Drilling & Completion Engineering

Drilling & Completion Engineering

The Drilling and Completion Engineering team works in coordination with Exploration and Production Assets of the company for wells operations and completions. Production Technology team plays a key role in the core Petroleum Engineering aspects of PPL E&P business with a focus on ensuring safe, sustainable & un-restricted hydrocarbon flow from reservoir to surface.

Drilling and Completion Engineering

Due to aggressive exploration and development of hydrocarbons by Pakistan Petroleum Limited (PPL) has been running multi rigs/ multi-string operations of Drilling Operations activities. Drilling Operations are planned and executed across the diverse landscape of Pakistan. From blocks in Middle and Lower Indus basin in South to wildcat exploratory blocks in Balochistan, from blocks in Pothohar region in Punjab to exploratory blocks in Khyber Pakhtunkhawa. Drilling operations executed across the complex geological structures, unknown strata in wildcat prospects and depleted formations across the development fields.

Drilling Operations also successfully delivered its first drilling project in Iraq for Madain-1, a first-ever exploratory well drilled by any Pakistani E&P company in foreign ventures,  with excellent teamwork and project management.

Drilling Operations under Drilling and Completion Engineering (D&CE) Department has set new benchmarks for national and international E&P companies in recent past with its phenomenal performance, successful drilling of complex exploratory wells and operating in areas having hostile logistics, security and weather conditions. Moreover, Drilling Operations at PPL have seen remarkable improvement in terms of drilling efficiency and well cost. Moving forward, several plans are being worked on for further optimization that includes modification of operational strategies along with use of new and latest generation technologies to ensure safer, smarter and faster operations.

The company’s Drilling Operations team has always adopted and pioneered latest drilling technologies being deployed globally to the local drilling activities across PPL wells. The department focuses on adopting advanced technologies, digitalization, and innovative drilling techniques to drive performance, optimize drilling operations and improve well economics. The efficiency in drilling operations reflects PPL strategy to deliver its objective of creating a more profitable and safe upstream business.

Drilling Operations currently operates seven onshore drilling rigs consisting two PPL-owned 725-HP and 500-HP rigs and five contractors’ rigs, including one 2500-HP, three 2000-HP and one 1500-HP. Drilling Operations also remains in close coordination for operational contribution to other operators where PPL has working interests.

The mission of Drilling Operations under Drilling and Completion Engineering (D&CE) Department is to drill and workover high quality, cost-effective wells in time, fulfilling Quality, Health, Safety and Environment standards to meet corporate objectives. The department is certified for ISO 9001-2015, ISO 14001-2015, and ISO 45001-2018 international standards.

The Drilling and Completion Engineering team works in coordination with Exploration and Production Assets of the company for wells operations and completions

Rig at exploratory well Dhok Sultan X-1 Dhok Sultan Block Punjab

Production Technology

Production Technology team plays a key role in the core Petroleum Engineering aspects of PPL E&P business with a focus on ensuring safe, sustainable & un-restricted hydrocarbon flow from reservoir to surface. It is involved throughout the complete life cycle of wells and fields in providing engineering solutions for production from challenging environments like HPHT wells, un-conventional reservoirs and heavy oil production.

In the initial phase, Production Technology team works in close liaison with Drilling team to supervise rig operations that revolve around well completion and Drill Stem Testing. Later, assistance is provided to asset teams during the production phase on specialized projects like reviving sick/dead wells, intervention & stimulation jobs and re-gaining well integrity (workovers). In addition to above, it is also responsible for designing, installation and commissioning of wellhead surface facilities for new discoveries as well as provides technical support for Cathodic Protection systems at producing fields. Preparation of ITB’s to secure long term/ callout agreements with competitive service providers is also a part of its scope of work.

Production Technology team is staffed with qualified and experienced professionals from petroleum engineering. The department employs state-of-the-art industry standard software, including GAP, Gohfer, Elfen and Well Cat, to address challenging problem in the domain of metallurgy selection, production revival and well integrity issues. Case studies highlighting these achievements by Production Technology have been published globally by technical bodies like Society of Petroleum Engineers and American Rock Mechanics Association.