Agile Adoption Enhances Cross-Functional Assessment of Idle Wellbore Restoration Project

Abstract

The Joint Venture ("JV") Offshore Asset of company X in Nigeria hosts a portfolio of more than 600 wellbores. The asset is over 55 years old and as such, has a sizable number of idle wellbores. The Asset Team has been actively intervening in these idle wellbores using non-rig workover ("NRWO") units over the years. However, due to the age of these wells and the severity of some of the downhole conditions, an increasing number of these wells have become mechanically challenging to execute using NRWO barges. A higher capacity but cost-effective workover unit is therefore required. A cross functional team comprising Asset Team, Wells and Facilities Engineering, was set up to evaluate this cost-efficient restoration project at a unit development cost ("UDC") less than $7/BOE, being the Unit Operating Expenses target for the Business Unit (BU). The early challenge faced by the cross-functional team was the determination of a jointly agreed set of criteria to adopt in assessing the candidates for viability. A candidate considered robust by the Asset Team, based on subsurface estimated ultimate recovery ("EUR") might not necessarily be viable from the Wells and Facilities Engineering ("FE") standpoints. The challenge resulted in delays in making appreciable progress at the early stage of the project. An Agile framework was adopted by the team to aid cross functional engagements. This is an iterative decision-making process which provides frequent feedback on work-in-progress thereby resulting in an early project value delivery. The team collaboratively developed a cross plot which integrates the subsurface, Wells and FE assessment considerations and criteria. It is a plot of Ease of Execution ("EoE") versus EUR which displays the spread of all the candidates assessed against the backdrop of jointly agreed set of criteria. Utilizing the Agile framework principles, every new candidate was screened through the cross-functional plot with little or no recycling. Within 3-4 months, the team assessed 52 wells through this process, a feat which could have otherwise been achieved in 8-12 months. The quadrants of the cross plot enabled a simple visualization of the candidates across four distinct categories namely: High EUR & High EoE, High EUR & Low EoE, Low EUR & High EoE, and Low EUR & Low EoE. The adoption of Agile principles by the experienced multifunctional team accelerated the workover assessment process. A sound understanding of the asset was also pivotal to achieving a successful assessment.