Competency Matrix for Production Engineering

 

No.

Task

Minimum Competence
Breadth

Approximate Years of E&P Experience = <1

Minimum Competence
Depth

Approximate Years of E&P Experience = 5

1 Pressure Containment Barriers; Hydrostatics & Well Control Explain Primary & Secondary Pressure Containment Barriers. Prepare a depth pressure plot. Convert Oil, Gas & water densities to pressure gradients. Calculate proper kill fluid density. Exemplify general awareness of need to conduct operations safely, following company and regulatory guidelines and honor geometry of wellbore in recommending steps in well kill procedures. Summarize sequential steps required to demonstrate barrier effectiveness. Detail the R/U for initial Production & Well Servicing operations. Sequence shut-in or well kill; BOP installation & well service or workover operations and steps to maintain prudent well control throughout all operations. Sequence thru-tubing or workover operations including equipment retrieval, zone isolation, perforation, stimulation, equipment installation & wellhead hook-up.
2 Gathering Systems; Facilities & Surface Production Equipment Classify the impact of pressure and temperature changes on the produced fluid constituents. Explain the surface system configuration & the basic equipment used to separate the main components. Outline processes to deliver saleable quality hydrocarbons. List produced water treatment and disposal options. Indicate functional, throughput and material specifications used in the design of surface equipment to separate & treat produced fluids. List typical specification for sales, pipeline or shipping quality fluids. List test and metering systems, including custody transfer meters. Sequence the process to allocate bulk production to individual wells.
3 Nodal Analysis Define that the producing configuration is a function of reservoir pressure, inflow performance relationship, wellbore pressure losses (due to head, friction & liquid hold-up), surface conditions and the wellbore configuration. Define that flow optimization will need to accommodate changes in reservoir performance and changes in produced fluid constituents over the full life cycle of flowing production. Apply modern well performance simulation software. Identify key inputs and sensitivities. Sequence steps to select the best flow correlations for near vertical and deviated wellbore section. Develop a basis of design and describe sensitivities to be studied to select the appropriate wellbore configuration. Calculate an oil well PI above the bubble point and/or for a high WOR well. Calculate Qmax for oil inflow and a gas well IPR and AOF. Explain the effect of Skin Damage. Distinguish controls on water injection rates.
4 Artificial Lift Recognize various options to assist in lifting produced fluids; the basic ranges of pressure and fluid volumes for each lift option; and the hydraulic and mechanical forces associated with each option. Layout appropriate artificial lift system for the typical range of pressure and fluid volumes for the types of wells in the operating area or Region. List operating limits, well servicing requirements and power requirements for commonly used lift systems, including various downhole pumps. Specify the associated surface equipment for AL systems in Region. Incorporate reservoir performance and expected IPR variations in the design and economic evaluation of completion & lift options. List options for handling HGLR production and for Gas Well Deliquification.
5 Production Surveillance Explain the basics of field production data collection and surveillance techniques. Recognize trends & identify features that may have mechanical causes. Outline well testing & production allocation processes Analyze exponential, hyperbolic decline trends; combine data sets and draw inferences for additional data collection or provide specific performance improvement recommendations. Discuss gauge accuracy, sensitivity & reliability issues and calibration requirements. Classify the uncertainties inherent in certain techniques, such as RTA using surface gauges. Define surveillance plans and well testing procedures and duration to identify likely causes of anomalous performance. Fully annotate a decline trend and describe when data modelling is required.
6 Production Logging Describe basic suit of cased hole logs to assure mechanical integrity, position perforating guns, measure downhole conditions, assess inflow distribution & hydrocarbon saturation that are typically used to support downhole operations including completion, remediation and P&A operations. List well control, pressure tests & drift runs used before a live well logging program. Program, supervise, assess quality, interpret & use data from a routine production logging operations into the design and implementation of completion, remediation and P&A operations. Recognize more sophisticated cased hole logging and tracer monitoring techniques. Describe conditions where low cost ops with downhole data recording may be adequate and conversely where continuous distributed data would justify its costs.
7 Tubing Movement & Stress Analysis for Dynamic Producing/ Stimulation Conditions Recognize that tubing moves or has varying stress because of changes in pressure & temperature during stimulation, pressure testing & production. Recognize the role of a tubing anchor in rod pumped wells. Specify tubing land-off conditions, including tensional range for a tubing anchor or shear pinned retrieval tool. Demonstrate use of standard design software & able to check software predictions by calculating the approximate length change tendencies due to the piston effects & temperature changes and can explain direction and magnitude of ballooning & helical buckling concepts. Calculate equivalent length changes into packer forces.
8 Well Interventions Recognize the need for a reference log & GR/CCL correlation processes to accurately position tools. Calculate hydrostatic pressure differentials created by two or more fluids of different density. Recognize tubular capacities. A general awareness of need to conduct operations safely following company and regulatory guidelines and honor geometry of wellbore in recommended steps. Elaborate on well intervention equipment (i.e., coiled tubing unit, workover rig, downhole tools, etc.) Recognize Maximum Anticipated Surface Pressures (MASP) & Well Control equipment specifications. Define the limitations of various well service options. Facilitate budgetary and AFE quality cost estimates. Specify knowledge of sequential steps in typical intervention for the region or operation conditions. Calculate appropriate volumes for various steps in the treatment. Calculate simple cement yield volumes; particle lifting velocities & friction losses. Explain well intervention operation types (i.e., pumping applications: well cleanouts, fracturing, acidizing, unloading a well with nitrogen, hydraulically removing scale, removing wax, hydrocarbon or hydrate plugs, hydraulically cutting tubulars, gravel packing; and mechanical applications: setting a plug or packer, milling/drilling, fishing, perforating, logging, mechanically moving scale, mechanically cutting tubulars, operating sliding sleeves)
9 Fracture/Acidizing Treatments Explain effects of formation damage (skin) and improved flow capacity in the near wellbore area. List benefits & risks associated with fracture or acid stimulation. Recognize basic fracture-gradient models and key parameters. Explain basic system pressure drop due to friction given all parameters and bottom hole treating pressures. Calculate required treatment rates for Matrix treatments and Fracture Stimulations and method to account for or reduce pressure losses and velocity constraints. Identify various diversion methods & awareness of their limitations or costs. Understand the effects of perforation density & size on treating pressures & how this can be used for diversion. Recognize various types of acid & acid placement methods, as well as risks from overspent acid. Guesstimate the desired PI/II increases and their impact of job design, costs & economic optimization. Outline a rig-up and treatment program & specify a Quality Management Plan.
10 Flow Assurance Describe operating conditions that may give production problems. Outline concerns over scaling; hydrate formation, wax and asphaltenes; liquid slugging & solids settlement or erosion. Describe typical mitigation or management methods. Specify a data collection program for recovered materials & possible causes. Develop a basis of design & functional specifications for a Flow Assurance study. Outline the physical and chemical processes that cause problems. Outline most common mitigation techniques, their relative costs & likely effectiveness.
11 Production Chemistry Describe a fluid sampling program and options for surface and subsurface sampling. List key properties that are measured with different samples. Describe phase behavior and PVT properties. Explain TDS and equivalent salinities. Explain water compatibility concerns. Program and supervise fluid sampling. Specify typical routine analysis programs for Oil, Gas & Water and review results. Specify types of containers to be used in sampling. Detail data to be collected for PVT recombination analysis and transfer of downhole samples. Review product delivery or water disposal specifications.
12 Corrosion Explain concerns over sweet corrosion-erosion and why it is worse in gas wells. Outline options for corrosion control in flowing and pumping wells. Describe stress corrosion cracking and role of NACE in specification of sour specification materials. Recognize basic corrosion principles. List materials specification for corrosion management. Indicate the organizations corrosion management program. Specify and review a failure analysis report. Discuss issues with a corrosion specialist & jointly develop a remediation or mitigation plan. Outline various inhibition programs and monitoring techniques and in what conditions material selection or tighter metallurgical specifications would help.
13 Digital Oilfield Operations & Automation Outline trends toward ML & AI applications & process automation. Identify some of the challenges involved in the process. Effectively collaborate with DSEA SMEs. Discuss merits and limitations of certain end devices, data storage & transmission systems. Recognize Intelligent Well Completions and their application areas. Specify DSEA requirements for production system or AI automation.
14 Decommissioning & Well Abandonment Recognize zonal & well abandonment obligations & that funds must be allocated to cover the associated costs Recognize local abandonment regulations, standard procedures & typical balance sheet cost provisions. Enumerate various techniques to isolate the pay and evaluate barrier integrity. Recognize site restoration obligation & service providers or specialists capable of estimating the associated time and costs.
15 HSE&S Considerations & Emissions Monitoring Demonstrate general awareness of need to conduct operations safely, following company and regulatory guidelines and honor geometry of wellbore. Indicate the need for ESD systems and an Emergency Response Plan. Conduct a safety meeting prior to a job and understands the value of a safety moment in creating a safe culture. Outline reporting obligations and investigation for HSE incidents. Recall why Sustainability and Stakeholder relations are so important.
16 Well Integrity Describe the basics of field Integrity surveillance. Access essential data and provide ideas for integrity improvements. Familiarize with the organizations Well Integrity Management System (WIMS). Provide specific system integrity performance improvement recommendations. Layout plans and procedures to effect same. Work with multiple disciplines to assure Well Integrity across the life cycle of the asset.

 

Return to Competency Matrices Main Page >>