6 - Kuwait Oil Company

International Event
KOC Takes Part in
Production Optimization
Challenges Conference
The Society of Petroleum
Engineers recently held
a technical workshop
and conference in the
Dorra Ballroom of the
Kuwait Hilton Resort and
Hotel in Mangaf. SPE,
which is a non-profit
professional association,
is an institution which
promotes energy
resources development
and production. The title
of this particular SPE
event was “Production
Optimization Challenges”
and featured a number
of speakers from the oil
and gas industry who
shared their expertise and
technical experiences in
their respective fields.
The Production
Optimization Challenges
event was inaugurated by
KOC Deputy Managing
Director, North Kuwait,
Hosnia Hashim. During
her opening remarks,
the DMD welcomed
the international guests
and speakers to Kuwait.
She also upheld the
importance of the work
that SPE was engaged
in for the benefit of
everyone involved in
the oil and gas industry.
KOC DMD Hosnia
Hashim also maintained
that the subject matter
of the conference was
especially relevant at this
point in time and that
SPE was a key resource
for technical knowledge
related to the oil and
gas exploration and
production industry. She
added that SPE provides
invaluable material
through its publications,
conferences, workshops,
forums, and memberservice
programs.
Across the oil and gas
industry, the production
domain covers a wide
range of important
activities. These
activities play a key
role in the identification
of opportunities for
incremental production
and/or improving
production conditions
of the well or reservoir
system; activities targeting
these objectives are
usually understood and
referred to collectively as
Production Optimization,
although many other
topics as well, could be
part of this portfolio.
In view of the wide
spectrum of activities
related to Production
Optimization – ranging
from fluids flow at
reservoir level to wellbore
production hydraulics up
to barrels flowing to the
tank – a corresponding
number of challenges
of varying types are
faced during the whole
production process and
life cycle of the well.
In addition, as the oil and
gas industry has grown
and evolved, so have the
challenges associated with
production from complex
systems such as horizontal
wells, multilateral
wells, advanced and
smart completions and
more have increased
commensurately.
These have become a
common part of the
Production Optimization
portfolio of practically
all assets today, thereby
warranting a renewed
focus on the subject of
Production Optimization.
Information presented
during this workshop
brought to the fore the
current approaches,
innovative methodologies,
efficient workflows and
top class technologies
being used today across
the Industry to overcome
the key challenges in
Production Optimization
processes. Presentations,
discussions and breakout
sessions were designed
and put in place to
address the general
challenges related to
Production Optimization
in the Middle East, while
giving options to share
and evaluate lessons
learnt, best practices
and case studies on
specific related topics.
During the first session of
the event, KOC Production
Operations Team Leader
Bader Abdul Rahman
spoke to the audience
about a range of issues at
KOC, including how the
Company was managing
change and how KOC
was implementing various
practices to adapt its
operations to suit maturing
reservoirs. Abdul Rahman
also spoke about how the
Company continuously
exerts efforts to ensure that
the skills and resources of
all KOC employees are
current, up-to-date and in
line with the requirements
that are required of
them. In his presentation,
the Team Leader also
upheld the importance
of clear organizational
setups, the important
role that technology
plays, and the need to
be proactive at all levels
and the important role
that clear accountability
can have on production.
The second keynote
speaker during the
first session was Dr.
Fawzi Guehria from
Schlumberger, who is
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April - June 2013