What a PT Should be Doing

Existing Wells

Daily monitoring of field/wells production

Make sure the wells are tested regularly coordinating with the production
department responsible for the fields and flowstations. From the tests monitor
water content, sand content, etc. Based on the result you will be recommending
the proper choke to meet your production and not to produce excess sand or
draw water fast.
Address issues that have affected production from a well for example the safety
valves trip, flowline leakage. These issues are to be followed up with relevant
departments to make sure the problem is fixed and the well opened up as soon
as possible.
Know historical performance of each drainage point in each well. This will give
you a production trend so that if you see sharp decline, you have to start
thinking what may have been responsible.
Maintain a Well Surveillance report document that will show Well No., String
(short or long), what reservoir it is completed on, bean size, gross production,
net production, water cut, gas-oil ratio, flowing tubing pressure, diagnosis of well
problem, recommendations, cumulative oil production from the reservoir, how
much oil is left for the drainage point in the particular well.
Evaluate the safety of your well; if not safe, recommend solution to make the
well safe
Understand the performance of the well by modeling with a well performance
software
Modeling may indicate well is damaged
Evaluate the means of removing damage; do you need acid stimulation, CT
clean-out, solvent wash, or re-perforation?
Recommend wells for BHP tests to monitor reservoir pressure and flow efficiency
Interpret results of test for flow efficiency. Test may indicate skin damage, etc.
Recommend rigless intervention activity like stimulation, perforation or some
through-tubing logging that may give you more data about the well
Monitor the execution of such activities
All wells must have a Production Technology file that will carry copies of all
activities that has been performed on the particular well
Process the document required for DPR approval of some well activities line
permit required for perforation and changing of zones in a well
Know about the different types of artificial lift e.g. gas lifting, electrical
submersible pump (ESP), bean pump, etc. The common type in Nigeria is gas
lifting. Know about gas lift valves and their location as insert into gaslift
mandrels run with the tubing
When wells start making a lot of water and the reservoir pressure has declined,
at a point the wells may no longer be able to flow on their own to surface. At this

point, continuous injection of gas through gas lifting will help to lighten the
column above the reservoir so that the well can keep on producing.

Wells Not Producing

Review petrophysical data logs to see if there are still columns that can be
completed in the well
If there are oil columns from above, recommend how to complete on the oil
zones by through-tubing operation. If not possible through tubing, recommend
appropriate workover
Your recommendations must be economical, you will have to weigh how much oil
you are going to get as against how much you are going to spend
In wells that you do not have scope for further activity, write programmes for
safe abandonment

New Wells

As the PT, you will be actively involved in the well planning

Usually you will work in a Petroleum Engineering team that will consist of
Geologist, Petrophysicist, and Reservoir engineers
Conventionally, the geologist will have model of the reservoir and will advice on
the subsurface and surface position of the new well
The petrophysicist will know about the reservoir parameters like permeability
and porosity to expect
The reservoir engineer will have a reservoir model that will predict flow from a
particular reservoir
As the PT, you will have to decide the optimal way to construct the well to
deliver the oil to surface
You will recommend the casings to be run, the size of the tubing, whether it will
be dual or single completion depending on the number of reservoirs that the well
will pass through
The PT will also recommend, where possible, horizontal wells, multilateral wells,
intelligent wells, etc. to drain more oil and get high production rate
Whether there is need for sand control and the type of sand control is from the
production technologist
Monitor the drilling of the new well. During completion, be on the site to make
sure what you designed is what is implemented and that quality and safety are
assured

Other Activities

Work with other disciplines to produce a Field Development plan that will cover
the details of how the whole oil in a field is to be produced, how many wells will
be required, what type of wells, where will the oil flow to for processing
You also need to understand the operations of the flowstation, how wells are
tested, etc.
Another thing you will have to think of as a PT is what you are going to do with
the gas that is produced with the crude since the government have said that no
more flaring in Nigeria by 2010.