Seven factors that improve well delivery performance

I recently delivered a presentation at AAPG’s 2nd Workshop on Maximizing Asset Value: Integrating Geoscience with Reservoir Management & Technologies Optimization. My presentation was titled “Improving collaboration and enhancing performance through effective integrated scheduling”.

The position I expressed in the presentation is based on many years of observing multiple projects, not only in oil and gas, but also in other industry sectors. All of these projects had a goal of improving performance, and this is certainly what I have been involved with in Oil & Gas. But what does “improving performance” really mean, and what does it require? My experience of working closely with operators over the last ten years has led me to several conclusions. 

“Improving performance” means, broadly speaking, improving performance of the well delivery process, and this is tied to two initiatives: (1) working towards the goal of smoothly delivering many tens or hundreds of wells to production every year, according to a published schedule and budget; (2) continually seeking ways to improve timing and costs of those well delivery operations to increase return on capital employed. There are many factors that influence positive well delivery performance. Some of those commonly seen among operators considered to be best-in-class include:

• Sustained leadership commitment for change, both organizational and technical;
• Determination of Key Performance Indicators that will be used to measure performance (“What gets measured gets improved”);
• Ensuring that all disciplines in the well delivery value chain are committed and able to collaborate effectively with each other, through an integrated business operations model;
• Minimizing the barriers to rapid and accurate access to any required data, from any discipline;
• An open attitude towards changes in business process and workflow that may be needed to increase agility and positioning for success;
• Adoption of a flexible and sophisticated planning and scheduling platform incorporating optimization, with a capability that enables the rapid creation and evaluation of multiple development plans and operational scenarios;
• The presence of rapid and effective feedback loops between all disciplines—from subsurface to reservoir to drilling/completions—to enable effective decision-making and reconfiguration of operations in response to changes that may be required.

Operators may gain value from each of these factors separately, but adopting a well delivery process that encompasses all of them results in dramatic performance improvements: decreased cycle times, improved forecasting of costs and production, more efficient use of capital, the ability to rapidly reconfigure operations in response to recommendations from subsurface and/or planning, alignment of all aspects of operations, and enhanced ability to meet organizational targets.

If you’d like to explore how you can dramatically improve your well delivery performance, contact me at info@actenum.com.

Owen Plowman
Vice President Business Development