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As much as I used to love to ride roller coasters, after more than four decades in the upstream business, experiencing the inevitable oil price roller coaster, I'm no longer a fan! Companies need to make tough decisions to survive-decisions that ultimately may diminish their ability to capture opportunities when oil prices go up again, as they inevitably do. The oil price cycle is a given; the wavelength and amplitudes are the unknowns.
Corporate survival actions all come down to the economics of individual development prospects or fields. If you're on a Producing Team (Production Superintendent or Production Engineer), assigned to a producing field, you should always be prepared for the inevitable downturn.
How does a Producing Team prepare for industry downturns? I can think of three ways.
First, understand each well's performance. This is no great epiphany to most of you. It's one of the basic duties of a Production Engineer. However, I submit to you that this effort should not be based solely on past well performance, but also on all the parameters that influence flow potential. Benchmark against physics! Evaluate a well's theoretical performance. Should a well's actual performance deviate from its theoretical performance, diagnose the problem and propose a solution. Investigate ways to bring a well up to its full potential; increase the Productivity Index; optimize artificial lift; optimize...