Building local capacity among indigenous oil and gas players is a non-negotiable mandate for the Nigerian Oil and Gas Industry. A technical evaluation was conducted to assess the capabilities of 33 indigenous companies rendering services ranging from Tubing Inspection Handling and Management Services, Slickline Operations and, Surface Well Testing Operations within the Warri and Port-Harcourt areas of the Niger Delta. The table top and facility inspection evaluations showed that, for the Tubing Inspection Services, 44% out of the 18 companies sampled scored the mandatory 60% minimum required to qualify technically. Surface well testing services showed 63% of the 8 companies scoring above 70% while Slickline services revealed 88% pass for the 8 companies sampled. Criteria used in the technical assessment of these companies include; equipment and materials availability, service delivery time, job experience, HSE standards, personnel, staff training and project management. This paper attempts to evaluate the technical capabilities of indigenous companies as well as highlight some of the challenges facing the local content initiative.

The Niger Delta land and swamp operators have endured severe hostility, theft, and asset vandalism over time. The offshore assets seem insulated from these incessant thefts due to difficulty accessing the facility and the compactness of the operations resulting in efficient security surveillance. However, this is not the case for land and swamp assets, usually with wide asset footprints resulting from traditional, supposedly easy, and low-cost development concepts. These conventional concepts resulted in wells drilled from multiple locations with multiple flowlines/pipelines crossing many communities and making efficient surveillance a near impossible activity. The attackers usually target movable assets like wellhead accessories, Christmas tree, and flowlines in low-activity areas, and the non-active wells/flowlines are good minimal risk candidates. This act increases the cost of operations and, in most cases, results in environmental pollution because the vandals do not take the necessary precautions as needed for environmentally safe operations. Interestingly, in most cases, these stolen assets find their way into the local market, where they are refurbished and resold to unsuspecting operators. To curb this menace, an opportunity exists for industry collaboration by applying an intelligent supply chain and asset inventory management system. This paper reviews the current asset protection techniques, evaluates the value at risk, and proposes innovative ways of combating theft using digital technology and intelligent asset management techniques.

This paper evaluates the effect of the increment in recovery factor of the Abura Heavy Oil reservoirs on the heavy oil portfolio of NNPC E&P Limited and, ultimately, the reserve valuation of Nigeria as a country, considering that the Niger Delta basin has a significant amount of heavy oil reservoirs. The Abura field has three (3) heavy oil reservoirs (1AB6, 2AB6 and 3AB6) with viscosity ranging between 10-17cp. These reservoirs were booked as contingent resources owing to sub-optimal production using conventional techniques and sub-commerciality. An FDP study in 2018 revealed that the heavy oil reservoirs could not sustain production and hence, are uneconomically viable to develop. The initial reservoir simulation results showed flow assurance issues mainly due to the high oil viscosity and consequently poor production rate, high water cut, and high-pressure drawdown due to unfavorable mobility ratios and flow assurance challenges caused by the high oil viscosity. Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) techniques were designed to combat the highlighted issues. The combination of IOR techniques employed includes deploying a Single Well Multiple completion which allowed the completion and commingling of 2 reservoirs (1AB6 and 2AB6) in the same tubing for increased oil production, deploying an Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP) to solve vertical lift challenges, installing Autonomous Inflow Control Devices (AICDs) to allow the preferential flow of oil, hydrocarbon fingerprinting for reservoir management and production allocation, and Micro Emulsion Based (MEB) stimulation post-completion, to reduce skin due to formation damage. The results led to a significant increase in the forecasted production and, therefore, an increase in the reservoirs’ Expected Ultimate Recovery (EUR). This led to an eventual improvement of recovery factors for both reservoirs, positive migration of the contingent resources to reserves, increased revenue for the company, and a positive outlook for the numerous heavy oil resources in the company portfolio.

In horizontal open hole wells, the formation of filter cake while drilling the open hole section of the well is desirable. This filter cake serves the purpose of forming a semi-impervious layer around the reservoir drain-hole. This layer helps reduce losses considering the overbalance required for well control during drilling. It also serves as an additional structural support to keep the open hole stable when the drilling bottom hole assembly (BHA) is pulled out of hole and the screens and lower completions accessories are being run in hole. However, when thewell is put into production, the filter cake becomes a contributor to skin and poor reservoir productivity. It is therefore required to get rid of the filter cake after running the screens and the lower completion. Having procured and prepared the sand screens for deployment after drilling the open hole section, it is important that they are run to the bottom successfully with minimal damage and plugging. Usually, the open hole section of the horizontal well is drilled with specially formulated drill-in-fluids (DIF). Since this section is drilled in over balanced mode, the exerted pressure keeps the hole open so that the sand screen can be run successfully. The DIF replaces the drilling mud used to drill the earlier hole section(s) but in addition to providing well control via overbalance and transporting cuttings from the hole to surface, it also minimizes invasion damage to the reservoir pay zone. A commonly used weighing material when densities up to 11.5ppg are required for well control is calcium carbonate (CaCO3). When densities above 11.5ppg are required (for deeper, abnormally pressured reservoirs), it becomes necessary to weight up the mud with a heavier material, usually barite + CaCO3. During the drilling process, this overbalance pressure exerted on the reservoir forces the CaCO3 out of the DIF solution and it forms a semi-impervious filter cake on the sand face of the reservoir. This desirable filter cake helps minimize excessive fluid losses into the reservoir hence limiting invasion and damage. It also contributes to the structural integrity of the open hole, keeping it stable prior to running of the screens. Depending on the weighting material used in the drilling of the reservoir drain-hole, the micro-emulsion breaker (MEB) can be designed to break down the filter cake and any undisolvedparticulates can be mobilized and water-wetted and can be then flowed during production or injection. The challenge is that depending on the lower completion configuration, it may take some time to get the wash pipe and work string out of the lower completion and close the formation isolation device. In some cases, it is possible for the formation isolation device to fail. If the Micro-emulsion Blend (MEB) is quick acting, any of these scenarios can lead to uncontrollable losses and serious difficulties in continuing the completion operation. This elucidates the need for a delayed acting MEB treatment. Lab tests and analysis involving the exact DIF /filter cake and various compositions of the MEB at downhole conditions to arrive at the required delay in action. It is critical to ensure that the delayed action does not result in reduced efficacy of the treatment. Hence, the MEB is not diluted for slow action but rather it is engineered combinatorially with a retarder and downhole mild acid generating microemulsion chemistry that gradually generates the necessary mild acid that will slowly dissolve the bridging materials (eg. calcium carbonate) in the mud withtime and allows the full strength of the MEB to take effect after the stipulated delay period. This paper will focus on the lab analysis and iterations to arrive at an optimal MEB blend.