Morten Irgens's blog

We recently benchmarked our Actenum Rig Activity Scheduler (RAS) application against a manually-derived operational drilling schedule obtained from one of our clients, a large oil producer. We achieved:

• A 6% reduction in rig transportation costs, and
• A 38% reduction in time to production, which translated into
• More than a 15% increase in net present value.

For most realistic real world situations, optimality is neither achievable nor desirable [1].

Technology is a key enabler of performance. Production organizations use a host of software systems to manage their operations: these include various implementations of Manufacturing Execution Systems (MES), Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS), Enterprise Asset Management (EAM) systems, and Asset Performance Management (APM) systems. At the same time, organizations are seeking ways to take the next step—to extend these technologies to optimize operational performance and automate operational decision-making. Until recently, however, suitable technologies were not available.

Engineers and other knowledge workers have many software tools that help them become more productive and do better work, including various ways of mining, abstracting, and visualizing data. There are, however, many areas where the E&P industry could do much more to empower their knowledge workers and increase their productivity. An important example is the process of decision making.

A couple of years ago I wrote a White Paper in which I discussed the use of technology for achieving operational excellence. I believe this is an important topic, so I want to revisit it here.

“Having data doesn’t give you productivity.
Having better decisions gives you productivity.”
   Michael Trick, Professor, Tepper School of Business
   Carnegie-Mellon University

I thought about this quote during the first session that I attended at the SPE’s Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition in Anaheim, California, earlier this week.

Drilling managers are facing increasing pressure to meet performance goals, which means that decisions about how to build the best drilling plans and schedules must focus on continued optimization of these goals. This is not possible to do without the right tools.