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Mumbai SectionJune 2015

From the desk of your Section Chairperson Mumbai Chapter

The continuous transformation of civilization from medieval society to modern society has seen various ages from stone age through bronze age and latest is the soft age or e-age. Soft communication, soft transaction, soft shopping, soft learning …… soft or 'e' is the Key word today. SPE has since long embraced soft management of knowledge through different portals. Following the trend, Mumbai chapter of SPE hashostednews letter in soft form instead of the regular hard copies, which we, the members are used to. I am very happy to share the latest edition of the in-house newsletter “SPECTRUM” of SPE Mumbai Section and I sincerely hope that members welcome and appreciate the new makeover of Newsletter.

Though the mode of communication with the members has changed from tangible to intangible, the very essence of our forum has not changed and is gaining strength in knowledge, activity and capacity day by day.I am glad to share that GBM was held in OCT. 2014 to elect a new body for SPE year 2014-15.It is also heartening to note that the number of new members this year in SPE Mumbai chapter has outnumbered those in the previous year. Moreover, to add one more feather in our cap, SPE International has approved our Section's request for establishing SPE Student Chapter at NowrosjeeWadia College, Pune, which has been inaugurated on March 21, 2015.

During the period from Nov. 2014 to June 2014, two Technical talks : one on 'Integrated Digital Oil Field'and another on'Impact of wave height on design of FPSO' were held. A Distinguished lecture on'Lessons Learned in Technology Development And Perforating 'Smart' Wells' was also organized.These lectures and Technical talks offer a distinguished platform to the SPE members for knowledge sharing as well as networking.

The young generation always brings in fresh breeze of new ideas, out-of-box thinking and dare-to-use emerging technologies. SPE has always stressed on involving young professionals into its curriculum for rejuvenation. Thus, a workshop titled '2015 South Asia Young Professional's Workshop' was held in Bengaluru from 9th to 12th June 2015 to review the views of YP's and catch perceive something different.

I congratulate and commend the efforts of the team in bringing out this newsletter and all the office bearers for organizing technical events and all activities of SPE Mumbai Chapter.

Cheers.T. K. Sengupta, Chairperson - SPE Mumbai Section

From the Chairman’s Desk

Energy Basket

“Nanotechnology”

Application OfdragReduction

Reducing Non-productive Time

Yoga : A ScientificPractice and Tool

You Have Two Choices

How ONGC raised its Cadre

Technical Talk

Distinguished Lectures

Energy Basket: The World in Shifting Dilemma Shubham Sharma, Baker Hughes

World primary energy consumption is projected to grow by 1.6%

p.a. from 2010 to 2030, adding 39% to global consumption by

2030. We reside in a world marred by energy insecurity and

environmental chaos. Coal and oil continue to occupy a major

chunk of our present energy basket. OECD nations' energy

demand is expected to remain relatively flat over the coming years

whereas the major portion of the non- OECD consumption will be

supported by coal and oil. Therefore, it is these countries that will

have the maximum detrimental environmental impact in terms of

CO2 emission.

Our energy basket need a paradigm shift from the conventional

hydrocarbons to the re-newables which we feel might not be

technically and economically feasible. Or, do we need an indirect

path through the unconventional resources.

Unconventional hydrocarbons namely shale gas, gas hydrates,

CBM, Heavy oil etc. have the ability to play a pivotal role in

ensuring a gradual and smooth transition by easing the demand

pressure on re-newables.

Renewable Resources- nature's healing touch to the growing

environmental concerns, stem from harnessing the force of the

wind, tapping the solar potential, hauling out the nuclear energy

and exploiting the world of biomass. The main hindrance that

exists in the way of an all-out implementation of re-newables is

the Economic factor. The amount of new investment in re-

newables by the major players in this sector in the last year, 2012

goes like this China: 50 billion dollars, Germany: 41 billion dollars,

USA: 30 billion dollars, Italy: 14 billion dollars, Brazil: 7 billion

dollars. And the trend continues for the next few years.

In contrast, investments in conventional hydrocarbons, say coal is

mere 13.67 billion dollars in one year as compared to hundreds of

billions in renewable resources. But still, re-newables together

contribute just over 16% to the global energy mix while

conventionals continues to dominate with an 81% share.

Comparing the unit electricity generation cost of different

renewable resources with the conventional resources, although it

increases for conventionals whereas the cost of re-newables

keeps decreasing on account of improvement in clean technology

but despite this, a substantial gap still exists between the two.

Thus the dilemma is quite evident: Despite the huge

investments, re-newables do not always become commercially

competitive with coal, gas and oil. To achieve this the IEA has

suggested a further 4.8 trillion dollars in subsidies until 2030.

Hence, the question at hand is are we trying too hard to make

something work which is not yet ready and may not even be worth

it?

Shift of focus towards much cleaner Unconventional resources

and continuous development in renewable energy resources

makes this optimal solution. An ideal energy basket for 2030

should look like – Oil – 26%; Coal – 22%; Gas – 12%;

Unconventionals – 15%; Nuclear – 7%; Biomass – 10%; Solar – 1%;

Wind – 2% and rest – 5%

As Al Gore has said, "what gets us into trouble is not what we don't

know, but what we think we know that just ain't so."

Mumbai Section

“ NANOTECHNOLOGY ” A WIND OF CHANGE IN OIL AND GAS INDUSTRYAjay Kakkad,ONGC

Unless, revolutionary new sources of energy have been

industrialized, yet it appears that we are going to be reliant on

hydrocarbons for the foreseeable future. Even in the most optimistic

and realistic situation the existing sources of energy like wind, water,

solar and geothermal will only make up 15% to 20% of our total

energy by 2035.

A Look in the Direction of Past

Even after all of the EOR and IOR steps have been taken, it is still not

uncommon for 60 – 70% of the original oil to be left in the reservoir.

So, if you think about that, there are billions of barrels of discovered

oil that we're leaving in place.

The U.S. Department of Energy did a study back in 2007 that

estimated that there are at least 60 billion barrels of oil remaining in

the Permian Basin, which is on the border of west Texas and New

Mexico. Remember, these aren't undiscovered oil fields, or deep

water fields, or unconventional oil fields. This is oil that's left behind in

existing fields with existing infrastructure.

Why bulk of the Oil remains unrecoverable?

Answer to this question is capillary forces that bind the oil molecules

to the rocks. One can simply demonstrate this concept, take a sponge

and fill it full of water. Squeeze it out into a glass and see how much

water was absorbed. Now soak the sponge again, and try sucking out

the water in the sponge with a straw. It's much harder, isn't it? That's

analogous to what we're trying to do in an oil field, except that oil also

adheres to the pores in our rock sponge.

So at this point, knowing that there are billions of barrels of remaining

oil in place, there is a need for new technologies which can help

improve production from the reservoir and develop new fields.

Nanotechnology offers promising solution for the same.

Nanotechnology – the study of science of materials at nano-scale

shows great promise for meeting challenges involved in

understanding and utilizing the harder-to-reach oil and gas reservoirs

of today.

Let's talk about some basics. What is nano technology?

The prefix nano, derived from the Latin word nanus for dwarf, means

something very small. When we're using it in metric terms, a

nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. Think about that! Take a strand

of hair and put at it between your fingers. The

width of that hair is 100,000 nanometers. A

nanometer is about how much your fingernail

grows every second. So a nanometer is really

small.

Why is Oil Industry interested in Nano

technology?

The incredibly small size of the nano-scale

materials creates opportunities for them to

be injected into oil and gas reservoirs. Geo

scientists have analyzed enough of the oil-

bearing sandstones to establish that the pore throat openings

commonly range between 100 and 10,000 nanometers in width.

That's large enough for fluids like water, brines, and oil and gas to flow

through relatively freely. So if we could put nano-scale tracers or

sensors down a hole, they would be small enough to flow through

these pores, and we could gain a bunch of valuable information about

the rock and the fluid environment where the oil and gas is found.

How does nano-scale material act?

Nano-particles are the nano-sized materials in the range of

1-100 nm. Nano-particles have high specific surface area and unique

properties, such as high adsorption potential and heat conductivity.

These particles when mixed with base fluids, also called as nano-

fluids, and used for several application related to upstream oil and gas

industry, help improve the performance of several processes.

Nano-scalesensors–A Powerful Tool

Right now, doctors are working to put nano-sensors into the human

body to determine where cancer cells might be and here, we're

looking into the Earth body and we're putting nano-sensors down

hole. What the nano-scale sensors will give us is a clearer vision, more

data, so we can make smarter interpretations. And with a better idea

of what's going on underground we'll be able to recover more

hydrocarbons. That's going to be huge for the industry and the world.

Application of Nano-technology

l It is being used in Hydraulic fracturing, where the growing

PrimaryRecovery

Natural FlowArtificial Lift

Pump - Gas Lift Etc.

SecondaryRecovery

Water FloodPressure

MaintenanceWater - Gas Reinjection

TertairyRecovery

Thermal Chemical

OthersSolvent

ConventionalRecovery

EnhancedRecovery

Recovery Mechanisms...

Source : Adapted from the Oil & Gas Journal, Apr. 23, 1990

number of zones typ ica l ly f ractured pushes the

performance limits of fracing applications

l It can increase the strength to weight ratio of tubular, and

prevent abrasion and corrosion of equipment with coatings

and alloys developed from nanotechnology

l It can also be used to address the challenges of reservoir

monitoring

Conclusion

What's often not appreciated by the public is how much oil is left

behind in the oil fields, nano-science and nanotechnology may enable

us to sense remotely and directly the bypassed oil and gas that we

could never see or recover before. And with the sensors we're

developing to provide us with more information, we'll be able to

recover even more oil and gas that right now is being abandoned and

left in the ground. It can also help delay peak oil. To maintain our

quality of life, we're going to continue to need affordable, safe and

secure energy. Nano is one of the new revolutions in technology that

will make that happen.

About the Author:

A K Kakkad holds BE (Mech) from MS University,

Baroda (Now, Vadodara) India. He is Deputy

General Manager (Production), presently

posted in Pipeline Section (Offshore logistics) of

ONGC in Mumbai. Prior to joining ONGC he has

worked in Quality Control Department of M/s

ABB, Baroda for seven years

Methods, Procedures, Process:

l Past 3-4 Month history of the pipeline.

· The water cut of the pipe line was more then 80-85%.

l Client is not able to recover the Oil as back pressure from the

pipe line connecting the offshore terminal to processing

platform was high

l Based on the water chemical and oil properties, Baker

Hughes specially designed a product for the Client high water

cut pipeline.

Results, Observations, Conclusions:

l Trial started with 200 PPM concentration and gradually

reduces it to 40 PPM.

Results are as follows

Sr No Dosage Sea Line Base pressure of Pressure based on Pressure the line without drop

total fluids in PSI any DRA injection ObservedBeforetrial 0 221 1 200 201 The average sea 212 150 193 line pressure is 303 100 197 (221+223)/2= 222 254 80 200 psi 225 60 195 276 40 199 23After trial 0 223

Observation/ Conclusion

l With just 40 PPM injection the pressure drop achieved was

23 PSI/ 1.57 Bar, in the sea line pipeline carrying 80-85%

water.

l This helps the client to increase the production of oil by

10- 15%.

About the Author:

Vaibhav Toshniwal is a B.Tech in Chemical

Technology. He is working as a Lead

Engineer with Upstream Chemical

division of Baker Hughes since 5 years.

Successful Application OfDrag Reducer In Offshore PipelinesVaibhav Toshniwal, Bakerhughes

Normally worldwide pipelines are used to carry fluid (Oil + Gas +

Water) from offshore installation/ different crude producing zone /

well heads to processing terminal.

Pipelines are used to carry the Crude from different platform to

processing terminal as they economically most viable solution and

operationally most effective, but as the reservoir conditions keeps on

changing it makes it very difficult to find out the most optimum

pipeline design to transport the crude.

Due to increase in production of gross fluid (oil and water),

differential pressure across sub-sea pipelines has increased and

hence back pressure to the wells has increased. This affects the

productivity of wells.

Hence they are not able to fully extract crude with the existing

pipeline and the cost involved to lay another pipeline is very high and

time consuming. It may also keep the production on hold for some

time, which is high cost to the company.

Drag Reducing Agents reduce the frictional pressure within the

flow of a pipeline it acts as buffers along the pipe wall that decrease

the amount of energy lost in turbulent formation. Using drag reducing

agents enables operators to increase pipeline flow using the same

amount of energy, or decrease the pressure drop for the same fluid

flow rate will leads to increase the production/ increase the efficiency

of pipeline.

In the final paper we will be demonstrating what was the problem

client was facing, and how we solved the problem by using the history

of the pipeline, water cut, oil properties, water chemistry, how we

approached the problem, execution of the successful work, results,

conclusions and recommendations.

Normally worldwide pipeline are used to carry fluid from offshore

installation to processing terminal.

Initially oil tanker used to do this job, but due to quality, safety,

time require, volume etc. was not feasible and the use of pipeline give

first priority.

Depending on the length of the pipeline and the quantity of the

fluid to be pumped, the eccencity was good in the initial stages and

started detoriating with time. The cost involved to lay another

pipeline or increase the volume carrying capacity of the existing

pipeline is very high and time consuming.

Reducing Non Productive Time- Need of the hour for oil and gas industry Ajay Kumar Bhatia

Consultant, Ex General Manager (Resevoir) ONGCDrilling of wells is a prime activity of all the E&P companies. Every year

billions of dollars are spent on well construction and revival of old

wells by side tracking the existing wells. It is a well-known fact that

those 80% components of well construction cost is due to the drilling/

work over rig which is hired on day rate basis. However, during past 20

years there has been steady rise in daily rates of rig as well as there is a

decline in drilling efficiency. It is observed that there is a big

proportion of non -productive time at the drilling rigs which gets built

in the well cost. Many companies add some percentage of cost during

their AFE process as NPT cost. Rising well construction costs and

falling crude oil prices is telling hard on operators who are finding

difficult to maintain production (Revenue and Profits).

The cost overruns due to NPT can easily manifest during well

construction due to unexpected issues like lost returns, stuck pipes,

narrow pore pressures and leak-offs. Moreover adverse weather can

cause time overrun by delayed delivery of materials and men. Drilling

String and down-hole equipment failures can result in significant

increase in number of trips adding to the non- productive time. It has

been observed that this can range from 15% to as high as 40% as per

the available data. In a recent report by OG 21 (Published in Oct 2014),

the drilling efficiency has gone significantly down with respect to

what it was 20 years ago.

The decline in the drilling efficiency over the past 20 years or so has

been studied by various operating companies and reasons may be

many. The same is also being felt by the members of IADC who in the

recent post OTC meet in may 2015 expressed the need to reduce NPT.

There are several reasons for this decline and some major reasons are

as under

l The drilling activity in old fields is more complicated due to

depleted zones inter bedded in the unexploited zones causing

differentially stuck pipes and fishing of drill string as well as other

tools.

l The newly discovered plays have abnormal pressure conditions.

l Drilling through unconventional reservoirs is in a developing

stage and most of the operators are yet to adopt latest technologies

like MPD.

l Carbonate reservoirs are prone to mudloss in zones where

formations have undergone Karstification. Although these are being

drilled with some difficulty over the years, the problem has

aggravated today with the depletion of reservoir pressure and

methods of loss control are same.

Many reasons of non productive time at drilling/ work over rigs is

actually not in the control of operators. However, there are many

other commonly known reasons of NPT which are controllable with

better planning and monitoring during execution. Some of these

factors are listed below:

Electrical, Mechanical, Drilling and Production equipment repair:

These can be easily managed by planning and executing preventive

maintenance of equipment prior to actual start of the job. In order to

prevent this prior warning of equipment maintenance should form a

part of execution of drilling.

Cement Bond Repair:

This condition occurs due to not executing the job as planned or by

not anticipating the down-hole condition prior to commencement of

cementing operation. Hence this can be eliminated by carrying out a

comprehensive root cause analysis so that once it happens, the

lessons learnt can be adopted for planning and executing proper

primary cementation job that does not require secondary job for

improving cement bondage.

Waiting for men, material, logistics and other services

This is a problem which is related to not anticipating the requirement

timely. The data shows that there is significant NPT on this account

which shows that there is lack of proper scheduling and timely

mobilization of men, materials and services. Hence to avoid this

recurring problem the Asset Manager needs to have fore warning or

24 hr, 48 hr and weekly look- ahead of requirements at the rig so that

time wastage on this account can be avoided. We need to build this in

the execution module.

Waiting for decision

This NPT occurs due to an unplanned situation not anticipated during

planning. Here in the planning module all possible alternatives need

to be incorporated which can be anticipated during the execution

stage wherein alerts can be sounded for likely change in the drilling

plan.

Complications

These need to be addressed with technology rather than any

planning/ monitoring tool. However, in order to carry out a robust

root cause analysis before looking for technology a tool needs to be

built in. This would enable the operator to select right kind of

technology solution to be adopted to meet or to avoid the recurrence

of complicated situation.

Mudloss:

This is a very common cause of NPT which occurs due to presence of

large cavernous zones in carbonate reservoirs or while drilling with

high ECD induced fractures are created which lead to such conditions.

Sometimes when drilling through highly depleted reservoirs mudloss

occurs. However, such conditions can be handled if specified in plan

and the appropriate drilling technique can be adopted.

Thus there is an opportunity to cut down the non-productive time

components by robust planning and execution platform. The need of

hour today in the industry is to sustain though the current low oil price

situation. This can be achieved by operators and service providers

working hand in hand to cut down the well cost and make the

operations more sustainable.

About the Author:

Ajay Kumar Bhatia is a Senior Consulting Engineer

with ONGC. He is a Post Graduate in Chemistry

having 37 years of experience as a reservoir

engineering in ONGC. He started his career in

September 1978 as AE (Res) at ONGC, Ahmedabad

and thereafter worked in various capacities in

different regions and oil/gas fields in India.

"Yoga : A scientific practice and a tool for stress management and wellness" -Saurabh Kumar Akhouri.,

B Tech(Petroleum),ISM, PGDDP(IGIDR), MBA(GIM), Executive-CS, Managing Partner, CTC,LLP,

Introduction

Yoga has hitherto been seen in the limelight. After a long stint of

international presence, recently this year during the visit of our

PM Mr. Narendra Modi in UN, 174 nations passed the resolution of

observing 21st June 2015 as International Yoga day. It was being

celebrated all over the world and in India as a National Festival

under the stewardship of our Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi

while article was being prepared. Yoga has gained so much

popularity.

Why Yoga has become so popular and important part of our lives?

Ancient Yog of India practiced by sages and hermits of India to

keep themselves healthy and of sound mind was documented by

Patanjali in the book Yog Darshan. It was practiced as Yam, Niyam,

Ahar, Pratyahar, Vichar Dharna and Dhyan. These are depicted as

various postures to activate various organs and energy center in

the body. These postures are called asanas. The type of asanas or

mudras are Padmasan( Lotus Posture), Kurmasan ( Tortoise

posture), Tadasan( Palm Tree Posture) , Shalbhasan ( Butterfly

Posture) , Bhujangasan( Snake Posture). Each Yoga Posture has

different purpose to cure different diseases. Then there are yogic

postures like Surya Namaskar, Pranayam , Kapal Bhati etc. To keep

one focused and of sound and peaceful mind and to have proper

work habit meditation and pranayama is very useful. Yog became

Yoga when Gurus and Yog veterans went abroad and foreigners

got benefitted with this. Now in US 1 crore people practice Yoga.

When PM Modi was on China Visit he found that Chinese martial

art and Indian Yog were practiced side by side. Due to rising

popularity of Yoga in US and Europe there was attempt to rename

the same and got it patented but it was well fought by India and

with International acceptance of UN from an Indian Prime

minister Yoga is being seen as alternative medicine. In India there

is a special ministry to develop Yoga further called Ministry of

Aayush and which is headed by Shreepad Naik. Yoga not only

helps in keeping diseases like diabetes, blood pressure, heart

ailment, kidney and liver malfunction away but also helps brain

and mind active and alert. Meditation which is also part of Yoga

gives mind peace. In today's rapidly changing complex world one

needs sound mind in sound body and a half an hour practice daily

by working professionals would help them a lot. In Industry like oil

and gas where one has to always remain alert, practice of Yoga

would certainly give fillip and protection to work ethos and

wouldhelp getting effectiveness. In Sanskrit it is told "Yogah

Karmsu Kaushalam" (Means Yoga makes a deed efficient).

Myths about Yoga

Intellectuals hitherto considered Yoga as a religious practice

connected to Hinduism. But it has been proved by Doctors that

Yoga is scientific. For past 10 years in Defense Research

Development Organization, study is being conducted on soldiers

who practice yoga and are on border areas, and found that due to

practice of Yoga their general health and wellness improves. So

Yoga is now being established as a science and proper

professionals to be deployed as Yoga Instructors are being made

ready by the Government through various Universities and Yoga

Schools.On International Yoga Day 46 Muslim Countries gave their

nod to participate .

Conclusion

Professionals in various sectors who are doing stress prone jobs

must adopt yoga as part and partial of their daily routine. This

would not only help them keep calm under stress but ward away

many stress related diseases such as diabetes, blood pressure,

heart ailment. A general well being and cheerfulness would

prevail in their lives leading to a work life balance.

About the Author:

Saurabh Kumar Akhouri is an alumnus of

Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. He

completed his Bachelor of Technology in

Petroleum Engineering in 1991. He has 24

years of experience in various capacities in

multidisciplinary functions in most of the

value chain of oil and gas. He is a techno

commercial consultant & Managing Partner at Commercial

Technical Consulting LLP, Mumbai looking after oil and gas,

marine, mining and infra sectors.

Join SPE

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Renew your SPE membership if you have not done yet

YOU HAVE TWO CHOICES! Ajay Kakkad , ONGC

Jerry is manager of a restaurant. He is always in a good mood.

When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would

always reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"

Many of the waiters at his restaurant used to quit their jobs when

Jerry changed jobs, so that they could follow him around from

restaurant to restaurant.

Why?

Because Jerry was a natural motivator.If an employee was having a

bad day, Jerry was always there, telling the employee how to look

on the positive side of the situation. Seeing this style really made

me curious, so one day I went up to Jerry and asked him, "I don't

get it! No one can be a positive person all the time. How do you do

it?”

Jerry replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, I have

two choices today. I can choose to be in a good mood or I can

choose to be in a bad mood. I always choose to be in a good mood.

Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be victim or I

can choose to learn from it. I always choose to learn from it.Every

time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept

their complaining or I can point out the positive side of life. I

always choose the positive side of life.”

"But it's not always that easy," I protested.

"Yes, it is." Jerry said.

"Life is all about choices.

When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice.

You choose how you react to situations.

You choose how people will affect your mood.

You choose to be in a good mood or a bad mood.

It's your choice how you live your life.”

Several years later, I heard that Jerry did something that you are

never expected to do in a restaurant business. He left the back

door of his restaurant open. And then? In the morning, he was

robbed by three armed men. They forced Jerry to open the safe

box. While Jerry was trying to open it, his hand, shaking from

nervousness, slipped of the combination. The robbers panicked

and shot him. Luckily, Jerry was found quickly and rushed to the

hospital. After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care,

Jerry was released from the hospital with fragments of the bullets

still in his body!

I saw Jerry about six months after the accident.When I asked him

how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I would be twins!

Want to see my scars?”

I declined to see his wounds but did ask him what was going

through his mind as the robbery took place. "The first thing that

went through my mind was that I should have locked the back

door," Jerry replied. "Then after they shot me, as I lay on the floor, I

remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or I

could choose to die. I chose to live.”

"Weren't you scared?" I asked.

Jerry continued, "The paramedics were great. They kept telling me

that I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the

emergency room and I saw the expressions on the faces of the

doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'He's a

dead man.' And I knew I needed to take action.”

"What did you do?" I asked.

"Well, there was a big nurse shouting questions at me," said Jerry.

"She asked me if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes,' I replied. The

doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I

took a deep breath and yelled, 'Bullets!' Over their laughter, I told

them, 'I'm choosing to live. Please operate on me as if I'm alive,

and not dead'.”

Jerry lived thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his

amazing attitude. I learned from him that:

Everyday you have a choice to either enjoy your day or to hate it.

The only thing that is truly yours- that no one can control or take

from you- is your attitude. So if you can take care of that,

everything in life becomes much easier.

Now you've two choices to make:

1. You can just read and forget this story

2. You can share it with someone you care about.

How ONGC raised its cadre man-by-man RAJ KANWAR

IN the mid-1950s, there were not many people acquainted with or experienced in the handful of disciplines connected with exploration and drilling operations in the petroleum industry. Assam Oil Company was the only other exploration and production company in the country. Being a government company, it was not easy for ONGC, for obvious reasons, to entice Assam Oil's employees. ONGC could not then even remotely match the salaries and perks that the British company paid to its employees. Additionally, there were quite a few Indians then working with British controlled Anglo-Iranian Oil Company in Iran. Obviously, their employees too were paid international salaries; thus only a handful of the expatriates responded to ONGC's call. It was not easy for the father of Indian petroleum industry, KD Malaviya, and his two lieutenants, AMN Ghosh and MBR Rao to find suitably qualified personnel for the nascent company. Recruiting fresh post-graduates in geology, physics and mathematics from Indian universities appeared the only way forward and then give them theoretical and hands-on training.

On instructions from Malaviya, ONGC invited applications through the Union Public Service Commission for 52 apprentice-geologists and 77 apprentice-geophysicists in May 1956.The entire interview process was fast-tracked and letters of appointment to 129 young men were issued in the beginning of August 1956. Those apprentices were to be Class I gazetted officers subject to passing a qualifying examination later after the completion of their training etc. These brilliant apprentices were given the sobriquet of young pioneers many of whom rose to higher positions in ONGC. Among them were LL Bhandari and PK Chandra who later became or officiated as ONGC's chairmen. There were many others such like Dr. Inderjit Singh, Krishan Kumar, IA Farooqi, VS Depura, BN and PK Srivastava, VK Varma, Dr. S Ramanathan, DN Avasthi, KN Bhave, J Natrajan, JS Mishra, RB Mehrotra, Kaila, DP Mahapatra, Ashok Kumar, PK Kulkarni and quite a few others who went on to distinguish themselves in numerous responsible positions.

Senior geoscientists from GSI

Fortunately, ONGC then was able to attract some senior geoscientists from Geological Survey of India (GSI) and elsewhere. They were LP Mathur, Balwant Singh Negi, BG Despande, Gautam Kohli, MC Poddar, Dr. DK Chandra, CKR Sastry, SN Sengupta, AN Dutta, TS Balakrishnan, AC Rangachari, AM Awasthi, RS Mittal, BM Shukla, S Aditya, D Venkataraman, SV Deshikacher, T Banerjee, MM Dey, Dr. CP Verma, Dr. PR Sinha, SM Bhattacharya, Dr. K Narayanan, Dr. MK Indra and SN Talukdar. Dr. Hari Narain had come from Australia and was instrumental in founding the KDMIPE. Krishna Kant joined as a chemist at Jwalamukhi.

The young engineers

Another batch of young engineers joined ONGC towards end 1950s. Among them were RK Dhir, J Swarup, SK Manglik, Anil K Gupta and some others. SK Manglik retired as ONGC's chairman and was instrumental in successfully steering ONGC froma corporation to a corporate entity. It was a great achievement and his contribution was widely acclaimed. Likewise, Dhir, Swarup and Gupta rose to the position of regional directors and enjoyed an impeccable reputation.

The ace troubleshooter

All those who joined ONGC in its infancy played a sterling role in the

technological development of ONGC, and were instrumental in creating a large workforce of dedicated geophysicists thereby giving ONGC a strong technical base. BS Negi was its chairman for nearly three years and a half, albeit with a dubious 'officiating' tag. The trio of LP Mathur, BG Despande and Dr. Hari Narainwas able to take ONGC to greater heights at international level. MA Ghanapathy was instrumental in setting up ONGC's geophysical laboratories and organized its logistics. GD Sharma was among the few gifted technicians who joined ONGC at that time and rose on to become a senior driller and an ace troubleshooter who could repair and fix anything that needed fixing. In no time, his reputation spread far and wide as an ace troubleshooter.

Gautam Kohli was a brilliant geologist and married Indira (Bulbul) Rawlley. Unfortunately, his brilliant career was cut short when he died in an Air India flight 101 from Bombay to London that had crashed on Mont Blanc in France on 24 January 1966. It was shocking news for Indira and all of us. However, with unbounded courage and fortitude, Mrs Kohlirebuilt her life as a Russian interpreter and more than proved her mettle in ONGC. Hugh P. Arahna was another Indian expat from the Middle East; he gradually built man-by-man ONGC's production department. He was later instrumental in bringing Cambay, Ankleshwar and Bombay High on production.

Fortunately for ONGC, Malaviya had ensured a satisfactory administrative set up at Tel Bhawan. He had brought Ekbal Chand, an IAS officer from Hyderabad as ONGC's first secretary. His # 2 PK Sarkar was equally an efficient and no-nonsense officer.

Finding drillers was a tough job

It was the recruitment of drillers that had caused much headache. There was neither a drilling school then nor is iteven today. Malaviya felt that ONGC would not be able to achieve anything worthwhile if it didn't find thedrillers. The Union Public Service Commission at that time was the sole channelfor recruiting Class I and Class II officers for government of India,Union Territories and government companies and Institutions such as ONGC, GSI etc. Malaviya was realistic enough to realize that he couldn't possibly find drillers via the regular recruitment routeand he felt that an orthodox approach was needed if he were to recruit drillers. Somehow, he managed to obtain a 'No Objection Certificate' from UPSC that permitted ONGC Directorate to recruit drillers directly. A word was let out that ONGC was looking for oil well drillers with recent academic background and some practical experience. The first batch of ONGC drillers included KC Chandra, MD Nautiyal, VK Arora, SK Das, IB Roy, RS Morton, Digin Ray and Inderjeet Singh. Almost all of them were engineers and joined as drilling assistants. After a six-month training with Assam Oil Company, they were promoted as assistant drillers.

Thereafter, they were sent to the Soviet Union for two years training in drilling technology. They had all been given a refresher course in Russian language before their departure from India. For those rookie drillers, it was an opportunity of lifetime. These drilling pioneers were later to become ONGC's ace drillers and achieved some remarkable feats.

Raj Kanwar is the author of the official history of ONGC published in 2006 under the title UPSTREAM INDIA.

ONGC's first teething trouble after its birth was the unavailability of trained manpower in the various disciplines required in operating an E&P company. How

ONGC's founder KD Malaviya and his lieutenants faced and solved that problem is a remarkable story of ingenuity and sheer bravado. In this piece, the writer

recounts those initial challenging years.

Integrated Digital Oil FieldMr. RajaperumalJagannathan,

Weatherford International, Abu Dhabi

A Technical talk was organized by Mumbai SPE section on 30th

Oct. 2014. The speaker was Mr. Rajaperumal Jagannathan of

Weatherford International, Abu Dhabi who spoke on the

challenges and solutions to Integrated Digital Oil Fields. One of

the main challenges in integrated Digital Oil Field (iDOF) is the

workflow integration of multiple engineering groups, such as

reservoir, well and surface production. Operators need to

streamline the workflows of various groups involved in managing

the asset, compile real-time data from various domains, and use

both real-time and historical data to optimize individual wells

and the entire field. The speaker through his presentation

exhibited that in each domain, every individual's efficiency can be

maximized by using recent advances in measurements, analysis

and information technology.

He spoke about iDOF solution which is designed and developed

to help oil and gas producers achieve their real- time optimization

and analysis objectives. The iDOF solution provides Intelligent and

efficient production optimization solution of assets through full

automation of daily production engineering tasks that are

typically performed on a manual basis.

TECHNICAL TALK

Impact of wave height on design of FPSOMr. BalakrishnaMenon,

SP and Bumi Armada, Singapore

The objective of the presentation was to demonstrate the

behavior of a turret moored floater when exposed to extreme

waves. The session covered explanation of basic differences

between a fixed platform and a floater exposed to high seas and

critical wave parameters as applied to floaters. The session

highlighted impact of increase in the design wave height on

mooring system behavior, topside design and vessel accelerations

including the shipping of green water. Videos from scaled model

test for a harsh weather shallow water field and the non-linearity

were also demonstrated. The presentation touched upon effect of

wave induced motions on structural behavior of hull as well as

topsides and concluded with the key points on the topic

Inauguration & handing over of SPE Students Chapter, Nowrosjee Wadia College Pune

It was a day to remember in the history of Oil & Gas industry in

India as it marked the inauguration of SPE Students Chapter,

Nowrosjee Wadia College, Pune on 21 March 2015.

Thank you for inviting me to join you here today and to share with

you this joyous moment said the chief guest of the day S K Moitra,

Program Chairperson SPE Mumbai Section & Executive Director,

Asset Manager B & S Asset, ONGC. Inaugurating the chapter he

congratulated the college & told that the students should take

advantage of this platform & interact with industry peers for their

knowledge building. SPE is always at the forefront of providing

platform to oil professionals for sharing ideas and takes the lead to

try new initiatives, while at the same time upholds its fine

tradition.

He told that with the rapid development of science and

technology, the oil & gas industry is now facing complex problems

that we have never faced before. Global, community and

individual efforts are required to find new innovative solutions. To

cope with changes, and to ensure changes help develop our

society, our young generation has to understand these complex

problems, to be highly knowledgeable, to be able to work

collaboratively and in teams, and to be capable of exercising moral

judgment and to take a global perspective.

Lessons Learned in Technology DevelopmentAnd Perforating 'Smart' WellsCurtis G. Blount

Conoco Phillips Drilling and Completions

Curtis presenting his paper

About the Speaker :

Curtis GG. Blount is Sr. Fellow Advisor for Conoco Phillips in the

Houston based Global Well Technology Group specializing in

advancing technology applied in challenging and harsh

environments. He has been active in CT and well intervention

research and applied technology development for more than 25

years. Blount has coauthored more than 30 technical papers and

holds over 20 patents. He is an active participant serving on

numerous SPE committees. Curt was an SPE Distinguished

Lecturer on CT Drilling technology for 2002-2003, SPE Alaska

chapter's Engineer of the Year for 2003, and is SPE's Drilling and

Completion award recipient for 2007. Blount served on Drilling

and Completion's Advisory Committee and was chairman of the

SPEE Distinguished Lecturer Committee ((2010-2011) .

About his presentation :

The DL speaker started his presentation on the note, that,

developing new technology is often considered risky,

misunderstood, and prone to time and budget over-runs. Through

his presentation he used a recent 'smart' well technology

development program as an example of challenges in new

technology development. The presentation also discussed

challenges of introducing new technology, and pitfalls that are

often encountered that perpetuate the 'not in my well' attitude

that is often heard when introducing new technology.

As increasing numbers of 'smart' and instrumented wells are being

completed worldwide, the speaker asserted that, many of these

types of completions will require perforating as part of the initial

completion and many more may require perforating at some time

during the life of the well. He also informed that even completions

that do not require perforating, such as common packer/sliding

sleeve open hole completions, still rely on perforation technology

to provide a backup contingency. His presentation identified

challenges and methods developed to mitigate problems

associated with and to enable perforating instrumented and

smart wells. The presentation also highlighted the tools and

techniques available to perforate these types of completions,

while avoiding damage to external control lines, cables, gauges,

fiber optic lines, and other critical completion equipment.

Discussions covered a brief history and limitations of currently

available tools and techniques. Details of testing and tool

developments were also discussed followed by lessons learned

from a mullet-well field program.

Appreciating the memento

The instrumented 'smart' well development program discussed in

his presentation included six wells ranging from a 22,600'

measured depth vertical well to 3 horizontal completions with

measured depths exceeding 16,000'. The program included

running over 20 logs ranging from magnetic based detection tools

to ultrasonic tools, and perforating 129 separate intervals. Results

of testing, available tools and details of development of new

equipment, tools and techniques were also discussed. He

emphasized as his closing remark that no external cables or other

smart well components were damaged during the 129 perforating

operations.

The presentation was followed by many a questions from the

inquisitive audience and were aptly answered by Mr. Curtis GG.

Blount.

Engrossed audience

DISTINGUISHED LECTURE

BOARD MEMBERS2015

Edited & Compiled By : Mrs Chailati DuttaSection Director, SPE Mumbai Section

Designed By : Mr. Mohit KapoorOfficer, SPE Mumbai Section

reghu.padmanabhan@me.weatherford.com