The Promise and Challenges of Digital Oilfield Solutions—Lessons Learned From Global Implementations and Future Directions

Abstract

Digital Oil Field (DOF) in the oil and gas industry has gained momentum in the last few years and has transformed from being a vision to projects that have measurable value. The promise of DOF has motivated many oil and gas operators and service companies to now establish corporate initiatives and associated business programs to develop and deploy DOF solutions. Many major capital projects are already evaluating the feasibility of DOF in early stages of the project decision process as part of the operational philosophy.However, the implementation of these projects over the last few years has unraveled a multitude of practical challenges and hurdles to achieve the DOF goals, including selecting the candidate of highest value opportunities in the business unit's portfolio, justifying a business case, establishing new management processes to address operational transformation, defining people roles and responsibilities in DOF work processes, forming a team of skilled personnel for development and support of installed solutions, recognizing fit-for-purpose models, identifying appropriate technologies for the rapid deployment of integrated workflows, lack of open architecture and standards, project management approach, and change management, among others. This paper describes the challenges faced in DOF implementations by Halliburton and the current industry status. The case studies presented highlight these issues and practical lessons learned about addressing these issues using novel solutions and delivering value through adopting best practices. The paper also provides an insight into future trends and areas of development, addressing areas of challenges that still must be resolved. History of Digital Oil FieldThe history of DOF spans several decades, although the current terminologies to describe it have emerged recently. Several terms recently used to describe the digital oil field include smart field, i-field, field of the future, intelligent oilfield, digital asset, e-field, real time optimization, and real time operations. In the early 2000s, operators, service companies, software vendors, and academics have struggled to collectively define DOF. Saputelli, Mochizuki, and Hutchins (2003) provided one of the earliest descriptions of real time optimization (RTO) in this current phase of DOF. More recently, Cramer (2007) described the evolution of DOF from an operating company viewpoint.Early DOF applications began with the digitization of operational data that were previously collected manually. Spreadsheet applications to collect and organize data from different wells in a field and from multiple fields enabled the engineers to perform basic production analyses. Electronic instrumentation at the well sites and SCADA systems enhanced the data capture process with the aid of improvements in telecommunications. These changes enabled access to data that were previously unavailable or at best available through indirect measurements that were prone to errors and inaccuracies. Automatic data capture increased the amoun...

Intelligent Digital Oilfield Implementation: A Case Study of Change Management Strategies to Ensure Success

“…This has been well acknowledged and understood by the people working on the development and implementation of the IDOF in the current paper. Sankaran et al (2009) discuss the "organization" aspects from several documented case studies. They note that the development team resources are reassigned or relocated at the end of the development and, therefore, there is a need to appoint internal champions during the development period who will remain in the operation of the project once the development is completed.…”

State of the Art of Artificial Intelligence and Predictive Analytics in the E&P Industry: A Technology Survey

“…In the E&P industry, WFA has become a major driver of the DOF. Because processes in the E&P industry are complex and require the use of several applications and the access to multiple and diverse information sources, WFA is currently one of the areas of major interest in the industry (Szatny 2007;Sankaran et al 2009;Biniwale et al 2010;Moridis et al 2011). …”

Workflow Automation (WFA) for the Integrated Production Operations in the Macuspana Field

“…The DOF promises to achieve integrated operations to measure, model, and control the oil and gas field assets, enabling decisions to be made effectively and consistently by the right people at the right time (Sankaran et al 2009). Workflow automation (WFA) is a key element of the DOF.…”