Well and Reservoir Management (WRM) is the core activity of an oil and gas companies operational business and involves, simply, moving hydrocarbons from the reservoir pores to sales point. Once exploration, appraisal and development phases are concluded, the operate phase - WRM - is the only phase that earns income to provide the return on investment. It is also the longest of the business phases, usually lasting decades.
Shell has, over the past few years, put an increased emphasis on this process on a global basis to drive improvement. At the core is integration across several functions to deliver top quartile performance. This requires a step-change in the quality of field management (wells, reservoirs, facilities) by fixing the basics and introducing structured field management processes to execute world-class WRM. In addition a continuous improvement mindset is required using the Lean methodology. The bottom line objective is to minimize the decline of our fields so as to increase production and our reserves base.
This paper describes the journey that Shell has undertaken over the past few years to drive to consistent top quartile performance involving people, process improvement, technology and IT tools and the need for improved data management. The success todate is outlined and the plans for the future steps discussed.
Driving Improvement in Well and Reservoir Management
Stuart Clayton - General Manager, Well and Reservoir Management & Discipline Head Production Technology & Production Chemistry, Shell International Exploration & Production BV, The Netherlands
Well and Reservoir Management (WRM) is the core activity of the Upstream operational business and involves moving hydrocarbons from the reservoir pores to sales point in a safe manner. Once exploration, appraisal and development phases are concluded, the operate phase - WRM - is the only phase that earns income to provide the return on investment. It is also the longest of the business phases, usually lasting decades.
In late 2007 Shell instigated a major global improvement effort to deliver industry-leading WRM, with the bottom-line aim of minimizing field declines and thus increasing production and reserves base. The key objective was a step-change in the efficiency and effectiveness of field management (wells, reservoirs & facilities) by fixing the basics and introducing structured field management processes integrated across numerous disciplines. In addition, a strong focus on continuous improvement through the Lean methodology was adopted to improve the process efficiency at all stages.
