Carlos E Diaz’s Post

So let's talk about the qualifications of Drilling Engineers / Supervisors and project managers. It is my position that all drilling supervisors represent strong candidates for project management roles; however, not all project managers are well-suited for drilling supervisor positions. Below, I present ten fundamental terminologies associated with well drilling and completion project management. These terms are integral to the daily responsibilities of a typical drilling supervisor on the rig, yet there appears to be a lack of awareness among many supervisors regarding these concepts. 1. Project Scope - This outlines the extent to which the well will be drilled, including the total depth (TD), the size of the well, and whether it will be an oil or gas producer. At the initiation stage, we can refer to this as the "marching order." 2. Planning involves the drilling engineering team working with subsurface data, gathering information, and developing well delivery processes from the start to finish of the well. 3. The project charter is the most important document for any project, so always ask for it as a good project manager. This document is sometimes referred to as the drilling program. Take my advice to hold your SDE by the jugular if you don't have this on your desk prior to DWOP. 4. Budgeting, simply referred to as AFE (Authorization for Expenditure), involves tracking daily rig expenses. 5. Monitoring refers to the role of a project supervisor, ensuring that a well is delivered safely, timely, and within budget limits and is fit for purpose. 6. Control can be defined simply as the use of risk registers and suggested mitigation strategies. Hold your SDE by the JUgular for this one too. 7. Scope creep refers to uncontrolled changes to a project’s scope, which can occur due to misunderstandings, human errors, alterations requested by stakeholders, or even unforeseen circumstances like a stuck pipe causing non-productive time (NPT). It is essential to avoid scope creep at all costs. 8. WBS, or Work Breakdown Structure, is used to divide work into manageable tasks. This is similar to the work instructions provided by drilling supervisors during shifts on the rig. 9. The baseline for all components of the triple constraint helps assess your performance throughout the project's duration. It indicates when your costs remain within the limits of your AFE, among other factors. 10. Deliverables - this refers to the results produced at the end of the project (producing oil and gas well).

#Prioritizing_tasks and managing resources effectively are essential for ensuring drilling operations are completed on time and within budget, Here are some strategies a drilling supervisor can use: 1. Establish Clear Priorities: Identify the most critical tasks and objectives for the drilling project, such as meeting drilling targets, maintaining safety standards, and adhering to regulatory requirements. 2. Develop a Detailed Schedule: Create a detailed schedule outlining the sequence of tasks, milestones, and deadlines for the drilling project. This schedule should account for factors such as rig availability, equipment maintenance, and weather conditions. 3. Allocate Resources Wisely: Assess resource requirements for the project, including personnel, equipment, materials, and support services. Allocate resources based on project priorities and availability to ensure efficient utilization. 4. Monitor Progress Regularly: Keep track of drilling operations and progress against the established schedule and budget. Monitor key performance indicators such as drilling efficiency, downtime, and costs to identify any deviations or areas needing improvement. 5. Adjust Plans as Needed: Be prepared to adjust plans and resource allocations as necessary to address changing conditions or unexpected challenges. This may involve reallocating resources, revising schedules, or implementing contingency plans to keep the project on track. 6. Communicate Effectively: Maintain open communication with stakeholders, including rig crew, engineering teams, management, and contractors. Provide updates on project status, discuss any issues or concerns, and collaborate to find solutions to challenges. 7. Implement Risk Management Strategies: Identify potential risks and uncertainties that could impact the project schedule or budget, such as equipment failures, weather delays, or regulatory changes. Develop risk mitigation plans and contingency measures to minimize the impact of these risks on project outcomes. 8. Efficiency & Continuous Improvement: Encourage a culture of efficiency and continuous improvement among rig crew members by implementing best practices, optimizing processes, and seeking feedback for areas of improvement. By effectively #prioritizing_tasks, managing resources, and implementing proactive strategies, a DSV can increase the likelihood of completing drilling operations on time & within budget while maintaining safety & quality standards. #Keep_Going_Up

📊Balancing Speed and Accuracy in #OffshoreGeotechnicalInvestigations:📊 In #offshoreGeotechnicalInvestigations, the ability to "Balance speed and Accuracy" is a critical factor in successful project delivery. Achieving this balance requires a strategic approach that blends precise planning, tailored methods, team expertise, and effective leadership at every stage of the project. 1. 🔍#Precise_Scoping: Focused and Efficient The first step in ensuring success is precise scoping—identifying key risk zones and areas of focus. This allows for optimized use of resources and avoids unnecessary delays. A clear scope ensures that the team targets high-priority locations while maintaining efficiency in less critical areas. 2. 🔍#Tailored_Methods_for_Optimal_Results: Each offshore project presents unique challenges, and a one-size-fits-all approach doesn't work always. Using tailored methods ensures that the investigation techniques align with site-specific conditions. Whether it’s a specialized expert team, drilling tools, or techniques, the right approach ensures both speed and accuracy are achieved. 3. 🔍#Leveraging_Expertise_for_Informed_Decisions: The value of expertise cannot be overstated. Offshore geotechnical investigations rely on experienced teams to quickly interpret data, resolve issues, and adapt to evolving site conditions. Their ability to act swiftly while maintaining high standards of accuracy drives the success of the project. 4. 📊#Strategic_Pre_Planning_and_Risk_Management: Effective pre-planning is crucial. It’s not just about getting the right equipment and resources on site but also anticipating potential challenges—like adverse weather, complicated formation, or equipment breakdowns—and having contingency plans in place. This foresight ensures that projects stay on track, even in the face of unexpected setbacks. 5. 📊#Team_Development_and_SOPs_Importance: An empowered, well-trained team is key to balancing speed and accuracy. Continuous training ensures teams are proficient in the latest techniques, while SOPs promote consistency and reliability across all operations. Awareness of SOPs ensures everyone is aligned with the objective, expectations, and standards. 6. 📈#The_Key_Driver: Operations Manager: As an Operations Manager, your role goes beyond overseeing operations. You are the bridge between planning and execution. Your ability to inspire and support the team, implement strategic decisions, and continuously foster a culture of collaboration directly influences the success of the investigation. #Servant_Leadership: Support team through proactive problem-solving. Team development, making SOPs, and Promoting adherence to them, Balancing speed and accuracy in offshore geotechnical investigations is not about choosing one over the other, but about building an integrated strategy that fosters both. Share your insights below..! #OffshoreGeotechnical #DrillingOperations #GeotechnicalEngineering #SpeedAndAccuracy

PLANNING & DESIGN PROCESSES FOR WELL ENGINEERING Recently, I wrote (built!) a unique Well Management System (including Well Delivery Process) for a Client. It took MONTHS. It was bloody hard work as I refused to 'Copy & Paste' from other documents. One of the topics covered within the system documents (within the Risk Management and Management of Change documents) was the Management of ASSUMPTIONS. To illustrate why Assumptions are critical to document 'across all disciplines', here's an example. Well planned in a depleted onshore field. Significant water injection required. Overpressure risk due to injection recognised. Therefore planned Injection shut down discussed with Production Ops. Assumption : Injection will be halted for the Drilling operations period. Outcome : Sufficient to say a delay in Drilling ops by several (2) years resulted in injection shortfall as the Production Operators were just told to shut off injection. Much more to this 'story' but the post is getting too long! Wrap up investigation recommended an 'Assumptions' register. And when we built the register it was AMAZING how many actions in the register could have resulted in significant disconnects between disciplines if they were not monitored. I strongly recommend using an ASSUMPTIONS REGISTER. Assumptions are obvious and known to everyone, until they are not!

Skills shortages, material delays, and compressed timelines threaten major mining, oil & gas projects. But there's a solution that is often overlooked: construction modeling. Construction modeling can save projects millions by spotting issues early, streamlining processes, and accelerating delivery. Construction modelers help bridge the gap between engineering and fabrication, utilizing cutting-edge technology to create detailed 3D models that become the project's blueprint for success. Read more about partnering with experienced construction modelers and experience a smoother, safer, and more efficient project.  DBM Vircon

DWoP: A Well Developed Project Management Practice Drill Well on Paper (DWoP) is a prevalent practice in the upstream oil and gas industry, emphasizing the importance of thorough planning and simulation before actual drilling operations commence. This practice helps in identifying risks, optimizing processes, and ensuring safety and efficiency in drilling projects. DWoP workshop is attended by all key stakeholders in the project, including the client, the project team, procurement companies (occasionally), and all logistics, QHSE, and drilling service providers. In this workshop, highly skilled professionals with extensive experience in their respective fields collaborate to model the drilling operation of a specific oil or gas well, before it starts. This face-to-face workshop integrates a variety of project management practices and processes into a cohesive practice that includes, but is not limited to: ▪️Identify project risks ▪️Share lessons learned from similar projects ▪️Modelling the operation ▪️Stakeholder engagement ▪️Time and cost planing and optimisation ▪️Integration Management Such practices developed as the complexity and coordination required in drilling projects are significant due to the confined operational area (a borehole with a maximum diameter of 2 meters) and the simultaneous execution of multiple services (nearly 10 concurrent drilling services). This integration is crucial for the successful and efficient completion of drilling activities. I highlighted this practice because it has the potential to be applied effectively in other industries as a well-established project management practice. However, it appears that the practice has not kept pace with the digital transformation landscape and relies on outdated tools for presentation and integration, especially when compared to Building Information Modelling. This gap presents an opportunity for further research and development in the coming years. #projectmanagement PECO (Pezhvak Energy Engineering Services Co.)

One of my fav subject. Drilling and Well Completion.

Important infos about API standards Recommend Practices and ISO standards for oil well upper and lower completions…

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Well Planning Enginerring Overview Well drilling engineering is a discipline within the petroleum industry that is responsible for the design and planning of drilling oil and gas wells. This process is essential for the extraction of hydrocarbons, since it allows access to underground reserves and extract oil or gas safely and efficiently, in addition to being in harmony with the environment and the laws of the place where the Project is going to be carried out. The following post is a compilation of my experience, as well as the work philosophy of the different companies where I have had to contribute and learn, humbly, for this reason I consider this post a small contribution to the entire LinkedIn family that is passionate about drilling engineering. Definitely, the success of drilling, completing and producing a well depends on the investment of man hours by a multidisciplinary group: Geologists, geoscientists, reservoir engineers, petrophysicists, drilling and completion engineers, engineers specialized in civil works, chemical engineers, etc. Definitely, true teamwork. I consider that project engineering is the basis for analyzing the economic and technical feasibility for the construction of a well, using the “Front-End Loading” matrix also known as (FEL) where it allows us to break down the project into three important stages, visualization, conceptualization and definition. Cost engineering allows us to visualize what's the total value of the project investment will be, analyzing the tangible and intangible costs and, above all, the unscheduled costs. The achievement of the well program will depend on a set of variables that must be geared and worked on upstream to minimize the risk of non-productive times, which in the long run is unscheduled costs. A correct selection of the drilling rig and its components will avoid excessive costs due to overdesign or equipment that cannot meet the required load, as well as a correct maintenance plan that allows us to minimize the risk of non-productive times on the surface due to concept of equipment breakdowns. In conclusion, well planning engineering must be well executed to safeguard the capital investment in the construction of the well and be able to have an internal rate of return close to planning with the extraction of hydrocarbons.   #drillingengineering #drillingengineer #drillingrig #workoverengineer #drilling