RIASSUNTO
Abstract
BP Alaska Wells Team executes the highest wellwork volume in all of BP's worldwide operations. On the North Slope of Alaska, BP plans and executes wellwork for all of the fields it operates including Prudhoe Bay. This paper describes the process and use of technology to effectively plan well interventions, manage ""the hopper??, prioritize operations, monitor jobs in real-time and document lessons learned. A physical description of the BP Alaska's Wells i-Center will be provided too. The BP Alaska Wells Team executes over 40 well interventions every day in harsh arctic conditions as cold as -40 F. Effectively planning this many operations in the field and reporting back results to the office-based production engineers requires an effective process and use of technology. BP Alaska's hopper management and reporting systems and the role of technology to view operations in ""real time?? will be described.
This paper will also describe the planning process beginning at the point the production engineer has decided on the well intervention plan. The paper will continue explaining the planning process, describing the tools and general procedure used to organize and prioritize the 800 interventions in the hopper, monitor the execution of this work in ""real time?? and document lessons learned for similar future operations. Current equipment must be utilized at a high efficiency due to long lead times to get additional equipment. Thus, the jobs that are undertaken must be planned effectively, orchestrated with support equipment, to maximize equipment utilization and minimize stand-by time. In addition, any mistakes or best practices should be documented and incorporated in future well intervention plans.
Introduction
Alaska has been regarded as a center of activity as host to the United States largest oil reservoir. The Prudhoe Bay field has generated an entire oil industry infrastructure 640 miles north of Alaska's largest city, Anchorage and led to the 800 mile Trans-Alaska Pipeline. Many papers have been written about the myriad of technological advances that were tested, implemented, and proven in Alaska. As Prudhoe Bay has reached its 30th year in production, this paper serves to document the organization, process, and technology required to maintain, repair, and stimulate the nearly 2000 wells on Alaska's North Slope. BP is the sole operator of the Prudhoe Bay on behalf of its owners. The BP Alaska Wells Team planned and executed 4000 jobs in 2007 and hundred of additional jobs in support of a drilling, workover and production operations.
Organization Capability
The majority of the wellwork is generated by the asset team's production engineers based in Anchorage. These positions are traditionally titled Production, Operations/Analytical, or Surveillance Engineers. In BP Alaska, there is also a core team specializing in mechanical diagnostic, mechanical remediation, and formation stimulation techniques. Currently this team is comprised of a mix of BP and external consultants and produces the more detailed procedures for complex wellwork operations.