6 - Kuwait Oil Company

a Field Management
Advisor. Dr. Guehria’s
34-year career included
asset management of oil
and gas fields in the US
and overseas as well as
research and development
in reservoir studies. He
holds a BS, MS, and Phd.
in petroleum engineering.
Dr. Guehria presently acts
as advisor for multiple
projects worldwide,
namely the development
of newly discovered
unconventional gas in
North Africa as well as
the Intelligent Digitial
Oilfield Technology in
Kuwait, or KwIDF.
During his presentation
Dr. Guehria maintained
that it is known that
producing fields require
day-to-day management
for optimum production
through usage of expertise
and adapted technology.
The high uncertainties
stemming from geological
complexities and
operational risks do not
leave much room for
hazardous interventions
or mere reactions to
issues such as loss of
well productivity or field
production decline. This,
he maintained, requires
an integrated approach
where the conceptual and
analysis part is intimately
tied to the execution
and or evaluation
and other operational
and cost restraints.
Optimization –
Business Case:
The second session
of the event was titled
“Optimization – Business
Case.” Optimization is
often discussed within
the realms of technical
adjustment to achieve
certain set targets, and
generally not taking
into consideration the
overall business case,
which is underpinned
by economic outcomes.
As a result, “technical
optimization” is in many
cases separated from
“economic optimization” –
a situation that frequently
results in a technically
sound outcome not
moving forward, because
its overall quantification
has not been framed
within a business case. It
is in view of this therefore,
that this session sought
to delve into the case
to be made for always
underpinning optimization
question with an advocacy
of the relevant business
framework. How should
such business cases
be framed and what
recommended approaches
can be put forward to
consistently define the
business case for each
optimization question
we may be confronted
in the oil and gas
industry were questions
that were answered
during this session.
The first speaker during
the second session was
Francis Clayton, who has
worked for Shell for more
than 30 years primarily as
a Production Technologist.
He has degrees in
Physics and Business
Administration and is
certified as a professional
engineer. Clayton is
currently working with
KOC under a Shell-KOC
Enhanced Technical
Services Agreement
and is responsible for
implementing Well
Integrity and Well and
Reservoir management
processes.
During his presentation,
Clayton discussed
production optimization as
the business of maximizing
the value of our producing
assets and involved
activities that increase
production, increase
recovery and reduce
costs. As the benefits are
often seen in accelerated
production, greater care
has to be taken with
assessing economic
benefit compared with
new developments where,
particularly in a high oil
price world, the economics
are often very clear.
Optimization also requires
a different mindset as it
occurs over the operating
stage of the field lifecycle,
a period of perhaps 50
years compared with
the shorter 5-10 years
of the appraisal and
development stage.
Success in production
optimization requires a
methodological approach
that must be built into a
company’s structure and
work processes. Clayton’s
presentation showed
how such an approach
with examples of the
benefits that have been
realized in many cases.
Heavy Oil /
Unconventional
Production Techniques:
The third session of the
event was titled “Heavy
Oil / Unconventional
Production Techniques,”
which the session
chairperson described as
follows: When looking
at the ever-growing
hydrocarbons demand
versus production over
the last few decades, we
see the shrinking spare
capacity over time. We
have gotten used to
looking at population
and economic growth
as drivers for this
demand, we accept that
“easy oil” has come
to an end and we also
realize that “Brownfield
redevelopment plays”
will have a stronger
contribution in the future.
Statistically, the production
of a field allows for 35
to 40% recoveries out of
the OOIP during a field
production life cycle.
At this stage, aging
assets, also know and
brownfields, are still
containing more than
half of their hydrocarbons
potential. All industry
players share this
challenge. Since the
introduction of horizontal
drilling and multi-lateral
wells, through subsurface
studies, intelligent
completions and extended
production tests, etc.,
our understanding of
how to access once
called inaccessible or
hidden reserves has
allowed us to extract
more hydrocarbons. This
session addressed the
Brownfield redevelopment,
and the topics covered
integrated reservoir
downhole technologies
including horizontal
drilling and multi-laterals,
well placement, optimized
completion systems,
selective perforations, well
testing and production
optimization techniques.
The third session included
presentations by Erik
Sellman, Cameron
Process Systems, Eissa Al-
Safran, Kuwait University,
April - June 2013 25