Focused Research Opportunities

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Focused Research Opportunities
Atlantic Energy Roundtable RD Sub-Committee

• Atlantic Canada Petroleum Related Research and
  Development
• Public Stakeholders Forum
• Ahmed Ewida
• Petro-Canada East Coast Engineering Technology
• Co-Chair AER RD Sub-Committee
• September 28, 2004

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Focused Research OpportunitiesPresentation
Outline

• Background Information
• Identification of Atlantic Canada Petroleum RD
  Opportunities
• Description of Specific Research Opportunities
• Summary and Conclusions

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Focused Research OpportunitiesBackground
Information

• In Oct. 2003, the Industrial Opportunities Task
  Force of the Atlantic Energy Roundtable (AER)
  recommended the formation of a strategic,
  petroleum related research and development (RD)
  plan for Atlantic Canada.
• The plan was to identify industry RD needs,
  assess regional RD capabilities and establish
  priorities to maximize benefit to the region in
  the short, medium and long term.
• The RD sub-committee of the AER developed a work
  plan and schedule and the work was executed
  during the first and second quarters of 2004.
• Purpose of this presentation is to share the
  results of this work with the local RD community
  stakeholders.

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Identification of Atlantic Canada Petroleum RD
Opportunities

• The identification of Atlantic Canada petroleum
  research and development opportunities was
  focused on the following tasks
• Identification and Assessment of Industry RD
  Challenges / Needs
• Review of local RD activities and capabilities
• Gap Analysis and Opportunity Assessment
• Objective was to identify and define focused
  research areas that reflect industry needs.
• To identify industry RD challenges needs,
  interviews were held with a large group of
  individuals representing a cross-section of the
  industry
• Operators as well as service companies
  regulators were interviewed
• Interviews were held in Calgary, Halifax and St.
  Johns
• Wherever possible, in-person interviews were
  conducted

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Identification of Atlantic Canada Petroleum RD
Opportunities

• The interviews identified several general
  industry challenges as well as a variety of
  specific areas where focused research would be
  beneficial.
• Two underlying themes emerged
• The need to improve regional prospectivity
• The need to reduce exploration and production
  costs for potential future developments
• The RD subcommittee developed a process to
  assess the raw-data from the industry
  interviews and to summarize the various RD needs
  that were identified.

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Identification of Atlantic Canada Petroleum RD
Opportunities

• Evaluation process involved the application of
  selection criteria to each potential research
  topic.
• Two tiers of selection criteria established
• Tier I weighted criteria
• Tier II non-weighted subjective criteria
• Tier I criteria
• Identified by more than 1 interviewee?
• Strategically important to region, major economic
  and financial benefits?
• Applicable to more than one research area?

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Identification of Atlantic Canada Petroleum RD
Opportunities

• Tier II criteria
• Local capability and capacity?
• Will lack of research create a Show Stopper?
• Alignment with Exploration / Development Cycle?
• Alignment with other research opportunity areas?
• Anticipated cost of research?
• Export potential?
• Resulted in identification of 13 focus research
  areas.
• These focus research areas were then validated
  through subsequent discussions with industry.

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Description of Specific Research Opportunities
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Description of Specific Research Opportunities -
Examples

• Development of Marginal Fields
• Applicable to add-on developments as well as
  stand-alone developments with challenging
  economics.
• Major drivers include overcoming technology
  challenges and reducing development operating
  costs.
• Asset Integrity
• Asset Integrity is important to ensure operations
  at top quartile efficiency and cost.
• Involves optimization of operating costs by
  improving the reliability and safety of
  production gathering processing facilities.
• Areas of interest include structural, mechanical,
  electrical and control systems of a development.

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Description of Specific Research Opportunities -
Examples

• Flow Assurance
• Flow Assurance involves ensuring hydrocarbons
  will flow from the reservoir to the production
  facilities.
• Involves flowline sizing, flowline insulation
  requirements, wax and hydrate management
  processes, etc.
• Applicable to any type of offshore development
• Shallow deep-water, oil gas reservoirs, heavy
  oil, etc.
• Deepwater Development
• Potential for significant reserves
• Initial research efforts could focus on
• Improved reservoir understanding
• Seismic interpretation
• Understanding of deepwater metocean environment
• Offshore Atlantic Canada combines deepwater with
  a harsh environment

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Description of Specific Research Opportunities -
Examples

• Offshore Safety
• Safety must be at the fore-front of any offshore
  development.
• Research into behavior of existing evacuation
  systems in harsh environments.
• Research into improved evacuation systems for
  application in harsh environments.
• Ice Design and Management
• Ice-structure interaction / ice loads for fixed
  and floating systems.
• Iceberg detection and management in heavy sea
  states.
• Ice risk analysis.

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Summary and Conclusions

• Through focused discussions with industry, the
  RD sub-committee has identified several
  petroleum research and development opportunities
  that would be beneficial for future discussions
  with the Atlantic Canada research community.
• The identified research areas cover a wide
  spectrum of potential research applications
• Add-ons / marginal field developments
• Stand-alone developments
• Deepwater developments
• Gas developments

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Summary and Conclusions

• The petroleum industry is very dynamic and needs
  may change in the future. Regular communication
  between researchers and industry is key to ensure
  industry research challenges needs are
  communicated and discussed.
• Focused petroleum related RD is a key component
  to a sustainable Atlantic Canada petroleum
  industry.
• Petroleum related RD increases regional
  opportunities, enhances regional competitiveness
  and promotes a more attractive business
  environment.