Anadarko Petroleum – using Primavera for project planning
Feature Articles, Nov  27  2009 (Digital Energy Journal)

- Anardarko Petroleum uses Oracle’s Primavera software for project planning and co-ordination, including making sure it makes best use of its available rigs and avoids conflicts. This is how it works

Anadarko Petroleum, one of the world’s largest independent oil companies with annual revenues of $15.9bn, uses Oracle’s Primavera software to help make best use of its drilling rigs, avoid conflicts and keep its exploration teams co-ordinated with its drilling teams, with all data kept in a central database.

A coiled tubing drilling rig is illuminated at dusk in Anadarko's Wattenberg field.

Anardarko has operations in the Gulf of Mexico, onshore in the US, Algeria and China, among other places.

It uses Oracle’s Primavera P6 solution.

Partly as a result of using the software, “we are working in a much more collaborative environment,” says John Reno, project management professional, area project advisor, with Anadarko Petroleum Corporation.

“Oracle’s Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management gives us shared resources across multiple entities, which is critical when scheduling the high-value assets we operate,” he says.

Challenges

The company has seven deepwater drilling rigs in its fleet: three dynamically positioned, three semisubmersible moored, and one semisubmersible dynamically positioned.

Storms and unexpected currents can mean schedules need to be changed very quickly.

In 2006 it acquired two companies, Western Gas Resources, which has assets and infrastructure in the Rocky Mountain region, and Kerr-McGee, which has operations in deepwater Gulf of Mexico and other parts of the world.

Anadarko had to work out how to merge the assets and systems together, to make best use of its available rigs.

It has to match each drilling target with the vessel best suited to drill it, based on the rig’s limitations and drilling capacity.

The restrictions are quite complex. For example, dynamically positioned rigs can work in bad weather or shifting currents, even during the hurricane season, whilst moored rigs must be specific distances from existing platforms and pipelines during the hurricane season.

The rigs are used in delineation drilling, development drilling and completions.

A particular challenge is integrating the work of different departments and avoiding conflict.

“For example, an installation vessel can’t be installing subsea flowlines while the drill ship is drilling in the same area,” says Mr Reno. “The integrated schedule allows us to easily identify these conflicts and plan accordingly.”

“It also allows us to identify when we need long lead-time components for our subsea infrastructure projects, some of which must be ordered 18 months in advance.”

“Every month of production is worth millions of dollars, so it’s important that we have tight integration between the various areas of our operations,” he says.

Software

Oracle’s Primavera P6 Enterprise Project Portfolio Management is used to manage the complex schedules. “As volatile as the rig schedules can be, this integration enables the construction schedules to tie in all critical completion dates, making requirements and progress visible,” says Mr Reno.

The solution is also used for Anardarko’s planning sessions, which takes place in its “operations intelligence centre,” where the different stakeholders involved work together to refine the scheduled activities.

“With this system, we can get everyone together to review and update schedules and project items,” says Mr Reno. “We can prioritize drilling activities on multiple rigs, and we can build in our lease expiration dates. We can, for example, do ‘what-if’ analysis to prepare for unforeseen changes in rig availability.”

The software is used to co-ordinate the activities of different departments, identifying interface points and possible conflicts.

In the future, Anardarko expects to integrate its project management tools more with back-office systems including document management and enterprise resource planning.

It also plans to expand its use of Primavera’s web-based capabilities, integrating Primavera dashboards with the company’s existing dashboards for use by people within various levels of the organization.

“Today, we are working in a much more collaborative environment,” says Mr Reno. “The fact that everything is in one enterprise database delivers connectivity across regions, zones, and asset areas.

“In all, the solution’s project integration capabilities add tremendous value to Anadarko.”

Oracle in oil and gas

Oracle has developed a number of different software tools for the oil and gas industry. It’s software is used by 49 of the world’s top 50 energy companies, and over 200 E&P companies. It is the only software company on the US National Petroleum Council.

Oracle also participates on the board of PPDM (Professional Petroleum Data Management Association), and collaborates with the SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) IT Technical Committee, PESA (Petroleum Equipment Suppliers Association) and Texas A&M University’s Oil & Gas RFID Solution Group.

Its Business Intelligence Suite can be used for analysis and reporting, combining information from multiple sources, including operational, production, PI, supply chain, HSE, and financial data. Companies can analyse each well, asset and field at any time.

It also has a number of partnerships with other software companies.

For oilfield decision support systems-exploration & engineering. Oracle is partnering with Schlumberger‘s Merak Decision Toolkit, Halliburton/Landmark’s DecisionSpace, Landmark’s Reservoir Management, Paradigm Geophysical, and Seismic Micro-technology. That includes cost, readiness, support, 3-D imaging, visual centers, and downhole data acquisition.

For GIS Spatial. Oracle is partnering with ESRI, Leica Geosystems, and Thincsoft.

For mobile workforce management. Oracle is partnering with VentureForth, Shipcom, Motorola/Symbol, Intermec, LXE, and Psion Teklogix. That includes application mobility, wireless communications, handhelds, RFID, GPS, GIS, and communication security.

For financial, tax and audit software, Oracle partners with software company P2Energy, including for land management, production management, revenue management, joint interest accounting, field data capture, proven possible reserves, royalties and taxes.

For trading and risk management, Oracle is partnering with Sungard Energy’s Entegrate & Entegrate Gas, Solarc’s RightAngle, and Allegro 8.0. That includes Trading/hedging policies, commodity risk exposure.

For staff development, Oracle is partnering with Synergi. That includes Training needs, professional certifications, employee record access, and performance review procedures.

For Health, Safety and Environment compliance, Oracle is partnering with Enviromax/HIS. That includes HSE reporting requirements, staff certification, SCADA feeds, and wireless communications.

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