About this Workshop

Abstract

Unlike new discoveries, mature fields may not grab the headlines, but they continue to be huge contributor to global oil and gas production. A recent report estimates that 67% of the world’s daily oil production comes from mature fields and that percentage continues to increase. Extending the life of these fields is not optional, but a fundamental requirement for sustainable hydrocarbon production. What is a mature field? One operator defines a mature field as a field that has reached 50% of its initial proved plus probable (2P) reserves or has been on production for over 10 years. The report also considered 50% of 2P reserves and 25 years production as an alternative definition for a mature field. The intent of the workshop is not to dwell on the definition of mature fields, but to address the surface and sub-surface issues they present by leveraging the experience we have both within the Middle East region and globally to cost effectively enhance production and deliver additional value. The industry has experience in revitalizing mature fields with some operators boasting six-fold increases in production over only four years. However, experience suggests that extending the life of a mature field is equally challenging across two primary fronts; tackling production decline and improving overall recovery from the reservoir.  These challenges have many facets that must be explored. These may be related to facility and well integrity, infill drilling, well interventions, reservoir monitoring, and improved recovery techniques. With so many facets and such huge volumes of data, multi-disciplinary co-operation is essential for effective implementation after considering the associated risks and economics. Lastly, it is important to realize that gaining additional production is not the sole reason for prolonging the life of a mature field. It also enables operators to delay the costs of abandonment, but more importantly, it provides an increased opportunity for third parties to make use of the existing infrastructure mitigating the need for new fields to be developed and offsetting the need for alternative energy sources.

The workshop will consist of six sessions, spread over two days, and will concentrate on reservoir characterization and monitoring, field management, well integrity, well intervention, and sustaining production. There will be adequate time allocated for discussions on these topics in the form of scheduled breakout sessions as well as question and answer sessions after the presentations.  Attendance is strongly encouraged from the Middle East region and welcomed from international experts as well.

Who Should Attend

• Completion and production engineers
• Reservoir engineers
• Petrophysicists
• Drilling engineers
• Well intervention and integrity engineers
• Academia

Visa Information

SPE Middle East, North Africa and India will assist in providing a visa invitation letter, upon request in writing, to confirmed registrants after receiving full payment of registration fees. Visa invitation letters take five days to issue from the date of request and it is the delegate's responsibility to obtain their own visa. SPE cannot issue the visa nor can we guarantee it will be obtained.

 

Workshop Guidelines

Format

Two (2) days of informal discussions prompted by selected keynote presentations and discussions. Workshops maximise the exchange of ideas among attendees and presenters through brief technical presentations followed by extended Q&A periods. Focused topics attract an informed audience eager to discuss issues critical to advancing both technology and best practices. The majority of the presentations are in the form of case studies, highlighting engineering achievements and lessons learnt. In order to stimulate frank discussion, no proceedings are published and the press is not invited to attend.

Documentation

• Proceedings will not be published; therefore, formal papers and handouts are not expected from speakers.
• Work in progress, new ideas, and interesting projects are sought.
• Professionally-prepared visual aids are not required; handwritten view graphs are entirely acceptable.
• Note-taking by participants is encouraged.

Attendance

Registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-serve basis. The Steering Committee encourages attendance from those who can contribute to the workshop most effectively either in discussions or with posters. A mix of attendees in terms of geographic origin, companies and disciplines will be encouraged.

Workshop Deliverables

• The Steering Committee will appoint a “scribe” to record the discussions and to produce the full workshop report for SPE.
• This report will be circulated to all attendees as the workshop deliverable within 4–6 weeks following the workshop. The copyright of the report is with SPE.
• PowerPoint presentation materials will be posted on a specific SPE URL address after the workshop Provision of the materials by the speakers will signify their permission for SPE to do so.

Commercialism

In keeping with ATW objectives and the SPE mission, commercialism in posters or presentations will not be permitted. Company logos must be limited to the title slide and used only to indicate the affiliation of the presenter and others involved in the work.

Attendance Certificate

All attendees will receive an attendance certificate attesting to their participation in the workshop. This certificate will be provided in exchange for a completed Workshop Questionnaire.

Continuing Education Units

Attendees at this workshop qualify for SPE Continuing Education Units (CEU) at the rate of 0.1 CEU per hour of the workshop.