Define the Team

It is important that the team has the required experience and competence and that it is capable of working together with a good working relationship between parties. For the geothermal project, the following core team is proposed, where resources are on ad-hoc basis. Typical team could consist of:

Project Manager / Superintendent

Depending on the size and complexity, this can be one or two positions. Typical responsibilities include those of a conventional Drilling Superintendent. Line accountability in this structure is to the Project Management. All positions in the drilling team report directly to the Project Manager / Superintendent. This position will also manage the permitting process, and ensure compliance with regulations and Operator policy.

Drilling Engineer

Primarily responsible for the drilling programme, detailed planning, and engineering support during the execution of a project.Short term relief for Project Manager / Superintendent as well as participation in and coverage of the Well Engineer responsibilities are also included in this position. The Drilling Engineer will also manage the ongoing performance improvement plan, and carry out special studies.

Well Engineer / Supervisor

In order to ensure that there are adequate resources for all of the engineering responsibilities identified for the project, a second Engineer / Supervisor will typicaly be allocated.Responsibilities will include design of site and preparation, participation in all of the operational activities, including design meetings, programme reviewsetc, in order to ensure familiarity with current practices, recommended improvements, and decisions regarding delivering performance and achieving objectives.

HSE Advisor

It is of utmost importance this resource is available and it has the right level of experience and competences. Responsibilities are, among others, coordination of authority contact, support the project organisation HSE performance, assist in conducting risk analyses, evaluate risk analyses performed by service providers, prepare emergency and contingency plans, prepare safety statistics, prepare audit plans, conduct system audit on project activities and on service providers etc.

Other Resources

Some support in the area of contract, logistics and purchasing (or expediting) is considered necessary for the operation, as well as accounting and cost control assistance.

Well Objectives Reviews

In order to optimize the performance, it is essential that the drilling team has a thorough understanding of the performance drivers.Therefore, a review of project objectives from the perspective of the client, geologist, operations personnel, installation personnel etc. should be reviewed and the key well objectives ranked and documented. Without such a process, the performance focus can easily be aimed in a direction which does not address the more important project objectives.

Offset Well Reviews

A graphical format of offset well reviews has been developed in previous WellPerform projects, which has proven an effective way of recording well information and analyzing well performance and problems. This format can also be used for post well reviews.

Optimization Study

If there are a sufficient number of relevant offset operations, the Offset Well Reviews can be expanded into a comprehensive optimization study, which evaluates offset well performance in detail and which can be used to develop a performance model, establish performance targets, and identify improvement opportunities.

This tool is time consuming and requires sufficient time and resources, if it is to be applied from the start of a project.

Improvement Plans

This can be one of the products of the Optimization Study, or alternatively developed independently from an optimization study (optimization study will provide much better data to support particular improvement recommendations).

The improvement plan will be divided into 2 basic categories – one for rig tasks and job planning, and the other for well construction areas including well design, drilling practices, procedures, drilling parameters, and subsurface tools.

The first is managed and monitored on the rig-site, while the second is monitored and measured as part of the office-based performance measurement process.

Detailed Drilling Plan

After agreeing the most suitable well design and basic drilling programme (Basis of design), which meets the objectives of the project, a Detailed Drilling Plan including the authority required Drilling Programme will be prepared.

This plan will have multi-disciplinary input from the drilling engineers, drilling supervisors, rig contractor, service providers and other participants. It will include a step-by-step section prepared by the Drilling Engineer.

Detailed drilling plan review, DWOP and pre-spud meetings

In order to eliminate inconsistencies that frequently occur in a drilling plan or programmes (particularly for more detailed plans), as well as errors which may exist, and to enhance the common understanding among the drilling team and rig-site team of not only what is to be done, but how and why it is programmed as it is, a series of detailed drilling plan reviews will be conducted.

These will review all aspects of the plans (in various draft revisions) as a group, and may require several hours per review. After each review, a period of time will be allowed to update and improve the detailed plan, after which another review will occur.

Prior to issuing the final programme a Drill Well On Paper (DWOP) or Complete Well On Paper depending on the operation, will be conducted. This will be a multi disciplinary tasks with involvement by all relevant stakeholders including service providers.

A final review – a pre-spud meeting – will be held, prior to commencement of the operation.

Performance Measurement

Target setting and performance measurement are considered to be critical success factors. Performance targets will have greater credibility if they are supported by a thorough review of offset wells.

Capture Learnings

Operation will be reviewed regularly and learnings captured. As example, the daily morning call will be made by the drilling team and rig site team each morning at a consistent time. In addition to reviewing activities, the forum will be used for general discussion about forward plans, improvement opportunities identified, logistics optimisation, etc.

Learnings will be captured in a structured way and utilized in the planning process for other wells.

Also the risk assessment will continuously be updated and the comprehensive and up-to-date risk register is utilized for all new projects.