Technology and Security for New Digital Opportunities
The E&P business is one of the most highly technical and digitally intensive industries anywhere. For the past six years, the Gulf Coast Section of the Society of Petroleum Engineers has hosted the Digital Energy Conference, now firmly established as the leading annual industry event focused on how digital technologies help to create value for exploration and production. At this annual event, energy operators and technology providers have convened to exchange ideas that have the potential to enable new opportunities for the discovery on oil and gas resources, added business value and reduced operating costs.
Slated to be held April 11-12, 2007 at the George R. Brown Convention Center in Houston, this year’s conference features a program of information sessions, roundtables and industry panels that will explore and share solutions for enhancing business performance in upstream oil and gas. For the first time, the Digital Energy technical sessions will present formal papers that were carefully selected from a large number of submissions to reflect the specific focus areas of the conference. Technical session chairs are themselves thought leaders in these domains and will add their own insights to the presentations.
New for this event is the inclusion of a third content track devoted largely to security topics and issues. As digital technologies become more pervasive in business operations, so does the requirement to more rigorously manage the security aspects of the new digital enterprise. This expansion reflects the growing importance of security in digital energy and how it will evolve within energy companies going forward.
Key areas for the technical program include:
- Asset Management/Portfolio Optimization
- Technology Adoption (Change Management/Knowledge Management)
- Improved Planning and Collaboration
- Information and Data Management
- Drilling Operations
- Production Operations Monitoring and Surveillance
- Real-Time Production Optimization (Parts 1 & 2)
- Securing the Digital Oilfield
- Security Architecture - Removing the Perimeter
- Systems Integration, Interoperability and Infrastructure
- Security in Business
Keynote Sessions
On the morning of the first day of the conference, two separate keynote addresses by industry leaders will be presented. Rounding out the morning’s keynote sessions will be a keynote luncheon at which Phiroz Darukhanavala, Vice President and Chief Technical Officer for BP, will provide the keynote luncheon address.
CIO Roundtable and Executive Roundtable
One of the highlights of the conference is the CIO Roundtable on Thursday morning, April 12. Gary Masada, IT Company President and CIO of Chevron, will moderate a panel of senior executives from producing companies. Issues to be covered include the intersection of IT systems between the surface and sub-surface environment, activities in cyber security (including an update on Homeland Security) and the growing need to have professionals in IT who have both E&P and IT knowledge and expertise.
Later in the day, the Executive Roundtable session will convene at mid-afternoon and will be moderated by Don Paul, Vice President and CTO of Chevron. In addition to continuation of the morning roundtable agenda, topics to be addressed include how digital technologies support the globalization of E&P, the role and evolution of high performance computing and a look at the evolution of the connected, collaborative E&P enterprise.
Emerging Trends Luncheon
Four parallel sessions on Day 2 will provide insight through panel discussion into areas of topical interest to the evolution of Digital Energy. Attendees will have the opportunity to both learn from the experts and participate in a Q&A session with the panelists and moderators. Participation is included in all conference registrations; topics to be covered are:
- High-Performance Computing
- Beyond Production Monitoring - Model-Centric versus Data-Centric Surveillance
- Predictive Analytics - Going Beyond Real Time
- The Energy Renaissance
In-depth information on the keynotes and the chairs for each of the sessions may be found on the conference website at www.spe.org/dec07.
Technical Sessions in Depth
Asset Management/Portfolio Optimization
Digital technologies provide the capability to optimize an asset’s performance from the reservoir through the gas plant using a single process. Integrated modeling and portfolio analysis issues will be discussed to provide participants with an overview of the tools they need to make better decisions, improve production rates, and lengthen field lifespan.
Topical areas include Data Visibility, Online Integrated Asset Models with Map-based Visualization in BP’s North America Gas Operations and Integrating Production Operations and Economics under Uncertain Conditions.
Technology Adoption, Change Management and Knowledge Management
Technology enables knowledge to be shared in ways which improve productivity and asset performance. However, the replacements for the retiring workforce are distributed globally. Connecting the experience and knowledge between the two will present technology and work process challenges requiring new ideas and approaches to change management.
Included among the topics scheduled for discussion are BP’s Field of the Future Program: Planning for Success, Deployment of Advanced Collaborative Environments at Scale in BP’s North Sea Operations and Technical Knowledge Management Systems: Discreet Software Modules Provide An Affordable, Rapidly Deployed Alternative Solution To A Fully Integrated Approach.
Improved Planning and Collaboration
Capturing information once and re-using it as often as required is a goal for most companies. Digital technology and the ability to share data in many applications are improving business understanding and performance.
This session will tackle such topics as Advanced Collaboration Environments in Practice in BP’s Gulf of Mexico operations, Effective “Just In Time” Data Integration: The Cased-Hole/Open-Hole Composite Log and Success Stories and Lessons Learned in Sustainable Integrated Asset Modeling in North of Monagas, Venezuela.
Drilling Operations
Drilling is always a major focus because of its high costs, risks and the way in which it defines the subsurface for production. Using digital technologies create real value through improved operating and lowered costs.
Among the topics examined in this always well-attended session will be Real-time Drilling - Operations Excellence Delivered, e-Drilling: A System for Real-Time Drilling Simulation, 3D Visualization and Control, and Computational Geometry as an Aid to Data Analysis of Drilling Data.
Production Operations Monitoring and Surveillance
Being operationally down for even a short period of time can have profound financial consequences. At this session, attendees will learn how operators monitor field equipment and well performance with the help of technology. Better yet, they will learn how operators improved the bottom line.
Topics include Production Intelligence: Keys To Monitoring And Surveillance For The Oil And Gas Producer, Engineering Workflows for Production Surveillance and Optimization, and DTS Transient Analysis: A New Tool to Assess Well Flow Dynamics.
Real-Time Production Optimization
Digital technology is continuing to have profound effects on optimizing field production performance by capturing field data through real-time systems. On Thursday, two sessions will explore numerous production optimization topics.
In Part 1, topics include Application of fieldofthefutureTM to BP’s North American Gas Operations, Smart Fields Foundations at Shell and Successful Application of Integrated Digital Automation System for Production Optimization in North San Juan Basin.
Discussions will continue in the afternoon with Part 2, including: A System for Continuous Reservoir Simulation Model Updating and Forecasting, ISIS Monitoring the Health of BP’s Wells in Real Time, and Closing the Gap Between Reservoir Modeling and Production Optimization.
Securing the Digital Oilfield
Security will receive considerable attention at this year’s conference. Attendees at this session will gain insight and advice on topics including Securing the Field Wireless Network, Identity Management Federation and Secure Collaboration through commercially available applications such as Groove and SharePoint.
Security Architecture - Removing the Perimeter
The foundations for creating a secure yet open enterprise will be addressed in this session. The focus will be on workflow, data exchange and standards and their role in enabling flexible yet secure security architecture.
Discussion topics include: Oilfield Ontology Network and Securing Petrotechnical Applications from a Workflow Prospective
Systems Integration, Interoperability and Infrastructure
Integration is key to maximizing the value of existing information while enabling the reuse of existing applications and infrastructure. Advances including SOA and web services are enabling companies to integrate in new ways while permitting broader data access.
Discussions will center on BP’s Field of the Future Program in Azerbaijan regarding integrating the value chain to maximize business value, Information Architecture Strategy for Oilfield of the Future, IT Infrastructure Transformation to Support E&P Workflows, and Increased Drilling Efficiency Through a Web-Based WITSML Monitoring and Data Delivery System
Security in Business
This session provides a review of compliance and assessments for IT infrastructure in business, with an update on homeland security initiatives.
Topics include Homeland Security Initiatives, Natural Disaster Preparedness: Best Practices, and Establishing a Culture of Accountability and Improved Safety Performance Through Implementation of a Management System Execution Framework.