Innovative technical capabilities key to meeting future energy demands

Speaking at the International Petroleum Technology Conference in Doha today, Shell Exploration and Production Executive Vice President Technical, John Darley said:

"Meeting the increasing global demands for hydrocarbon fuels will require innovation and investment in both technology and people. The integration of innovative technology with strong operational experience will provide the technical solution to meet future global demand for oil and gas. And the development of new capabilities and skills will be crucial to the successful deployment of these technologies".

Mr Darley made the comments during a presentation at a session on research and development.

Mr Darley said: "As fields mature and new resources become more difficult to locate and bring into production, the introduction of more sophisticated technology to unlock these resources will continue. This also requires a skilled workforce which must adapt to these changes".

The advent of real time optimisation in the management of oil and gas fields holds great promise for the realisation of additional volumes. Shell's Smart Fields approach looks to integrate reservoir information, well performance data and production facility control systems to optimise real time performance. "I am convinced that Shell's Smart Fields approach will be one of the first examples in upstream technology, where effective integration of people, tools, and operations will deliver a step change in oil and gas production"

Current projections show that the implementation of Smart Fields can improve recovery by up to 8 per cent and production by up to 10 per cent.