Delivering the integrated digital oilfield is top of IOC and NOC agenda’s. Oil & Gas Middle East looks ahead to May’s International Digital Oil Field Conference in Abu Dhabi.
Nowadays all IOCs and NOCs are turning to the introduction of Digital Oil Field (DOF) policies in their green and brown field business planning.
DOF has been defined as a vision where operators, partners and service companies seek to take advantage of improved data and knowledge management, enhanced analytical real time systems and more efficient business models.
However, to ensure that DOF has a positive effect on human capital efficiency depends on how they are introduced and embedded into the company’s business operations.
Therefore if the DOF approach is routinely designed into the asset programme from day one and becomes a life cycle field design philosophy then successful DOF implementation overcomes any barriers to process change, technology alignment and organisation change management.
“Many success stories from this DOF model exist where operators and producers now have real time and sustainable optimisation systems that handle complex production networks involving hundreds of wells,” explains Dr Nick Coles, founder and organiser of the International Digital Oil Field conference, which will get underway in Abu Dhabi in May.
DOF exploitation is significantly gaining interest in the Middle East.
Saudi Aramco have implemented their approach in integrating real time data in their upstream business processes and currently have 19 i-fields underway.
They have successfully demonstrated the enhanced value in these experiences from the methodology of integrating relevant technologies, people and processes.
In fact as Saudi Aramco moves its operations to more proactive field management and towards a vision of autonomous fields, the intelligent field processes will continue to expand as one of the future strategic directions for its upstream business.
“In Oman, PDO have recently made considerable headway in the ongoing
development of their Smart Field Programme which is key to the optimal management of their growing number of wells and equipment. By 2013, 21 of PDO’s biggest fields which contribute 80% of their output will operate on smart field principles,” adds Coles.
“Additionally, Smart Well Applications have been successfully installed in the Natih and Fahud fields and they have recently awarded contracts to replace their wireless field communications network for a large digital oil field project.”
Within the ADNOC group of companies there are significant ongoing DOF programmes, including plans within ADCO in place to operate smart field technology within Bab, Bu Hasa and the SAS fields over the next four years.
ADCO’s NEB fields are the first full field development that addresses the challenges of development within environmentally sensitive areas and thus the use of smart well completions and i-field technology is just part of the latest technical concepts that will be employed to address these sensitivities.
Similar technologies will be employed by Abu Dhabi Gas Development Co. Ltd in their development of the Shah field given the great difficulties in materials, procedures and practices with sour field development.
ADMA-OPCO is currently pursuing the development of several undeveloped structures offshore Abu Dhabi and in doing so is planning to incorporate DOF concepts into their plans to bring about, enhanced oil recovery, improving the safety for their offshore installations and reducing their operating costs.
Kongsberg Oil & Gas Technologies (KOGT) is one of IDOC 2011’s key sponsors and is excited about the opportunity landscape in the DOF space.
“We are a provider of technologies, products and services for surveillance, integration, analysis, simulation, quality assurance, and governance of drilling, evaluation and production operations,” explains Matt Regan, regional sales manager – Middle East & Africa, KOGT.
“Today’s high performance operations depend on large volumes of real-time quality-controlled data being made available to a community of professionals with varied and complementary skills who may be variously located on the rigsite, at a field facility, in the company office, or in another location somewhere else in the world,” says Regan.
He adds that the industry is demanding increasingly complex datasets to be processed and assessed increasingly quickly for action in near-realtime.
“KOGT provides the complete range of digital oilfield infrastructure, from data management, collaboration and visualisation, through simulation, modelling and analytical tools, to project and change management,” he says.
With the integration of rigs, facilities, offices and third party suppliers into a single collaborative community, Regan says KOGT services help support operational safety, efficiency and ultimately profitability by enabling better informed decisions, faster.
The incorporation of digital oilfield techniques and technology as a natural philosophy within corporate culture is on the rise.
“We are increasingly seeing take up of increasingly complex systems modelling, simulation and evaluation of what-if scenarios. For example, reservoir trends, drilling response, process simulation, and linking that realtime comparison and correlation to real-world implementation,” says Regan.
Independent market research has clearly shown that the Middle East has the fastest Digital Oilfield adoption rate and hence is the fastest growing and most dynamic market for related services.
“This is true across the region for both international operators as they expand their existing DOF infrastructure into the region, and local NOCs as they aggressively develop and deploy their own DOF strategies,” he adds.
Kongsberg was actively involved in the inaugural IDOC’10 event last year, as a member of the advisory committee, as well as chairing, presenting and exhibiting.
Sponsored by ADNOC, the event filled a need in the local market for a Digital Oilfield forum with a specifically regional focus; the response and support from operators and service providers alike reflected this.
“Last year’s event exceeded all our expectations with the quality of material on offer, as well as with the demographic of the attendees. The opportunity to learn, compare and collaborate was substantial, and the opportunity for offline networking that took place was fantastic.
For Kongsberg, the decision to provide our full support again for this year’s IDOC’11 was very easy!” he concludes.
IDOC 2011 Top Topics
– Intelligent Wells
– Remote Monitoring & Surveillance
– Unmanned Platforms
– Work Flows – Efficiency and Quality Improvement
– Instrumentation & Control
– Communication & Infrastructure
– Real Time Data Management & Infrastructure – PRODML, Data Cleansing
– Cyber Security
– Visualization – Technologies, Optimum Data Extraction and Comprehensible Display
– DOF & Change Management
– Future Vision of DOF – Predictive Analytics, Exception Based Surveillance
EVENT SNAPSHOT
Event: International Digital Oilfield Conference 2011
When: May 23rd – 25th
Where: Hilton Hotel, Corniche, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Web: www.IDOC-UAE.com
