Technology Roundtable: Brownfield Development
1. In comparison to the total activity in Russia, how important is brownfield development at the moment?
Weatherford: The majority of Russia’s oilfields are brownfields with high water cut. Nevertheless, these assets are responsible for most of the local oil production. With the decline in oil prices and subsequent decline in the exploration of new fields — such as offshore and Arctic areas — brownfield exploration is increasingly important as these assets can maintain production rates without large investment.
Halliburton: Extremely important. Russia represents one of the largest brownfield environments in the world with 80% of the country’s reserves in these fields resulting in 62% of total production. A 2013 IEA World Energy outlook report reiterated this importance, suggesting that the potential for Russia oil production to stay above 10 mmbpd will largely depend on its success in raising recovery rates from brownfields, which at a current decline rate of 2% could see total Russia output fall to 6mmpd by 2021.
2. What are the key projects which you are currently involved in?
Weatherford: Weatherford Russia has participated in all major brownfield projects performed by the largest operators. We are also naturally involved in the FDP, focusing on the rejuvenation of older fields or production stability at brownfields, most of which, as you know, are located in West Siberia and southern oil-producing Russian regions.
The key projects for us within these regions are campaigns in the Jurassic and Cretaceous formations. As part of FDP we have deployed, along with proprietary formation evaluation and modeling methods, production optimization tools including Red Eye® water-cut meters and OmniWell® production and reservoir monitoring solutions.
Halliburton: Given the fact that Halliburton offers one of industry’s broadest spectrum of technology solutions and experience in brownfield development, Russian operators are actively engaging us to realize the full potential of their mature fields on projects in West Siberia and Bashkiria.
3. Could you describe the potential strategies an operator should employ when looking at brownfield development?
Weatherford: One conventional approach to efficient brownfield exploration is using established waterflood patterns to inform reservoir management. This process is based on identification of elements or blocks, subsequent monitoring of key parameters in each of them (production index, WOR, ORF, etc.) and well intervention operations in production and injection wells. This lengthy and labor-intensive process can be optimized using analytical methods. It should also be automated through the Well Actions Selection process, an automated system of well intervention method selection – part of our Reservoir Solutions kit, which focuses on increasing production rates per well and overall recovery. A more extreme strategy would be to shut off certain reservoirs or even shut-down the entire fields to increase the overall efficiency of the operator’s assets. The most advanced companies have been actively using this approach.
Ideally, when planning brownfield exploration, the operator should control water-cut using a permanent and real-time method, select optimal artificial-lift equipment for wells with high downtime and implement integrated control and automation systems to regularly monitor wells and improve performance. This approach will produce
data that can be analyzed to make timely and appropriate decisions.
Finally, every company exploring brownfields is strongly interested in reducing operating costs. Some ways to control costs include conserving energy, prolonging workover intervals, sustaining production rates using non-conventional equipment and software, and collaborating with service companies to find the best solution for each well.
Halliburton: A comprehensive solution strategy involves the optimal application of revitalization options in a timely manner. These options for a solution strategy include:
• Looking for well-centric production improvements through Immediate Impact Interventions – “Well-centric Productivity”
• Generating field-centric Optimized Reservoir Management through the application of improved oil recovery (IOR) techniques (a combination of waterflood and pressure maintenance techniques coupled with increased reservoir contact techniques through infill drilling or additional fracturing/stimulation.) As well as Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) techniques: increasing oil mobility through injecting combinations of alkalis, surfactants or polymers – “Field-centric Productivity”
• Detecting and exploiting New Pay Zones through enhanced re-evaluation of subsurface logs or through additional logging programs – “Additional Reserves”
• Halliburton’s approach for developing potential strategies includes:
o Assess current asset state by reviewing
• Hydrocarbons in place
•Production analysis, recovery factors
•Wellbore conditions, facilities capacity
o Address near term production issues
•Immediate impact, quick win opportunities
•Facilities de-bottlenecking and other surface facility improvements
o Identify new pay opportunities
•Stranded behind pipe
•From previously undetected new fault blocks
o Look for improved recovery opportunities
•Implementing improved reservoir surveillance and management techniques
•Improving production management and recovery through better pressure maintenance techniques
•Look for opportunities to implement IOR/EOR
o Build a field re-development plan that includes
•Prioritized list of immediate impact interventions
•Screened and ranked IOR and/or EOR techniques which could include combinations of infill drilling, flooding or artificial lift programs
•Delineated opportunities to exploit new pay
4. What impact does the region’s legacy data have on brownfield development?
Weatherford: Every region has unique features, such as climate and deposits, that should be considered when selecting and designing equipment, methods, and approaches. Legacy data enables better understanding of regional assets and helps to inform the exploration strategy. Lack of information, on the other hand, leads to improper lift selection and equipment failures.
Weatherford uses not only regional data, but also global data to find similar projects and environments. Regardless of geography, our experience in fields across the globe helps us to analyze projects and provide our clients with the best possible solutions for future jobs with similar features.
Proper understanding of a particular reservoir is based on production performance, lifting costs, reservoir properties, production logging data, etc. The data recorded while performing each operation will enrich the region’s legacy data and make it more valuable for future projects.
Halliburton: The more reliable the legacy data, the quicker the diagnostics of reservoir and well performance, which may result in solid leads regarding optimal development options.
Even if the data is not good, we can still conduct some well level screening exercises and diagnostics just by using a very basic data suite. Accurate fluid rates are important of course.
Another point is this: legacy data does not need to remain legacy data. There are several possible things we can do with new data acquisition – particularly running some logs to identify bypassed or new pay zones and some well integrity logs.
5. Multi-disciplinary teams are needed to fully understand the challenges and needs for a brownfield development. Do the operators have such teams available and how can you work with and augment these teams?
Weatherford: Globally, there has been a trend toward using multi-disciplinary teams as the exploration process has become increasingly complicated. Depending on its size and business model, the operator may have its own multi-disciplinary team, or may contract these services. The “co-project” or collaborative model is the most efficient way to share experience among experts at both organizations.
Generally, operating companies have all the required data about their assets, including information about past issues encountered in that field. Service companies have highly-skilled personnel with a great amount of experience implementing similar programs in different fields. Service companies focus on specific concerns while the operator focuses on day-to-day operations.
Finally, some large service companies have research and development centers, labs, and other resources that can help the team find the optimal way of approaching each task.
Halliburton: Most operators possess functional teams in the areas of geology, geophysics, petrophysics, reservoir, drilling, completions and production engineering that routinely look at mature field improvements. However, these teams may not always have access to the latest technologies or visibility to the latest production and recovery enhancement techniques from analogous field around the globe.
The collaboration between Halliburton and operators that works in this instance is for operators to bring their intimate knowledge of their wells and field attributes and for Halliburton to bring new technology and a global experience that can be applied for maximum return.
Therefore, it is important to ensure close collaboration between Halliburton and the customer to enable knowledge transfer. Halliburton can collaborate with a customer’s in-house, asset team to provide comprehensive and innovative solutions or manage an entire asset revitalization project end-to-end via our group of 650 industry-leading project managers.
6. What are the key technologies you offer for brownfield development?
Weatherford: Weatherford has developed a number of methods, systems, and approaches especially for brownfield development. Our experience in Russia, the North Sea, North and Latin Americas, Africa, and Asia-Pacific has been combined into our Reservoir Solutions portfolio: a set of engineered approaches and technologies, including software that can be easily adapted to a specific field or reservoir. The key components include equipment that can allocate bypassed reserves, automatically select well actions, and plan targeted evaluations. Depending on the objective, the solution may include developing distinct drilling, completion and production solutions, or taking an integrated approach using one of our Advisor Solutions.
Another feature of the Weatherford Reservoir Solutions portfolio is management of the economic aspects of an asset, including single-well or FDP optimization programs. The software calculates an economically optimal solution based on current oil price, available technologies, infrastructure capabilities, and the client’s macro- and microeconomic scenario.
For production optimization in brownfields, we offer downhole monitoring systems, integrated systems for asset management (including i-DO® intelligent daily operations software), Alpha VSRD multiphase flowmeters, artificial lift systems with algorithm-optimized repair intervals, and LOWIS™ software. For evaluation of field potential and development planning, we offer such internationally acclaimed products as WellFlo® and PanSystem®.
Our production equipment includes energy-saving, long-stroke pumping units; continuous-rod-lift with long runtime between repair intervals; and progressive cavity and hydraulic pumps for wells with complex downhole conditions. These products have proven their value and efficiency in thousands of wells throughout the world.
Finally, we offer comprehensive remediation and intervention services, as well as rental drilling and fishing equipment. When applied in brownfields, these tools and services can help get old wells back into operation safely, quickly, and profitably.
Halliburton: Halliburton offers the industry’s broadest spectrum of technologies for brownfield development.
Our brownfield tool box includes 32 technologies ranging from reservoir modelling tools such as:
• Landmark’s Nexus® Simulator from DecisionSpace Nexus® Suite– reservoir simulation software that can model oil and gas production from the reservoir pore space through the surface facilities to the point of sale DecisionSpace – integrated environment included applications and information management solutions
• Shortens cycle time by creating and dynamically updating detailed subsurface models of your asset TMD-3D™ and RMT Elite
• Cased Hole Logging and Formation Evaluation tools;
• To conformance technologies such as H2Zero™ and Foam2Zero™
• To Stimulation technologies such as AccessFrac® and Frac of the Future™
AccessFrac® RF is a multi-zone re-frac method utilizing optimized pumping modes and diverting fluids to isolate proppant stages placed in each interval, for better isolation in all well designs and completion systems.
• To Infill and multilateral technologies such as FlexRite® Multilateral Completion System and GeoSteering ADR™ Azimuthal Deep Resistivity Sensor; ADR™ Azimuthal Deep Resistivity Sensor enables a new level of formation evaluation. It is an excellent solution to optimize well placement, maximize production rates and increase the reservoir service life. ADR™ combines a deep reading geosteering sensor and a conventional multi-frequency compensated resistivity sensor. The ADR™ sensor is capable of measuring more than 2000 unique values for precise wellbore placement and for more accurate petrophysical analysis.
• To waterflood injection programs.
7. What are the optimal techniques for an operator to implement to understand how a reservoir has changed and evolved during production, in order to enhance recovery?
Weatherford: The most widely used instrument for this purpose is detailed geo- and hydro-modeling, combined with data from downhole logging. These models rely on accurate, reliable measurement of oil and water production as well as detailed core and PVT analyses (Weatherford Labs successfully perform such investigations). Another key technique is downhole data acquisition, including measurements of temperature, pressure, and fluid phases. This can be aided by the installation of appropriate sondes and receiving gauges, and by applying data monitoring and interpretation systems.
We should not forget about analytical methods and Proxi-models. They are especially relevant for tail assets and marginal profitability wells. Weatherford has a proprietary method based on unique approach to low-margin and unprofitable assets which enables rejuvenation of many wells.
Halliburton: One of the most important elements to determine the overall reservoir’s evolution is the bottom-hole pressure. Halliburton offers a number of sophisticated tools, in addition to worldwide, real-time data management capabilities, that measure and interpret well performance parameters such as bottom-hole pressure build and drawdown and turn that data into actionable information to enhance the performance of mature assets.
A robust and accurately history matched reservoir model is also extremely important. Through the use of the model, we are able to tell which areas of the reservoir are drained, what the production mechanisms are, and where are the target areas with enough remaining oil saturation for improved or enhanced recovery.
8. Could you describe the general state of the wells found within Russia’s brownfields? How does this then effect the workover programs?
Weatherford: At least one in every three wells in Russian brownfields has been plugged and abandoned because of low productivity and profitability. Casing leaks and poor cementation present additional complications in high water-cut production wells at Russian fields. This causes complications during workover programs.
Servicing and remediating these wells requires significant capital investment on the part of the operator. As of now, the primary intervention technologies used in these old Russian wells are re-entry services and fracturing. They are generally used after appropriate adaptation to the region’s current conditions, infrastructure and dynamic economic parameters.
In Volga-Ural, for example, two basic solutions have been implemented for water shutoff: cement slurries and a combination of fluids including water, oil, micellar fluids, etc.
Halliburton: Older wells drilled 20-30 years ago tend to be poor shape, which makes any intervention and workover operations expensive and risky. Halliburton has developed the industry’s most advanced coiled-tubing and wireline-deployed intervention solutions, fiber-optic monitoring and highly cost-effective electric and slickline interventions with associated video monitoring, which allows intervention operations to be carried out safely without requiring a high-cost rig.
9. How should an operator identify and target previously missed or ignored deposits within a field?
Weatherford: An operator can identify and target missed deposits with detailed investigations and estimation of exploration efficiency. There are various approaches for localization remaining mobile oil reserves/sweet spots such as quasi-2D hydro models – Weatherford analytical model, classic 3D hydromodels and others. All these techniques are based on MatBal and basic laws of fluid mechanics. An integrated approach that applies reservoir model adaptation at the base of exploration data can be provided by reliable Weatherford software such as ReO®, WellFLo®, ReO Forecast and Production AdvisorSM.
Halliburton: Neutron logging data from TMD-3D™ and RMT-Elite™ tools are compared with the original openhole logging data or the previous surveillance survey (time-lapse logging). The data from pulsed-neutron surveillance logging are integrated in a dynamic reservoir model along with other subsurface data, including 4D seismic, additional openhole logs from new wells, production data, and injection data. These results provide a better understanding of fluid changes within the reservoirs under the influence of compaction, water injection and aquifer movement and the location of bypassed pay zones.
10. How can the artificial lift system be optimized in order to enhance hydrocarbon recovery?
Weatherford: Artificial-lift (AL) optimization is directly tied to the reservoir processes. Equipment can be changed, but the majority of the processes in the reservoirs are irreversible. For this reason, optimization without reservoir hydrodynamics modeling is not as effective. It is better to execute a comprehensive study, and even test small areas first, before proceeding with full-field AL optimization. Well file should be put together for each well containing its potential and continuously updated optimization options, including through replacement of downhole equipment. This approach is based on well-known nodal analysis and vertical lift performance.
For the greatest efficiency, optimization should be performed at the same time for every well and the asset as
a whole, taking the entire infrastructure into consideration. It is even possible to implement a full-scale digital field using Weatherford i-DO® software, which can be deployed on a turnkey project basis.
Halliburton: The first step is reviewing existing data and measuring pressure to discover key factors causing the pressure drop and underperformance in the reservoir. Fluid production rates also need to be accurately reported – production testing on a regular basis is recommended. Artificial lift is optimized through well level modeling. Halliburton has experience with artificial lift optimization at all levels; from an ad hoc well by well optimization of automated digital workflows that set optimized pump operational targets, diagnose problems and underperformance real-time and identify solutions with maximum efficiency. Halliburton also has access to well fluid monitoring and pump optimization technology which can reduce the cost of pump maintenance by up to 40% and can also increase production by up to 10%.
11. SPD have just launched their major ASP Mixing plant. How prevalent is flooding to enhance oil recovery in Russia? What potential is there for this type of technology?
Weatherford: For most mature fields, ASP flooding Is economically unfeasible because of low incremental oil rates over an extended period of production with high water cut. However, SPD experience can inform future applications of this technology in Russia. It would be valuable to undertake a thorough study using EOR methods, especially given the current oil prices.
For the new oil fields in Western Siberia, EOR methods based on detailed economic investigations show promise — particularly in regard to developing working agents with properties similar to formation fluid to enable efficient substitution and help avoid premature water breakdown in producing wells.As is known, it is important not only to find a formula, but to make “a medicine”. Engineered сhemistry has always been highly important for us, and our experience can be used for design and manufacturing of proper chemicals for Russian operators.
Halliburton: Flooding as secondary oil recovery method has been in Halliburton’s arsenal for many years. ASP has great potential in Russia. The key is to model an optimized configuration of injector and producer wells, as well as the right combination of surface facility adjustments that can harmonize with the increased need to manage fluid injection and production. Halliburton has modeling optimizers that generate the flooding scenarios that provide the highest returns with the lowest level of risk.
12. What strategies should an operator employ to control and manage water production in mature fields?
Weatherford: The first step is to estimate optimal injection parameters and water delivery at the field, and then take measures to optimize the whole producing system. Based on our global experience, flooding is best controlled at the wellhead using real-time data analysis. It is essential to have reliable water-cut measurements, which can be obtained using the Red Eye water-cut meter. Chemical methods of water control, e.g. cross-linked polymers, are also available, but they require special approach – in compartmentalized and heterogeneous reservoirs there is a risk to invest a lot of money without seeing the results.
An operator can carry out geophysical tests and special chemical water tests in the field to determine and isolate the water-cut layers. Then, he should take various approaches to understand the reasons and sources of water breakthrough — whether caused by injection front, coning or casing.
Finally, in horizontal wells, multistage fracturing using the ZoneSelect® completion system and software FracAdvisorTMcan help to isolate water-cured intervals during production.
Halliburton: There are chemical and mechanical water management strategies. Halliburton’s all-inclusive conformance technology portfolio offers specialized application software and a variety of chemical treatments and mechanical solutions to stop inflow of unwanted fluids.
The chemical strategy includes chemical treatment for water and gas shutoff. The activation mechanisms are divided into sealants, comprising nonselective treatments and services that fully protect the hydrocarbon zone. The strategy also includes relative permeability modifiers, which encompass selective treatments/services and offer the potential for bullheading.
The mechanical strategy includes use of 1) Swellpacker® isolation system, which provides a simpler, safer and more stable solutions for complete and long-term zonal isolation and 2) EquiFlow® autonomous inflow control device (AICD), which chokes back the production of unwanted fluid, be it water or gas, without the need for electrical, hydraulic, or mechanical intervention.
Yury Naumov
Weatherford
Yury Naumov is a Head of the multidisciplinary team of Petroleum Consulting, Weatherford Russia since September 2012. Previously he dealt with field development in YUKOS, ТNК-BP and NOVATEK. Yury graduated from the Lomonosov Moscow State University with a Master’s Degree in geology in 2000. In 2014 he also received an MBA from AIBEc. Yury has over 15 years’ experience in petroleum industry.
Ken Atere
Halliburton
Ken Atere is Regional Manager Halliburton Project Management for Eurasia Region based in Moscow. Ken has over 25 years of industry experience, 10 years of which was spent working in the Russian Oil & Gas industry. He has held positions in Drilling Technology, Well Construction Operations, Project Management, Sales and Marketing and Mergers & Acquisitions. Ken holds a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, a MBA and is pursuing a Doctorate degree in business management. He attained his Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI) and is a licensed Professional Engineer (P.Eng) from APEGA Canada.
Leo Sayavedra
Halliburton
Global Director, Mature Fields, Halliburton Consulting & Project Management.
Mr. Sayavedra’s extensive experience working with petro-technical professionals, his training in mechanical engineering and extensive work throughout production optimization has provided him with a firm grasp of the entire E&P asset lifecycle – from field development through facilities optimisation. Mr. Sayavedra has worked with clients from National Oil Companies (NOCs), Supermajors and Independents in North and South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia. He has served a variety of leadership roles including Supervising Partner, Program Manager, Operations Consultant, and Business Development Executive. Presently, he is focused on growing Halliburton’s Global Mature Fields business by providing clients with a variety of proprietary technologies and techniques specifically tailored to rejuvenate declining fields. Mr. Sayavedra also has extensive foreign trade and policy experience. Mr. Sayavedra has a Master of Business Administration from the McDonough School at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. and a Bachelor degree in the Mechanical Engineering Route to Business from the University of Texas at Austin.
