Asia Pacific

• Region: Asia Pacific
• Date: July, 2021

At the Offshore Well Intervention Asia Pacific Conference attention turned to Indonesia as representatives from Pertamina Hulu Mahakam, Harbour Energy and TGT Diagnostics discussed the market trends in the region and what best practices and new technologies are being considered to optimise campaigns.

Sakti Dwitama, Head of Wells Studies at Pertamina Hulu Mahakam, stated that in Mahakam the well intervention business was very heavy. Across the more than 2,000 producing wells the company maintains around 5,000 operations are carried out each year with around thirty units (be that coil tubing, E-line, slickline, etc) being used on a daily basis. Yet this market is not without its challenges. Most obviously, as all panellists agreed, was the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic which has caused immense logistical issues for mobilising teams to safely perform well intervention operations. As Hubert Menard, Asia Pacific Business Manager at TGT Diagnostics, added, this has been problematic for operators and service companies alike and has required some real forward thinking in terms of resource management to accommodate for quarantining etc.

The other major challenge has been the economic situation in Indonesia where the low oil price (although it is returning) and poor exchange rates has required some frugal planning from operators. The Indonesian government, in order to boost the economy and wean the country off of its reliance on exported oil has targeted the production of 700,000 barrels of oil per day for this year 2021 (up from the current production figure close to 700,000) to push on to 1,000,000 by 2030. This will be a tough task and the panellists discussed the role of well intervention within this.

Sakti said, “In a way I see this as an opportunity for well intervention. In Mahakam there has been a steep decline in production, especially gas, and so there will be an increase in well intervention activities in order to achieve the national objective. We also want to get more efficient and to optimise this and we are seeing more and more rig activities getting taken over by rigless vessels.”

“However, this decline in production will not be stabilised if we only rely on existing wells. So while we do intervention to maintain a smooth baseline we need to balance it with the development of new wells. Last year we drilled about 300 new wells across the nation, to achieve the national target this year we are aiming to drill about 600. This will be maintained throughout the next few years so that we aim to be drilling around 1,000 wells per year.”

Athur Simatupang, Well Service Engineer at Harbour Energy agreed with this sentiment. At Harbour Energy, he noted, the main goal is to maintain gas production and by utilising intervention methods such as acidisation, perforation etc they hope to increase and maintain the gas production from their fields and help the government reach its target. He also noted intervention strategies were of more importance due to the increasing costs associated with drilling new wells. Companies in Indonesia are having to look to deeper waters to explore and develop new reservoirs which is much more challenging and requires more expensive equipment. While his company is looking to drill new wells in order to increase production, well intervention is being used to sustain and maintain it.

Data Management

In order to stay on top of which wells require production enhancement, precise and effective data acquisition and data management is key. As Menard noted, “The digital transformation is something that every operator and service provider needs to go through even though each has different objectives and initiatives relating to this.”

Sakti noted that in his company an in-house digitalisation platform (in use since 2007) captures all the historical data acquired from assets and allows them to get a better understanding of their wells in order to optimise and more efficiently manage their operations. Athur added that one of the most important uses of this data for his company was to allow them to manage, coordinate and plan the activities of all departments more effectively, so they could identify shared targets and strategies. In an age where making the most of resources is paramount, ensuring all departments are working together in this way can achieve substantial cost savings for the company.

In order to acquire this data, the panellists noted a growing trend of moving away from E-line operations, with many companies instead relying on other methods such as slickline. While doing so does not allow for real time data to be acquired, it has major benefits in regards to mobilisation and potential cost savings.

Menard noted that E-line has a much bigger footprint and unless urgent real-time data acquisition was required, in his companies experience it is often much more fruitful to use other methods such as slickline which requires much less equipment and is much lighter. Because of these advantages to ease of mobilisation, it can be a much better option especially for smaller platforms. Additionally slickline is often needed anyway to perform jobs such as removing safety valves etc and bringing in E-line would most add another logistical problem if another crew was required.

New technology

After touching upon digitalisation the panellists moved onto other new technology trends that are shaping the well intervention industry. Sakti bridged the gap to data by noting that the advancements of AI combined with big data will push companies to be much more efficient and could optimise campaigns through things such as predictive analytics. There are also new solutions emerging in the realm of sand control, a “common enemy” in Indonesia, which would allow operators to move away from traditional methods such as gravel packs which are becoming less economically suitable –especially for marginal wells.

All the panellists stressed their companies were not afraid to utilise new technology and insisted that their doors were open for new viable ideas which could optimise their operations. Sakti said, “In Mahakam we are open to trying out new technologies and there are plenty of new products and techniques being implemented and trialled on our wells. The first step is to get to know each other, then we can have a tech day or forum to see what you have in your toolbox. From there we can discuss how to move forward in more detail, perhaps offer a scenario and understand how this technology will help and what benefit we can gain.”

Athur added, “Every year we do a new tech presentation for all out contractors but, not waiting for that, our door is always open and you may contact us directly. Of course in the Indonesian market everything is about low price but we are happy to have a discussion to see if we can insert the product into our applications.”

To listen to the full session, follow the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpZeA629gtU

• Region: Asia Pacific
• Date: July, 2021

On day three of OWI APAC, attention turned to optimising production enhancement strategies as host Sohan Harkesh Singh, Asset Performance Solution Commercial Manager – Asia, Schlumberger, was joined by representatives from EnQuest and South East Asia Hibiscus to consider the best way to capture value from this “low hanging fruit”.

As the panellists agreed it was critical to have an efficient workflow for any production enhancement programme, Khairul Riza bin Zainul Riza, Well Services Engineer, Hibiscus, took the opportunity to explain the process at his company whereupon they split intervention into two – routine and non-routine. The first, routine, is slickline only which is being worked 365 days a year. There is an overall plan of when work should be starting but it is updated as they go along when new opportunities are identified which can slot into the sequence. Such dynamic processes can help save time as if an opportunity to implement a solution can be identified with crew currently working on a remote jacket, turnaround will be much faster than if they need to return to it at a later date.

Non-routine, as Riza continued, is for more complex well entry and typically involves some sort of support vessel with a crane. This is for anything beyond slickline such as coil tubing. Planning is done far in advance (6-8 months) with opportunities continually identified for the following year.

Mohd Farid Mohd Talib, Wells Engineer, EnQuest, said that his company had an almost similar workflow to cater for most of the 362 strings in the Seligi field with OSV throughout the year where the team works in integrated systems between Subsurface, Ptech, Wells Team and also the Operation department. This process is started from a field reservoir workshop a year in advance to develop initial IWR target inventories by applying efficiency on online integrated system Well Request Forms (WRF). Farid noted it was vital to monitor large well inventories as much as possible to consider whether they were in a first time, routine, non-routine, easy to moderate, complex or very complex requirement of intervention. The company assesses what they can gain from intervening on categories of production enhancement/idle well recoveries (PE/IWR), data acquisition (DA) and also well integrity (WI) issues with the intention to protect the baseline of EnQuest within approved UEC (cost allocated) and overall chance of success (CoS) as well as justifying their well plan throughout the year to meet on the annual production KPI target.

Sohan added, “We have dedicated production enhancement workflows and we try to do this in an integrated fashion. We try to engage with the operator from the start to ensure there is alignment on delivery as this is very important and try to use digital technology where possible to help us deliver overall solutions much quicker. In some examples, digital workflows can fast track workflows by 90%.”

Production enhancement challenges

Turning to the challenges and inhibitors of production enhancement, Riza noted that in North Sabah, where some Hibiscus assets are located, one of the biggest difficulties is actually bad weather which comes round twice a year (mid and end). This can make activity planning extremely difficult with limited periods for operations. This is combined with the fact that resources must be shared with other departments internally, such as crew, living quarters, supply vessels etc. Such problems highlight the importance of dedicated and efficient workflows even more.

The panellists also noted that well intervention activities have been severely limited by the occurrence of oil price drops which can disrupt the economic planning. Farid said, “Right now it is not economical for us to have E-line at the moment so we are opting instead to optimise the services of the IIWR/IWS integrated contract for coil tubing and slickline. We have managed to use it to fulfil all our objectives without neglecting on company annual barrel gain KPI targets. With this we perform on our objectives to redo baselines, check on adhoc active well requirements, perform our yearly well intervention campaign for PE/IWR and DA, and also perform well repairs for WI, etc. This strategy has allowed EnQuest to achieve on its targets for top efficiency, fast turnaround and allows for cost optimisation to deplete remaining reserves.”

Riza agreed and added that Hibiscus has had to scale down plans quite a bit as well as deferring campaigns (such as a coil tubing from last year to this). His company, too, has noted that E-line is no longer economic and has instead turned to performing operations with memory tools and performing perforation jobs on slickline instead. Yet, despite this, they have encountered a fair bit of success with reworked campaigns, such as three fishing jobs which were successfully completed recently, two of the aforementioned perforation jobs and two saturation logging jobs. There is one more perforation job planned for this year after saturation logging results were received last year.

Best practices and new technology

Sohan switched the conversation by asking the panellists to explain the best practices for carrying out production enhancement, especially in the challenging times the industry is going through. For his part, he said, “Schlumberger is increasingly being more focused on the development of new digital technology as enablers for production enhancement. You may be familiar with the buzz word WPO [well portfolio optimiser] which we have designed to improve production enhancement workflows to reduce time take for data gathering to selecting & ranking well candidates. This allowed a client to reduce the time taken to rank their candidates from four months to two weeks.”

Sohan also focused on new technology providing real time surveillance, powerful analytics and more which allow for predictive insights to help make better, more informed decisions. Farid added that at EnQuest, they are always open to trying new technologies and opportunities to perform more efficient well operations as long as they are economically viable, before opting for workover or drilling options, and have sharing benefits to develop more knowledge between all parties involved. They encourage and challenge contractors to become the leaders of the job, sharing KPI achievements on subsurface proven alignments mechanisms and sharing their technical expertise with the EnQuest crew so that they can perform better on the solution in the future. EnQuest is also always looking forward in order to share their experience for proven and clear direction on integrated workflows (IIWR/IWS) and for technical solution sharing on new technology for man-made gas shut offs that have been planned for the first time in the world.

Riza said, “One thing we do well is achieve cost saving through sharing resources via integrated planning with other departments. When one of them needs an additional vessel (such as a supply vessel), we look at what campaigns everyone has going on to see if we can share it out so we each do not have to acquire one separately.”

“Also, early planning and preparation is critical. We plan 6-8 months in advance for heavier activities. That is key to achieving most of our targets. It allows us to communicate up front early our entire annual plan to contractors so that they can align their resources in a timely manner to our requirements. In that way no one is caught off guard.”

The panellists also touched upon other best practices such as adapting multi-skilled personnel. For instance, at Hibiscus a slickline equipment mechanic is routinely mobilised to service and check the slickline equipment offshore but now they are multi-skilled as a slickline assistant also so they can form part of the slickline operating team. Not only does this save value but also reduces the need for additional people to be mobilised, which is especially important during Covid-19.

To hear more from the panellists including further discussion on best practices and procurement models, follow the link below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMZvLeiv5p4

• Region: Asia Pacific
• Date: Apr, 2021

Petronas, a global energy solutions company, has awarded an exclusive three-year contract to Welltec, a provider of robotic well solutions, appointing them as sole provider of downhole conveyance and powered mechanical services in the eastern and western regions of Malaysia.

Commenting on the contract, which officially commenced on 1 April, Espen Dalland, Area Vice-President for the Asia-Pacific Region at Welltec, said, “It’s a great team effort that has led to the award of this exclusive long-term contract with Petronas, and Welltec has demonstrated a strong ability to deliver – even through a challenging 2020 – high quality services in a safe manner to the largest assets in the country at a very cost-effective rate.”

“This winning combination is the foundation for Petronas awarding us an even larger work scope for the next three years, where we will continue to deliver world-class technology and services.”

Confirming a strong relationship

The new deal covers the entirety of Petronas’ intervention operations, highlighting the confidence that the company has for Welltec’s fleet and technological capabilities which has been manifested across a successful and longstanding relationship.

Alex Nicodimou, Vice-President of Sales & Marketing at Welltec, added, “This is a fantastic win for us. Petronas is a key customer in the region who over recent years have moved more and more towards an integrated approach for interventions. The fact they have provided us 100% of their intervention work speaks volumes about their belief in our technology and ability to deliver. We’re looking forward to continuing to support them to the best of our abilities.”

Welltec continue admirable performance

The award of such a promising contract should be of no surprise to anyone who has tracked the progress of Welltec over the last few months. The company reported a revenue decline of less than 15% in 2020, which was comparatively low compared to the rest of the industry and also maintained operating earning margins close to 40%, which was among the best across the industry. At the start of the year the company also announced a substantial agreement with Equinor for the long-term provision of integrate wireline services to key platforms across the Gullfaks and Stratfjord fields which will run for at least five years, with the potential to run for more than ten.

The company will also seek to continue this strong performance under new leadership as Founder and CEO of Welltec, Jørgen Hallundbæk, has announced his retirement from the management team to be replaced as CEO by Peter Hansen, the former COO of the company.

Preparing to facilitate what he believes will be a bright future for the company, Hansen commented, “Together with our global teams, I look forward to continuing to contribute to the development of Welltec. We are global leaders in our service and products categories and are determined to strengthen our positions further. We have expanded our business potential by investing in geothermal and carbon capture and storage technology development. Combined with our core services and products, we believe that this creates a solid platform for the future.”

• Region: Asia Pacific
• Date: Mar, 2021

Aquaterra Energy, a company focused on delivering offshore engineering solutions, has secured a multi-million-dollar riser contract with a marine vessel owner and operator, for deeper water well intervention projects mainly in the Asia Pacific region.

Aquaterra Energy will deliver a large-bore (7 3/8”) AQC-CW completions and workover riser system with automated handling package that will operate in water depths of up to 1,500m. The system has been designed to withstand repeat make and breaks, whilst offering a gas tight metal-to-metal seal. The solution can be operated from a lightweight intervention vessel, a semisubmersible or from a jack-up rig as a surface riser, open water subsea riser or as a landing string.

The NACE compliant technology and unique pipe to connector attachment eliminates welding – making the riser lighter offering enhanced water depth deployment capacity. In addition, the ability to pressure test each connection upon make up provides enhanced environmental reassurance against well bore fluid discharge.

Aquaterra Energy will manage the entire project scope via its in-house engineering and project management teams. Throughout the project, Aquaterra Energy will provide fatigue utilisation and management through riser monitoring hardware to extend asset life, as well as automated hands-off connector makeup and umbilical handling equipment to improve safety and enhance offshore efficiency.

Successful spell continues for Aquaterra Energy

James Larnder, Managing Director of Aquaterra Energy said, “This project marks a key milestone in our Asia Pacific success story, whilst also diversifying our AQC riser offering into deeper water operations. All our systems are intelligently engineered to be efficient with no wasted materials and a focus on quick connection to reduce operational time whilst assuring integrity. Importantly, these efficiencies also support our own and our customers’ decarbonisation efforts.”

The company supports customers across the globe in the North Sea, South East Asia, the Caribbean, West Africa and Australia. While Covid-19 may have hindered much of the industry last year Aquaterra Energy continued its impressive workload with the award of several substantial contracts such as the front end engineering and design contract from DeNovo Energy for a second Sea Swift platform offshore Trinidad and Tobago and the commission to construct a platform for Chevron offshore Angola. The company has also continued investment in its product line such as the QuikDeck underdeck access system which, the company claimed, had already helped secure new work worth more than £1mn. With the penning of this new contract in Asia Pacific there appears to be no sign that the company is slowing down in 2021.

• Region: All
• Topics: All Topics
• Date: Feb, 2021

For more than 25 years Grant Pierce has worked for onshore and offshore service and oil and gas operations across the globe, accruing an extensive knowledge base in this time. He sat down with Offshore Network to divulge his insights on the offshore oil and gas industry in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic, what the associated media is failing to cover, and which regions could potentially be hotbeds for well intervention operations in the future.

You have been vocal about media outlets lacking in terms of future well intervention and plugging and abandonment (P&A) work. Could you elaborate on this?

Pierce: “I do not think there has ever been a large focus on upcoming work that is happening unless it is a big contract win - that is when you will hear about work being publicised. But you never really see publications on campaigns coming up until they are done, then you might hear about three or four extra jobs that service companies have done - they normally come out in a group.”

“You might hear a job about Helix and a client in the Gulf of Mexico and then you may hear something about C-innovation in the same region a few weeks later but it has never really been consistent. Of course these days the focus has been more on clean tech and politics; that is what is in the media these days as that is what generates numbers.”

It does seem that P&A work is somewhat avoided by the industry, but with green targets and sustainability increasingly on the agenda do you think we will see more P&A work in the future?

Pierce: “Absolutely there will be more work pushed forward. They were talking about it during the OWI Australia conference on 9 February. Government regulators are pushing this work to be done. Definitely in Australia NOPSEMA had given deadlines and were reducing them. That is the kind of thing that is happening – this work is being pushed forward rather than back by the government and regulators are saying we have to get this done now. For sure P&A is being focused on globally right now and will feature more in the future.”

Do you have any suggestions to increase P&A efficiency to get more of this work done in the future?

Pierce: “Really just sharing from other areas in the industry. Taking lessons from the UK and applying into them Africa, or from Africa into Australia. Of course the same model cannot work everywhere; we work differently in different countries and regions. The regulations are more stringent in some places, for example, and so it is difficult to apply the same cookie cutter model everywhere.”

“One other method is collaboration to share vessels. They are speaking about it now in more areas, but it has recently become more normal in Africa to bring in a well intervention vessel and share it between operators. By doing this one operator is not taking all the cost - they have a schedule where they work for one operator and then they will move onto another, sharing the cost of the vessel. This keeps the vessel working in the country rather than having a huge cost to come in, then huge cost to go back home, then the vessel remaining idle for two months and then going back out to the same area for a different client.”

Looking to the future, are there any regions we should be keeping our eye on over the next few years for development or P&A work?

Pierce: “The problem with new frontier places is sometimes costs can be prohibitive and so the company wouldn’t make a lot of money on long term investments. Because of this there are fewer frontier areas left. However, there is some focus on some places in Africa, such as Senegal, some regions like Guyana and Suriname and even around the Bahamas and South America are gaining interest. Brazil is probably the next cost-efficient area to do work in so there will probably be more development there – I expect that area to pick up.”

“In terms of P&A, there is work everywhere. It is really huge in Thailand and Malaysia with a lot of hydraulic workover units doing loads of P&A work and this is ongoing all the time. There are new units and new work over units constantly being built to do that work. Additionally, Australia is ramping up in a serious way and I would also highlight P&A work in Mauritania, Angola, Nigeria, Ghana, and in the Gulf of Mexico.”

Daniel Yergin has suggested that the term energy transition is used a lot without it being properly understood and said ‘you can’t just change the system overnight’. Do you have any thoughts on this and what it means for the future of offshore oil and gas?

Pierce: “I am in full agreement. What fossil fuels can do is astounding. For instance, they assist every other technology that we can imagine with more than 6,000 products made from by-products of petroleum. It is very hard to think that we can just un-marry from fossil fuels. The use will start going down with people becoming more attuned to using alternative energy technologies, but I don’t think there will be a complete transition within the next thirty years.”

“A lot of energy companies are responding to government initiatives and saying ‘Okay if you say we cannot do it we will distance ourselves’ but they are still buying up acreage in South Africa and Suriname. It still goes on; it can’t just go away tomorrow. It is something that will have to be worked on over the next fifty years.”

“The key is to reduce emissions produced by the industry and work in a more sustainable way such as reducing the amount of equipment that is being moved around. But we cannot stop development. If we shut things off tomorrow we would be where we were one hundred years ago.”

You are very passionate about the well being of offshore workers, which has been at risk due to the pandemic with people having longer stays offshore. What is the best way to treat this problem and ensure employees are protected?

Pierce: “More collaboration and sharing ideas and ways of doing business between service companies, operators and any contractors involved is needed to prevent people being stuck for long periods of time. I know that regionally, the upper management at Petronas seem to have done a good job at managing their bridging documents ahead of time and changing those documents to accommodate the situation. They worked together with their partners to better utilise the time and people in a more efficient way to minimise negative effects. They were definitely a company that stayed on top of their business and kept their people moving despite it being very difficult to get employees around with all the quarantine restrictions in Malaysia. They were a very good example in this regard.”

“I know as well that in Australia even though they have tight control orders (a person cannot move between states without major procedures) they have done a good job there, with Cooper Energy for example still managing to facilitate work in the region.”

• Region: All
• Date: Dec, 2020

Genoa Black connected with Wouter Mezger, Commercial Director at Barge Master, as they discussed the recent success of the Deep Water Floating Drill Operation after the project claimed Most Innovative Solution at the OWI Global Awards 2020.

The Barge Master Deep Water Floating Drill Operation uses motion capture to eliminate vessel motions, allowing the operation of machinery with the same precision as onshore even in adverse weather conditions By integrating their BM-T700 motion compensation platform and the reverse circulation drill rig from Large Diameter Drilling (LDD) Barge Master has completed the installation of seven anchor mooring piles for a Catenary Anchor Leg Mooring (CALM) Buoy as well as a world first: drilling operations from a diving support and construction vessel in water depths of more than 270m.

Behind the projects success:

Mezger opened by thanking the judging panel for their decision and commented, “We think it has been recognised because typically drilling of this kind is usually carried out by a Jack-up barge [which are typically expensive to mobilise, hard to manoeuvre and limited by water depth and soil conditions]. We are filling in the gap. By integrating the motion compensated platform with an existing well intervention drill unit or technology a new innovative safe solution was developed which can be implemented on many other projects, moving the whole industry forward.”

When asked about the value this holds for customers Mezger responded, “The method of operation and the combined approach of using the Barge Master motion compensated platform and existing drill rig or intervention unit will bring great value to the oil and gas market and opens up new possibilities to perform well intervention on offshore wells in a safe and efficient way.

“The set up is a big step not just for the oil and gas market but throughout the marine industry where typical well intervention methods used by jack-up barges are not feasible in these water depths and require the need for a more costly floating drilling solution. We can bring a new cost effective solution that achieves the same end result.”

Why recognition was significant:

Mezger continued by commenting that receiving the award was recognition for the project and the team that had worked so hard on innovative solutions and confirmed the company’s belief in the product.

Reflecting on 2020 and looking to the future:

The Commercial Director considered the lessons learnt across 2020 and how the company is preparing for 2021, he stated, “Our priority is always safety first. It is embedded in the culture of our organisation both in the office and operations offshore. In 2020 we faced some challenges. Implementing a new technology, we felt the ability to travel and showcase the product to the customers, with the ongoing activities, has made bringing this new solution to the market rather hard. For 2021 we have learnt to focus and target specific markets for our applications.”

There are no suggestions that the success of the Water Floating Drill Operation will dry up any time soon, with the OWI Awards judges noting that it is a ‘world’s first that is flexible for a wide range of operations’. Certainly Mezger believes the future is bright as he concluded, “With the award we have received industry recognition that will help us reach out to a broader spectrum of clients and help them open up even more to this new innovative solution.”

• Region: Asia Pacific
• Topics: All Topics
• Date: Mar, 2020

• Region: Asia Pacific
• Topics: All Topics
• Date: Jan, 2019

• Region: Asia Pacific
• Topics: All Topics
• Date: Jan, 2017

• Region: Asia Pacific
• Topics: All Topics
• Date: Aug, 2018

Fahmi Ghaffar, Well Services Manager of PETROFAC shares the past three years of their well intervention experience to show the efficiencies and lessons learnt that have been noted during this period.

• Region: Asia Pacific
• Topics: All Topics
• Date: Aug, 2018

Agha Nadeem Durrani, Deputy Chief Engineer – Well Interventions from Pakistan Petroleum Limited shares a case study from a recent parted tubing campaign.

• Region: Asia Pacific
• Topics: All Topics
• Date: Jul, 2017

EV’s industry leading camera technology in partnership with an electric line tractor, allowing for real time transmission of video to surface while simultaneously tractoring downhole. This month’s video demonstrates EV’s leading technology partnerships, and how successfully integrating cameras into well intervention can save time and reduce risk for horizontal well inspections.