Techbits: Malaysia Workshop Highlights Production Enhancement

Techbits

SPE highlighted the importance of maximizing production during economic downturns at the Applied Technology Workshop “Production Enhancement—Maximizing Production and Recovery in a Challenging Economic Climate.” The workshop, held in Penang, Malaysia in October 2009, brought together an international group of 91 participants to discuss and challenge the use of production-enhancement technologies.

The first keynote address by Ramlan Malek, vice president, E&P, Petronas discussed the importance of production-enhancement technologies such as improved-oil-recovery and enhanced-oil-recovery strategies in improving Malaysia’s recovery factor from the current 34–35% to more than 40%. His talk also addressed effective marginal-field development to increase and prolong peak production in Malaysia.

A second keynote address by Golden Energy Chief Executive Officer Mark Pearson discussed the role of engineers and practitioners in evaluating, applying, and benchmarking production-enhancement technologies. He also provided a historical perspective of the growth of hydraulic-fracturing technologies in the US for developing its abundant tight gas plays. He believes there is a revolution in hydraulic technologies led by multizone, staged fracturing; slickwater fracturing; and horizontal-well fracturing. These—together with the integration of microseismic mapping, reservoir visualization, and fracture-design models—are enabling technologies in the US unconventional-reservoir hydrocarbon development. 

Assessing Business Value Petronas’ Supply Chain Manager En. Suhaimi Yasin opened the first technical session with a discussion on strategies to address the new reality of lower hydrocarbon prices without a commensurate drop in costs for rigs and services. This market dynamic has caused Petronas to re-evaluate strategies to manage cost and value. Initiatives being adopted include strategic alliances on a risk/reward basis, longer-term contracts on a partner-ship basis, e-procurement, and better leveraging of technology.

Oddbjorn Skilbrei of Shell EPA discussed Lean Management Principles employed in Shell Malaysia assets to achieve breakthrough performance. The use of Lean Management Techniques has resulted in improved recognition of event triggers in well performance and reduced cycle time to fix the events. The group discussion emphasized the importance of accurate data gathering and team communication.

Feroney Serbini of Schlumberger closed the session with a case study on integrating surface network modeling with a reservoir model. The study benchmarked proposed solutions against the unconstrained model, and the selected solution provided a production increase of 1 million bbl more than the second best solution. The ensuing discussion focused on gaining further insight on the modeling methodology.