E&P technology has only one customer: the well. Whatever the specific purpose of the technology or services required across the industry, it is basically in support of drilling, completing and maintaining the production well.
It seems to be only recently that the industry has realized what a demanding customer the oil well is. Not always has the ultimate purpose of it been clearly enough perceived. The purpose of the well is to contribute to the best possible depletion of a reservoir. Proper depletion of the reservoir is the industry's most important responsibility.
Every business is about pleasing customers-meeting their needs and desires at prices they can afford. Only then will they develop into loyal, life-long customers, and yield a healthy return on the investment made in them and in the products they need.
As a customer the oil well is not different, demanding the products and the services required for it to fulfill its purpose in life in the best possible way. Only then will it yield the healthy, long-term return on the investment made in meeting its needs.
Customers change. Generally they get more demanding and more sophisticated in their demands. That is a vital part of what is called progress. Like any progress it is driven by the market and its needs. As a customer, the well has perhaps changed more than average, become more demanding.
Today's technology has made it possible to design and construct a well with full consideration of its ultimate purpose in life, i.e. to help maximize the depletion of the reservoir. A well drilled with the support of the most advanced technology available today can find its way into the smallest, most intricate corners or pockets of a reservoir. Enhancing significantly a reservoir's recovery rate is entirely possible with today's technology.
But like any customer, the well will require continuous post-delivery services and spare parts. Re-entries and workovers are common requirements as a production well comes of age. It simply needs support to continue and finish its purpose in life.
The question becomes: does the industry treat the well with the respect it deserves, and with the services currently available for the maintenance of its health as a producer?
Not always.
The only possible excuse not to drill and complete a well that can help to enhance the recovery of oil in place in a reservoir, or not to take the measures necessary to maintain a well's productivity, is if the result of such measures does not justify the expense.
In the offshore arena it happens again and again. If, in order to drill into a pocket in a deepwater reservoir or to carry out required workover on a subsea completed well, you have to bring in a heavy-duty mobile rig at a dayrate of US $200,000, then you may well have a problem. As a result, proper reservoir depletion becomes prohibitive due to high costs.
This is possibly the single most critical unsolved issue as E&P activity moves into deeper waters. While in recent years the industry has brought wonderful new and advanced products to the customer - making possible much enhanced oil recovery as long as there is a permanent drilling facility in place - there are plenty of new potential customers (read: wells) for technology that allows the proper depletion of difficult, deepwater reservoirs.
It is all about pleasing the customer. We should remember who it is.

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