OMV Upstream-Maximizing well planning efficiency

The DrillPlan coherent well construction planning solution enables teams to maximize well planning with shared access to all data, science, and well construction projects via a single, secure cloud-based system housed in the DELFI cognitive E&P environment.

Sharing the company’s experience with the DrillPlan solution, Vice President of Well Delivery for OMV Upstream John Watters discusses how the system digitally transformed the company’s well planning process to overcome challenges across multidisciplinary teams. 

What does digital transformation mean for your organization?

Digitalization is vital for OMV Upstream to meet our future goals and challenges. And it’s not only about technology; digital transformation is about people, their mindset, their experience, and skills. Even the most advanced technologies are useless without the people using them. At OMV Upstream, we understood this early on, and we have made a deep commitment to our digital transformation. We are maturing the strategic partnership with Schlumberger because we see the potential in their approach. We believe we have a shared vision for what the energy industry can become.

How do you see DrillPlan solution’s digital drilling enablement and automation benefiting your well construction process?

The use of automation allows us to free up valuable time for our engineers by eliminating repetitive tasks like building offset databases or writing programs. It improves the efficiency of our integrated project teams by allowing everyone from operations, geology, and petrophysics through to the completions engineer to work on the same platform with everyone having the newest data and insights available in real time.

What are your expectations from the use of Schlumberger digital drilling solutions within your organization?

We see the main benefit in the automation in our workflows and business processes. We are going to use these tools to reduce our planning times, standardize our equipment, and prove the quality of our programs. This drives cost out of our systems at multiple points. The benefits of integration with subsurface and field development platforms are potentially a game changer in the industry.

Are you satisfied with what DrillPlan solution has delivered so far?

DrillPlan solution is the most advanced automation tool we have encountered, and we are privileged to be working closely with Schlumberger’s development team to mature the platform. We have started our first deployment on the platform on an onshore development in Austria. I am really excited about the possibilities that DrillPlan solution is demonstrating.

How do you see DrillPlan solution impacting your technical teams?

Our technical teams are exploring the potential of DrillPlan solution. Seeing how it allows them to better focus on key risks and the opportunities for improved execution, we are starting to see even closer attention to lessons learned and capturing best practices because these can now be integrated into execution and get us to the best possible performance faster.

John Watters

John Watters

VP Well Delivery, OMV Upstream