and health and safety. By year four, the project should be ready to pi-

lot automated drilling rigs, have developed processes for sub-ice conditions, and have created a reliable basis for IOG2 going for-ward.“Integrated operations are a key element in the future of the oil and gas industry,” says Thore Lange-land, manager of Integrated Opera-tions at the Norwegian Oil Industry Association (OLF). “New techno-logy and new work processes will lead to safer, faster and better de-cisions. The result is a potential for considerable value creation and the opportunity to enter new, prospec-tive areas.”

Creating sustainable collabora-tion now could have a profound impact on the entire oil industry. With collaborative steps being taken in other areas, such as the implementation of new technolo-gy, such knowledge sharing will hopefully help to deliver results; another effect will of course be that Norwegian solutions in this area will be exported to other ter-ritories.

Such a collaboration between oil, gas and knowledge compa-nies is, if not unprecedented, then unique for the terms of reference of this particular study. Notwith-standing the challenges of imple-menting new business processes that can resonate throughout all levels of operations, the compa-nies are also faced with the pro-spect of creating sustainable so-lutions for harsh environments. How these solutions will develop such be watched closely by anyo-ne with an interest in IO.

IO in the High North is a joint industry project that aims to develop a digital platform for second-genera-tion integrated operations (IOG2) in the far northern regions of Norway (the so-called ‘High North’).

Integrated operations

A recent report by the Norwe-gian Petroleum Safety Aut-hority concluded that IO must emphasise the need for impro-ved health and safety provision. “Introducing IO may influence the risk of major accidents in a negative way, but it may also contribute to the opposite. IO has a potential for reducing the danger of major accidents,” said Magne Ognedal, Director Ge-neral of the PSA, as he opened a conference discussion on the subject in June this year.

For More inForMation, viSit www.ptil.no

Health and safety

– Integrated operations are a key element in the future of the oil and gas industry, says Thore Langeland, manager of Integra-ted Operations at the Norwegian Oil Industry Association (OLF). Heidi Brovold, responsible for IO at Den Norske Veritas (DNV) points out that collaboration between different industries is important to meet the challenges of the future.


NORTRAIN – Norwegian DrillingAcademy AS is Norway’s largesteducational centre for developing skilled workers in the field of drilling,well services, subsea and production.With more than 30 years of history inproviding industry approved oilfieldtraining, the NORTRAIN school is nowdeveloping training centers outside ofNorway in both Asia and Africa, andmore international activity is planned.

Norwegian government- and industrydefined requirements for Drilling &Well Services Training, DWST, is now

translated to fully equivalent trainingprograms in english and constitute the core of NORTRAIN’s internationaltraining activities.

The NORTRAIN schools offer a completerange of oilfield training, from basiceducation needed to start an operatio-nal oilfield career, via advanced techni-cal college programs in petroleumtechnology to become supervisors,drillers, toolpushers or production engineers. In addition NORTRAIN isalso accredited to offer the internatio-nally certifying IWCF and IADC Well

Control training, including simulatortraining and tests.

NORTRAIN also offers a range of shortspecialist training courses, such as:• Stuck Pipe Prevention courses• Wireline courses• HP/HT drilling courses• Basic Well Control courses• MWD Well Logging courses• Introduction to drilling technology• Subsea technology courses

NORTRAIN is ISO 9001:2000 certified.

Tangen 10N-4070 RandabergNorwayTel: +47 51 69 27 00Fax: +47 51 69 27 27E-mail: [email protected]

Competent • Reliable • Practical

International Oilfield Training to Norwegian standards

The UK’s HSE works with equivalent organisations around the world to de-velop strategies and share information about health and safety. It partici-pates in the North Sea Offshore Authorities Forum with countries such as Norway and the Netherlands, working on areas such as the harmonisation of safety training, and moving rigs between countries in the North Sea re-gion. The UK/Norwegian Special Working Group is another initiative de-signed to promote cooperation between the two countries and to develop common positions.

UK HSE

DaviD Jørgensen

In the UK, the Piper Alpha tra-gedy in 1988 marked a major turning point in the way that

offshore security is managed. After the deaths of 167 person-nel, the UK government com-missioned a report that made 106 recommendations to improve procedures for dealing with major hazards, all of which were subse-quently accepted.

Responsibility for offshore in-dustry regulation was given to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). Overseeing an industry that is facing major changes, it is

The challenges posed by the continuing provi-sion of health and safety represent a major part of offshore operations for every company involved in the industry.

Responding to the challenges in the UK

health and safety:

the HSE’s job to ensure that the UK’s offshore interests remain safe for some 29,000 people em-ployed on those facilities, and another 320,000 or so who sup-port those facilities.

“In the period after Piper Alpha the offshore industry traditio-nally comprised large internatio-nal companies with considerable health and safety expertise, but the industry is now changing,” says Ian Whewell, head of the HSE’s Offshore Division. “Very high levels of activity and the need to extend the life of the in-frastructure are being driven by unprecedented high oil prices. Trade associations are restructu-ring, companies are amalgama-ting and assets are being sold to newcomers, many of whom are small and without experience of operating on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf. New technolo-gy is being introduced for which there is little or no operational experience. Questions are being asked as to whether ageing equip-ment should be kept going, reus-

ed elsewhere or decommissioned. Environmental concerns, such as demands for complete removal of redundant installations, may also have safety implications. Strate-gies are being developed to tackle these new risks.”

– In the period after Piper Alpha the offshore industry traditionally com-prised large international companies with considerable health and safety expertise, but the industry is now changing, says Ian Whewell, head of the HSE’s Offshore Division.


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DaviD Jørgensen

New technology is obvious-ly vital in terms of assur-ing profitable, secure ope-

rations in the most cost-effective way. However, rising demand for oil notwithstanding, the imple-mentation of new technologies is more urgent than ever in order to access supplies wherever they may be. How the design, development and production of new equipment can keep up with demand is inte-gral to that urgency.

“The world needs new tech-nologies in a larger scale and

more quickly than we’ve seen so far,” says Jan Roar Drechsler of StatoilHydro and also of the Norwegian Society of Petroleum Engineers, who was chairing the PTC programme committee. “Ty-pically there is a need to develop new technology for new types of

Developing the potential that new technology can bring was the recent theme of a conference held in Bergen in Norway. As part of the Offshore Technology Days, the Fourth Norwegian Petroleum Technology Conference (PTC) was the forum for intense debate on what new developments in technology can bring.

Gaining benefits from new developments

wells and production systems. For example, we have the challenge of deeper water and longer wells up to 15 - 18 kilometres.”

One of the keynote speakers at the conference was Roy Ruså, Vice-president of Technology and ICT for Petoro. Asking the ques-tion ’Critical technology: do we act accordingly?’ Ruså is one of those at the forefront of efforts to develop and, perhaps more impor-tantly, to implement new techno-logies for a range of tasks.

“Early application of techno-logy implies the opportunity to gain the values early. However, the big results are achieved after

after implementation on a broad front.” commented Ruså recently the publication Petoro Perspectiv. “We’re talking here about syste-matic identification of improve-ment opportunities, standardisa-tion of work processes, training and cooperation between many players.”

That cooperation and standar-disation are now seen as corners-tones of efforts to introduce new technologies is perhaps a reflection of the fact that implementation ti-mes for the introduction of advan-cements are generally much longer than in other industries. A recent Petero report highlighted a 35-year

timeline between development and consequent implementation of new products for horizontal drilling, as opposed to approximately 12 ye-ars in the pharmaceutical industry, and some 16 years in telecommu-nications.

“New technology, including fas-ter computers and improved simu-lation models, must be developed if we’re going to make even bet-ter use of the overwhelming data flow,” continued Ruså, referring to the wealth of information that is now available. “Such advan-ces are needed sub-surface and in drilling, production, maintenance and logistics.”

Foto:daG-tore anFinSen/Statoilhydro

Speaking to a delegation at the Royal Bank of Scot-land North Sea Conference in Aberdeen, Scotland, re-cently, Art Millholland, CEO of Canadian oil company Oilexco, declared that new technology can help smaller, independent oil producers to be successful. “The applica-tion of new technology can give us competitiveness and improved execution,” he said in comments reported by the Aberdeen-based Press and Journal.

Technology

Roy Ruså, Vice-president of Technology and ICT for Petoro.

”New technology, including faster computers and improved simulations models, must be developed if we’re going to make even better use of the overwhelming data flow”, says Roy Ruså in Petoro.


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Documents

VEDLIKEHOLD: Undis- covered Planning for future extraction