SPE Workshop: Applications of Intelligent Completions to Conventional and Unconventional Resources – State-of-Technology and Future Opportunities 4 - 5 Aug 2020 Omni Houston Hotel Houston, Texas, USA

About the Workshop

The unconventional reservoirs in North America contain trillions of barrels of oil, but their average recovery factors are typically below 10%, compared to an average of about 30% for the conventional reservoirs around the world. In the last two decades, intelligent completion technologies capable of collecting, transmitting, and analyzing downhole data have been installed globally, both onshore and offshore, offering significant advantages over traditional completions. Intelligent completion technologies, such as single- and multi-point sensors, optical fibers, valves, and fluid control devices, have helped optimize production, reduce or eliminate intervention, and increase recovery factors.

However, the technological complexity and cost of those technologies have also increased, slowing their adoption into the North American unconventional plays. Presentations will illustrate the current state of the intelligent completion technologies in the unconventional reservoirs in North America and in regions where intelligent completions have been successfully implemented, such as the Middle East, the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and offshore Brazil.

In addition, presentations will showcase emerging, cost-effective intelligent completions that could be broadly adopted in North America to help improve the current average recovery factors. Priority will be given to case histories describing advances in measuring, modeling, and manipulating production data to maximize asset value. 

This workshop will provide an excellent opportunity to share and discuss the challenges of intelligent completions for unconventional resources. Topics will include:

  • Lessons learned from other regions where intelligent completions are used and how to adapt those technologies to the lower cost operations in North America
  • Applications of North American intelligent completions, including to hydraulic fracturing operations
  • Production optimization by collecting data beyond pressure, temperature, and flow rate: downhole fluid analysis sensors, wired versus wireless communication, permanent versus temporary communication, artificial lift for intelligent control, etc.
  • Consistent handling of uncertainties
  • Data acquisition, visualization, analysis, and modeling: how to seamlessly bring the sensor data into the reservoir models to optimize production, how to determine the proper level of intelligence in the completion for an entire field, etc.
  • Integration of artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches to cross-discipline workflows

Why Attend?

An SPE workshop is a multi-day event that fosters knowledge sharing in an intensive learning experience. It provides brief technical presentations followed by extensive Q&A and discussion.

Staged in an intimate setting, an SPE workshop brings together E&P professionals with common roles and challenges to share ideas that advance both technology and best practices. They provide an environment for frank, open discussion. Press is not invited to attend.

The workshop’s program committee members solicit presentations from top industry professionals. This ensures a robust technical program with presentations that are laser-focused on best practices, lessons learned, and case studies.

What You Receive

  • Released copies of the workshop presentations will be available to attendees following the conclusion of the workshop. Speakers do not write formal papers and are not expected to release their presentations for publication.
  • Attendees qualify for 1.6 SPE Continuing Education Units (CEU). One CEU equals 10 contact hours of participation. CEUs will be awarded through SPE Professional Development for participation and completion of SPE workshop. A permanent record of a participant's involvement and awarding of CEUs will be maintained by SPE.


Remaining consistent with workshop objectives and SPE guidelines, commercialism in presentations will not be permitted. Company names/logos are used only to indicate the affiliation of the presenter(s).