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result is a three-dimensional reservoir model that
accurately predicts variation in unconventional reser-
voir quality for determining the best well locations and
the best reservoir zones.
The Schlumberger integrated workflow for uncon-
ventional reservoirs has already led to a number of
successes in shale gas developments. In South Texas,
the Eagle Ford Completions Optimization Consortium
applied the workflow in several horizontal wells in the
Eagle Ford Formation. Openhole logging data were
acquired using Wireline ThruBit service and the Sonic
Scanner acoustic scanning platform, which was
conveyed in the horizontal sections by the Wireline
TuffTRAC* tractor. The acquired digital data were used
to generate optimized completion designs with
Mangrove* engineered stimulation design in the Petrel
platform. The production from each well was profiled
with the Wireline Flow Scanner* well production
logging system conveyed by the MaxTRAC* downhole
wireline tractor system to evaluate both reservoir
and completion quality. The workflow integrated
Schlumberger technologies to optimize the comple-
tions, which increased the number of perforation clus-
ters contributing to production by 28%, elevating all of
the completed wells to the top quartile in performance
compared with their peers that were conventionally
completed with geometric perforation spacing.
From Single Services to Integrated Operations
The integration of technologies and workflows
exemplified by the Eagle Ford Consortium is a step
change from past procedures, in which oil companies
tendered almost every major oilfield service separately
and retained overall coordination. As a result, benefits
from integration within the service industry could not
be realized. Although this may still be a viable stan-
dard in many simple field developments, the increasing
number of cost-sensitive unconventional operations
and high-cost deepwater projects benefit from a new
integrated approach to improve efficiency, reduce cost,
and mitigate risk.
Regardless of size, no one oil company can be
expected to possess the skills and experience to
operate across the technology spectrum, given the
increasingly sophisticated technology that the most
challenging operations demand. Rather, closer integra-
tion of oil company operations with the technology
delivery and workflow processes of
the oilfield services provider brings
substantial gains. There are, of
course, various levels of integration.
Single services continue to represent
the largest share of the market
but become increasingly unwieldy,
inefficient, and costly as operational
complexity grows. Bundled services
that lump together discrete offerings
may reduce price but often fail to boost efficiency when
service providers continue to function independently.
Integrating services can seamlessly coordinate each
successive task to boost efficiency, share expertise, and
dovetail one service with another, especially where
the service company is tasked to manage the entire
wellsite operation.
It is at this highest level of integration that opera-
tions must use workflows to strategically coordinate all
of the products, services, and personnel for a given
project across traditional boundaries. Not only is this
required at the field operational level, it must also
occur in the back office and begin in the planning
phase, well before the project spuds. It is essential that
the oil company and service provider combine their
operational experience, technical expertise, and
human resources into one closely knitted team that
eliminates duplicate tasks.
Engineering Integrated Technologies
While the Schlumberger product groups integrate
technologies and workflows into service offerings that
improve reservoir performance and reduce technical
risk, the development of those technologies is the mis-
sion of the Schlumberger Research, Engineering,
Manufacturing and Sustaining (REMS) organization.
This organization links over 10,000 employees working
on more than 600 projects in approximately 125 cen-
ters located in 15 countries worldwide. It represents
an investment of more than $1.2 billion annually, and
while its scope can be seen through the innovative
products and services delivered, its technical founda-
tion can be appreciated by the 11,500 patents that the
company has filed over just the last 5 years.
As part of the Schlumberger pursuit of excellence,
the REMS organization was itself reinvented in 2008
to leverage scale and create an effective vehicle for
Closer integration of oil
company operations with
the technology delivery and
workflow processes of the
oilfield services provider
brings substantial gains.
