Lean Logistics for Green Field Exploration Activities

Abstract

The necessity to reduce the costs incurred in the oil and gas project lifecycle pushes the oil Companies to evaluate alternative strategies with respect to the standard logistic approach. A case study for offshore logistic optimization and cost reduction is presented for a remote (138 nm from the operating port) deep-water offshore green field exploration project in Morocco (2018). Green field exploration represents a challenging context of operations for logistics due to limited availability of already contracted services and/or infrastructures and possible limited familiarity with O&G of the hosting country. Following main elements of cost saving and optimization opportunities have been identified and pursued: i) exploitation of synergies with other company operated projects, ii) drillship storage capacity exploitation, iii) redeployment of material to reduce company stock and improve spud-in availability, iv) circular economy, v) transportation fleet sizing optimization, vi) flexible services and prompt release after operations conclusion. In presence of a drillship deployed for multiple back-to-back projects, the possibility to load the rig with required materials for the spud-in of subsequent projects represents an opportunity for overall logistic optimization. For the presented case study, the contracted drillship has been loaded at Cyprus, after relevant exploration, with redeployment materials and consumables requested for the spud-in of Morocco exploration. Demobilization from Cyprus has been exploited as mobilization for the Moroccan campaign with the drillship reaching the well site in a status of readiness for spud-in. The materials availability at rig site form the initial project stages determined an optimization of the related transportation fleet and the reduction below 5,000 sqm of the required storage areas footprint within a port that showed limited availability to dedicate existing storage areas to O&G activities. The marine base setup has been further optimized by implementing flexible contractual solutions foreseeing prompt release of unused services. Moving ahead of the standard interpretation of the drillship as only the final delivery point of the supply chain, a new approach has been analyzed and implemented to make efficient use of the drillship's storage capacity by the means of the identification and exploitation of operational logistic opportunities. Overall logistics costs incurred for the Moroccan exploration campaign were of 6.5 M$, meeting the target of capital exposure minimization before commercial discovery and the additional target to avoid binding agreements for infrastructure usage and/or refurbishment.