SPE Projects, Facilities & Construction
Volume 6, Number 4, December 2011, pp. 248-254

SPE-141401-PA

Smart E&P Collaboration Centers: Design, Technology Support, and Lessons Learned

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DOI  More information 10.2118/141401-PA http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/141401-PA

Citation

  • Al-Qahtani, A.A., HOgg, M.F., Lau, K.K., and Al-Naser, N. 2011. Smart E&P Collaboration Centers: Design, Technology Support, and Lessons Learned. SPE Proj Fac & Const  6 (4): 248-254. SPE-141401-PA. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/141401-PA.

Discipline Categories

  • 3.2.3 Management Systems
  • 3.2.4 Decision-Making Processes

Keywords

  • Collaboration centers, Work Environment, Innovation , Technology Support

Summary

The application and adoption of collaboration centers in the exploration and production (E&P) industry have increased significantly in the past decade. The benefits of collaboration-center use have been clearly identified including the delivery of cost-effective and fully integrated multidiscipline field, reservoir, and well management decisions.

Saudi Aramco has established a number of collaboration centers that directly capitalize on large-scale, multidiscipline, value-added technical and business collaborations. These centers, for instance, cover areas of exploration, geosteering, real-time drilling, field development, and production and intelligent-field management. Tangible economic and technical benefits of such collaboration encompass improved recovery, improved technical workflows, technology innovation, enhanced staff-skill-set development, and significant reduction of critical field-development-study cycle times. This paper outlines Saudi Aramco's experience from 5 years of using multidiscipline collaboration workrooms with a focus on facility design, technology (software and hardware) support, and lessons learned.

Advances in interactive, high-performance technology solutions (hardware and software) and easy-to-use visual communication technologies present additional opportunities to extend and enhance the value-added impact of collaboration centers, including virtual collaboration. The need for physical, localized centers will be discussed, compared, and evaluated in the context of virtual-collaboration-center potential. The paper presents a "checklist" methodology for collaboration-center design, layout, support, and maintenance incorporating the challenges of continuous technology advancement and multidiscipline project complexity.

© 2011. Society of Petroleum Engineers

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History

  • Original manuscript received: 1 June 2011
  • Meeting paper published: 21 April 2011
  • Manuscript approved: 12 July 2011
  • Published online: 12 December 2011
  • Version of record: 16 December 2011