Abstract
In Malaysia, idle wells management has been a constant uphill struggle for most operating companies. Year on year, the end result has shown that number of wells restored are usually lower than the number of wells emerging as idle. In the past, idle wells have also been managed in silo by each operating company which internally for them, it does not portray the actual magnitude of the issue at a nation's level. With 50% of the nation's well inventory are idle and with a locked in potential of 80,000 barrels of oil per day (BOPD), it was essential to implement a major management approach change to mitigate this issue across all the operators.
This paper outlines the master plan rolled out by Malaysia Petroleum Management (MPM); the regulatory body of PETRONAS, across the nation to elevate the focus on the identified challenges that hinders more positive results to be achieved in idle wells management across all Petroleum Arrangement Contractors (PACs) in Malaysia.
Based on a collective analysis, several challenges were identified which have been hindering a more positive result to be obtained from previous initiatives by each operator. These challenges includes work scope prioritization, inefficient resources utilization, poor technical solution, disconnection between wells and surface potential, low economics challenge, weather limitation and lack of collaboration with industry key solution providers.
With the steer and monitoring by MPM, all PACs were able to deliver 60% above target of additional instantaneous production and executed 110% above the restoration planned activities. A parallel effort to reduce the number of emerging idle wells was also executed where the number was reduced by 35%. The overall results have managed to contribute a significant amount additional production for the nation and this new management approach is to be continuously emulated.
