Technology Qualification for ADNOC Group Operations in the Arabian Gulf

Abstract

The Exploration and Production industry faces increasing challenges as a result of a volatile market outlook and declining short-term returns. The fluctuating demand for energy, when coupled with declining production from older reservoirs and stricter standards for sustainable operations, require more efficient recovery from existing assets. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and our Group of Operating Companies (OPCOs) have focused attention on New Technology Development and Qualification, acknowledging that, in the coming years, innovation will be paramount to realizing our strategic production targets. To qualify new technologies for deployment in field operations, we have historically relied on disparate processes in each of our operating companies. Alternatively, our operating companies have relied on their respective International Shareholder processes which had been developed and tested for environments that may be dissimilar to that of the Arabian Gulf. Our increasing reliance on innovation has called for the development of our own, bespoke standard processes for the maturity and qualification of new technologies. Key to the adoption of a new process was to communicate the benefits of centralization to, and obtain early buy-in from, our operating companies. Our approach to the design of the new process has been to accommodate the established practices of the operating companies and then to capture and integrate the best and most relevant elements of the International Shareholders' processes to our operating environment. Our work has led to the development of the ADNOC Group standard process for the qualification of new technologies. The process uses NASA's Technology Readiness Level (TRL) tool as a backbone structure in its development. Strategically positioned Stage Gates with Key Performance Parameters are utilized to assess the maturity and inherent risk associated with each new technology as it is allowed to advance from one stage of development to the next with better performance. We are integrating the new process into our research and development project contracts with partner universities so as to positively influence the maturity of our new technologies and hence enhance the chance of success of our technology development efforts by bridging the gap between the stage gates. The standard process has been pilot tested throughout 2015, with full deployment targeted for Q2 2016. The new technology qualification process benefits from the collective experiences of our operating companies, their International Shareholders and qualified service companies. The process was developed to be specific to the local environment and most responsive to the relevant technical challenges of each of our OPCOs. It allows only technologies with managed risk and improved performance to reach Operations.