Our Success Stories!

Oxford Well Engineering (OWE) created its success stories when our clients least expected it.  For us, it is not a surprise that we are frequently consulted for deepwater projects, where stakes are high and only the best-in-class fits the bill. OWE is built on 19+ years of diversified US/UK experience and our work speaks for itself, regardless of where we are engaged in the life-cycle of a drilling project.

Below are some highlights from our recent engagements:

Well Campaign Cost Optimisation: An onshore operator wanted to reduce well costs by drilling as many wells as possible from fewer well pads in an environmentally sensitive area where land was scarce.  Through extensive well engineering iterations, OWE was able to build & optimize new extended reach (ERD) well designs which furnished the maximum (safe) step out without breaching existing technical limits. OWE also ensured that extended reach well designs are aligned with operator’s KPIs and guidelines. Through OWE’s technical intervention, the operator was able to plan multi-well pads, knowing the maximum safe reach (step-out) for their planned wells thus achieving a step-change in well cost optimization.

M&A Technical Due Diligence: OWE was engaged to perform a technical due-diligence for a high profile Merger and Acquisition (M&A) activity for a large offshore field with around 100+ planned wells. After reviewing basis of designs, FDP and drilling plans, OWE furnished a number of technical red flags and highlighted possible ways to correct them. Our clients were able to go back to the drawing board and reviewed their M&A deal in the light of our technical interventions.

Design Optimisation/Correcting Well Designs: While working for a global operator, OWE was engaged to review and optimize the existing well design to improve on well costs. OWE reviewed previously drilled well data sets and re-calibrated the drilling window using downhole pressure data sets. Through our technical expertise, we were able to confirm that previously employed managed pressure drilling (MPD) technology was no longer required for future wells. At a later date, our finding was confirmed by an independent wellbore stability study that also showed that there was a narrow but viable drilling window. Our technical intervention saved operator $4.5M in well costs.

Well Integrity & Safety Enhancement: One of our clients had been drilling shallow horizontal wells with a certain kick-off point which allowed them to land their horizontal targets optimally. From our client’s perspective, drilling wells had not been a problem & there were no apparent operational issues delivering them. When OWE performed its technical due-diligence using well engineering as our tool, we learned that there were serious casing wear issues due to the profile shape (trajectory) of their wells. The significant casing wear issues combined with their use of light-weight production casing could potentially be a HSE issue which must be corrected. OWE developed new optimized trajectories for the future wells and upgraded production casings to heavier grades to help operator be on the top of well integrity.

Deepwater Drilling Campaign Cost Analysis & Optimisation: OWE was commissioned to analyze well costs in a deep water project, where (identical) wells costs had been escalating without any reported issues. Through our expert analysis, we furnished a detailed picture of existing costs and highlighted grey areas requiring attention. As a part of this study, OWE also highlighted potential savings of 7% of well costs, assuming no changes to well design. OWE followed through and furnished further 12% well cost savings if some minor changes to well design were allowed, while keeping completions still the same i.e. not affecting expected production.

Drilling Optimisation & Cost Savings: A global operator had always done a dedicated wiper trip at a shallow casing point. OWE was told that it was due to historical tight spots in that near vertical section. OWE suspected this practice was unnecessary and performed a data analysis to investigate it. OWE plotted running in the hole vs. pulling out of the hole hookloads for previous wells. We were able to show the operator that the wiper trip did not help and actually made the tight spots worst in most wells. We also highlighted that tight spots were few and only due to few high localized DLS. From there on, operator had remove this wasteful practice and saved approximately $800,000 on every well drilled there after.

Drilling Optimisation Course Teaching: OWE was selected to teach a MSc. Petroleum Eng. course related to “Real-time Drilling Optimization” offered by “The University of Leoben (click)” in Austria during Fall Semester 2020. Naim Saddiq taught about the analysis techniques & roadmaps major operators use to keep their hands on the pulse of their wells and systematically correct emerging issues thus saving costs. Due to great feedbacks, Naim Saddiq will continue to teach specialist courses as a  visiting lecturer (click).

Correction of Directional Drilling Mistake / Well Safety: While working for a global operator, OWE learned that a number of times, wells which were 10m apart on surface came close to collision and few times, our customer had to sign anti-collision dispensation forms. This was not normal as 10m apart wells should not have come close to collision which is potentially a serious HSE issue. OWE reviewed details of the historical real-time directional drilling data and learned that a number of times, directional driller did not use the correct tool face. We identified that the directional driller just used the closest approach (using software to calculate tool face) to merge to plan while it should have been a simple 180° directional (tool face) slide away from the existing offset well and then he should have merged the well later when enough well separation was achieved. Through OWE’s expert intervention, the operator was able to correct this potentially dangerous issue and thus improved on well safety.

Well Integrity Enhancement: OWE was consulted by an operator regarding “not able to rotate a production liner whilst cementing” which is an important practice for critical cementing jobs. Historically, the operator was able to rotate most of their production liners and thus cementing had been great. In order to investigate the root cause, OWE constructed calibrated well engineering models which confirmed that there had been very high tortuosity due to using a newer specialist directional tool and it had delivered higher than expected random doglegs. This issue had caused high energy contact points all along the string, resulting in maxing out the string torque limits when rotated. The operator learned from this issue and corrected it for the next set of wells by choosing the right type of directional drilling tools.

Overdesign Correction: As a part of well optimization exercise, OWE was asked to review extensive use of specialist centralizers which were costly and operator wanted to see if the number could be reduced. Through detailed engineering analysis, OWE optimized the number and placement of centralizers and highlighted that only 70% centralizers were required but the drilling team planned to use 100% of originally planned centralizers anyway.  While executing the well, OWE received a call from the rig, we were told that there were only 65% centralizers available due to shipment issues. OWE repeated its centralization model and suggested frequency & placement of (65% fewer) centralizers which the rig followed. After the casing cemented,, USIT logs were run and analyzed. The USIT logs showed casing was correctly centralized and matched closely with the OWE’s model’s prediction. This confirmed OWE’s earlier technical intervention that only 70% centralizers were actually required.

Design Correction & Optimisation: OWE received a request for well design optimisation for a two-well campaign. When evaluated, it was clear that there were significant issues with well drillability (i.e. how easy to drill) and technical integrity, arising from inadequate analysis performed previously. OWE went back to the drawing board and redesigned wells from scratch, thus delivered a significantly improved well design, which was greatly appreciated by the customer. 

Note: All of our work engagements (past & present) are STRICTLY confidential and the highlights above are just to give you a flavor of OWE expertise and how we always fight in our customer’s corner to help them achieve success.

Are you interested to learn more?

Feel free to give us a call at our mobile 44+(0)7733994426 or at our Chiswick Office  44+(0)208 899 7460. Alternatively, contact us via email: naim@oxfordwellengineering.com.

Oxford Well Engineering Limited London Contact:
Office # 277, Building 3, Chiswick Park, 566 Chiswick High Street,
London, Greater London,
W4 5YA, United Kingdom