Otc 26924 Ms

OTC-26924-MS
Downloaded from http://onepetro.org/OTCONF/proceedings-pdf/16OTC/4-16OTC/D041S052R002/1351747/otc-26924-ms.pdf/1 by Middle East Technical University Ankara user on 23 October 2021
Eni’s Global Program on Production Data Management Sets the Stage for
an Effective Reservoir Management & Production Optimization System
Antonio Drago, Emanuele Vignati, Barbara Bergamaschi, and Marinella Calzari, Eni E&P; Fernando L. Morales,
Frederic Fumey-Humbert, and Christos Toyas, Schlumberger
Copyright 2016, Offshore Technology Conference
This paper was prepared for presentation at the Offshore Technology Conference held in Houston, Texas, USA, 2–5 May 2016.
This paper was selected for presentation by an OTC program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
of the paper have not been reviewed by the Offshore Technology Conference and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect
any position of the Offshore Technology Conference, its officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the
written consent of the Offshore Technology Conference is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words;
illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of OTC copyright.
Abstract
The aim of an ongoing implementation of a global production management system is to support an
operator in its continuous efforts to improve its affiliates’ oil and gas field operations. The main objective
of production operations is the maximization of the project returns, which involves the optimization of
well production rates, increased of reservoir recovery, and the reduction of the associated expenses. This
objective can only be achieved through the effective use of accurate information about the production
system’s performance (including its reservoirs, wells, and surface and process facilities).
Due to the massive amount of information generated daily in oil and gas fields, specialized software
tools are essential for data gathering, cleansing, and storing and for meaningful dissemination, consump-
tion, and analysis of the data to aid decision making.
Aware of this critical need, starting in 2008, Eni launched an ambitious program to implement a
production data management system (PDMS) that allows specialists to properly perform well and
hydrocarbon production accounting, run specific workflows to correctly analyze the information, and
effectively support the operations in several key affiliates around the world.
The interconnected system has proved to be very valuable for strategic planning and informed decision
making, considering the size and the remoteness of the operations and the need to assure that operations
in the assets are carried out in the most efficient way possible.
The current scope of the PDMS global program includes completed implementations for 12 affiliates
and the monitoring of more than 4,000 wells. This paper describes the program’s objectives, the achieved
benefits, and the vision on the way forward. The paper also addresses some of the main problems
encountered during the execution and enumerates the main lessons learned.
Background
Eni S.p.A. is a major integrated energy company with operations in about 79 countries, with oil and gas
production operations in 18 of those.
The number of producing assets and the complexity demands the implementation of a system that can
collect, store, and display all types of production operations information (surface, wellbore, wellhead, and
facilities data) and measurements (well test data, fluid analyses, etc.). The system must enable engineers
2 OTC-26924-MS
and managers to view and track forecasts, production targets, budgets, and other key performance
indicators (KPIs) at the corporate, business unit, and geographical levels for an effective reservoir and
asset management.
The operator’s management, led by its IT department and partnering with its technology and service
provider, started planning a major production data management system (PDMS) deployment project in
2007. The vision was to cover all the operator’s key producing assets around the world.
In this paper, a PDMS refers to a software platform that aggregates and stores all forms of data
collected in production and reservoir operations, from continuous and sporadic flow measurements to
equipment specifications and the results of subsequent engineering analysis [1]. The PDMS may also
provide options to report and analyze the data. PDMS represent an important portion of the overall
production department process and is the foundation building block for information management control
functions such as production control, production and reservoir analysis, lease operation management,
operations planning, reserves reporting, economic analysis, etc.
From the beginning, the project had the objective to provide engineering and personnel from supporting
disciplines in the business units (for example, field staff, production and reservoir engineers, production
accountants, etc.) with a platform that can provide a single, integrated solution for continuous multisource
production data capturing, validation, monitoring, analysis, and reporting. The vision of the project also
included providing headquarters management with a solution that enables them to collect and consolidate,
in the main office and on a daily basis, all of the business units’ production data and related information.
This would enable global production monitoring of all assets, regardless of the asset type, size, or location
and would facilitate efficient corporate support activities and communication.
Other, more specific, goals expected to be achieved throughout the global PDMS implementation were
defined from the beginning, and they have been kept as general guidelines throughout the project
execution. The most significant of these are listed below:
1. To reduce the time that employees use for routine and repetitive activities such as data collection,
validation, and reporting
2. To establish clear and reliable allocation and production calculation methodologies in the different
business units
3. To improve the compliance with corporate and government standards
4. To improve the reliability of production and reservoir studies
5. To expand and improve the use of KPI monitoring worldwide
6. To fast-track the process of identification of production optimization opportunities and decision
making
7. To provide higher visibility on the production limiting factors of the different affiliates
8. To accelerate the standardization process across the corporation
The PDMS program officially began in 2008 with the first implementation of the platform in four
business units, located in Alaska, Norway, Nigeria, and Congo. By the end of 2015, 7 years after the start
of the project, 12 affiliates had already benefited from its implementation, and they are currently collecting
and processing key production information for engineers in the different business units (Fig. 1).
Additionally, since 2011, in the head office, a production data collection (PDC) hub has been established
to hold aggregated production information, from more than 4,000 wells worldwide, belonging to several
of the operator’s hydrocarbon producing assets globally.
OTC-26924-MS 3
Figure 1—PDMS deployment status, 2015
Another key aspect of the program is the development of a PDMS core template layer to ensure key
functionalities are maintained and implemented across the affiliates. The core template is a software layer
designed specifically for the operator’s headquarters, on top of the out-of-the box set of configurations of
the PDMS software platform. It is systematically deployed in all of the operator’s affiliates, and it
simplifies deployment and maintenance. It also allows the headquarters to enforce a certain level of
standardization across all geographies in areas such as daily and monthly production reporting, production
shortfall codification and management, interface with production engineering applications and well design
tools, etc. The core template is centrally maintained by headquarters, and it has evolved over time as
additions are found useful (for example, specific workflows developed by one affiliate that can be
valuable in other business units as well) and, as new software versions of the commercial software
platform are made available.
Solution Architecture
The system architecture of the production data management platform can be divided into two different
levels:
1. The affiliate level, where the PDMS is deployed for data capture and management of one or more
assets (geographically located in one single country)
2. The headquarters level, where all information, gathered by each local PDMS from every country,
is collected and can be accessed.
Fig. 2 shows the general architecture of the PDMS implemented in the affiliates and, its integration
with the IT infrastructure (which includes SCADA, data historians, and other applications).
4 OTC-26924-MS
Figure 2—General architecture of the affiliate PDMS
The PDMS deployed in the business units is linked with all data sources available. It enables data
collection and data storage, computes production back-allocation algorithms, and securely distributes this
data for reporting, monitoring, surveillance, and optimization [2,3,4]. It aims to provide operational
harmony by going from organized chaos (for example, the use and exchange of multiple spreadsheet data
sheets, different data repositories, different allocation processes, etc.) to operational harmony.
At the corporate level, the solution provides headquarters with an overall view of production through
the PDC, which serves as a data hub from where all information, from every country where a PDMS has
been deployed, is retrieved and can be seen. It is integrated with engineering tools to perform additional
analysis required by headquarters personnel [5,6]. Fig. 3 provides a general view of the PDC/PDMS data
flow.
Figure 3—General view of the PDC/PDMS data flow

OTC-26924-MS 5
Challenges
The PDMS project aims to provide some sort of standardization across the board and to preserve some
minimum technical requirements. This has been achieved by the consistent selection of the PDMS
software to be installed in all locations and in the development, maintenance, and deployment of the core
template in every affiliate with the PDMS. In addition, each affiliate has extended the core template
functionalities, when needed, to satisfy their own individual local business requirements.
In general, business units implementing the PDMS have seen a strong improvement in their data
management processes, ensuring data reliability, availability, and security. The PDMS has supported the
company in achieving a more efficient asset management.
Nevertheless, over the last 7 years, the deployment team has had to overcome several challenges during
project implementation. Among those difficulties, we can mention the following most significant ones:
1. Changes in central team organization over the years have caused delays at some critical points,
which, in turn, caused some delays in the overall progress on the implementation and the project’s
quality control.
2. Because of the personnel turn-over, the project has faced
a. Inconsistent quality of delivery in some affiliates leading to quality problems and rework that
has increased the overall cost of the project or postponed its value realization
b. Unclear benefits realization of the PDMS program, at some times, due to the strong focus that
was placed on managing production information from a reservoir analysis standpoint, rather
than using it also for operational needs, thus diluting the objectives intended to be achieved
3. Weak central deployment model in the first phase. Initially, the PDMS project was deployed in a
project-by-project basis which led to several problems (for example, minimum technical require-
ments not met, inefficient technical support, lack of knowledge capture, etc.).
4. Longer template delivery cycle: Initially, the core PDMS template construction took more time
than anticipated due to contractual and technical unforeseen issues.
5. Resistance to change: Perception of the benefits of a PDMS may vary depending of the target
audience, affecting, most of the times negatively, the subsequent ownership of the project by the
end users. Change data management philosophy, proper communication, and training are critical
factors for the success of such a project.
6. Budgets exceeded, in some specific cases, the original estimates by a significant amount due to a
number of issues including incomplete project work scoping, unforeseen needs for extra resourc-
ing in remote and difficult locations, etc.
The Solution and Lessons Learned

The experience acquired over the years was analyzed and discussed during several team meetings and
workshops, the PDMS project team (which included representatives of the operator’s reservoir, produc-
tion, and IT personnel and of the service provider) was able to identify the main root cause of the issues
highlighted above and to implement several corrective actions. These corrections have steadily improved
the overall project situation.
First, to preserve the investment made and its current and potential value for both companies, the
operator and service company devoted some additional technical and managerial resources to identify and
take the necessary steps to solve any outstanding issues in the currently deployed locations. This resulted,
by the end of 2015, in a significant reduction of major issues, helping the team to increase the confidence
in the project.
At the same time, the role and authority of a central organization has been reinforced and roles and
responsibilities have been defined, as have the iteration procedures between headquarters and the different
6 OTC-26924-MS
business units. The central team, located in headquarters and called the Program Management Office
(PMO) was staffed with the operator’s reservoir, production, and IT representatives and specialists from
the service provider. The result is that, since mid-2015, PDMS-related activities (new deployments
projects, systems upgrades, support activities, etc.) are fully coordinated by the PMO team to ensure
quality and consistency and full agreement with headquarters standards. Additionally, to guarantee the
quality of work, a central deployment model was delineated by the PMO with clear guidelines and
procedures.
The evolution of the platform technology implemented has helped PDMS users to build confidence in
the future of the project. Improved PDMS platform features such as enhanced visualization, clear
allocation procedures and reporting, reduction in time spent by engineers in the field in data capturing,
easier validation and reporting, smoother integration with the operator’s applications, among others, are
fundamental aspects to keep well-maintained to reach the operator’s challenging objectives.
Fig. 4 illustrates the principle of the operator’s PDMS solution in which each software child layer
inherits the implementation of its parent layer, making possible to aggregate new additions and improve-
ments to the platform as it evolves over time. It also allows the platform to adapt any additional specific
business unit requirements, at the same time, maintaining some minimum functionalities stressed by
headquarters.
Figure 4 —PDMS layered software architecture
Finally, the possibility to expand the PDMS platform to incorporate production workflows within the
operator’s own integrated operations (IO) system played a major role in the operator’s decision to engage
on the efforts to maintain and even extend the global coverage of the project to several new affiliates in
the next few years. The IO system, often used with the digital oil field (DOF), encompasses various uses
of advanced software and data analysis techniques to improve the efficiency and profitability of oil and
gas production operations. The workflows used in the DOF/IO space combine business process manage-
ment with advanced information technology and engineering expertise to streamline and, in many cases,
automate the execution of tasks performed by cross-functional teams.
In this case, the operator’s DOF initiative combines IT and automation and instrumentation technol-
ogies to improve on the existing tools already in use in the oil & gas industry. The objective is to exploit
OTC-26924-MS 7
proven DOF technology to provide key personnel with real-time, continuous and remote monitoring to
allow greater understanding of the overall status of their fields, optimize the process required to increase
production, improve safety of operations, and reduce cost.
Conclusions
A PDMS program implemented by an operator worldwide, which started in 2008 and is now in an
expanding phase, has proven its value by enabling engineers and managers in headquarters and the
business units to properly perform well and hydrocarbon production accounting, run specific workflows
to correctly analyze and disseminate the information, and effectively support the operations in several key
affiliates around the world in a well-coordinated way.
The deployment of the interconnected system has faced several difficulties during its implementation
due to the technical complexity and extensive coverage and has evolved from a case-by-case implemen-
tation into a centrally controlled approach.The newly formally established centralized approach, led by the
PMO team, has proven to be a very valuable management tool for efficient new deployment’s planning,
execution and quality control, and post-delivery support and problem resolution entity.
The PDMS project’s realization of its objectives and value recognition, the necessity to expand such
functionalities to new key assets, and the opportunity to incorporate the system within the operator’s
integrated operations program, has reinforced the confidence in the future success of the project and has
broadened its vision of on its way forward.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Eni E&P and Schlumberger for the permission to publish this work.
References
1. Schacht, C.T. 1994. Operations and Accounting: Can’t Both Needs Be Satisfied With One Production Management
System. Presented at the Petroleum Computer Conference, Dallas, Texas, 31 July–3 August. SPE-28261-MS.
http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/28261-MS.
2. Tran, T.V., Hoang, H.M., Tran, N.H. et al. 2015, The Production Data Management Platform for Reservoir
Management and Optimization: A Case Study. Presented at the SPE/IATMI Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and
Exhibition, Nusa Dua, Indonesia, 20_22 October. SPE-176282-MS. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/176282-MS.
3. Vignati E., Castelnuovo L., Gonzales F. 2013. From field to desk: automated field surveillance for reservoir
management. Presented at the International Petroleum Technology Conference, Beijing, China. IPTC 16878.
4. Vimercati S., Raniolo S., Gentil P., Vignati E., Giraud H., Atencio L. 2014. A Successful Story of Reservoir
Management. Presented at 21st World Petroleum Congress, Moscow, Russia. WPC-21-1411
5. Abu El Ela M. 2007. Data analysis methodology for reservoir management. Presented at the Europec Conference,
London, United Kingdom. SPE 106899
6. Ezekwe J.N. 2003. Applied reservoir management principles with case histories. Presented at the SPE ATCE, Denver,
USA. SPE 84148.

Otc 26924 Ms

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Otc 26924 Ms

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

OTC-26924-MS

Copyright 2016, Offshore Technology Conference

Figure 3—General view of the PDC/PDMS data flow

The Solution and Lessons Learned

Figure 4 —PDMS layered software architecture

You might also like