Drilling special: Voice of the industry

Membership is open to any company involved in oil and gas exploration, drilling or production, well servicing, oilfield manufacturing or other rig-site services.

IADC’s contract-drilling members own most of the world’s land and offshore drilling units that drill the vast majority of the wells producing oil and gas. Our membership also includes oil-and-gas producers and manufacturers and suppliers of oilfield equipment and services.

Founded in 1940, the association’s mission is to improve industry health, safety and environmental practices; advance drilling and completion technology; and champion responsible standards, practices, legislation and regulations that provide for safe, efficient and environmentally sound drilling operations worldwide.

Through conferences, training seminars and technical publications, IADC fosters education and communication within the upstream petroleum industry. IADC also holds Accredited Observer status at the International Maritime Organization and the International Seabed Federation, branches of the United Nations. We are a leader in developing standards for industry training, notably our WellCAP and RIG PASS accreditation programs.

What are the advantages of IADC membership?
IADC is the only organization that provides activities, programs and services to drilling contractors and others operating in the oil and gas drilling industry worldwide.

Membership in IADC reflects a company’s dedication to fulfilling the Association’s mission of championing responsible regulations and legislation that promote safe, efficient and environmentally-benign wellsite operations, including drilling, well servicing and completions. IADC’s accreditation and certification programs ensure that the wellsite industry adheres to high standards of training, and hence competency, in the field.

Only IADC members are eligible to participate in various IADC committees that focus on continuous improvements in critical areas such as health, safety and environment, well control and advanced rig technology.

IADC provides its members an internationally recognized platform from which they can share and address common aims and problems.

Have you seen strong enthusiasm to participate and enagage from Middle Eastern members?
Yes. For example, at the IADC Critical Issues Middle East Conference & Exhibition held 10-11 May this year in Dubai, 69% of attendees were Middle Eastern-based members. The event also featured speakers from member companies such as Saudi Aramco, National Drilling Company, Kuwait Oil Company and Nabors Arabia.

What are your membership numbers from around the Middle East?
IADC has 2,000 members in the Middle East, representing 102 IADC member companies.

How proactive is your engagement with local members, and how productive have IADC events in the region been?
IADC membership across the Middle East is vibrant and encompasses virtually all NOCs, IOCs, drilling contractors and oilfield service firms in the region. Through our Middle East Operations Forum, drilling contractors, in particular, come together regularly to discuss issues of common concern, such as recruiting, training, technology, HSE and other topics.

Similarly, IADC’s series of conferences for the Middle East also target those issues most pressing to the region’s well-construction community.

Earlier this year, the successful IADC Critical Issues Middle East 2011 conference drew a crowd of influential drilling and completion professionals to examine the market, technology and commercial factors affecting their business. We will hold another edition of this important event in Dubai on 20-21 November 2012.

Judging from conversations you’ve had with members, what are the principal challenges facing regional drillers?
With rig demand increasing in the Middle East, the principal challenges for drillers in the region are bringing in sufficient rigs to meet operator demand and recruiting and training personnel to crew those rigs.

Global shortages of new equipment and replacement parts also significantly impact the region.

How would you rate industry activity levels in the past few years, and what is your outlook for the coming 12 – 24 months?
Drilling activity levels have remained fairly steady in most drilling markets around the world despite a significant global economic crisis.

There is confidence in the drilling market going forward as well, as evidenced by the robustness of newbuild activity, particularly for jackups but also for deepwater drilling rigs. Rig utilization is expected to remain steady, and operators are looking for rig designs that feature improved safety, more automation and greater hoisting and pipe-handling capacity at greater depths and in harsher environments.

What can you tell me about the upcoming MEDT event in Muscat?
The 2011 SPE/IADC Middle East Drilling Technology Conference and Exhibition (MEDT) is a landmark event for the drilling professionals interested in the Middle East. This year’s event has seen a 54% increase in the number of papers which indicates the strong global interest in the event despite the current situation in the region.

The greatest number of submitted abstracts was received from the Middle East, with a total of 62%, followed by the Asia Pacific with 15%, North America with 12%, and South America, Europe and Africa with 11% of total abstract submissions.

The event this year, with its theme “Major Improvements: What Must We Do Differently”, will emphasize on the technical advancements and improvements in best practices of drilling and completion.

A high profile executive plenary session will be dedicated to tackle this theme and will host the technical director of Petroleum Development Oman, the President EH Operations of Baker Hughes, the Group CEO of MB Petroleum Services, the General Manager of Drilling and Workover of Saudi Aramco, and the President Middle East and North Africa Region of Weatherford.

In addition to that, 2011 MEDT will feature debates and discussions on the suggested technologies, improvements, and changes required to address the drilling and exploration challenges faced in the Middle East.

What are the “big draw” items on the agenda?
MEDT is an excellent platform for everyone working in the drilling and completions to network, forge business relationships, and advance their technical skills.

Over 600 drilling experts from around the globe are expected to convene at MEDT to discuss various current drilling topics including directional drilling, advanced bit applications, swellable packers, wellbore stability, casing while drilling, gas wells, HSE, drilling rigs and equipment, drilling and completion fluids, tubulars and downhole equipment, underbalanced drilling, completions and workover, well control challenges, underbalanced drilling and managed pressure drilling, drilling bits optimisation and design, will be discussed in depth by international experts in the field.

MEDT will also offer an unmatched opportunity for energy companies to source new technical and market information from professionals who spearhead that field at the parallel exhibition.

What added value does SPE involvement bring?
The IADC and SPE partnership is a case history of a successful collaboration between two nonprofit organizations with complementary missions and capabilities. In 1983, this vital partnership for the energy industry will celebrate its 30th anniversary.

What began as a biannual joint conference has matured into the definitive technology conference for the global drilling industry – the annual IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, which alternates between Europe and North America.

In addition, IADC and SPE subsequently organized regional joint conferences, including, of course, the SPE/IADC Middle East Drilling Technology Conference, which will convene 24-26 October in Muscat. This event is held in odd-numbered years. Its opposite number, convening in even-numbered years, is the IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology Conference.

Regionally, these outstanding events bring the best of well-construction technology into the two of the most critical markets in the world. SPE and IADC also collaborate on a joint Managed Pressure Drilling and Underbalanced Operations Conference each year. This is the definitive forum for exploring the solutions available to solve key drilling problems and to increase reservoir exploitation. The event moves around the world to benefit all key markets.

Drilling news from meos: deep gas drilling “all set to begin in bahrain
US oil giant Occidental will begin drilling for gas at the Bahrain Field “any time now”, Energy Minister Dr Abdulhussain Mirza said at the opening ceremony of the MEOS 2011 event in Manama.

“Cabinet approval for the deal has been received and a royal decree is set to be issued this week,” Dr Mirza told reporters on the sidelines of the inaugural conference plenary session.

“Immediately after that, the company will start work. This is a major step forward for Bahrain’s oil and gas industry,” he said.

“We will now be able to drill deeper than ever before,” he said.

Occidental will carry out drilling for gas at depths of up to 20,000 feet and Bahrain would not be charged for the operations since all drilling costs would be borne by the company for the first seven years by then it would be known whether they have found results.

He said if gas were to be found, there would be a negotiation process but if there is no gas, it would not be a financial loss to Bahrain. The cost of operations to Oxy over the seven-year period could be between $100-200 million.

Back in December last year it was announced that Oxy had won the contract to drill for deep gas onshore Bahrain.

Dr. Mirza, said at the time that Oxy would carry out drilling for gas at depths of up to 20,000 feet and Oxy would bear all costs for the drilling operations. Banagas general manager Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa had said earlier in 2010 that Bahrain would drill eight gas wells to meet additional demand expected over the next five years until 2014. The operation will cost $200 million.