FMC OTC commentary: Rethinking how we do business
Today’s environment of “lower for longer” exacerbates many of the issues the industry has needed to solve for quite some time. At FMC Technologies we are focused on reducing cost and improving efficiencies through integrated business models, innovative technologies and standardization.
Working with operators in the concept selection phase of front-end engineering and design (FEED) is important because the choice of equipment and field layout can have a significant influence on both initial expenditures and long-term operating costs.
For instance, savings of up to 30 percent can be realized by integrating the design and reducing the complexity of the subsea production systems (SPS) and subsea umbilicals, risers and flowlines (SURF).
Early involvement can also shorten time to first production – sometimes by six to twelve months – because SPS and SURF can be tendered and negotiated much earlier.
In addition to reduced costs, benefits of delivering an integrated SPS and SURF package through an alliance such as ours with Technip, are improved uptime, standardized hardware and processes, a reduction in the number of subsea interfaces, coordinated installation of equipment, and more efficient maintenance over the life of the field.
The operator’s risk is reduced because more of the responsibility for ensuring all systems will integrate correctly and be put in place on time is held by the alliance, not the operator. This relationship continues into the life of the field, as integrated monitoring of the entire subsea infrastructure allows for the service providers to be preemptively called for necessary intervention and maintenance.
In addition to integrated business models, repurposing proven technology and its applications can help reduce cost, improve cycle times and increase recovery help improve operators’ returns. One example is replacing the orbital welding process used to connect small bore hydraulic tubing with shape memory alloy fittings. Doing so simplifies manufacturing, removes welding inspection time from the process, and drastically reduces time and cost.
A significant amount of application engineering hours can be saved if we move from the current “engineered to order” model to a model of “configured to order”. When operators submit functional requirements rather than technical requirements, suppliers can offer proven solutions that will meet or exceed performance expectations. Pre-engineered, modular solutions can economically accommodate a wide variety of requirements. These solutions can then be configured to meet customers’ project-specific needs.
A “configured to order” model allows suppliers to standardize components and processes. They can leverage the purchase of raw materials in bulk and can source and stock parts more economically. Additionally, this approach increases quality and reliability throughout the entire supply chain.
While a good portion of the cost and time saving benefits of standardization are realized during the manufacturing of the project, the payoff also continues throughout the life of the field.
With close collaboration and solid partners we can help tackle the very real trials of today’s market while solving longer-term challenges around the cost and complexity of subsea equipment. Integrated business models, innovative technologies and standardization provide viable answers and support the increasing demands of the industry.
NOV CEO OTC commentary: Focus on new technology
Despite today’s challenging environment, the oil & gas industry must continue to invest in the development of new technologies that will enable our industry to meet the world’s long-term energy needs.
More than any other resource, the abundant energy our industry provides has done more to lift standards of living around the globe; nevertheless, two billion people on this planet still live in energy poverty. The current oversupply of petroleum is steadily dissippating, and once it does and this downcycle passes, we will be called upon again to increase supplies for an energy hungry world.
Finding ways to increase access to reserves, and improve the safety and efficiency of oilfield operations is what National Oilwell Varco (NOV) has done since 1862. We foresee “big data” predictive analytics, improved rotary steerable technology and closed-loop drilling automation as promising, impactful technologies that will drive performance in the coming upturn.
We are currently helping our customers improve their business with our RIGSENTRY™ BOP monitoring service that now offers live predictive analytics of subsea BOPs. This predictive feature is powered by MAX™, our industrial data platform and enables us to predict a failure before it happens. The platform captures and harnesses the value of data coming from product sensors and provides a way to collect and organize real-time visibility into the way your equipment works to optimize performance in the field.
The potential that big data offers for condition monitoring and predictive analytics will change the way we support, maintain and design our equipment to deliver better uptime for our customers.
A technology that we are also focusing on is the VectorEdge™ rotary steerable system that provides greater cost-efficiency and increased performance in high-volume rotary steerable markets. The design incorporates legacy NOV technology to achieve accurate and smooth wellbore trajectories without compromising customer control over equipment selection. With multiple push-the-bit configurations and a simple, app-based downlink, the VectorEdge rotary steerable system allows us to offer all the benefits of rotary steerable drilling at a great value in any market condition.
Lastly, we are pioneering new downhole closed-loop drilling automation where data from the bottom of the hole is streamed up on a microsecond basis to the rig and is used to directly drive the rig controls. This provides better well control, sustains wellbore integrity and makes drilling more efficient while reducing well delivery times and improving safety. While using this automation technology, a customer was recently able to reach planned production level with one less well, saving the equivalent of 70 days offshore rig time.
These are just three of our current and ongoing projects that will shape the future of oil & gas. Our industry is a high-tech industry that will continually invest and press forward to find new and better ways of doing things, like developing new technologies that lower the cost of producing oil and gas. We are proud to lead in pioneering new and better ways to drill and are prepared to emerge as an even stronger company in the upturn.
Baker Hughes OTC commentary: Innovation agendas too shallow for deep water
If we in the oil and gas industry want deep water to be a vibrant market in the future, we should give serious thought not only to where we put our innovation dollars today, but also to how we address the growing barriers to commercialization so we can provide this frontier sector with the technology options it needs to flourish.
History tells us why. Twenty-five years ago, when the market was new and “deep” meant 1,000 feet, operators and service companies had to make significant investments in technology to find and develop these untapped reserves. The pioneering culture in the early phases of development spurred a new wave of services and capabilities that created the market we know today.
Since then, as the sector has matured, we’ve developed new ways to drill deeper and operate more routinely in deep water. But because the environments are so harsh, the barriers for technical assurance so high and the cost of failure so visible, development progress in recent years has become incremental.
Deep-water activity has been one of the hardest-hit segments in this industry downturn — an outcome largely blamed on project costs and economic risk. Even prior to 2014, there was much talk about the spiraling costs and complexity that were challenging even in the hundred-dollar oil world. Recovery rates have stubbornly hovered in the low double digits — some even in the single-digit range.
And while production philosophies are evolving, there are still no real solutions for cost-effective well intervention and technologies that provide options for life-of-well production improvement.
As the market begins its recovery, it’s time for the industry to reset innovation strategies in deep water to align with commercial realities.
We need to progress our thinking on well construction — where we’ve spent much of our effort and resources to date but where today only incremental progress is being made — and create a new focus on unleashing a well’s production potential and improving recovery rates.
So what might these innovation strategies need to address?
First, can we design better wells? Well designs in deep water have changed little in recent years, as the industry has settled on one or two deployment methodologies that have worked, but still remain overly complex and intensive from a service perspective. With only a small number of customers working in deep water and a relatively small number of wells being drilled on an annual basis, there are few opportunities to make step changes.
Second, once the well is in place, how do we maintain it, interact with it and get more out of it in a cost-effective way throughout its producing life? There are a growing number of solutions for real-time monitoring and control, and specific products have been designed for flow assurance in the unique range of conditions they need to operate within – but very few of these specifically tie subsurface through seabed to surface in an effective way.
Finally, and possibly most intriguing: how do we as an industry create the cultural duality of rapid, effective innovation and improving safety, standards and regulations? What changes need to take place in how the whole supply chain functions to create an energy around innovation that ushers in the next age for this sector?
The conundrum in today’s world is that it’s clear that innovation cannot live outside of commercial reality — but if we are striving to change commercial reality, it’s going to need a step change in how we manage and drive innovation. To be continued …
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