Page 13 - MEOG Week 30

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Drilling (Netherlands) B.V. at Al-Shaheen oil eld, o shore Qatar, have been awarded a one-year contract extension as the rst option by North Oil Co. (NOC) under the 2 years rm + 2 x 1 year options contract respectively with 1 year option outstanding. 1 year contract extension will commence in direct continuation of the 2 years rm period.
Hakuryu-12 has been extended for one year from September 13, 2019, while Hakuryu-10 was extended for a year from February 12, 2020.
JdC
Weatherford embraces
digitalisation, localisation
to service GCC customers
A new report by Wood Mackenzie has revealed that the global oil and gas industry prospects look good this year as pro ts have returned. Many attribute this to the disruptive technology that the sector has adopted a er the downturn ve years ago.
In these last few years, Weatherford has pursued the digital path to strengthen both the company and the oil and gas industry
in order to boost pro tability. e company sold most of its non-core assets in the last two years and now focuses on drilling equipment and digitalisation. e latest of the many
new tools include an intelligent managed pressure drilling system. ese tools require a signi cant amount of investment.
Particularly in the GCC, the company has seen a lot of initiatives and incentive with regards to technological growth, which encourages the company to widen its market in the region.
Justus said, “A er the oil price crash
in 2014, Weatherford solely focussed on developing new technologies that are e ciency, cost and time-oriented. e technologies that we invested in are now commercial. In the GCC countries, there is a lot of emphasis on optimising the OPEX requirement, which our tools help.”
Giving more insight into the relationship
between technology and the region, Justus spoke about the Weatherford technologies that have gained a lot of traction in the Middle East recently, owing to the CAPEX bene ts they o er.
During ADIPEC 2018, Weatherford released its VERO Automation Connected Integrity. It is a disruptive technology that can reduce the risk to ground personnel in oil rigs.
“ is technology gained a lot of traction from our Middle East clients because
of the emphasis the region gives to the
HSE standards,” Justus a rmed. Another technology that has strong leverage is tR1P, the world’s rst remote-activated, single-trip deepwater completion system.
Costs continue to dominate business decisions everywhere. “High rig costs drive the need for reduced trips in hole, particularly in deepwater environments. e ability to perform multiple operations in less time
and with fewer equipment and personnel requirements sets the stage for tangible bene ts. By enabling you to install the upper and lower completion in just one trip, the system simpli es your operations and reduces your completion installations times by as much as 60 per cent.”
On the production side, Weatherford’s
new optimisation platform ForeSite monitors real-time data and generates intelligent alerts on a screen when it detects signi cant changes in set points in pumps. Controls can then be managed to avoid downtime, Justus added.
Add to that is a new rotary steerable system Magnus launched in the region for more e cient horizontal and vertical drillings.
“We are seeing double-digit growth in the Middle East, and Magnus RSS features certain di erentiations over other systems that are going to help us grow our market share and
be more e cient on wells. It is a complete performance drilling package that helps you to sustain drilling, stay on plan, and reduce well construction costs.”
Weatherford is also working on integrated projects in the Middle East, which helps it deploy its own technologies on- eld. “We want to go from being an energy company which provides technological solutions to
a technology solutions provider for energy companies.”
With digitalisation fuelling the pro tability of the oil and gas sector, the oil eld services company is collaborating with tech giants IBM and Google on digital technologies such as the Internet of ings, Cloud Computing and Advanced Analytics to improve well production.
e GCC states are ardently pushing for ‘nationalisation’ to nurture international partnerships for improving knowledge transfer and increased job opportunities for the local talent.
ere is a lot of momentum about the In- Country Value (ICV) by ADNOC, the push for In Kingdom total Value Add (IKtVA) in Saudi Arabia, as well as the ‘Omanisation’ and ‘Kuwaitisation’ focus.
And the global company is an ardent believer in localisation. Justus maintains that the Middle East is one of the earliest adapters of technologies that debut worldwide and it is not di erent for Weatherford.
“Some of the technologies that I am
talking about were rst deployed in the GCC countries. e rst-ever demonstration of VERO was in Abu Dhabi in November 2018. is shows our commitment to the region. We bring to the region what lasts and what is best. So we are trying a more holistic way to align the company towards the GCC needs, employing the people and training them here.”
e region is also one rst adopter of the managed pressure drilling (MPD) system that allows onshore and o shore drilling in a safe way to avoid losses and blowout.
At the heart of localisation is training. Justus con rms that one of Weatherford’s biggest training and technology centres in the world is in Mussafah, on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi, which is right now the training hub for the Eastern Hemisphere.
“ ere is a huge focus to align the new technological o erings in the region as well as training the clients on how to use the tools and deploy them in the eld.”
So is localisation both an opportunity and a challenge for Weatherford? Yes, localisation is both the biggest challenge and the biggest
Week 30 30•July•2019
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