IDOC 2011

In association with

Digital Oilfield Conference confirms methodologies of saving E & P costs. Second International Digital Oilfield Conference (IDOC 2011) was opened this Tuesday with a keynote speech from the Senior Vice President of ADCO (Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations) Engineering and Projects, Saleh Al Wahedi on behalf of the ADNOC Group.

IDOC 2011 overview

Nowadays 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.

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 Technology principles. 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. Plans within ADCO are 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 conceptsthat 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;
•	improve the safety for their offshore installations; and
•	reduce their operating costs.

Moreover other operating companies in the ADNOC Group are also gearing up to implement DOF in their current and future plans.

KOC’s plan is to identify, select and implement new technologies thus creating a total technology integration cycle with the main focus of this cycle to develop intelligent oilfields. Recently Khalid Al Sumaiti, the DMD for E&P has stated that their Kuwait Intelligent Digital Field (KwIDF) project is the very core of building a new transformed KOC and they have embarked on KwIDF Sabriyah and Jurassic projects.

Intelligent Reservoir Completion Technology has recently been successfully employed in Qatar’s Al Shaheen Oilfield as Qatar begins to herald in their DOF intentions.

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