Value of LEAN Mentality with Trailer Mounted Well Test Unit in the Sultanate of Oman

Abstract

Abstract LEAN originated with Toyota in Japan as a means of driving efficiency across the value chain by making often small-scale changes and has since been further refined into a system used by businesses across the world aiming to do more for less. PDO first piloted the LEAN approach in 2009 and has since rolled it out across all aspects of the business, streamlining work procedures, reducing bureaucracy, eradicating inefficiency, avoiding duplication of activities and eliminating waste. To facilitate the adoption of the LEAN culture, PDO developed a training program for the workforce. Relevant training courses such as LEAN Basics, LEAN Manager and LEAN Practitioner were launched. Most of the company received LEAN Basics training. Managers attended the LEAN Manager course, while selected candidates that had an identified high value LEAN project that could be implemented, attended the LEAN Practitioner course. The training courses reached all levels of the company facilitating implementation of the LEAN projects, but most importantly, the upskill of the workforce empowered them to actively look for ideas on how to work in a LEAN way. In addition to the main LEAN projects that required a certified LEAN practitioner for implementation, PDO encouraged people to come forward with LEAN ideas through a Continuous Improvement platform. Some of the Continuous Improvement ideas could be very easily implemented by the same people that came up with the idea while others would require involvement from higher management for implementation. The Continuous Improvement ideas are tracked by department. The cost saving and/or time liberation of each idea is recorded and monitored monthly, which has helped make it visible to all levels of the organization how everyone can contribute in a very critical time of the Oil and Gas industry. This paper describes the step change in operating costs for Well Testing Operations by adoption of the LEAN way of thinking in the Well Engineering department of PDO in the Sultanate of Oman.