Measuring Development and Adoption of New Oilfield Systems Using Technologies With Real-Time Capability

Abstract

If a brand-new oilfield product or service becomes widely used in less than a decade, that's fast. The fact is that the petroleum industry is one of the most conservative when it comes to adopting new technology. This paper proposes and describes the use of a capability adoption index to benchmark and measure the development and adoption level of oilfield systems with real-time capability. The capability adoption index is a tool for measuring and managing the advance of real-time technology in the industry. The application tracks incremental change and provides a roadmap for technology development and adoption. There are three main reasons for deploying systems with real-time capability. First is the growing shortage of skilled professionals. Second is the need to operate in harsh or environmentally sensitive regions, where monitoring and controlling operations from a distance can improve safety and limit the environmental footprint. The third driver is that systems that feed back data in real time may increase production by allowing operators to respond quickly to changing conditions in the well. The 10-level index provides a bigger picture of the maturity of real-time technologies within the global market. The different levels of technology adoption are illustrated both for geographic areas and for different services. The roadmap towards autonomous automation provides more efficiency and profits for the operating company. For service companies, the ability to drill, test, operate, and control wells with real-time capability helps maintain the quality of service delivery. It creates more efficiency for people and systems. In the industry's journey toward autonomous automation, the significance of the index is a measurement allowing companies to look back at their progress, manage change, and plan the road ahead. Introduction In the conservative oil business, it often takes five years or more to adopt new technologies and services. The Capability Adoption Index is a management tool that measures the acceptance level of ten key capabilities that use what the industry loosely calls "real time" technology. Developed for internal use, the global capability adoption index for real-time systems could advance and help speed the deployment of oilfield technology worldwide and would be a valuable tool for our industry. Here we define real time capability is the adoption of digital technology for the rapid transfer of field data to individuals or control centers, and the ability of humans or control devices to respond with equal speed to the data they receive. The ultimate goal is an autonomously automated system that responds to changing conditions in a timely way. Drivers and approach for real time capability There are three main drivers for deploying systems with real time capability. First is the growing shortage of skilled professionals, fueled in part by the coming retirement of a large portion of the industry workforce. Real-time systems give one person or team the ability to increase efficiency. Second, there is a need for real time, remote control technology in harsh or remote environments. And third, real-time systems have the potential to increase production by responding faster to changing conditions in the well. Although many of the systems for managing oilfield operations in real time are available now, people and processes often lag behind. There are also gaps in the technology itself. Some tools enabled with real time are still being developed, both to meet existing needs and to create new capabilities.