“The success of the Golfinho well significantly expands the tremendous resource potential of the Offshore Area 1 in the deepwater Rovuma Basin, with additional opportunities yet to test,” Bob Daniels, Anadarko senior vice president, worldwide exploration, said. “The Golfinho discovery, which is entirely contained within the Offshore Area 1 block, adds an estimated seven to 20-plus Tcf of incremental recoverable resources over a significant areal extent. This new discovery is only 10 miles offshore, providing potential cost advantages for future development options.”

The Golfinho exploration well was drilled to a total depth of approximately 14,885 ft (4,537 meters), in water depths of approximately 3,370 ft (1,027 meters). Once operations are complete at Golfinho, the partnership plans to mobilize the Belford Dolphin drillship to drill the Atum-1 exploration well. The Golfinho area is now estimated to hold 13 to 45 Tcf of gas in place.

At the Barquentine-1 well  in the Prosperidade complex, the partnership successfully tested the upper Oligocene zone, which flowed at approximately 100 million cubic ft of natural gas per day. This is the third successful drill-stem test flowing at this facility-constrained rate.

A proposed rule for enhancing blowout preventer (BOP) requirements is one of four key next-generation regulatory items being considered by the US Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), the agency’s director announced in a topical breakfast at the 2012 OTC in Houston on 1 May. “The main question is, are the BOPs we have now sufficient? And if not, what can we do to improve their reliability and effectiveness?” BSEE director James Watson said.

The BOP issue will be the focus of an all-day public forum on 22 May in Washington, DC. Topics planned for the panel sessions include technology needs identified from the Macondo incident; shearing and sealing design requirements; manufacturing, test, maintenance and certification requirements to ensure operability and reliability; real-time technologies to measure the “health” of BOPs; and training and certification for key personnel. IADC VP of accreditation and certification Mark Denkowski will be representing the drilling industry on the last panel.

Another proposed rule would heighten standards for production safety systems based on life-cycle analysis, moving beyond simple compliance and into a performance and life-cycle concept for regulation. “We need to focus on the potential that the next event will not be drilling-related but could involve one of the state-of-the-art production systems that haven’t seen new rules since the 1980s,” Director Watson said. Other priorities include completing the final safety drilling rule and SEMS 2, which requires companies to implement and maintain safety and environmental management system programs.

During a speech at the 2012 OTC last week, BSEE director James Watson said the agency has hired 20 new engineers and 46 new inspectors in the past two years and plans to bring on an additional 200 people to keep up with the permitting process and the review of offshore response plans.

The SEMS rule, promulgated last November, includes several provisions, including a stop-work authority, requirements for reporting unsafe working conditions, mandates for employees to participate in the development and implementation of company SEMS programs and requirements regarding the use of independent third-party auditors and auditor training.

“Since the Deepwater Horizon (incident), the BSEE has been involved in the most comprehensive and aggressive offshore regulatory reforms in the history of our country,” Director Watson said. “Our ability to ensure the highest level of safety and responsibility in the world depends in large part on the ability of the industry to internalize the need for a robust safety culture. Safety does not simply mean doing things right when BSEE has an inspector onboard a rig or a platform. It means operating safety at all times and at all levels.”

The agency has hired 20 new engineers and 46 new inspectors in the past two years and plans to bring on an additional 200 people to keep up with the permitting process and the review of offshore response plans required for each new application. An Offshore Training and Learning Center is also being established to train new employees.

Rigs returning to GOM

“We are pleased to see rigs returning to the GOM because it demonstrates the industry’s confidence that it can do business in the Gulf and meet the safety requirements, and that it has confidence in the regulatory agencies,” Director Watson continued. He said that approximately 100 people are involved in permit review at any given time, but that number is expected to increase to 200. He anticipates the inspection workforce to grow from 50 to 125 employees. In addition to the GOM, the agency has jurisdiction over the US West Coast and the North Slope of Alaska, where activity is also expected to increase significantly.

“My measure of effectiveness is not the pace of permits or the number of instances of non-compliance,” he said. “We’re much more interested in getting the job done right, sending the right message to the industry about safety and environmental protection and using all of our authorities. We will take a measured approach, but we won’t be shy when it’s appropriate and necessary.” He indicated there will be a focus on deepwater operations because of the number of applications going beyond the limits of existing regulations.

Director Watson cited the Center for Offshore Safety (COS) as an example of the industry’s commitment to promoting safety. “The COS was an idea whose time had come and is now blossoming into a multifaceted organization with terrific connections between the industry and government.”

Another positive development has been the ongoing effort by US and Mexico to establish a boundary agreement in the vast GOM area that has been off-limits, Director Watson noted. Over the past year, both governments have worked to develop an agreement by which a deepwater reservoir on the border could be developed jointly. Under the pact, which still requires approval by the US Senate, the US would inspect activities on the Mexican side of the border while Mexican authorities would inspect drilling and production operations on the US side. “We know of no other boundary agreement like this and believe it could potentially become a model worldwide,” he said.

Approximately 200 high school math and science students from across Texas arrived at the 2012 OTC on 3 May to participate in Energy Education Institute: High School STEM. The BP-sponsored event began with hands-on activities provided by the US National Energy Education Development (NEED) Project, giving students the opportunity to apply their knowledge to science- and math-based lessons.

Students were then led by BP representatives to explore the OTC exhibit floor. Exhibitors answered technical questions asked by students while providing valuable insight into careers in the energy industry.

To conclude the event, energy professionals sat down with the students for lunch to discuss the importance of energy and the career opportunities available. Students also received take-home educational and career handouts, as well as items provided by OTC sponsoring societies.

DC editorial coordinator Katherine Scott provides video coverage of the event’s full-day program.

Third-party auditing and technical assistance to member companies are among several initiatives that are driving a three-year strategic plan at the Center for Offshore Safety (COS),  Jeff Zinkham, project development manager for COS,  said during a topical luncheon at the 2012 OTC in Houston, on 30 April. In addition to a SEMS toolkit, developed in collaboration with IADC, the COS aims to provide technical assistance to its members through activities such as the establishment of accredited third-party audit services. Although such accreditation is not currently mandatory, Mr Zinkham hopes it will be in the future.

The Center for Offshore Safety has created a three-year strategic plan to help improve the industry’s deepwater drilling future, said Jeff Zinkham, project development manager, at the 2012 OTC in Houston on 30 April.

The COS is now working to finalize the accreditation certification process, which should be released soon, he added.

The three-year strategic plan, approved in January, largely focuses on how the center can achieve objectives such as increasing public awareness of the industry’s safety and environmental performance and stimulating cooperation within industry to share best practices. The COS also sustains communication with the US Bureau of Safety and Environment Enforcement (BSEE) and the Coast Guard to seek ways to continuously improve safety and performance.

Looking toward a sustainable future, the center’s goals include elevating the industry’s quality and safety standards, promoting an industry culture of incident-free operations and becoming a “one-stop central source for information.” The major objective, Mr Zinkham said, is that there is no harm to people and the environment during operations.

One initiative already under way involves the measurement of leading and lagging indicators. “We really want to focus on the leading indicators,” he said. “When you start to think about process safety (the question is), what can we measure? What can (we) learn from each other?”

Although the center is still in its early stages, he said, progress is being made. Charlie Williams was recently appointed as executive director, and the group hopes to bring more employees onboard over the next year. “I hope progress starts to pick up here and gain some traction,” Mr Zinkham said. “But I think we’ve done a really good job. We’ve got a strategic plan … and a clear vision of where we want to be in twelve months, twenty-four months, thirty-six months. … We’re off and running.”

Membership in the COS is required by the US government for any company operating in deepwater Gulf of Mexico.

Statoil is directing its fit-for-purpose rig fleet and technology strategy to help reach a production goal of more than 2.5 million boe/day by 2020, up from 1.9 million boe/day in 2010. Noting recent successes in increasing the average oil recovery rate from Statoil-operated fields from 49% to 50%, the company wants to push that percentage even higher, Karl Johnny Hersvick, Statoil senior vice president of technology excellence, stated. The company outlined its growth strategy in a series of press conferences at the 2012 OTC last week in Houston.

Jon Arnt Jacobsen, chief procurement officer at Statoil, and Oystein Arvid Haland, senior vice president drilling and well, discussed their company’s shift from fixed platforms to using mobile rigs to drill subsea wells. In collaboration with Aker Solutions, Statoil’s Category B rig is under construction, with delivery of the first unit expected in the second half of 2015. The rig design fills the gap between light intervention vessels (Category A, which has been in operation since 2003) and conventional rigs (Category C), according to Statoil. The rig is designed to improve oil recovery, and its design has been optimized for heavy intervention and light drilling in existing wells.

A Category D rig, targeted for mid-water production operations, also is under construction and expected to be delivered in 2014 to 2015, while Category J is designed for shallow waters and harsh environments. The latter is expected to be delivered in 2015 and will provide 20% more cost-effective well construction.

Statoil’s developing rig fleet is compounded with the company’s focus on four areas: seismic imaging and interpretation, reservoir characterization and recovery, efficient well construction, and a “subsea factory.” The subsea factory project involves the development of the Åsgard subsea gas compression by 2015 and acquiring all the necessary elements for a subsea process facility on the seabed to accelerate production. “Our mission is that technology connected to (reservoir recovery) will contribute to increase an additional 1.5 mboe/d by 2020,” Siri Espedal Kindem, senior vice president of research and development, said. “Just as important is a step-change in well construction efficiency. We have a clear ambition ahead to reduce the time we spend on well construction by 30% and 15% in spending.”

Statoil currently has about 3,000 employees working on 300 increased-oil-recovery projects. In August, the research and development division will become the research, development and innovation division, Mr Hersvick stated. “It’s a concrete measure to get our hands on more good ideas, to push recovery rate even further. We cannot compete with supermajors of this world when it comes to funds and resources, but we can and we will compete when it comes to innovation.”

Statoil expects 12% of its portfolio to come from North American unconventionals by 2020, Torstein Hole, senior vice president of development production North America – US onshore, said.

Moving onshore, Statoil expects 500,000 million boe/day to come from North American unconventionals by 2020, Torstein Hole, senior vice president of development production North America – US onshore, said. The company’s strategy for growth in US shale plays is founded in its presence in the Marcellus, Eagle Ford and Bakken, with the Eagle Ford paving the way for Statoil’s operatorship. Statoil entered a 50/50 joint development agreement with Talisman in 2010. With 165,000 net acres and 12 rigs currently drilling, the play has produced about 640 million boe to date. Statoil is positioned to become operator within that play by the end of 2013.

Ragheb Dajani of Hess Corp provided an operational perspective on using cement as a primary barrier in deepwater wells at the 2012 OTC on 30 April in Houston.

Two questions need to be asked when considering cement as a primary barrier in a deepwater well: 1) Will the job be successful? 2) What if it isn’t? The two considerations beg to question and validate the prospect of a successful cementing operation. Ragheb Dajani of Hess Corp shared an operational perspective on cementing during a keynote speech at the 2012 OTC on 30 April in Houston. “There is a definite increase in recognition and scrutiny on the profound effects cementing can have on operations – on safety, environment and public opinion,” he said, “but the gap is in installing the cement as the barrier downhole.”

On paper, a lot has been done to support cement designs; however, there is uncertainty in effectively executing the operation.

It is important to understand the risks of a cementing operation and to approach it from a perspective that realizes the consequences of failure, Mr Dajani explained. A key challenge is in the cementing design, and the first step is to determine whether cement can realistically provide a barrier. “We can’t always rely on cementing unless we have a high degree of confidence to execute it and to provide a barrier downhole,” he said. “As we go deeper and deeper into the reservoirs, we’re asking for a small volume of cement to travel four or five miles. Yes, we can do that, but there is a lot of work that needs to be done ahead of time in order to protect that cement slurry to reach 20,000 ft.”

A strong understanding of the wellbore environment and the effects of contaminants on the cement slurry are among considerations that need to be addressed ahead of time. “Do we have adequate compressive strength development? Do we need to wait for the cement for a longer period of time until the contaminant actually sets to have an isolation barrier off the cement?”

As the cement is loaded offshore, it travels through a chain of custody that calls for quality control and brings Mr Dajani to pose more questions. “Are we using the right pressure on the lines? Is there too much moisture?” Quality control is necessary for the cement to maintain its chemical properties and a successful end result, he said.

On the training side, young engineers may have the knowledge but still lack field experience. An understanding of best practices cannot replace experience. “There’s a disconnect between designing on paper and having the experience level to have confidence in executing it in the field,” Mr Dajani stated. The challenge can be met by providing them with additional time and field training offshore.

Chris Maranuk, new product launch manager for Weatherford International, talks with Drilling Contractor editorial coordinator Joanne Liou about Weatherford’s MotarySteerable system on the exhibit floor at the 2012 OTC last week in Houston. The directional control system bridges the gap between conventional mud motors and RSS to optimize directional drilling.

Landale Cranfield, regional wells skillpool advisor for Sarawak Shell Berhad, demonstrated a virtual presence technology during a presentation at the 2012 IADC Drilling HSE Asia Pacific Conference on 26 April in Singapore. In the first video, a connection was made with employees at a Singapore yard, showing how the real-time technology can be used to pinpoint BOP issues. In the second video, a connection to an office in Canada showed how the technology can be used for HSE inspections, investigations and verifications.

Click here to view the embedded video.

By Katie Mazerov, contributing editor

Virtual technology is making the oil patch smarter. Driven by the continued push into unconventional and deepwater environments and the anticipated Big Crew Change, Shell is using a virtual presence system that provides real-time communication between rig personnel and technical experts thousands of miles apart. y Using an explosion-proof camera, a  satellite and laptop computer or tablet, the technology is proving beneficial for reducing risk and nonproductive time (NPT), especially for the company’s operations in remote or hazardous locations, said Landale Cranfield, regional wells skillpool advisor (UIA) for Sarawak Shell Berhad.

“We need to use the expertise we have in a smarter way, and this is a technology that can help us achieve that,” Mr Cranfield  said in a presentation at the 2012 IADC Drilling HSE Asia Pacific Conference & Exhibition in Singapore, 25-26 April. “Over the years, most of the skills we’ve needed were in traditional oil and gas locations, with workers clustered in key locations,” Mr Cranfield said. “But with the Big Crew Change coming, experienced people on location will be leaving the industry. There is a mismatch between the location of skills and ‘new’ oil and gas locations.”

At the same time, there is less interest in sending technical experts to remote and/or hostile locations. “With smart well technology, we’re doing things more efficiently, but if something goes wrong on a rig, we still sometimes have to wait several days for the experts to arrive,” he continued. “We need to bring workflows and information to the professionals instead of doing it the other way around. Virtual presence completes the loop.”

With Shell’s virtual presence system, a rig worker can use a camera to explain a problem with a drill bit. The information is transmitted to a technical expert thousands of miles away.

Initially launched by Shell Brunei, the company finds the system has potential for operations throughout Southeast Asia and ultimately across the entire Shell group of companies, from offshore platforms to remote jungle locations, Mr Cranfield said. “Implementation of this system can reduce travel costs, improve health, safety, security and environment  performance and allow experts to be available when required to advise on repairs to broken equipment, hence reducing downtime and improving availability of equipment.”

Completing the loop

To demonstrate how the system works, Mr Cranfield made a live connection during his presentation with a Shell employee’s camera on a rig in the Cameron yard in Singapore to show how issues with the blowout preventer (BOP) can be resolved. Using real-time streaming multimedia via WiFi, images and information about the BOP operation can be transmitted from the workplace back to an expert, or group of experts, who can view the situation on a laptop.

Another live connection, this one with an operation in Canada, showed how as-built drawings can be transmitted to rig personnel to ascertain whether equipment, such as piping, is up to date and being built correctly. “In this way, the system can be used for HSE inspections, investigations, and to verify the systems on the rig and what the workers are doing,” Mr Cranfield explained. “This is especially important with the large number of people coming into the industry whose experience levels are not as high.”

The virtual presence technology also has potential for field-based training and staff development, particularly in locations where access is difficult, Mr Cranfield said. Information also can be recorded and used to develop training videos.

Although not currently approved for Zone 1 environments (operations with the presence of hazardous gas), industry demand could drive the development of that capability, he said. Security provisions are being built into the system to help ensure the establishment of onshore connectivity through company firewalls. “Information technology personnel need to get their minds around the whole idea of data streaming and information security,” he noted.

But mindset stands as the biggest threat to industrywide adoption, Mr Cranfield believes. “This system is designed to help people do their jobs better. It involves accepting new ways of working, both onsite and by the experts.”

Datuk George Ling Kien Sing, drilling division advisor for Petronas Carigali, sat down with DC publisher/editor Mike Killalea at the 2012 IADC Drilling HSE Asia Pacific Conference in Singapore on 25 April for an exclusive video to talk about how Petronas is working to accelerate capability development of its employees, an initiative to work with a university to develop a master’s degree program for drilling, and how IADC and its members in the Asia Pacific can collaborate with Petronas to share ideas and improve performance.

The drilling industry is actively working to enhance its safety performance and has strong results to show for it, Joe Hurt, IADC regional VP North America and lead staff land HSE issues, said during an exclusive video interview with DC publisher/editor Mike Killalea at the 2012 IADC Drilling HSE Asia Pacific Conference on 25 April in Singapore. In fact, offshore drilling contractors participating in the IADC Incident Statistics Program reported no fatalities in 2011. Mr Hurt also urged contractors to continue to share safety lessons learned through the IADC Safety Alerts program. More information can be found here.