The Business Analyst News Desk

The SPE Ghana Section, which was inaugurated last December and meets every two months to deliberate on developments in the oil and gas industry, within Ghana and the international arena.

About 43 Petroleum Engineers and other oil and gas industry professionals gathered at the Petroleum Skills and Development Institute (PSDI) at Cantonments, to listen to an international expert on wellbore drilling engineering.

Speaking under the theme: Tullow Ghana-Deepwater Extended Reach Drilling Experience, Mr. Fraser Lawson, Well Engineering Supervisor of Tullow Ghana Limited (TGL), who has 25years experience in well drilling technology across the globe excited the engineers with his presentation.

The presentations were based mainly on two extended reach wells drilled by Tullow Oil since 2009. The presentation underlined responsibilities of planning and engineering of these wells, with focus on torque and drag modeling performed, special surveying practices required, and borehole instability problems encountered.

Mr. Lawson stated that the important and difficult extended reach Jubilee development well drilled, lessons learned in each process and ‘best in class’ deepwater drilling performance, had been maintained in Ghana so far. Extended reach wells have been proven to provide an exceptionally cost effective means of field development, as these techniques are increasingly being used to target hydrocarbons far from the surface or otherwise difficult-to-access areas of oil and gas reservoirs.

Mr. Henry Adom-Malm, Membership Chairperson of SPE Ghana Section, espoused the efficiency of this method, describing it as pivotal in the oil industry. According to him, in recent years, the practice of completing wells with a deviated, horizontal or extended reach drilling has become established as a means of achieving improved productivity to optimize field development through fewer drill sites, structures and access to otherwise unavailable reserves. He therefore commended Tullow Ghana Limited for implementing extended-reach drilling (ERD) method in the Jubilee Field development plan, saying “it is a step in the right direction.

The chairperson of SPE International, Ghana, Mr. Albert Longdon-Nyewan expressed his profound gratitude and appreciation to Mr. Alan Doworkpo, the Well Engineering Manager of TGL and TGL itself, for hosting SPE Ghana’s bi-monthly technical meetings.

He gave the sectional news and briefed members about upcoming events for the year. The next technical meeting will be 28th of July, 2011.