Bridging the Gap Between Geoscience and Drilling Engineering
It is hard to find two disciplines in the same industry which are as different from one another (in terms of work procedures, nomenclature and culture) as drilling engineering and geophysics. Nevertheless, these disciplines need to be closely integrated, if the oil companies’ return-on-investment is to improve. There are significant gains to be made by streamlining the geoscience–drilling connection. In fact, when one thinks about the overall exploration and production (E&P) spending of an oil company and the very significant portion of it that is invested in well drilling, it seems that reducing drilling-related risks and costs might be one of the most important contributions of the petroleum geoscience professional to the current E&P industry.
In order to support the growing complexities involved in improving production from existing assets (brownfields), Paradigm believes that the future petroleum geoscientist (or geoscience team) will be obligated to provide additional value-added services to its customers in the industry, particularly drilling and reservoir engineers and, of course, E&P management. Among these tasks will be the creation of smoother links between the geoscience, drilling engineering and reservoir engineering professions. To that effect, geoscientists will need to deliver, or to support the delivery of, a dynamic model of the reservoir, rather than the static models (reservoir images) that are currently the standard output of the geoscience process. By dynamic models, we mean reservoir models that not only describe the structural and lithological image of the reservoir, but that also conform to the fluid flow within the reservoir.
With more knowledge about the sub-surface, the petroleum geoscientist can offer a more valuable contribution to the well planning process (e.g. increased understanding of the overburden pressure regime together with more accurate real-time reservoir modelling). It is clear that whether he/she is working with drilling engineers or reservoir engineers, the petroleum geoscientist will become increasingly exposed to the real-time operation of the field, rather than the traditional back office.
In summary, real-time requirements will continue to shape the job definition and value-added deliveries of the petroleum geoscientist, as well as the type of integrated system used to perform the work.
Judging from experiences in integrating other, closer disciplines, such as geophysics and geology, or geology and petrophysics, the inherent difficulty in these tasks can be understood; in particular, the need to create a common platform and common data model that can serve both disciplines. An interesting example that illustrates the particular complexities of the industry is the meaning of the word ‘horizon’. When the geophysicist refers to ‘horizon’, the reference is usually to the base of the formation, from where seismic energy is reflected. The geologist who uses the same term is referring to the top of the formation, where the well actually penetrates through the layer.
Technology to the Rescue
The drilling engineering and geoscience professions are not only separated through their different nomenclature and culture, but also by the physical separation of their working locations. The petroleum geoscientist typically works in the corporate headquarters, while drilling engineers spend most of their working hours at the drill site. Clearly, remote communication and the use of standard data communication protocols are key requirements for the successful integration of drilling and geoscience.
The solution to these problems is the development of systems that can handle multi-disciplinary data and workflows through sophisticated data model dictionaries, offering real-time data translation from one discipline to another while maintaining data integrity. Such systems can offer new efficiencies and enhance personal productivity, through the crossfertilisation of ideas, workflows and algorithms.
In order to succeed with this integration, three components of the next generation of geoscience systems are critical. One is the middleware concept, which supports virtual project management and distributed data repositories across large heterogeneous corporate networks and cluster computing servers. These serve to create a seamless link between the drilling rigs and corporate headquarters.
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