Technology Drives E&P Performance

One answer is by adopting new technologies that, from the start, have been engineered to leverage the latest advances in collaborative and digital enablement. When these digitally enabled technologies are combined with our domain expertise, streamlined processes, and integrated systems, it makes us a strong partner in the sustainable development of hydrocarbon resources.

To capitalize on the latest advances in digital enablement, Schlumberger has established three technology centers that innovate within the rapidly evolving world of digital technology, automation, and artificial intelligence. Established in 2014, our California-based center in Menlo Park focuses on developing software that makes it possible to apply new technology to oilfield challenges. Since 2016, our industrial internet center in Sugar Land, Texas, has focused on architecture and infrastructure development for the cloud, big data, industrial internet of things (IIoT), automation, and cybersecurity across multiple platforms. In 2017, the Schlumberger-Doll Research Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts—which was established in 1948—added a robotics department to support system automation, including flexible manufacturing of field equipment, such as drilling rigs.

Together, these centers are helping to create seamless digital workflows for E&P domains by tapping into our reservoir expertise and leadership in hardware and software development. This unique combination is enabling Schlumberger to construct a digital ecosystem for today’s industry needs that can also incorporate the next generations of hardware and software solutions for the technical challenges that lie ahead.

Recent advances in hardware and software solutions include HyperBlade hyperbolic diamond element bit, GyroSphere MEMS gyro-while-drilling service, Fulcrum cement-conveyed frac performance technology, and Concert well testing live performance. Each of these technologies helps E&P company performance by either increasing operational efficiency or improving well productivity and, in each case, also decreasing the environmental impacts of oilfield operations.

Consider that in the Permian Basin, a Schlumberger study identified more than 4,000 separate steps in drilling a well that require over 200 workflows. Yet, when an operator integrates individual services from multiple providers, operational time and resources may not be optimized. And when resources such as the delivery of equipment and consumables are not optimized based on the unique needs of the operation, potential outcomes include higher operating costs and an unnecessarily large environmental footprint.

Conventional drilling operations often introduce planning inefficiencies and manually intensive workflows that can be remedied by an integrated drilling system with digitally enabled hardware and software that leverages the value from all the data generated during operations. In the planning phase, for example, the DrillPlan* coherent well construction planning solution learns from previous experiences to design the well and deliver a superior digital well plan.

By combining the DrillPlan solution with the advanced operational control in the OneDrill* integrated drilling system, drilling workflows can be optimized even further. This is particularly important when establishing the necessary rig schedule to account for material use, delivery, and shipping, and determining inventory levels. Additional software within the OneDrill system handles operations management tasks, such as dispatching construction activities, detailed scheduling, and assuring operational integrity to optimize resources. By streamlining the management of resources at the wellsite—such as equipment, consumables, and the number of people—we can reduce transportation requirements and decrease fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.

The OneDrill system will deliver increased levels of operational reliability and efficiency when deployed with the Schlumberger land rig of the future and its unique hardware and software platform. This land rig incorporates automated pipe handling and more than 1,000 sensors for equipment control, system health monitoring, and process monitoring. The sensors monitor and record more than 350 rig activities to improve operations reliability based on predictive health maintenance. Predictive maintenance extends equipment and tool life, reducing downtime and operating costs by taking proactive remedial action.

The OneStim^® integrated completions system brings domain experts together in state-of-the-art facilities to align every aspect of the well completions process, from operational planning to resource management. These fully integrated services start with mining, delivering, and managing proppant at the wellsite. The unique vertical integration of sand mines, trucking, and an extensive rail network ensure on-time delivery of proppant to Schlumberger North American operations, optimizing logistics and fleet utilization.

In the Eagle Ford Shale, OneStim helped a customer decrease pad-to-pad mobilization by 50% and more than double the amount of stages placed per day. Integrating technologies such as the CAMShale* fracturing fluid delivery and flowback service reduced rig-up time—from three hours to less than 18 minutes. The number of connections needed was similarly greatly reduced by using Monoline* flanged-connection fracturing fluid delivery technology to conduct single-line rig-up.

Our hydraulic fracturing technologies are helping operators complete more stages per day and optimize reservoir stimulation. In unconventional reservoirs, parent wells are initially drilled and subsequently followed by child, or infill, wells. As subsurface dynamics change between parent and child wells, BroadBand Shield* fracture-geometry control service and WellWatcher Stim* stimulation monitoring service make it possible to maintain the productivity of existing wells while avoiding detrimental parent-child well interactions. For a customer in North Dakota, BroadBand Shield service helped overcome such an interaction during the stimulation of a child well, saving approximately $400,000 in intervention costs and more than two weeks of deferred production in neighboring parent wells.

Through vertical integration of sand supply via mining, logistics, and pumping services as well as its streamlined management of resources and operations, the OneStim system enables efficiencies that result in greater cost savings. Our novel fluid and proppant technologies can also decrease the water and sand requirements for each well. On average, the HiWAY* flow-channel fracturing technique uses 40% less proppant in hydraulic fracturing treatments. Compared with slickwater treatments, the HiWAY technique uses 25% less water, decreasing the environmental impacts at the wellsite.

The environmental impacts of well completions operations can be reduced even further by using the Schlumberger Stewardship Tool. This innovative software can evaluate every phase of a well completions project by managing risk, mitigating pollution, minimizing waste, and lowering greenhouse gas emissions, among other considerations. The tool provides quantitative results based on specific job information, from the type of wellsite equipment needed and how it is powered, to water and chemical usage. The Stewardship Tool can assess 19 key performance indicators, which are aligned with the Global Reporting Initiative, an independent international standards organization, in its G4 Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.

Concert performance technology uses sensors and cameras to acquire data, monitor, and analyze surface test operations through mobile devices, web-based dashboards, and wearable technology. The data is made available to the customer using the web-based dashboard. When everyone is viewing the same data, diagnostics, and analysis in real time, a new level of collaboration is achieved. Digitally enabling the entire well testing process decreases workforce exposure by reducing the time needed to read sensors and monitor data locally. Cameras also provide continuous video surveillance of burner combustion to manage fallout and emissions. The result is safer well testing operations and a reduced environmental footprint.

For example, a customer developing a deepwater gas condensate field offshore Australia that has multiple ultrahigh-rate wells required a dual testing system with two burners and more than twice the number of monitoring stations. The system also included pressure control valves more than 150 m from the well test area. The conventional approach would have required one crew member to observe each burner and perform numerous manual tasks to read gauges and collect and analyze samples. Instead, Concert performance technology enhanced both crew safety and environmental compliance by avoiding manual measurement and providing continuous real-time data and analysis of the well testing operation.

When using our OneSurface^® reservoir-integrated production system, customers can improve their project economics by maximizing recovery, accelerating production, and managing risk from the very beginning. With the OneSurface system, the process begins with real-time downhole measurement as the vital narrative for optimally designing surface processing facilities that deliver first oil in months rather than years and then proactively match and manage changes in production. OneSurface is built on the synergy of Testing Services and Cameron Process Systems, and brings together leading downhole, surface, and digital technologies that enable teams to anticipate and react to any changes that might occur during production.

Once processing begins, information from the reservoir, surface, and facility stream directly into a cloud-based environment. In the cloud, reservoir and production data are seamlessly integrated and analyzed for secure access. The facility automatically keeps the operational team informed and can respond to challenging live flow events faster than possible with human intervention. When dynamic reservoir changes occur, the facility easily incorporates leading process technologies to keep pace with production. This means that the customer can produce export-quality hydrocarbons at optimal levels without compromising cash flow for the life of the field. Flow assurance and production are continuously optimized by the OneSurface system’s ongoing integration of data analytics, process modeling, and the automation of best practices.

One example of a OneSurface system is an onshore sour gas and liquids early production facility in the Middle East with a processing capacity of 400 MMcf/d of gas and 2,700 bbl/d of liquids. This fast-track facility uses bacteria from the THIOPAQ O&G process to eliminate hydrogen sulfide, which uses significantly less power and chemicals to treat gas compared with traditional methods. The bacteria consume the hydrogen sulfide in the gas stream and produce solid elemental sulfur that can be used for agricultural purposes. The OneSurface system also enables fast production shutdown and startup with minimal waste due to the simplicity of its design and operation, which further reduces the environmental impacts. Schlumberger achieved first gas for this facility in record time—14 months from the project award—by leveraging its processing technology and engineering and domain expertise. This is one among 80 fast-track facilities that Schlumberger has designed, built, and commissioned globally.

The highest level of integrated services that we provide is through the Schlumberger Production Management (SPM) model, created in 2011 to help develop and comanage customer assets under long-term commercial agreements. In the SPM model, we assume responsibility for full-field management, combining our pore to pipeline portfolio of products and services with our technical expertise and operational experience. This model fills a gap in the market that exists between what a traditional service company can offer and the business models that E&P companies currently use. SPM helps our customers develop or redevelop their fields to increase production, improve cash flow, and optimize reservoir recovery.

To date, approximately 10,000 wells have been successfully brought to production through our global team of 2,000 oilfield specialists, which includes 850 engineers and 675 geoscientists. Today we comanage approximately 250,000 bbl/d of oil equivalent production on 15 projects in four continents. Our primary focus is mature oil fields on land.

For example, in Alberta, Canada, SPM is increasing operations efficiency and well productivity in the Palliser Block by partnering with Torxen Energy, a private Canadian E&P company. In 2018, we drilled 123 wells and decreased operating expenditures by 30% through increased efficiency and the integration of existing asset operations with SPM into a streamlined and more collaborative team. The total field production rate has increased from 10,000 bbl/d to 21,000 bbl/d of oil through the adoption of new technologies and improved operational processes. To reduce the environmental impacts, high-bleed pneumatic actuators were replaced with low-bleed devices to minimize the total methane released, thus reducing the total carbon dioxide emissions (CO2E). A total of 881 devices were replaced in 2018, resulting in an estimated CO2E reduction of approximately 55,000 tons per year.

The amount of data generated from operations is expected to increase exponentially, necessitating a secure way to manage and analyze it. The DELFI* cognitive E&P environment provides our customers with an ecosystem that supports all the tools needed to manage large volumes of data. Customers can combine their data and petrotechnical expertise with a Schlumberger E&P Data Lake on the Google™ Cloud Platform that includes data from more than 1,000 3D seismic surveys, 5 million wells, 1 million well logs, and 400 million production records. Working with this information in the cloud enables our customers to take advantage of data analytics, machine learning, high performance computing, and the IoT to maximize operational efficiency and optimize production. Furthermore, customers and software partners can securely add their intellectual property and unique workflows to help create the best solution for their assets.

Customers who engage Schlumberger integrated services are benefitting from project derisking, drilling efficiency, effective project management, and integration synergies. These benefits result in improved project cash flow, reduced operating costs, and accelerated development. The introduction of new digital technologies that leverage all available oilfield data is only the beginning of the journey toward the digitally enabled, fully integrated systems that will create a step change in E&P performance and reduce the environmental impacts of oilfield operations.

We are excited to continue to partner with our stakeholders on the journey to meet global E&P industry challenges.