Today, the UK’s oil and gas industry faces arguably the most challenging period in its turbulent history.
According to Oil & Gas UK, capital investment, which reached a record high of £14.4 billion in 2013, is expected to fall by more than half to about £7 billion by 2016, unless the rate of maturing new developments increases.
Production from assets, many working well beyond their design life expectancy, fell by 38% between 2010 and 2013. That downturn in production equates to a drop of around 500 MMboe over the period and resulted in lower tax receipts of approximately £6 billion for the Treasury.
In exploration, just 15 wells were drilled on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) in 2013, compared to 44 in 2008, a fact which highlights the critical nature of the sector’s situation.
But there are reasons for optimism. In 2020, the Department of Energy & Climate Change predicts that an estimated 70% of primary energy consumed in the UK will still come from oil and gas.
To meet these economic and operational challenges, we launched OPTION – Optimizing Oil Production by Novel Technology Integration – funded by the Danish InnovationsFonden and which is focused on integrating and optimizing reservoir and horizontal well simulation models to enhance oil production and recovery. A 1% increase in oil recovery from the Danish fields represents a value of €8 billion to the Danish economy. Imagine a similar approach here in UKCS and the benefits this would bring?
Wellscope technology by LR Senergy pioneers flow modelling from within the reservoir, up the well bore and through the topside process – providing the ultimate production optimization tool for operators.
Our latest product launch, the next generation of our RBMI asset management software, takes a risk based approach to help operators reduce their costs. These are techniques that have been used offshore extensively that focus on checking the right things at the right time. We have been able to reduce inspection costs by about 50% and improve production or uptime by about 20% for many of our clients.
And, our investment with the University of Aberdeen has established a center for Safety & Reliability Engineering. Based in the School of Engineering, the center aims to provide a focus for world-class research and postgraduate teaching in safety and reliability engineering.
Find out more at Lloyd’s Register Energy on booth #C2100.
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