Unconventional reservoirs will rapidly change the industry dynamics
The upstream oil and gas industry, with operators and service companies, is in the midst of an inflection point today, similar to the 2D and 3D seismic revolution in the 1980s.
This is similar to the 2D to 3D seismic survey revolution in the 1980s, that provided more comprehensive understanding of the subsurface, improving exploration success rates and optimizing reservoir management strategies.
The growth of unconventional reservoirs and digitalization of the oil field are two major forces driving a re-alignment of the industry and forcing the upstream players to re-imagine themselves to remain relevant and competitive.
Here are eight key themes that the upstream industry must watch to reinvent its strategic, tactical, and operational model.
Unconventional reservoirs such as shale, tar sands, coalbed methane, and tight oil required artificially induced buoyancy. New technologies with digitalization have created opportunities for the exploration and production of hydrocarbons, greatly reducing the risk and cost of finding, appraising, and developing these reservoirs.
These unconventional reservoirs in deep water, continental shelf, and onshore exploration and production have unique characteristics and challenges.
Significant proven recoverable volumes of hydrocarbons have been found in water deeper than 6,000 feet. Deep Water exploration and production are expensive, but with increased digitization and the advent of de-manned operations, they are reducing the costs.
Remote drilling on the seafloor with a minimal footprint will become a reality and significantly reduce risks. Underwater maintenance of production facilities will be performed by self-navigating autonomous robots using deep machine learning to manage underwater production operations autonomously. For instance, the PB3 PowerBuoy® is a technology that acts like an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) by harvesting energy from waves and reducing operational costs.
Today, most of the world’s production and reserves of hydrocarbons are on the continental shelf. Current challenges are inefficient supply chains, aging infrastructure, and decommissioning existing surface and subsurface infrastructure of depleted fields and non-producing platforms. Continental shelf operations will be heavily automated and managed from remote operations centers such as drilling rigs and production facilities.
While traditional onshore reservoirs will still contribute a significant amount of hydrocarbons to the world, the recent discovery and subsequent technological and process evolution to economically produce hydrocarbon from tight gas reservoirs has changed the dynamics of onshore operations. Due to the large number of similar wells needed to maintain production volumes, a more transactional type of operation is evolving, where standardization of processes and technologies allows for a factory approach for onshore reservoirs. Techniques like steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) – an advanced form of steam stimulation – are now available for oil sands and heavy crude oil production.
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