Free Event
 Our March 16 London Forum presents exciting new technologies with promise to help revitalise mature fields and point the way to improving production.
These include in-well automation tools; using fibre-optics in wells as listening devices; strengthening wellbores in older fields; figuring out which EOR technology will help on which of your wells, and a financial analyst’s view of profitability of EOR projects to date.
Introduction from conference chairman David Bamford:There is an old adage which runs "The best place to look for oil is in an oil field". Forties Field in the North Sea is perhaps the best example of a mature field being kept going by innovative petrotechnical folk, armed with the right technologies.
When production from Forties commenced in 1975, it was predicted that the field would stop producing by the early 1990’s. In 1990, it was expected to be shut down by the year 2000. Yet now, over forty years since it was first discovered, the Forties Field is still producing, the recoverable reserves have increased by 35% since the start of production, even though the area of the field as defined by the oil-water contact has remained approximately the same.
Plateau production of 500 Mbopd was reached in 1978, lasting until 1981, and progressively declining to 77 Mbopd in 1999. At this point the field had already produced 2.5 Bbo and still had nearly 60 producing wells. With production down to 35 Mbopd, BP sold the Forties field in 2003. It had been such an iconic field for UK North Sea exploration that some commentators likened this to ‘selling off the family silver’. The purchaser, Apache, initiated an intensive re-evaluation of the field and found a further 800 million barrels. By undertaking various efficiency measures and installing new equipment, it has brought new life to the field which is now producing 70 Mbopd and is expected to be still pumping oil for the next twenty years. Broadly speaking, we can divide the technologies that can help other fields be similarly transformed into two, namely those to do with the reservoir and wells, and those to do with the top-sides: Reservoir and Wells:
Themes include: a) Recognising where there are reserves of undeveloped or unswept hydrocarbons - key technologies are reservoir monitoring (using 4D seismic/permanent seismic monitoring), production monitoring, reservoir simulation, history matching..
b) Mobilising these reserves towards the well bores - key technologies include fraccing, enhanced recovery mechanisms (WAG, water floods, CO2 floods etc)..
c) Moving these mobile hydrocarbons into and along the well bores - completion, pumping and flow monitoring technologies are key. Top-sides:
The broad themes are improving operational efficiency (including 'debottle-necking'), monitoring and improving operational integrity, safety and cost reduction. The Digital Oil Field then provides an enabling framework in which these key technologies can be deployed for optimal efficiency and effectiveness - key technologies include automation and collaborative working environments. This March 16th Forum is the first of a series that will focus on these themes. 
The Geological Society
Burlington House
Piccadilly, London
W1J 0BG (map)
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
9.00am until 2pm
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Highlights
Welltec - Increasing the production rates
Fotech Solutions Ltd - Listen to your Production: It is telling you something.
Downhole Fluid Solutions Ltd - ROCKWELD: An auto-removable induced lost circulation/wellbore strengthening material for mature pressure-depleted reservoirs
RPS Energy - A Systematic Top-down EOR Screening Methodology
Bernstein Research - EOR economics: what works and what doesn't
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Already Attending this Event
| Bain & Company, Manager; Barclays Capital, VP; Cairn India Ltd., Project Manager - Digital Oil Field; E.ON Ruhrgas, E&P Technical Applications Manager; Gemini Oil & Gas Advisors LLP, Partner; IHS , Geologist; IHS, Senior Geologist; ING Investment Management, Equity analyst; IPR TransOIl, Sr Geophysical Coordinator; MND E&P; Roubini Global Economics, Commodities Analyst; The Boston Consulting Group, Principal; The National Centre for Carbon Capture and Storage, Business Development Manager; TOTAL E&P, Panel operator; Vanguard Energy Ltd, CEO; |
Sponsors
Sponsorship Opportunities
Table tops and exhibition stand in Geological Society library
Lunch and coffee sponsorship
Overall event sponsor
For sponsorship enquiries please contact;
John Finder
jfinder@onlymedia.co.uk
Tel +44 203 051 6548 |
Featured Video
Watch a video of Ian Jack, a past head of seismic field operations and subsurface R&D at BP, speaking at the Feb 15 Finding Petroleum forum, about changes imminent in land 3D seismic |
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