Overcoming Challenges in a Multi-Rig Turnkey Development Drilling Project Resulting in Top Level Performance

Abstract

Abstract There are several challenges when establishing a multi-rig operation in a new drilling or workover project. People from different companies and diverse backgrounds will have to work together and integrate with each other in a new working environment. These challenges are compounded when the drilling contractor is new to the country, rigs are newly built and ‘linguistic differences’ impacting efficient communication that exist between the staff of the drilling contractor and the project team. This paper reviews the start-up and the learning curve for a project of four rigs to drill horizontal and vertical wells under LumpSum TurnKey (LSTK) contract. It presents the measures implemented to create a cohesive team and to accelerate learning. Also, it focuses on rig management, safety assurance and performance driving and monitoring. The main challenges are highlighted, and the step by step solutions taken are described. The results discussed are showing the progressive improvement from a quality and safety standpoint. Drilling data from over 100 wells is analyzed to illustrate how workflows and innovative technologies contributed to progressively improve well delivery and surpass the established benchmarks. Finally, the paper discusses the merits of integration between the client, service companies and the drilling contractor, presenting a clear case where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.