Drilling-and-Completions-Applications Portfolio Management—Changes and Trends

Abstract

A drilling-and-completions-applications portfolio and its associated support services require constant attention if the portfolio is to remain up-to-date in both engineering and information technology (IT) terms and continue to serve the needs of the drilling-andcompletions engineering community. Over time, this management effort has become more involved and complex as the number of available applications has increased and the technologies have changed. The trend toward tighter integration and data sharing between drilling-and-completions applications and with other disciplines applications such as subsurface, places data management at the heart of the response. For large organizations, in particular, keeping up with the new releases and patches can be a challenge, and the need for backwards compatibility is paramount. Data issues and the poor connectivity associated with physical remoteness and some nonrig-based units also can impede the change out to other systems. Special attention is required for applications that are designated safety-critical or safety-related.This paper describes the way in which a major operator has defined and managed its drilling-and-completion portfolio during the last 20 years, to address the internal and industry changes and trends. The portfolio now serves the needs of more than 2,000 drilling-and-completions engineers worldwide. A wide range of examples, including the operator's WellAdvisor system, engineering toolkit, and wells/subsurface integration project, is presented, together with an evaluation of the portfolio-management challenges and successes that were achieved.It is concluded that integration requires the consistent application of strong data-management principles and a commitment to an underlying architecture to support simplification, reducing the number and complexity of the interfaces that one must manage. However, some flexibility is needed to promote the development of, and access to, new applications, and the concept of niche applications was introduced to address technical specialist's needs. Some applications that are either company-specific or are needed only in special circumstances do not lend themselves to being commercial products, and these tools are provided by custom-built, Web-based applications. The recent focus on real-time data, quality of service, and digital security is merely the latest change that has had to be accommodated.Despite the apparent rate at which technical and commercial changes are occurring, this paper's content illustrates the need to consider the portfolio-management issues over long cycle times. This paper will be of interest to both business and IT managers and engineers tasked with managing drilling, completions, and subsurface applications portfolios.