Implementation of Advanced Wellsite Data Management and Communications System Adds Value and Efficiency to Welltesting Operations

Abstract

Abstract In the past, in order to carry out any type of real time analysis or control during a welltest, the subject matter expert had to be present at the wellsite. This paper will describe a recently developed real time operations (RTO) data acquisition and management system that uses advances in software operating systems, networking, telecommunications and Internet/intranet access to allow users to have access to real time data and information regardless of their locations. This type of real time access to well information allows expertise to be available that might not have been in the past due to distance constraints, and time and expense required to travel to the wellsite. It also allows real time collaboration from all individuals who have access to the data, regardless of their location, so that reservoir management decisions can be made quickly and more efficiently. The system has been successfully deployed on a number of welltests in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, offshore Egypt and onshore eastern Venezuela. An overview of the operations, which includes efficiency gains and time saved, will illustrate how controlled access to real time data and information via a local area network (LAN), a wide area network (WAN), an intranet, or the Internet can positively affect cost and efficiency by allowing state-of-the-art testing to be performed in remote areas where it previously might not have been possible or economically feasible using traditional testing systems.