CASE HISTORY

ARCO British.

ARCO (Atlantic Richfield Company) explores, produces and markets petroleum liquids in the United States, United Kingdom, Indonesia, China, Algeria, Tunisia, Dubai and Qatar. ARCO British is a subsidiary of ARCO and is one of the main suppliers of natural gas to the UK market. It has tripled its gas production in the past 10 years with several key fields in the Southern Gas Basin of the North Sea.

Requirement:

ARCO is currently striving to achieve the following goals:

  • Excellence - without bureaucracy
  • Growth - number 5 by the year 2005
  • Safety - top quartile performance
  • Efficiency - radical reductions in time and cost for the delivery of hydro-carbons
  • Culture - contributory but challenging

Opteama were invited to assist with two specific problems areas:

  • Information management and retrieval throughout the life cycle of an asset
  • Drilling costs were too expensive at $2.00 per barrel and a radical process redesign was required with a cost target of $0.75 per barrel.

Approach:

The project management structures for the projects were different but the basic methodology was very similar.

What happens now?

Using a workshop based approach Opteama modeled the 'As-is' Asset Life Cycle Drilling processes using Casewise. Data usage was determined throughout the process.

Why does it happen this way?

Opteama identified areas of concern, issues, potential improvements and regulatory requirements that govern the way the process currently works.

How should it happen?

Opteama redesigned high level processes utilising a 'gate' control mechanism, defining the inputs and outputs for each gate. Sub-teams were established and facilitated to develop the lower level detail. One sub-team concentrated on the design of a number of simple IT systems to control document and information usage throughout the Asset Life Cycle processes.

How do we implement it?

Opteama facilitated the development of a comprehensive implementation programme and a performance measurement system. IT was heavily involved at this stage and extensive use was made of software to support collaborative working practices.

Benefits:

  • Information is now available to the right people at the right time in the right format throughout the Asset Life Cycle
  • The re-engineered drilling process is currently being measured and the target of $0.75 cost per barrel has been achieved
 

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