Battling the effects of maturing oil fields is made much harder when combined with antiquated data from the field. Accurate well flow management is proving a valuable service addition to help fill in the blanks
Acquiring accurate and up to date well flow data from an operational point of view is a cost-effective way of monitoring and forecasting the productivity of oil wells. This is especially important for regions where there is a confluence of poor quality, out of date data and maturing oilfields.
Fresh from securing its recent contract wins and contract extensions in North Africa and the Middle East, and the CIS region, Expro’s director for the Middle East and North Africa, Nigel Meany speaks to Oil & Gas Middle East to set out the company’s position in the region and to look at potential future directions for the billion dollar well flow management company.
The British company which was established in 1973 and provides well flow management solutions, is currently eyeing up further upstream projects in the region, specifically in new and upcoming regions such as Iraq. The company is also actively pursuing opportunities in Qatar and Kuwait as its market opens up.
Well surveillance
Whilst Expro does not provide well optimisation technology or knowhow, Meany says that there simply is no escaping the fact that to get the best performance out of individual oil wells, you have to have the correct and most up to date information and data to hand.
One of the mainstays for the company in the region is deploying technology for gathering the latest data on well production for its clients which it does with the use of its non-intrusive sonar technology giving active and passive sonar readings from producing wells.
“Our sonar active and passive meters allow us to monitor well output without any intervention, you can just bolt on the meters to any existing structure and monitor the well for a day, a month a year for that matter.
“It’s unique. Like all things new it takes a while to get it into the marketplace and trying to understand the best applications, we’ve currently got trials throughout the GCC,” explains Meany.
Meany believes that well surveillance is an important tool that all oilfield operators should not over overlook in their quest to squeeze as much out of their producing wells.
The main benefit of this method of well surveillance, Meany says is that it is quick and easy to install, production is not interrupted whilst the well is being tested.
The measuring equipment can also be left on for a short term surveillance to establish a benchmark or a long term surveillance to see if there is consistent performance over any designated period of time.
He says that just because a well starts producing after it is struck does not mean that it does not need to be continually assessed adding that the well has a production profile that varies throughout its life and you have well intervention that comes in at various times so you need to be able to monitor the production throughout.
“What you start with and what you end up with are two different produced hydrocarbons, so you’ll end up with produced water coming into the well. Understanding how much water is an ongoing surveillance requirement,” he explains.
Entry into Iraq
Expro is partnering with oilfield services major Baker Hughes to facilitate its entry and subsequent operations in Iraq and Meany says that, as anywhere, there is just as much need for good quality well information in the country.
“We’re a good fit, there’s no redundancy of services, what we’ve got they don’t so there’s a good compliment there,”
he says.
“Most of the contracts that have been signed between the IOCs and the Iraqi government have all been about raising production.”
“They have a hurdle, they have to get 10% improvement in current production before they start to earn. First of all what is the current production, secondly when do we get to the 10% and thirdly how much do we earn as a result, so it is all based on production, so it’s pretty important that you get an accurate production measurement.”
“A lot of the IOCs have signed up to deals that they don’t really have a lot of quality data on, the first activity that a lot of these IOCs have to do is get a benchmark: what have they actually signed up to, what have they got?
“Our focus is on providing timely and high quality data so that they can come up with their alternative development plans and deliver on their promises to the Iraqi government which is essentially to enhance production for each of the fields that they take over,” Meany says.
Meany says poorly sorted well data means that there is not enough data to make sound reservoir management decisions.
Local activities
Although Expro is relatively new to the region, it brings with it a wealth of well management knowhow that is applicable in any part of the world and Meany is buoyant about the company’s future in the Middle East despite the massive upheaval the energy industry has experienced as a result of the economic crisis. He takes pride in saying that the company is bucking the industry trend in its growth endevours.
“We’ve got a five year plan – that’s well thought out and very doable, to double the size of the company whilst maintaining profitability.
“Right now we have to hire somebody everyday of the year through to the end of our financial year,” Meany says happily.
“It doesn’t matter when you enter the market, we have a very high quality product, we’ve got a very great reputation and the fact that it’s going to be available to our clients here will open up those markets.”
The company is currently investing in developing its local manufacturing capability by adding to its surface well testing fleet. With $7-8 million worth of well test equipment already being manufactured in the GCC, the company, which began by developing well testing equipment for the North Sea oil and gas industry nearly 40 years ago, intends to continue to invest in Middle East manufacturing and talent as it looks to the future.
