Improve Your WELL
INTERVENTION PLANNING?
12 questions you need to consider
[checklist]
By: Christoffer Sørensen
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Executive Summary 3
2. About the Author 4
3. What is Intervention Planning Today? 5
What is Well Intervention? 5
How is Well Intervention Completed Today? 8
4. Why is Well Intervention Important? 10
5. Alternative Methodology for Intervention Plannning 13
Data-Driven Intervention Planning 13
Digtialization of Work Processes 16
Collaborative End-to-End Solution 17
6. Reader’s Checklist
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1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This paper aims to explain “What you can do to improve how you
plan your Well Intervention Operations.”
Well interventions are becoming more of a focus for energy
companies looking to maximise the production of existing wells
in times where environmental concerns over drilling new wells are
increasing. Planning for these interventions is still often a
manual task, so we investigate how digitalisation of the process
can reduce planning time and significantly reduce errors from use
of unapproved data.
Some of the ideal methods which can be used to improve
Well Intervention planning include:
• Continuous Improvement Cycles: By connecting plans to
executions and then capturing experiences which are used
in future plans; this enables reliable efficiency gains to be
made again and again over time.
• Digital Work Processes: Consistent plans, progress
monitoring, automation, transparency and efficient
retrospective are all key benefits from implementing
digital work processes.
• Collaborative solutions: Effective communication with better
teamwork across disciplines and companies is enabled by
collaborative platforms which make working together more
streamlined and intuitive.
Look at the final section where there is a checklist
encouraging you to reflect on how you currently work and
highlight any common signs for improvement.
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2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Christoffer Sorensen has been the North Sea Business
Development Manager for Stimline since 2019 and has
been involved in the Well Intervention industry since 2012.
Having first started as a Coiled Tubing Field Engineer for
Schlumberger, Christoffer has been involved in all stages of
planning, executing and evaluating Intervention jobs both in
the field and in client offices.
Christoffer’s passion for new technology and innovative solutions
has seen him setting records in the North Sea and planning world
firsts in West Africa. The focus for him now is to continue to
understand the challenges that Energy Companies are having and
demonstrate how Stimline’s solutions are already delivering
value to current customers.
04
3. WHAT IS INTERVENTION
PLANNING TODAY?
3.1 What Is Well Intervention?
Every hydrocarbon producing field depends on high up-time in
order to deliver value according to a promised depletion plan.
To ensure this required uptime, both producing and injecting wells
rely on maintenance throughout their lifespan, commonly referred
to as well intervention.
Well Intervention was previously considered a high risk operation,
as the success rate was low and when issues arose, the impact
could be very costly.
However, the industry is in transition, with operators demanding
higher performance as they turn their focus to well intervention
for lost-cost production improvements and service companies are
now capable of delivering more reliable and complex solutions to
solve many intervention challenges.
Today, there are numerous methods of well intervention that are
designed to increase the productivity of a well or to restore
productivity to original levels. The optimal choice of method is
often field or well specific and may vary depending on the life
stage of the well.
However, the objectives can generally be summarized into
3 main categories:
• Increasing or restoring production;
• Fixing well integrity issues; or
• Surveillance
05
A range of solutions can be deployed to meet these objectives
using wireline, tractor, coiled tubing or hydraulic workover
methods. Typical tasks include:
• Stimulation
• Setting or pulling of plugs and valves
• Clearing debris
• Conducting surveys
• Logging
• Scale removal
• Perforating
• Cementing, and
• Fishing
Interventions such as these can be complex and time-consuming
and the primary goal for intervention teams is to conduct them as
quickly as possible, while maintaining the highest health, safety
and environment standards.
Each well intervention job must therefore be planned in detail
before the job is carried out to maximise the chance of success.
06
Interventions can be complex
and time-consuming and
the primary goal for intervention
teams is to conduct them as quickly
as possible, while maintaining
the highest health, safety and
environment standards.
3.2 How Is Well Intervention Planning
Completed Today?
When planning an intervention operation, there are many factors
that need to be evaluated to develop the best plan, in terms of
cost, time and risk.
The planning team needs to consider standard operating
procedures, job objectives, available tools, conveyance methods,
details of the target well and risks associated with the different
methods. In addition, they also need to learn from the experience
of past similar operations.
Currently the intervention team gathers relevant data for that well
and manually create a set of ranked and rated plans which will
then allow them to select the most effective and highest likelihood
for success.
This process is iterative and as there are many stakeholders, it
requires a lot of meetings and follow up to communicate new
information along the process.
08
The well intervention plans that are prepared typically include:
• A job summary, including number of runs required,
estimated run duration and total job duration
• A detailed job procedure according to company
requirements
• An estimated relative total cost for the operation (P10, P50,
P90)
• The Bottom Hole Assembly (BHA) tool details and cable /
coiled tubing specs
• A summary of simulation results, such as tubing forces
analyses and hydraulics analyses that shows that the job
can reliably and safely be completed
• All relevant risk factors with mitigation and prevention
actions relevant for the job
• Any relevant lessons learned from previous jobs
Collecting this amount of information and data from diverse data
sources, often across departments, makes this a time-consuming
task.
When they finally have all of the information aggregated, they can
then prepare a step-by-step procedure for the operational team to
execute against in order to deliver the objectives for the well.
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4. WHY IS WELL INTERVENTION
PLANNING IMPORTANT?
Until recently, the industry has considered improved drilling
methods, better reservoir modelling, and production optimization
technologies to be the principal cost drivers in oil and gas
operations and many of the efforts to make production gains
have focused on these areas.
Recently, however, some energy companies have found that
there are great untapped opportunities in well intervention.
New software tools and a more data-driven approach to
managing oil and gas operations have enabled companies
to improve collaboration during planning and operations;
learn important lessons; capture best practices and integrate
data streams.
These enhancements help companies to optimize performance
during well interventions and thus minimize the time a well is off
production.
A presentation at a recent Intervention & Coiled Tubing
Association (ICoTA) meeting in Aberdeen explained how a
North Sea Operator developed and applied more effective
intervention strategies to enhance performance.
Over a few years, and despite falling oil prices, they had
conducted more well intervention jobs in the North Sea.
10
Production Delivery from Well Intervention Work Recognise
12 the cashflow
benefits of the
10
programme
8 - how quickly
does it pay
6
back?
4
0
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5
Repair Well Interventions Enhancement Well Interventions
Reported rates are first 12 months production after wellwork activity,
including effects of operating efficiency.
Figure 1: Over 5 years, the Operator had increased the proportion of enhancement projects it
conducts as part of its well intervention activities.
The complexity of the well tasks being performed had increased
and, while repair work remained an important part of the strategy,
the company had placed a much greater emphasis on
enhancement jobs (Figure 1).
This focus on getting the most from existing assets has helped
them drive down production deferrals over four years. They
attribute the success of this approach to:
• Detailed tracking of performance enhancements
• A simplified workflow process that reduces the time
engineers spend chasing paper
• Effective ways to capture important lessons; and
• The creation of a regional well intervention team
If energy companies and service companies can dramatically
lower well intervention planning time this directly impacts the
associated cost, increases productivity, and contributes
to the creation of fit-for-purpose well intervention plans.
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New software tools and a more
data-driven approach to managing
oil and gas operations have enabled
companies to improve
collaboration during planning and
operations; learn important
lessons; capture best practices
and integrate data streams.
5. ALTERNATIVE METHODOLOGY
FOR INTERVENTION PLANNING
5.1 Data-Driven Intervention Planning
Many oil and gas wells have long and complicated histories.
Over the course of its lifetime, a well may be subjected to several
interventions from different service companies and numerous
crews planned by different engineers. Understanding and
recording the changes, whether they relate to structural
modifications, an altered operating envelope, or
adjustments to production potential, is crucial.
Having access to information from earlier rounds of intervention
helps operators to understand the current condition of the well,
predict the results of planned changes and decide which of the
possible intervention tools or strategies would be most
cost-effective.
If historical data is not readily available, the operator’s team may
spend a lot of time on locating it. Until now, teams involved in
planning and running well intervention jobs have had to manually
retrieve information about past jobs and find reports to remind
them of what they did, why they did it and what happened. Then,
once they had brought all of these data together, they had to
decide what was relevant for the jobs they were planning.
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Some energy companies are exploring the application of new
digital technologies to their well interventions, thus actively collect
and store production and intervention data in this domain.
They wish to validate whether this approach has the potential to
streamline future intervention planning and, therefore, to optimize
production in the long term. The key to achieving these operatio-
nal benefits is having access to high quality data that can be sha-
red across disciplines, replacing traditional data resources that are
frequently outdated, misplaced or forgotten.
The aim is to optimize intervention jobs by reducing the time re-
quired for planning, ensuring that the correct method has been
selected. For this to be possible, you need to be able to collate
and analyze data from previous jobs, and to capture and store the
experiences of asset teams, crews and service companies that
are relevant to the well, field or region. Having these data available
from a reliable and easily accessible source, enables companies
to understand more clearly the challenges they face, to plan effe-
ctively and optimize the running of future intervention jobs.
A systematic approach to capturing and using well intervention
data can allow companies to easily replicate successful strategies
and reap the benefits over the lifetime of an asset. Bringing data
and analytical tools into one integrated package is the first step
towards optimizing performance in this critical area.
Today, operators can more easily apply digital technologies
and make full use of the data storage and sharing power of the
Cloud. Increased availability of data, the emergence of power-
ful, commercially available visualization tools, and the option to
access data securely through web browsers mean that efficiency
improvements can now be achieved at a much lower cost.
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A systematic approach to capturing
and using well intervention data
can allow companies to easily
replicate successful strategies and
reap the benefits over the lifetime
of an asset. Bringing data and
analytical tools into one integrated
package is the first step towards
optimizing performance in this
critical area.
5.2 The Digitalization of Work Processes
While manual work processes, often in combination with digital
databases ensure a systematic and controlled collection and sys-
tematization of data, a full digital solution with a workflow tool em-
bedded, could be considered to both save time and avoid human
error.
A workflow defines the steps involved in the process of getting
work done. Specifically for planning well intervention operati-
ons, the workflow would be the series of tasks that needs to be
completed in a specific sequence to deliver a plan ready for exe-
cution.
Workflows are useful for ensuring that important processes are
done the right way every time. Since the workflow is clear and
visible, it helps all team members better understand the process
and makes planning more efficient. Furthermore, it can help ne-
wer team members grasp quickly what needs to be done and
also clearly identify what is missing, or if there is an issue with the
planning process.
Immediate access to information increases transparency within
your organization and empowers your employees by allowing
them to make data-driven decisions. Furthermore, as digital work-
flows make it possible to assign tasks and monitor the process, it
can have a positive effect on accountability and reduce the stress
of micromanagement. This increased accountability and transpa-
rency can lead to improved communication between team mem-
bers.
The paper trail with traditional planning which often time-consu-
ming to utilize, can now be replaced with a digital trail that cle-
arly shows the record of decisions, actions taken as well as the
entire timeline for efficient retrospective. This makes it possible
for teams to automate a significant amount of the work, such as
automated approvals and notifications.
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5.3 A Collaborative End-to-End Solution
Good intervention planning lays the foundation for excellent exe-
cution. Similarly, planning is improved by the lessons and expe-
rience that is gained from previous operations with effective
analysis of those successes and failures. As you are well aware
of, planning is not an isolated task, but needs to be considered as
part of a continuous cycle of improvement.
Planning solutions therefore could benefit from being built accor-
dingly by making historical data easily accessible, and also deliver
the required information for execution. By doing so, it becomes
possible to quickly find and ingest lessons learned, as well as use
that insight from previous jobs to produce and improve new digital
plans for execution.
Planning improves with good collaboration. It is therefore a benefit
when all stakeholders work effectively as a team and produce the
required deliverables. In order to accomplish this, it is essential
that all parties have access to the necessary information needed
to complete their tasks.
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Digital collaboration is the practice of people working together
through online means such as software-as-a-solution (SaaS) plat-
forms. Instead of teams only communicating and working togeth-
er in person, they are able to rely on digital tools to address many
of their collaborative needs.
Some organizations use digital collaboration to supplement
their day-to-day, onsite operations. Others, such as remote-only
companies, practice digital collaboration exclusively—making vi-
deo calls, sharing documents, and managing projects in the cloud.
This is especially important when team members are physically
distant from each other. Communication, project/task manage-
ment, efficient file sharing, auditability, access privileges and se-
curity are all key for collaboration.
Communication, project/task
management, efficient file
sharing, auditability, access
privileges and security are all
key for good collaboration.
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Digital collaboration can help well intervention teams become
more organized and increase productivity. Instead of sending
emails with files back and forth, digital collaboration allows for
easy tracking of workflows. As such, you can help avoid those
situations where people are unsure if they are working on the
most recent version of the file. Furthermore, by working through
a digital collaboration platform, it becomes easier for all team
members and stakeholders to understand and view the project
in its entirety.
This type of collaboration is especially beneficial when working
with cross-functional teams (team members from different
departments and companies), which is increasingly common
when planning Well Intervention operations. The culture of the
“One-Team” approach is increasing in popularity as operators and
service companies increase the exposure of team members to
decisions and areas that they were not engaged with before.
The aim is to bring teams closer together in order to ensure all
stakeholders are involved in relevant decisions and for this
collaboration is key.
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6. READER’S CHECKLIST
So what do you do next? In order to gauge your level of
planning capability right now consider the points in the
checklist we have collected for you.
If it seems too familiar to you, new solutions are available
to improve the well intervention planning workflow in
your organization.
In our second content offer, we’ll explain our experience
working with Operators who are investing heavily in creating
innovative digital collaboration platforms for Well Intervention
Planning and how they see the benefits realized in more
efficient operations and therefore more productivity
from their wells. You can find this paper here.
For now, read through the checklist, which you can find
on the next page.
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• 1. Do you collect, review and input well data (such as completion info,
well integrity and well trajectory data, historical production) by hand into
multiple apps and software packages?
• 2. Do you need to continuously update cost and time estimations ba-
sed on new information that you receive?
• 3. When preparing the well intervention program and operational che-
cklists is this a manual copy and paste effort requiring multiple reviews
to ensure it is quality checked?
• 4. Do you hold many meetings and write a lot of emails to stakeholders
including service providers, internal business units and other stakehol-
ders.
• 5. Are you manually copying and documenting all decisions in multiple
apps and emails?
• 6. Have you ever experienced that the wrong data was used during
planning and resulted in lost time during the execution?
• 7. Would you say that you lose time tracking and quality checking the
source of data used during planning?
• 8. Is your team good at capturing experiences and lessons learned but
it is difficult to keep track of all those cases when planning a new ope-
ration?
• 9. Do you depend on version control to make sure you use the most
updated standard operating procedures?
• 10. Would you say that you are efficient at planning a well intervention
operation?
• 11. Are you spending more than 20% of your planning time colle-
cting data?
• 12. Do you have data from previous operations, are you improving your
operations based on previous experiences?
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