Performance improvement on a world-class drilling project

Abstract

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) implemented a new phase of offshore oilfield development in 2009 that was intended to increase overall offshore oil production by 40% by 2017. This new development strategy was based on replacing the traditional practice of drilling small well clusters from Mobile Offshore Drilling Units (MODUs) and producing from offshore drilling platforms to developing 4 large scale offshore artificial islands and utilizing Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) to reach drilling targets up to 10 km from the islands. Early in the new development phase, it became apparent that the existing practice of liaising with drilling, completions, service contractors and vendors, and monitoring contractor performance and delivery on these contracts was insufficient for the increased level of development activities. The author was engaged in evaluating the existing ADNOC practices for monitoring and evaluating drilling, completions, and related contracts and to provide recommendations for improving practices. This led to the development of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that were used as the basis for internal ADNOC activities, for developing contracts with timelines for key deliverables and performance targets, for assessing contractor performance during contracts, and for evaluating deliverables at the end of contracts. Knowledge management tools and processes were implemented to aid the development of these KPIs, including internal bin-lists, external nonconformance and non-productive time (NPT) reports, databases for lessons learned, and databases for new technology and best practices. Using these tools, KPIs were developed for i) management and executive-level reporting, ii) Well Quality, iii) key services provided by external vendors (including directional drilling and measurements, wireline/E-line, drilling fluids, cementing, and coiled tubing), and iv) performance incentive bonuses for vendors. Implementing these new management practices and KPIs started in 2012 and data to date had indicated improvements of average well days from 168 days to 70 days, a 140% decrease in well duration and a 42% reduction in well cost in 3 years.