Technology

This interactive session is intended to inform attendees of the impact our personality tendencies have on how people see, manage and mitigate risk. Our research and practical application have shown that expanding the understanding of traditional human factors and human and organizational performance to include personality elements results in a further developed body of knowledge, enhancing traditional methods of reducing errors, events and incidents.

We have gathered, analyzed and verified over 500,000 personality tendency data points related to how people behave in given situations, communicate, lead and see and manage risk. Where most ‘personality typing’ regimens focus primarily on how people behave and interact with others, we have paid specific attention to how human performance error traps impact different personalities, how and why we follow or don't follow procedures, and what we can do about it. The data associated with "what makes it difficult for me to stop work" and "how could I get hurt" has been game-changing in understanding and managing risk at all levels of the organization. Many of the standard human and organizational performance error reduction tools do not effectively consider that different people need different types of information to effectively use the tools to reduce the probability of error.

The overall conclusion of the last ten years of gathering and analyzing the data is that different people with different personality tendencies see, manage and mitigate risk differently. Understanding this critical element will allow organizations to reduce errors and incidents, especially on critical or high-risk tasks. In addition, taking these elements into account drives more effective and usable procedures and processes that more people adhere to. Several methods will be discussed as to how attendees can immediately put into action some of the new understandings.

The 10,000 volunteers at Super Bowl 51 in Houston, TX used some of this understanding to improve interactions with visitors. Schools around the globe are using awareness and management of personality tendencies to reduce bullying, decrease absenteeism, improve engagement, and increase graduation potential.

Traditional safety, engineering, human factors, and human & organizational performance approaches do not effectively account for personality tendencies in a way that minimizes risk. From the oilfield, to electric power generation and distribution, to construction and manufacturing, these techniques have been used to effectively reduce and mitigate risk, improve engagement, and improve organizational safety culture.

Oil-water relative permeability and capillary pressure are key inputs for multiphase reservoir simulations. These data are significantly impacted by the wettability state in the reservoir and by the pore space characteristics of the rock. However, in the laboratory, there are several challenges related to the validation and interpretation of the special core analysis (SCAL) measurements. They are mostly associated with the core preservation or restoration processes and resulting wettability states. To improve dynamic reservoir rock typing (DRRT) process, a new model, describing the change of wettability fraction with depth in mixed-wet reservoirs, is proposed. The proposed model is based on solid physics describing the interactions between the rock grain surfaces and the fluids filling the pore space. First, the model considers the oil migration from the source rock into the originally water-wet reservoir and the corresponding capillary pressure rise, as the height above the free water level (HAFWL) is progressively increased. Then, oil-wet and water-wet fractions are estimated for different static reservoir rock types (SRRT) and different HAFWL, based on the wettability change potential of the rock-fluid system and oil-water capillary pressure curves. Additionally, mixed-wet capillary pressure and relative permeability curves are estimated for both oil displacing water (drainage) and water displacing oil (imbibition) processes, based on the estimated mixed-wet fractions and single-wet curves. We discussed the model assumptions and its parameters' uncertainties. We prepared a comprehensive sensitivity study on the impact of wettability variability with depth on oil recovery results. This study used a synthetic carbonate-reservoir simulation model, under waterflooding, by incorporating the concept of DRRT defined according to the different SRRT and estimated wettability fractions. The results showed a significant impact of wettability variability on oil in place and reserves estimates for waterflooding processes in typical complex, mixed-wet carbonate reservoirs, such as the ones found in the Brazilian Pre-Salt. We also discuss the potential impact of wettability change with depth on well logs like resistivity, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and dielectric logs. The proposed reservoir wettability model and its corresponding DRRT workflow is relatively simple and widely applicable, and may significantly improve reservoir simulation and wettability uncertainty analysis. It also explicitly identifies the required wettability parameters to be obtained from laboratory experiments and well logs. Finally, the proposed model may be integrated with special core analysis, well logs and digital-rock analysis.

Supplier Performance Management (SPM) is a process to improve the overall performance of Suppliers, promote better working relationships with Suppliers and remove poor performing suppliers from Prequalified Bidders List. Once SPM is in place Supplier Performance can be tracked, analyzed and shared with confidence. Owner company can clearly identify poor performing Suppliers and work with them to improve their performance. The steps involved in achieving an effective SPM are Measure Supplier performance, Analyze available data, Communicate/Engage Supplier and work for tangible Improvement. What is Supplier Performance Management (SPM)?

Injection of drilling waste into subsurface formations proves to be an environmentally-friendly and cost-effective waste management method that complies with zero discharge requirements. It has now become the technology of choice in offshore Abu Dhabi.

The aim of cuttings reinjection (CRI) is to mitigate risks associated with subsurface waste injection and reduce cuttings processing time and cost. In order to meet these goals, a cuttings reinjection subsurface assurance methodology was developed to improve cuttings processing and continuously monitor drilling waste injection operations.

Preparing for CRI operations required extensive drilling cuttings slurry testing to minimize processing time and develop optimum particle size distribution to reduce cost and increase the injected waste volume. The improvements were accompanied by downhole pressure and temperature monitoring of the injection well, thus facilitating analysis of injection pressures. Fracture containment was verified through a combination of pressure decline analysis, periodic injectivity test, temperature survey, and periodic modelling for fracture waste domain mapping. A backup injection well was used also as an observation well to monitor the pressure signitures in the injection formation.

More than 1 million barrels of drill cuttings and associated drilling waste have been safely and successfully disposed of into a single injection zone of CRI well over three years of operations.

The cuttings reinjection subsurface assurance method optimizes grinded cuttings particle size distribution, detects and identifies potential risks to provide mitigation options to prolong the life of the injector.

The proactive subsurface injection monitoring-assurance program was built into the fit for purpose CRI injection procedure to continually avoid injecting any rejected hard material, improve and update the process as per subsurface injection pressure responses, thus reducing processing time and cost, mitigating injection risks, and extending the injection well life.

This paper presents the unique and technically challenging cuttings slurry properties design and pressure interpretation experience learned in this project; the enhancement of cuttings processing helped increase injection volumes and an in-depth interpretation of fracture behavior which behaved like a risk-prevention tool with mitigation options. Significant enhancement was developed in slurry treatment procedures to avoid injectivity loss and maximize the disposal capacity.

Sarawak, Malaysia first offshore high rate dry gas field has an over pressured reservoir. Successful pressure control during drilling required the use of barite in the water based drilling mud in PMCD mode inside carbonate. Barite is very abrasive and is insoluble in any acid or solvent. Any barite left in the reservoir due to mud losses has to be produced back to surface after completing the wells. This cleanup is crucial for the safety and longevity of permanent facilities, especially when high rate gas wells are involved; due to the high rate of impact of any solids that may be produced with the gas. It is also critical to design the cleanup job carefully to ensure proper equipment and safety measures are taken to avoid washouts and related safety hazards.

To ensure solids free production from day one, a procedure was implemented and successfully executed during the development of this first offshore high rate high-pressure sour gas field. This was achieved by using the tender rig as a main support and complementing the safety with the incorporation of the selected well testing equipment management system. In addition to the proper equipment, a detailed cleanup procedure, which covered systematic production ramp up and defined solids free criteria, was implemented from well owner or asset. So far, this well cleanup setup and program has been implemented on several wells on platforms with minor erosion and no safety issues.

One platform with several wells is already producing and is flowing trouble free. This paper will describe the details of the setup of the rig facilities to clean these barite fluids from the wells, and the solids control equipment used and the cleanup procedure.

One method of reducing the recognized threat of global warming is using continued sequestration of anthropogenic "greenhouse gases," such as carbon dioxide (CO₂). Sedimentary basins are present globally and, because of the omnipresent nature of deep, regional-scale aquifers within them, they can be considered as potential sites for disposal and sequestration of CO₂. Successful implementation requires identifying and considering fundamental concepts to help ensure that CO₂ is stored in the aquifers effectively. The ideal scenario involves migrating CO₂ from injection wells to remote storage sites using the aquifer, helping ensure its isolation from the atmosphere for a considerable length of time. In addition to the scientific and technical aspects of sequestration research, the practicality of the concept should be considered, including evaluating the maximum possible volume of CO₂ that can be stored at global and regional levels as well as the safety and economic feasibility of the process. This study discusses examples to help provide an in-depth, practical understanding of this concept.

The study combines a full-physics commercial simulator with an effective uncertainty and optimization tool. The sequestration phenomenon is then modeled to investigate the significance and effect of the essential parameters on well performance while also considering thermal and geochemical effects. The process assesses the injection of CO₂ containing tracers for 25 years, followed by shutting in the injectors and modeling the status of CO₂ for the next 225 years. While CO₂ is injected into an aquifer, the molecular diffusion of CO₂ in water is modeled. The modeling of the thermal effects attributable to the injection of CO₂ is important because the chemical equilibrium constants have a functional thermal dependency.

For reservoir management, the evaluation and effective management of uncertainties are as important as managing the well-level parameters. For this study, essential reservoir and well parameters are identified, and sensitivity and optimization processes are performed on them; the tornado charts in this paper illustrate the significance and effect of each parameter. Thermal and geochemical effects are shown to play vital roles in the sequestration process.

This study outlines the significance of essential parameters associated with the overall success of the CO₂ sequestration in aquifers using in-depth uncertainty and optimization analysis, and it considers the influence of thermal and geochemical effects.

Ultra Deepwater wells are commonly characterized by a narrow margin between pore and fracture gradients. Eni pioneer of the Continuous circulation technique has pushed the control of annulus dynamic pressure to the limit. The experience presented in this paper cover the drilling of an HPHT Deepwater well, through an ultra narrow PPFG window by means of technology application and strict procedural control. In the case study presented the reservoir section of an HPHT well was planned to be reached with an adequate kick tolerance and choke margin by applying the ENI near balance drilling technique (e-nbd) in order to ensure strict control on the primary barrier and achieving the aimed operational and safety performance. The plan required the use of e-cd (eni circulating devices) system installed for the first time on a drilling ship with the 6 5/8″ DPs.

In Middle East carbonate reservoirs, power water injector (PWI) wells are typically completed with long openhole laterals. The reservoir contact provides pressure support and enhances sweep efficiency in the low-transmissibility reservoirs. Due to the wells deviation and length, coiled tubing (CT) interventions are required to successfully enter and identify each lateral, as well as to remove formation damage by pumping the matrix stimulation treatment across entire laterals.

During such CT interventions, laterals are accessed thanks to a hydraulically operated lateral identification tool (LIT), while the stimulation treatment is pumped through a ball-drop-activated high-pressure jetting nozzle (HPJN). LIT and HPJN are efficiently operated by monitoring downhole pressure values both inside and outside of the bottomhole assembly, in real time thanks to CT fiber-optic telemetry. Those downhole pressure readings further assist in optimizing the pumping rate during the job, while keeping it below the fracturing pressure. Finally, the telemetry provides support for gamma ray (GR) logging, which facilitates depth control and lateral identification.

This study features a case history during which the matrix stimulation treatment was conducted in two separate CT runs for both laterals of the well. For the first run, the CT initially entered L-0 following the natural path of the well, whereas L-1 was accessed by activating the LIT. Correct lateral entry was confirmed by matching the acquired GR readings with reference logs. After successfully accessing L-1 and reaching its maximum depth, a ¾-in. ball was dropped to isolate the LIT and activate the HPJN for stimulation.

During the second run, as the CT entered L-0, GR monitoring was used to confirm lateral accessibility. The stimulation treatment was pumped after reaching maximum depth and isolating the HPJN. During the stimulation of each lateral, 20% viscoelastic diverting acid was utilized for diverting from high-intake zones and 20% HCl to stimulate damaged/tight zones.

This operation illustrates how downhole pressure gauge readings are used to sequentially operate the LIT efficiently and activate the HPJN, as well as to pump the matrix stimulation treatment below the fracturing pressure. Real-time GR readings, meanwhile, are used for depth control and to correctly identify laterals.

The huge resources of unconventional hydrocarbon reserves across the world coupled with the growing oil value makes their contribution to be significantly important to the world economy. Oil producing companies can invest in unconventional hydrocarbon to cover local demand and save crude oil for exporting. Conversely, one of the foremost challenge that producers face in unconventional reservoirs is the need for large stimulated reservoir volume (SRV) to ensure economical production.

This study describes a new stimulation technique to increase the stimulated reservoir volume using the chemical reactions along with hydraulic fracturing fluid. Reactive chemicals are used to generate the localized pressure and heat in tight formations to create additional micro fracturing, thus increase the fracture complexity. Created induced micro-fractures considerably increased the porosity, permeability, and ultimately the SRV. The synthetic sweetspots are created nearby a wellbore and fractured area by the help of new stimulation treatment mechanism. Results showed significant conductivity increase with new treatment technique.

Rock samples were studied for mineralogical and microstructural characterizations using advanced spectroscopy and microscopy analytical techniques. Moreover, on each rock specimen ultrasonic compressional (P-wave) and shear (S-wave) velocities were recorded and dynamic Poisson's ratio and Young's modulus were determined. The obtained topographical images revealed the presence of micro-cracks and nanoscale pores in all studied core samples.

The novelty of this study is to develop a novel fracturing technique to increase stimulated reservoir volume (SRV). The parameters studied in this research can be served as critical inputs for many field applications such as wellbore stability, casing design and perforation, sand production control, and fracturing.

We are in an era where digital technologies are developing at exponential rates and transforming industries wholesale. The confluence of machine learning advances, accelerated growth in acquired data, on-demand CPU and GPU driven computing such as cloud infrastructure, and other advances in automation and robotics are causing an industrial revolution that some term as the "Fourth Industrial Revolution". Given that all these transformative technologies are now available and rapidly reinventing other industries, why is the rate of adoption in the oil and gas industry so slow? How can we best utilize these advances to stop drowning in data and instead transform this data into information and knowledge in order to enable secure and intelligent automation in oilfield operations?

The oil and gas industry has attempted, at times successfully, a multitude of big data and analytical techniques to further describe and analyze the systems’ or system of systems’ subsurface interactions. While the proofs of concepts have shown promise, structural difficulties embedded in the design of 20th century systems hinder the implementation of the methods and procedures now part and parcel of the 21st century, driven forth because of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Unfortunately, 20th century procedures are not able to incorporate 21st century driven processes and methods of conducting business.

We outline some of the structural challenges facing the oil and gas industry and describe a few of the solutions that have been developed to help companies in the industry. These include applications from the subsurface in geophysics, completions design, and production. Overcoming data silos in traditional data infrastructure requires a novel approach to cloud infrastructure that respects user access, data privacy, and data residency requirements of companies. Assessing data for quality and for reasonable diversity and variation in order to answer questions posed by oil & gas companies can be quite profound. This critical step prevents companies from spending lots of non-productive time and money trying to develop and tune machine learning algorithms to produce answers that are simply not available in the data. Further, getting data to be in a form suitable to apply artificial intelligence can be quite involved.

We illustrate the above challenges by several subsurface examples and then describe the implementation of novel solutions. What we will show is that the oil and gas digital highway presently has data traffic jams preventing it from moving at the speed of light. Removing these traffic jams offers decision-makers the opportunity to move from insight to foresight – looking out in front instead of the rearview mirror to drive change.