Page 10: of Offshore Engineer Magazine (May/Jun 2019)

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LEADING OFF West Africa “CHEVRON’S DECLINE RATE

IS 3% TO 5% ANNUALLY.”

JITENDRA KIKANI

CHEVRON AFRICA AND LATIN

AMERICA EXPLORATION AND

PRODUCTION

Below: Chevron’s Okan Platform in Nigeria was built in 1963. Chevron is the third largest oil producer in Nigeria.

Source: Chevron ? elds employs all the underlying technologies bundled under because it offers the ability to collaborate across functions “well reliability and optimization” that has reservoir surveil- and locations while providing real-time access to operational lance as the centerpiece, according to the company. Kikani data, the company says. In Angola, managing water and gas says the company maintains longevity at its ? elds by produc- for injection and gas for lift across multiple ? elds improves ing reservoirs at the right volumes, rates and cuts. This is production performance. This can only be done with clear achieved through surveillance activities such as regular rate understanding of pipeline speci? cations, volume constraints, testing of the well stock, downhole and wellhead pressure sourcing and availability of injection and surplus gas, well acquisition including the use of real time instrumentation and capacities and requires participation across the board in real- sampling of both produced and injected ? uids. Innovative time all the way from production operations and facilities to methods allow Chevron to implement some of these surveil- asset management personnel, according to the company.

lance technologies in a cost-effective manner for older ? elds, Using real-time monitoring, Chevron was able to save the company says. more than $6 million in a six-month period at the Sonam “Reservoir monitoring is dependent on all the components gas condensate ? eld offshore Nigeria last year by optimizing working,” Kikani says, so cross-functional teams work closely the choke settings, improving completions strategy, reducing together to use data effectively and prevent bottlenecks. lost production opportunities and blending the production

One example of this teamwork is integrated operations cen- stream, Kikani says. ters, which allow experts on rigs and regional of? ces to col- Blend optimization is necessary when there are contami- laborate on real-time operations data. The Chevron Angola nants such as sulfur in the production stream. By knowing the integrated operations center is critical to successful operations production and composition contribution from the different 10 OFFSHORE ENGINEER OEDIGITAL.COM