Higher costs and more remote locations make "We're all in this together" a clarion call for future asset development.
In the face of mounting financial pressures to reduce finding and producing costs and increase recoverable reserves, the industry continues to expand the philosophy of total project optimization, particularly to oil and gas fields in remote areas and offshore.
But improving recovery to maximize asset value is not limited to new finds. Existing fields represent a fertile area for recovery optimization, as well. So the industry continues to stretch both the leading and following edges of this new "womb-to-tomb" thinking.
Peter Goode, president of Schlumberger Oilfield Services' well completions and productivity segment, said there's an increasing industry trend toward including artificial lift design in predevelopment planning. Traditionally a down-the-line undertaking for when reservoir pressure changes make it necessary, artificial lift is being added much earlier in the life of a field, said Goode. Operators are including it in well completion planning, not only to improve recovery after reservoir conditions change, but also to accelerate front-end production. "The wellbore design depends on both the completion plan and the production plan," Goode said. But the completion design can't be made until engineers decide on what sort of pumps and lift mechanism will be used. Having artificial lift capabilities in place before they're needed optimizes production and recovery, and accelerates cash flow, he said.
An accelerated production profile contributes significantly to a field's overall financial performance, said Goode.
"The incremental cost to add artificial lift capabilities usually is relatively small when compared to the overall spending required to find, develop and complete a reservoir," he said. "But that is not a good reason on its own. Earlier cash flow improves an asset's net present value and the operator's return on investment, and the artificial lift capability can often be a sound production risk mitigation strategy."
And, of course, Goode advocates achieving this cash flow earlier through employing fit-for-purpose electric submersible pumps (ESPs) and downhole flow-control technologies.
He acknowledged the perceived concerns and potential risks associated with using EPSs in environments where well intervention costs are high. But he said ongoing investment in research and development aimed at system and equipment reliability will at least mitigate, and perhaps even eliminate, many of those risks.
Looking at the bigger picture, Goode said increases in ultimate recovery will result from improving the drainage pattern of new fields or the sweep of a water, steam or carbon dioxide flood of existing fields. And EPSs, he said, will play a crucial role in this incremental recovery by providing control of downhole flow, pressure and well drainage points.
But the demands exists among operators for real-time control of well flow rates and pressures, he said. ESPs can provide such control, either directly using a variable-speed drive or in concert with a suite of intelligent devices for flow and pressure control. A variety of sensors, within the completion or the reservoir, can monitor pumping system parameters, well flow rates and advancing fluid fronts. Downhole information is relayed to surface collecting points and on by satellite to oil company offices for analysis. System data is relayed to the service provider monitoring the system. Real-time tweaking can be conducted from the same points.
Prototypes of such systems have been installed recently in individual wells with great success, he said.
"But the full potential of such a system is realized only if this approach is included in a fieldwide application based on real-time reservoir monitoring, data acquisition and analysis; remotely actuated control systems for taking corrective action; and enlightened decision-making," he said.
Only now is that remote monitoring and control and total optimization of artificial lift systems - the Holy Grail of that segment of the industry - coming together in terms of hardware, communications technology and software so that it can be delivered in the field, said Goode.
And apparently, it hasn't come too soon. By his company's reckoning, only 7% of ESPs installed around the world are equipped with instrumentation.
In the longer term, the industry must commit to a closed-loop process that optimizes well and field productivity and, ultimately, reservoir performance - all in real time, he said. This is as true for cradle-to-grave optimization of a new field as it is for extending the economic life of an existing one.
"The biggest challenge in moving the industry forward - but also a major opportunity - is to rapidly and effectively migrate to full implementation of real-time oilfield management," said Goode. "This is particularly critical for ESP-based developments that rely on data acquired both from downhole and surface sensors."
Because of high remote area well-intervention costs, equipment reliability is becoming more important to some operators than the cost of individual downhole tools, said Goode. This has created some new wrinkles in how equipment is marketed by manufacturers and service providers. For instance, companies like Schlumberger offer some artificial lift equipment - downhole and on the surface - either for lease or on a risk-sharing basis, with incentives to allow the service company to share in the benefits when results exceed preassigned values.
But such new arrangements call for joint design, planning and operational teams, Goode said. And while this team approach has been successful in certain operational areas, the future of structuring total real-time reservoir optimization will require even closer teamwork among operators, manufacturers and service companies.
"Since the mid-1990s, the industry has seen a steady progression in constructing more effective business relationships among these sectors, but more needs to be done to fully capitalize on emerging opportunities and to overcome future challenges," Goode said.
He added team building is fostered when each party has a tangible stake in the results, and he pointed to performance-based incentives as an example of how to better align intercompany goals and focus on the total asset.