0

Production Operations 1 - PO1 - Virtual, Blended Delivery

Discipline: Production and Completions Engineering
Level: Foundation
Instructors who teach this course:
  • Mr. Paul M. Barry
    Mr. Paul M. Barry
    X
    MR. PAUL BARRY is a petroleum engineering consultant specializing in production operations and oilfield development and management. Mr. Barry has over 44 years of international upstream oil and gas production and reservoir engineering and management experience resident in various US locations, South America, SE Asia, the Middle East, and the North Sea. He has been a consultant and PetroSkills instructor since 2002. With PetroSkills, he was based in Perth, Australia from 2007-2008 and in Dubai, UAE, from 2003-2006, developing PetroSkills regional business in both locations. Industry experience has been as a consultant for shale oil and gas exploitation planning and multi stage, fractured horizontal well completion practices. Previous experience has been as a field production engineering manager of an onshore oilfield re-development/brownfield project for PDVSA and partners in Venezuela which required a combination of gas lift, submersible pump, and rod pump artificial lift completion technology, and frac pack sand control well completions. Previous Indonesia experience was in the design and completion of dual string, multiple selective, underbalanced, TCP high pressure gas wells, artificial lift oil well completions, and exploration well testing and evaluation for Pertamina and ARCO partners for Bontang LNG gas supply operations. As district reservoir engineer for Pertamina and Arco partners in Indonesia, Mr. Barry was responsible for the plan of development and reserves determination and certification for a 1.3 TCF offshore Bali gas field. He has also worked as a field engineer in Saudi Arabia for Aramco, responsible for a 1.2 MMBWD reservoir pressure support injection well system and injection water quality, producing well gravel pack completions, corrosion control systems, and, as Mobil Oil facilities engineer in the Aramco Gas Projects department. He has represented company technical and commercial interests in both UK and Norwegian North Sea sector oil and gas producing fields. Mr. Barry has served as an officer in the Jakarta and Dubai SPE sections. He holds a BSCE from the University of Notre Dame and an MSCE from Marquette University, and is a registered Professional Engineer in Colorado, USA.

    Courses:

  • Dr. Iskander R. Diyashev
    Dr. Iskander R. Diyashev
    X
    DR. ISKANDER DIYASHEV is a director and a co-founder of Petroleum and Energy Technology Advisors, Inc., an engineering and consulting firm based in Houston, Texas, focused on drilling, completion and stimulation (www.1penta.com). Prior to that Dr. Diyashev was an officer and a board member with Independent Resource Development Corporation, based in Moscow with operations in Western Siberia Russia. Dr. Diyashev was responsible for the planning of field development, reserves evaluation and addition, planning of exploration activities, as well as engineering and technology. In 2001-2006 Dr. Diyashev served as a Chief Engineer for Sibneft, one of the largest integrated oil companies in Russia with a daily production of 700,000 BOPD.

    During his career, Dr. Diyashev worked in R&D, consulting, and the service and production sides of the business both in Russia and internationally. Prior to his work with Sibneft, Dr. Diyashev was one of the key Schlumberger specialists to start the horizontal drilling project in Noyabrsk Western Siberia. He holds a PhD in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University, and advanced degrees in Physics and Mathematics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He has authored 30 technical papers. Dr. Diyashev is a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, and served on the Board of Directors of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE International), and on the boards of various private E&P, service and engineering firms in the petroleum industry. Twice in his career Dr. Diyashev was elected to serve as a Distinguished Lecturer of the SPE, in 2005-06, and in 2017-18.

    Courses:

  • Mr. Ronald Frend
    Mr. Ronald Frend
    X
    MR. RON FREND is a registered engineer, and has extensive engineering and management experience in the oil and gas sector. He rose to a senior position in Shell International (Middle East) before opening a worldwide engineering consultancy based in England and a senior position in a global training enterprise. His entire career has been concerned with practical applications of maintenance and engineering from a solid business foundation. Ron is experienced in a variety of maintenance analytical techniques as well as possessing management skills suitable to a large multi-national corporation working in the oil and gas industry. Ron has also undergone specialized training on the following topics: management techniques, non-destructive testing, oil tanker cargo operations, instrumentation and control, resistance and gas welding, vibration analysis, infrared thermography, and ultrasonics. He is a Registered Engineer with an MSc from Huddersfield University in England as well as being a certified Chief Engineer Officer (marine). Ron is currently Technical Director of Facilities Training for PetroSkills with special responsibility for Mechanical Engineering training.

    Courses:

  • Mr. Dan Gibson
    Mr. Dan Gibson
    X
    MR. DAN GIBSON is a consulting engineer with over 35 years of experience in production, completions, and well integrity issues from oil and gas fields all over the world. After working as a roughneck and roustabout through college, he started his professional life as a facility engineer in Alaska. He has worked his way through the value stream from facilities to completions with jobs in Anchorage, Denver, Houston, Gabon, Congo, Egypt, Scotland, Russia, and Australia. He is currently a consulting engineer, working on completions and well integrity problems for a wide range of independents and majors. He has worked as a Wells Technical Authority for a large international independent with a varied portfolio of offshore oil and gas wells. He was the first Senior Completion Advisor for a super major. As part of this role, he worked with teams on both major technical incidents and on planning and assurance of high profile projects around the world. These experiences have given him a unique viewpoint of how fields are developed; how wells are designed, constructed, and produced; how things can go wrong with a well during construction and production; and how best to mitigate and manage well problems. He has authored and co-authored a number of papers, ranging from polymer flood management to ice mechanics and most recently a design of an innovative ICD system for a high rate water injection well. Dan graduated from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater and Studied Arctic Engineering at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. His teaching style focuses on first principles and developing an understanding of why things happen which then dictates an appropriate response.

    Courses:

  • Mr. Mason Gomez
    Mr. Mason Gomez
    X
    MR. MASON GOMEZ is a Licensed Petroleum Engineer (LA#26131) with 30 years diversified experience including production/reservoir/drilling engineering, offshore field development/mature field optimization, unconventional drilling/ completions, operator/service company perspectives, engineering, sales, operations management, human resource development, and project management roles. He received a BS degree in Petroleum Engineering from Stanford University. Within PetroSkills, he teaches 8 courses across the Completions, Reservoir, and Drilling disciplines, and helps support the overall organization as VP, Learning.

    Courses:

  • Dr. Howard L. McKinzie
    Dr. Howard L. McKinzie
    X
    DR. HOWARD L. MCKINZIE is a petroleum consultant from Sugar Land, Texas. His prior industry experience includes 21 years with Texaco, Inc. and Getty Oil Company in numerous areas of production and completions engineering. Specific specialties include sand control, downhole oil/water separation, compact surface oil/water separation, artificial lift with progressive cavity pumps, formation damage, water shutoff, drag reduction techniques for fluid flow, and well stimulation by acidizing and fracturing. He also worked in the area of surface well logging, and was one of the co-developers of QGM (Qualitative Gas Measurement) and QFT (Qualitative Fluorescence Technique). Prior to joining Getty, he was employed by GTE Labs in Waltham, Massachusetts, where he worked primarily in the areas of catalyst development research and developing photo-catalytic techniques. He was the Chairman of the Completion Engineering Association in 1991-1992, after being Vice Chairman in 1989-1990. He was a member of the research team that received the Special Meritorious Award for Engineering Innovation from Petroleum Engineer International (1999). He was also a member of another team that received the Hearst Newspapers Energy Award for Technology in 1998. He has twice received Texaco's Corporate Technology Innovation Award and holds numerous patents in several of the above areas. He held a post-doctoral appointment in Chemistry at Brown University, and subsequently taught engineering several more years at Brown. He received a BS degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from Central Oklahoma University, and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Arizona State University.

    Courses:

  • Mr. Manickavasakan Nadar
    Mr. Manickavasakan Nadar
    X
    MR. MANICKAVASAKAN (MANICKAM) S. NADAR is a consultant Principal Petroleum engineer with 27 years of experience in the upstream oil and gas industry and 6 years in petrochemical process operations. With a strong background in Production Technology, Well Operations, Well Completions & Workovers, Artificial Lift, Asset Modeling and Optimization, he has specialized in artificial lift technologies, well and system designs, analysis, trouble-shooting, reliability improvement and production enhancement. He has made significant contribution in the artificial lift selection, design, operation, surveillance and optimization of large volume gas lifted and ESP wells for many operators. Mr. Nadar has worked for major international operating companies and handled various responsibilities in production engineering operations and artificial lift systems, onshore and offshore. In the service sector, he has delivered many challenging well and network modeling and optimization projects that helped clients achieve substantial increase in production, operation efficiency and cost savings. Recently he has helped companies to implement real-time surveillance and optimization systems that allows operators use collaborative work environments for achieving their KPIs. A university topper and gold medalist, Mr. Nadar holds a BSc degree in Chemistry from Madurai University, India and a degree in Chemical Engineering from Institution of Engineers (India). With several SPE papers and text book publications to his credit, he has conducted many workshops, training seminars and short courses for SPE and other organizations.

    Courses:

  • Mrs. Kindra Marie Snow-McGregor
    Mrs. Kindra Marie Snow-McGregor
    X
    MRS. KINDRA SNOW-MCGREGOR is the Technical Director of Oil and Gas Processing with PetroSkills | John M Campbell. She has a master's and bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering and Petroleum Refining from the Colorado School of Mines, and over 22 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. She has served as the technical lead on several significant projects in the industry for clients such as BP, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Occidental, QatarGas, and XTO. Mrs. Snow-McGregor has been active in the gas processing / midstream industry for many years and is on the Board of Directors for the GPSA. In addition, she serves on the GPSA Engineering Data Book Editorial Review Board. She has published 9 technical papers at international conferences and is a coinventor on two technology patents in the gas processing industry.

    Courses:

  • Mr. P. Kyle Travis
    Mr. P. Kyle Travis
    X
    MR. KYLE TRAVIS is a Petroleum Engineer with 38 years of diversified experience in the oil and gas industry. He is very experienced in all phases of petroleum engineering including drilling, log analysis, completion, production, reservoir and economics. He has a BS degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Oklahoma.

    Mr. Travis has a proven track record of effectively building oil and gas companies from infancy to significance. In addition to many years of “hands on” experience with both major oil and small independent companies, his background also includes managing oil and gas companies from the initial formulation of a business plan and establishment of corporate goals through the execution of such. He has built and supervised a staff of experienced oil and gas professionals, evaluated drilling prospects, acquired producing properties, managed the operations of drilling and the production of oil and gas properties.

    Courses:



  • About the course
  • Designed For
  • You will learn
  • Course Content
This workshop will be delivered virtually through PetroAcademy. Each PetroAcademy offering integrates multiple learning activities, such as reading assignments, self-paced e-Learning, virtual instructor-led sessions, discussion forums, group exercises, case studies, quizzes, field trips, and experiential activities.

See detailed schedule and PetroAcademy details.

Activities include 22 hours of instructor-led, virtual training sessions, plus approximately 87 hours of self-paced work.

In addition to the scheduled sessions, this course is available on demand, wherein the course work is self-paced and instructor-led sessions are available any time as videos. See details

See demo of online learning and instructor-led modules.

The Production Operations Blended Program represents the core foundation series of PetroSkills production engineering curriculum. Participants will become familiar with both proven historical production practices as well as current technological advances to enhance oil and gas production. Applied skills guide the participant within a framework to make careful, prudent, technical oil and gas business decisions.

In addition to online course materials, participants are able to purchase a hard copy of the textbooks prior to the course.
Engineers starting a work assignment in production engineering and operations, Production operations staff, Reservoir engineers, Facilities staff, Drilling and completions engineers, Geoscientists, Field supervisors, managers, and technicians, Service company engineers and managers
PRODUCTION PRINCIPLES
  • Effects of depositional environment and the rock cycle in the formation of hydrocarbon accumulations
  • Reservoir engineering principles that guide optimum conventional and unconventional reservoir development
  • The important characteristics of oilfield Inflow and Outflow and their related mathematical flow equations and applied principles required for system modeling
  • Why a well flows on natural flow and the eventual requirement for artificial lift to maximize overall recovery as reservoir depletion occurs and reservoir energy diminishes
  • Special considerations for tubing regarding erosional velocity and critical flow conditions

WELL PERFORMANCE and NODAL ANALYSIS FUNDAMENTALS
  • Collect and validate required data to evaluate well performance using computer modeling and performance history matching, and predict potential problems
  • Calculate productivity index, and estimate basic reservoir parameters by interpreting a simple pressure buildup analysis in conventional and unconventional resources plays
  • Identify flow restrictions from basic inflow performance analysis, recommend actions to improve well productivity, and describe how to use choke equation calculations and its limitations

ONSHORE CONVENTIONAL COMPLETION
  • The purpose and basic operational aspects of wellhead, flow control equipment., and the major components used in a basic well completion in conventional plays
  • The impact that drilling practices may have on reservoir productivity
  • Describe the function and limitations of each surface and subsurface component of a basic onshore completions
  • Specify the production target of a well, and describe the type of completion or workover design components required to achieve the target
  • Describe the basic properties of completion components materials and their limitations in conventional resources plays
  • Describe which fluid systems are the most important for implementing successful completions and workovers in wells in conventional resources plays
  • Describe the most common subsurface equipment components used in conventional resources plays wells, and what they are used for
  • Describe the most relevant steps for implementing completion procedures in wells in conventional resources plays, and the proper interaction with all parties involved required
  • Describe the most relevant aspects of HSE in completion operations
  • Describe how a well flows, the impact of well control on fluid flow, and the most common control and monitoring devices
  • Describe the basic requirements and local regulations to abandon conventional wells
  • Specify the production target of a horizontal well, and describe the type of completion or workover design components required to achieve the target in conventional and unconventional resources plays

ONSHORE UNCONVENTIONAL COMPLETION
  • Describe the purpose and basic operational aspects of wellhead and flow control equipment in wells in unconventional plays
  • Describe the purpose of each of the major components used in a basic well completion in unconventional resources plays, and the impact that drilling practices have on reservoir productivity
  • Describe the function and limitations of each surface and subsurface component of a basic onshore completion in unconventional resources plays
  • Describe the basic properties of completion components materials and their limitations in unconventional resources plays
  • Describe which fluid systems are the most important for implementing successful completions and workovers in wells in unconventional resources plays
  • Describe the most relevant steps for implementing completion procedures in wells in unconventional resources plays, and the proper interaction with all parties involved required
  • Describe the most common techniques used to drill, complete, stimulate, and produce typical wells in coalbed methane reservoirs

PRIMARY and REMEDIAL CEMENTING
  • The manufacturing processes to blend composite materials that make up oilfield cement
  • The various uses of additives to modify cement properties
  • The cementing tools at the surface and downhole and the related cement displacement process to achieve a quality primary cement job to isolate a casing string
  • The casing cement evaluation tools and methods to assess cement job quality
  • The various practices that comprise options to attempt repair of primary cementing jobs that are referred to as cement squeeze operations
  • How to calculate typical casing string cement volume requirements
  • How to evaluate a cement bond log and make recommendations

PERFORATING
  • Discuss various shaped charges, their design, performance, shot phasing and shot density options, and their advantages and limitations
  • Illustrate the three primary perforating gun conveyance systems and the various gun types available and their individual features
  • Understand concepts like perf tunnel damage, gun standoff, underbalance, gun correlation on depth, and other engineering input requirements for each perforating job design

ROD, PCP, JET PUMPS, PLUNGER LIFT
  • How to evaluate reservoir and well conditions to choose the appropriate artificial lift system for each set of conditions
  • How rod pump, PCP pump, jet pump, and plunger lift artificial lift systems work
  • How to design and optimize rod pump, PCP pump, jet pump, and plunger lift completions
  • Why surveillance and monitoring of artificial lift systems is essential
  • Various API and related design standards and practices that represent key, proven artificial lift system performance fundamentals

RECIPROCATING ROD PUMP FANDAMENTALS
  • Apply the working principles and operating characteristics of oilfield reciprocating rod pump artificial lift technology
  • Employ the steps necessary to design, maintain, and service rod pump surface unit equipment
  • Employ the steps necessary to design, maintain, and service rod pump rod strings
  • Employ the steps necessary to design, maintain, and service rod pump downhole pumps
  • Develop engineering and operating skills to successfully design, properly set up, maintain, and provide overall service for implementing and applying reciprocating rod pump artificial lift technology
  • Illustrate using pictures, animations, sketches, design software, and other media and tools the key mechanisms of rod pump systems
  • Design a rod pump rod string using the Modified Goodman method
  • Highlight the considerations and adjustments being reviewed by API regarding standards for proper consideration of rod fatigue and related corrosion effects upon rod string design
  • Work several rod pump design exercises to assess maximum and minimum pump load, minimum and maximum rod stress, motor selection, strokes per minute, stroke length, and related overall rod pump design parameter selection
  • Describe how a rod pump surface dynamometer gathers rod pump loading data over each pump cycle, calculate maximum and minimum rod stress loading, predict downhole pump performance, select rod string taper sizing, select motor horsepower required, and evaluate overall pump performance while identifying rod pump problems, all using a rod pump dynamometer, known as The Analytic and Predictive Tool for reciprocating rod pumps
  • Outline the primary causes of rod failure and how the use of rod guides and other auxiliary equipment can mitigate failures, the effect of gear box overload and how to prevent it, the proper selection of rod metallurgy for corrosion conditions, and the need for disciplined inspection of well tubing and rods to minimize failures
  • Demonstrate how the use of modern instrumentation “smart well” systems to control pump operation, gather data, and manage pump functions results in optimum pump performance and minimized costs

GAS LIFT and ELECTRICAL SUBMERSIBLE PUMP
  • Why artificial lift is required to maximize ultimate recovery
  • How to evaluate reservoir and well conditions to choose the appropriate artificial lift system for each set of conditions
  • How each artificial lift system works
  • How to design and optimize gas lift and ESP completions
  • Why surveillance and monitoring of artificial lift systems is essential
  • Various API and related design standards and practices that represent key, proven artificial lift performance fundamentals

GAS LIFT FUNDAMENTALS
  • Explain situations when gas lift is appropriate
  • Calculate the production rate and the flowing bottom-hole pressure from inflow performance analysis in a well completed with a gas lift system
  • Calculate the gas lift rate and pressure required to produce the well at a stable flow for various tubing sizes
  • Select the appropriate tubing size for a well to be completed with a gas lift system
  • Calculate the production rate and flowing bottom-hole pressure using widely accepted techniques applicable to unconventional resources wells completed with a gas lift system
  • Design a gas lift installation with the required number of unloading mandrels, charge pressure, and orifice size lift valves at the appropriate spacing based on available gas lift pressure and required lift rate for conventional and unconventional resources
  • Operate, troubleshoot and optimize gas lifted wells and network systems

ELECTRICAL SUBMERSIBLE PUMPS
  • Calculate the production rate and the pump intake pressure from inflow performance analysis
  • Calculate the free gas and fluid viscosity at pump intake conditions
  • Determine the pump capacity and motor horsepower required to deliver the desired flow or rate limited by the ESP equipment
  • Determine the power cable type and gauge based on formation parameters
  • Ensure ESP equipment failure data is properly documented
  • Review failure trends
  • For an ESP design, select the appropriate protector for a given application
  • Calculate the production rate and pump intake pressure using widely accepted techniques applicable to unconventional resource wells
  • Determine the pump capacity and motor horsepower required to deliver the desired production rate in unconventional resource wells

FORMATION DAMAGE and MATRIX STIMULATION
  • The basic causes of oilfield formation damage and how they are recognized
  • The concept of “True Formation Damage” and the principles of formation remediation once it has been correctly identified as being the cause of lost production
  • How “pseudo” damage and differs from True Formation Damage
  • The principles of limestone matrix acidizing and the chemistry and reactions involved
  • The principles of sandstone matrix acidizing and the chemistry and reactions involved
  • Formation damage identification and the positive results achieved by successfully conducting matrix acidizing jobs

FORMATION DAMAGE and MATRIX ACIDIZING FUNDAMENTALS
  • Illustrate the impact of formation damage upon production
  • Explain the wide variety of reasons, sources, depositional environments, and routine operations’ activities that result in production limitations
  • Assess formation damage “skin” values
  • Calculate production rates with various levels of formation damage as well as no formation damage
  • Describe how TFD is recognized and how PD is recognized and present the characteristics and elements of each
  • Illustrate clay stabilization through the use of positively charged cation exchange to stabilize negatively charged clays to limit clay migration, hydration, and other damaging mechanisms

FLOW ASSURANCE and PRODUCTION CHEMISTRY
  • Typical oilfield “flow assurance” issues and problems due to: waxes, asphaltenes, inorganic scales, and corrosion
  • How to interpret revealing signs of corrosion and erosion failure, scale formation, and related downhole deposits and how to prevent or minimize their production loss effects
  • How formations become damaged due to related flow assurance and production chemistry issues
  • The importance of collecting data to categorize options to choose an optimum well prevention and treatment plans
  • How to recognize, prevent, remove, and manage organic paraffin and asphaltene field deposits
  • How to recognize, prevent, remove and manage typical common soluble and insoluble scales in oil and gas operations
  • The importance of using oilfield production chemistry to resolve production problems
  • The conditions required for the formation of gas hydrates
  • How ice crystals and methane in pipelines can lead to severe plugging of lines if not prevented from occurring or regularly removed by pigging operations
  • The methods employed to treat gas hydrates in pipelines

SAND CONTROL
  • Identify the need for sand control
  • Recognize the causes of sand movement
  • Define what consolidated sand is, and what it is not
  • Identify both non-mechanical and mechanical methods of sand control
  • Recognize that rate restriction is a valid practice to manage sand production
  • Recognize that minor sand volume produced may be tolerated
  • Identify various screen types for sand control
  • Outline aspects of pre-packed screens for sand control
  • Describe the principles of sand control screen and gravel completions
  • Identify the three steps comprising a gravel pack completion design
  • Describe various fluid options for pumping gravel slurry into a gravel pack completion
  • Outline the function of a gravel pack “crossover tool”
  • Outline the function of a gravel pack “shunt tube”
  • Describe the function of a frac pack completion
  • Outline the frac pack completion well performance results
  • Outline the function of an expandable sand screen completion
  • Identify the components of an expandable screen and possible benefits resulting from the use of expandables

SAND CONTROL FUNDAMENTALS
  • Design and execute fracpack treatments in basic situations
  • Use at least one commercial fracturing design model to perform specific calculations related to fracpacking such as, fluid efficiency, net pressure, closure pressure, bottom hole treating pressure, and friction. Interpret basic pressure information during minifrac or main frac in a fracpack operation
  • Analyze data used for fracpack design purposes to ensure they are appropriate and sensible
  • During a fracpack, describe the advantages and limitations of inducing a tip screen-out
  • Design and obtain Tip Screenouts

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING (CONVENTIONAL and UNCONVENTIONAL)
  • Describe the significance of rock mechanics in all relevant production engineering operations
  • Describe the most common non-chemical stimulation methods, their objectives and limitations in conventional resources plays
  • Describe the most common non-chemical stimulation methods, their objectives and limitations in unconventional resources plays
  • Describe the basic principles of hydraulic fracturing in conventional plays, the difference between acid and proppant treatments, and how to select optimum stimulation candidates
  • Describe the basic principles of hydraulic fracturing in unconventional resource plays, the difference between slickwater and cross-linked treatments, and how to select optimum stimulation candidates

PRODUCTION PROBLEM DIAGNOSIS
  • Describe the different types of field collected data, and the most relevant factors that affect well performance in conventional and unconventional resources plays
  • Describe the difference between drill stem and production tests, when to select and apply each test, how to validate collected data, and the purpose of pressure buildup analysis in conventional and unconventional resources plays
  • Describe the effect of pressure on fluid flow, Inflow Performance Relationship analysis principles, and the best tubing correlations to use when modeling vertical and horizontal wells
  • Describe the importance of applying and complying with all requirements to ensure integrity throughout the life cycle of a well including potential well problems from thermal fluids

PRODUCTION LOGGING
  • Describe the purpose(s) of running cased hole production logs
  • Describe the types of data collected from logs, and the mechanics of running logs
  • Identify output from the most common production logs used
  • Describe conveyance methods for production logs in horizontal wells
  • Describe issues related to production log interpretation with poorly defined bed boundaries and complex fracture systems in ultra-low perm reservoirs
  • Describe cased-hole micro seismic techniques

PRODUCTION LOGGING FUNDAMENTALS
  • Interpret and determine the validity of data obtained from the most common production logs, such as spinner surveys, temperature logs, and gamma-ray in wells
  • Supervise logging jobs onsite, and make all necessary operational decisions to ensure job objectives are achieved
  • Use production logging results to identify well production problems and create remedial actions
ILT = Virtual instructor-led online session
OL = Self-paced online learning activity

Week 1
  • Orientation Webcast (ILT)
  • Production Principles (OL)

Week 2
  • Well Performance and NODAL Analysis Fundamentals - Session 1 (ILT)
  • Well Performance and NODAL Analysis Fundamentals (OL)
  • Well Performance and NODAL Analysis Fundamentals - Session 2 (ILT)

Week 3
  • Onshore Well Completion - Conventional (OL)
  • Onshore Well Completion - Unconventional (OL)

Week 4
  • Primary and Remedial Cementing (OL)
  • Perforation (OL)

Week 5
  • Rod, PCP, Plunger Lift, and Jet Pump

Week 6
  • Reciprocating Rod Pump Fundamentals - Session 1 (ILT)
  • Reciprocating Rod Pump Fundamentals (OL)
  • Reciprocating Rod Pump Fundamentals - Session 2 (ILT)

Week 7
  • Gas Lift and ESP Pump

Week 8
  • Gas Lift Fundamentals - Session 1 (ILT)
  • Gas Lift Fundamentals (OL)
  • Gas Lift Fundamentals - Session 2 (ILT)

Week 9
  • ESP Fundamentals - Session 1 (ILT)
  • ESP Fundamentals (OL)
  • ESP Fundamentals - Session 2 (ILT)

Week 10
  • Formation Damage and Remediation (OL)
  • Matrix Acidizing Fundamentals - Session 1 (ILT)
  • Matrix Acidizing Fundamentals (OL)
  • Matrix Acidizing Fundamentals - Session 2 (ILT)

Week 11
  • Flow Assurance and Production Chemistry (OL)
  • Sand Control (OL)

Week 12
  • Sand Control Fundamentals - Session 1 (ILT)
  • Sand Control Fundamentals (OL)
  • Sand Control Fundamentals - Session 2 (ILT)

Week 13
  • Hydraulic Fracturing (OL)
  • Production Problem Diagnosis and Intervention Planning (OL)

Week 14
  • Production Logging (OL)
  • Production Logging Fundamentals - Session 1 (ILT)
  • Production Logging Fundamentals (OL)
  • Production Logging Fundamentals - Session 2 (ILT)
Related courses
View the Progression Map
Production Operations 1 - PO1
Completions and Workovers - CAW
Nodal Analysis Workshop - NAW-3 - Virtual, Blended Delivery
Download Progression Map

Production Operations 1 - PO1 - Virtual, Blended Delivery
Discipline: Production and Completions Engineering
Level: Foundation
Duration: 1 days
Instructor(s): Paul Barry, Iskander Diyashev, Ronald Frend, Dan Gibson, Mason Gomez, Howard McKinzie, Manickavasakan Nadar, Kindra Snow-McGregor, P. Travis
This workshop will be delivered virtually through PetroAcademy. Each PetroAcademy offering integrates multiple learning activities, such as reading assignments, self-paced e-Learning, virtual instructor-led sessions, discussion forums, group exercises, case studies, quizzes, field trips, and experiential activities.

See detailed schedule and PetroAcademy details.

Activities include 22 hours of instructor-led, virtual training sessions, plus approximately 87 hours of self-paced work.

In addition to the scheduled sessions, this course is available on demand, wherein the course work is self-paced and instructor-led sessions are available any time as videos. See details

See demo of online learning and instructor-led modules.

The Production Operations Blended Program represents the core foundation series of PetroSkills production engineering curriculum. Participants will become familiar with both proven historical production practices as well as current technological advances to enhance oil and gas production. Applied skills guide the participant within a framework to make careful, prudent, technical oil and gas business decisions.

In addition to online course materials, participants are able to purchase a hard copy of the textbooks prior to the course.
Designed For:
Engineers starting a work assignment in production engineering and operations, Production operations staff, Reservoir engineers, Facilities staff, Drilling and completions engineers, Geoscientists, Field supervisors, managers, and technicians, Service company engineers and managers
You Will Learn:
PRODUCTION PRINCIPLES
  • Effects of depositional environment and the rock cycle in the formation of hydrocarbon accumulations
  • Reservoir engineering principles that guide optimum conventional and unconventional reservoir development
  • The important characteristics of oilfield Inflow and Outflow and their related mathematical flow equations and applied principles required for system modeling
  • Why a well flows on natural flow and the eventual requirement for artificial lift to maximize overall recovery as reservoir depletion occurs and reservoir energy diminishes
  • Special considerations for tubing regarding erosional velocity and critical flow conditions

WELL PERFORMANCE and NODAL ANALYSIS FUNDAMENTALS
  • Collect and validate required data to evaluate well performance using computer modeling and performance history matching, and predict potential problems
  • Calculate productivity index, and estimate basic reservoir parameters by interpreting a simple pressure buildup analysis in conventional and unconventional resources plays
  • Identify flow restrictions from basic inflow performance analysis, recommend actions to improve well productivity, and describe how to use choke equation calculations and its limitations

ONSHORE CONVENTIONAL COMPLETION
  • The purpose and basic operational aspects of wellhead, flow control equipment., and the major components used in a basic well completion in conventional plays
  • The impact that drilling practices may have on reservoir productivity
  • Describe the function and limitations of each surface and subsurface component of a basic onshore completions
  • Specify the production target of a well, and describe the type of completion or workover design components required to achieve the target
  • Describe the basic properties of completion components materials and their limitations in conventional resources plays
  • Describe which fluid systems are the most important for implementing successful completions and workovers in wells in conventional resources plays
  • Describe the most common subsurface equipment components used in conventional resources plays wells, and what they are used for
  • Describe the most relevant steps for implementing completion procedures in wells in conventional resources plays, and the proper interaction with all parties involved required
  • Describe the most relevant aspects of HSE in completion operations
  • Describe how a well flows, the impact of well control on fluid flow, and the most common control and monitoring devices
  • Describe the basic requirements and local regulations to abandon conventional wells
  • Specify the production target of a horizontal well, and describe the type of completion or workover design components required to achieve the target in conventional and unconventional resources plays

ONSHORE UNCONVENTIONAL COMPLETION
  • Describe the purpose and basic operational aspects of wellhead and flow control equipment in wells in unconventional plays
  • Describe the purpose of each of the major components used in a basic well completion in unconventional resources plays, and the impact that drilling practices have on reservoir productivity
  • Describe the function and limitations of each surface and subsurface component of a basic onshore completion in unconventional resources plays
  • Describe the basic properties of completion components materials and their limitations in unconventional resources plays
  • Describe which fluid systems are the most important for implementing successful completions and workovers in wells in unconventional resources plays
  • Describe the most relevant steps for implementing completion procedures in wells in unconventional resources plays, and the proper interaction with all parties involved required
  • Describe the most common techniques used to drill, complete, stimulate, and produce typical wells in coalbed methane reservoirs

PRIMARY and REMEDIAL CEMENTING
  • The manufacturing processes to blend composite materials that make up oilfield cement
  • The various uses of additives to modify cement properties
  • The cementing tools at the surface and downhole and the related cement displacement process to achieve a quality primary cement job to isolate a casing string
  • The casing cement evaluation tools and methods to assess cement job quality
  • The various practices that comprise options to attempt repair of primary cementing jobs that are referred to as cement squeeze operations
  • How to calculate typical casing string cement volume requirements
  • How to evaluate a cement bond log and make recommendations

PERFORATING
  • Discuss various shaped charges, their design, performance, shot phasing and shot density options, and their advantages and limitations
  • Illustrate the three primary perforating gun conveyance systems and the various gun types available and their individual features
  • Understand concepts like perf tunnel damage, gun standoff, underbalance, gun correlation on depth, and other engineering input requirements for each perforating job design

ROD, PCP, JET PUMPS, PLUNGER LIFT
  • How to evaluate reservoir and well conditions to choose the appropriate artificial lift system for each set of conditions
  • How rod pump, PCP pump, jet pump, and plunger lift artificial lift systems work
  • How to design and optimize rod pump, PCP pump, jet pump, and plunger lift completions
  • Why surveillance and monitoring of artificial lift systems is essential
  • Various API and related design standards and practices that represent key, proven artificial lift system performance fundamentals

RECIPROCATING ROD PUMP FANDAMENTALS
  • Apply the working principles and operating characteristics of oilfield reciprocating rod pump artificial lift technology
  • Employ the steps necessary to design, maintain, and service rod pump surface unit equipment
  • Employ the steps necessary to design, maintain, and service rod pump rod strings
  • Employ the steps necessary to design, maintain, and service rod pump downhole pumps
  • Develop engineering and operating skills to successfully design, properly set up, maintain, and provide overall service for implementing and applying reciprocating rod pump artificial lift technology
  • Illustrate using pictures, animations, sketches, design software, and other media and tools the key mechanisms of rod pump systems
  • Design a rod pump rod string using the Modified Goodman method
  • Highlight the considerations and adjustments being reviewed by API regarding standards for proper consideration of rod fatigue and related corrosion effects upon rod string design
  • Work several rod pump design exercises to assess maximum and minimum pump load, minimum and maximum rod stress, motor selection, strokes per minute, stroke length, and related overall rod pump design parameter selection
  • Describe how a rod pump surface dynamometer gathers rod pump loading data over each pump cycle, calculate maximum and minimum rod stress loading, predict downhole pump performance, select rod string taper sizing, select motor horsepower required, and evaluate overall pump performance while identifying rod pump problems, all using a rod pump dynamometer, known as The Analytic and Predictive Tool for reciprocating rod pumps
  • Outline the primary causes of rod failure and how the use of rod guides and other auxiliary equipment can mitigate failures, the effect of gear box overload and how to prevent it, the proper selection of rod metallurgy for corrosion conditions, and the need for disciplined inspection of well tubing and rods to minimize failures
  • Demonstrate how the use of modern instrumentation “smart well” systems to control pump operation, gather data, and manage pump functions results in optimum pump performance and minimized costs

GAS LIFT and ELECTRICAL SUBMERSIBLE PUMP
  • Why artificial lift is required to maximize ultimate recovery
  • How to evaluate reservoir and well conditions to choose the appropriate artificial lift system for each set of conditions
  • How each artificial lift system works
  • How to design and optimize gas lift and ESP completions
  • Why surveillance and monitoring of artificial lift systems is essential
  • Various API and related design standards and practices that represent key, proven artificial lift performance fundamentals

GAS LIFT FUNDAMENTALS
  • Explain situations when gas lift is appropriate
  • Calculate the production rate and the flowing bottom-hole pressure from inflow performance analysis in a well completed with a gas lift system
  • Calculate the gas lift rate and pressure required to produce the well at a stable flow for various tubing sizes
  • Select the appropriate tubing size for a well to be completed with a gas lift system
  • Calculate the production rate and flowing bottom-hole pressure using widely accepted techniques applicable to unconventional resources wells completed with a gas lift system
  • Design a gas lift installation with the required number of unloading mandrels, charge pressure, and orifice size lift valves at the appropriate spacing based on available gas lift pressure and required lift rate for conventional and unconventional resources
  • Operate, troubleshoot and optimize gas lifted wells and network systems

ELECTRICAL SUBMERSIBLE PUMPS
  • Calculate the production rate and the pump intake pressure from inflow performance analysis
  • Calculate the free gas and fluid viscosity at pump intake conditions
  • Determine the pump capacity and motor horsepower required to deliver the desired flow or rate limited by the ESP equipment
  • Determine the power cable type and gauge based on formation parameters
  • Ensure ESP equipment failure data is properly documented
  • Review failure trends
  • For an ESP design, select the appropriate protector for a given application
  • Calculate the production rate and pump intake pressure using widely accepted techniques applicable to unconventional resource wells
  • Determine the pump capacity and motor horsepower required to deliver the desired production rate in unconventional resource wells

FORMATION DAMAGE and MATRIX STIMULATION
  • The basic causes of oilfield formation damage and how they are recognized
  • The concept of “True Formation Damage” and the principles of formation remediation once it has been correctly identified as being the cause of lost production
  • How “pseudo” damage and differs from True Formation Damage
  • The principles of limestone matrix acidizing and the chemistry and reactions involved
  • The principles of sandstone matrix acidizing and the chemistry and reactions involved
  • Formation damage identification and the positive results achieved by successfully conducting matrix acidizing jobs

FORMATION DAMAGE and MATRIX ACIDIZING FUNDAMENTALS
  • Illustrate the impact of formation damage upon production
  • Explain the wide variety of reasons, sources, depositional environments, and routine operations’ activities that result in production limitations
  • Assess formation damage “skin” values
  • Calculate production rates with various levels of formation damage as well as no formation damage
  • Describe how TFD is recognized and how PD is recognized and present the characteristics and elements of each
  • Illustrate clay stabilization through the use of positively charged cation exchange to stabilize negatively charged clays to limit clay migration, hydration, and other damaging mechanisms

FLOW ASSURANCE and PRODUCTION CHEMISTRY
  • Typical oilfield “flow assurance” issues and problems due to: waxes, asphaltenes, inorganic scales, and corrosion
  • How to interpret revealing signs of corrosion and erosion failure, scale formation, and related downhole deposits and how to prevent or minimize their production loss effects
  • How formations become damaged due to related flow assurance and production chemistry issues
  • The importance of collecting data to categorize options to choose an optimum well prevention and treatment plans
  • How to recognize, prevent, remove, and manage organic paraffin and asphaltene field deposits
  • How to recognize, prevent, remove and manage typical common soluble and insoluble scales in oil and gas operations
  • The importance of using oilfield production chemistry to resolve production problems
  • The conditions required for the formation of gas hydrates
  • How ice crystals and methane in pipelines can lead to severe plugging of lines if not prevented from occurring or regularly removed by pigging operations
  • The methods employed to treat gas hydrates in pipelines

SAND CONTROL
  • Identify the need for sand control
  • Recognize the causes of sand movement
  • Define what consolidated sand is, and what it is not
  • Identify both non-mechanical and mechanical methods of sand control
  • Recognize that rate restriction is a valid practice to manage sand production
  • Recognize that minor sand volume produced may be tolerated
  • Identify various screen types for sand control
  • Outline aspects of pre-packed screens for sand control
  • Describe the principles of sand control screen and gravel completions
  • Identify the three steps comprising a gravel pack completion design
  • Describe various fluid options for pumping gravel slurry into a gravel pack completion
  • Outline the function of a gravel pack “crossover tool”
  • Outline the function of a gravel pack “shunt tube”
  • Describe the function of a frac pack completion
  • Outline the frac pack completion well performance results
  • Outline the function of an expandable sand screen completion
  • Identify the components of an expandable screen and possible benefits resulting from the use of expandables

SAND CONTROL FUNDAMENTALS
  • Design and execute fracpack treatments in basic situations
  • Use at least one commercial fracturing design model to perform specific calculations related to fracpacking such as, fluid efficiency, net pressure, closure pressure, bottom hole treating pressure, and friction. Interpret basic pressure information during minifrac or main frac in a fracpack operation
  • Analyze data used for fracpack design purposes to ensure they are appropriate and sensible
  • During a fracpack, describe the advantages and limitations of inducing a tip screen-out
  • Design and obtain Tip Screenouts

HYDRAULIC FRACTURING (CONVENTIONAL and UNCONVENTIONAL)
  • Describe the significance of rock mechanics in all relevant production engineering operations
  • Describe the most common non-chemical stimulation methods, their objectives and limitations in conventional resources plays
  • Describe the most common non-chemical stimulation methods, their objectives and limitations in unconventional resources plays
  • Describe the basic principles of hydraulic fracturing in conventional plays, the difference between acid and proppant treatments, and how to select optimum stimulation candidates
  • Describe the basic principles of hydraulic fracturing in unconventional resource plays, the difference between slickwater and cross-linked treatments, and how to select optimum stimulation candidates

PRODUCTION PROBLEM DIAGNOSIS
  • Describe the different types of field collected data, and the most relevant factors that affect well performance in conventional and unconventional resources plays
  • Describe the difference between drill stem and production tests, when to select and apply each test, how to validate collected data, and the purpose of pressure buildup analysis in conventional and unconventional resources plays
  • Describe the effect of pressure on fluid flow, Inflow Performance Relationship analysis principles, and the best tubing correlations to use when modeling vertical and horizontal wells
  • Describe the importance of applying and complying with all requirements to ensure integrity throughout the life cycle of a well including potential well problems from thermal fluids

PRODUCTION LOGGING
  • Describe the purpose(s) of running cased hole production logs
  • Describe the types of data collected from logs, and the mechanics of running logs
  • Identify output from the most common production logs used
  • Describe conveyance methods for production logs in horizontal wells
  • Describe issues related to production log interpretation with poorly defined bed boundaries and complex fracture systems in ultra-low perm reservoirs
  • Describe cased-hole micro seismic techniques

PRODUCTION LOGGING FUNDAMENTALS
  • Interpret and determine the validity of data obtained from the most common production logs, such as spinner surveys, temperature logs, and gamma-ray in wells
  • Supervise logging jobs onsite, and make all necessary operational decisions to ensure job objectives are achieved
  • Use production logging results to identify well production problems and create remedial actions
Course Content:
ILT = Virtual instructor-led online session
OL = Self-paced online learning activity

Week 1
  • Orientation Webcast (ILT)
  • Production Principles (OL)

Week 2
  • Well Performance and NODAL Analysis Fundamentals - Session 1 (ILT)
  • Well Performance and NODAL Analysis Fundamentals (OL)
  • Well Performance and NODAL Analysis Fundamentals - Session 2 (ILT)

Week 3
  • Onshore Well Completion - Conventional (OL)
  • Onshore Well Completion - Unconventional (OL)

Week 4
  • Primary and Remedial Cementing (OL)
  • Perforation (OL)

Week 5
  • Rod, PCP, Plunger Lift, and Jet Pump

Week 6
  • Reciprocating Rod Pump Fundamentals - Session 1 (ILT)
  • Reciprocating Rod Pump Fundamentals (OL)
  • Reciprocating Rod Pump Fundamentals - Session 2 (ILT)

Week 7
  • Gas Lift and ESP Pump

Week 8
  • Gas Lift Fundamentals - Session 1 (ILT)
  • Gas Lift Fundamentals (OL)
  • Gas Lift Fundamentals - Session 2 (ILT)

Week 9
  • ESP Fundamentals - Session 1 (ILT)
  • ESP Fundamentals (OL)
  • ESP Fundamentals - Session 2 (ILT)

Week 10
  • Formation Damage and Remediation (OL)
  • Matrix Acidizing Fundamentals - Session 1 (ILT)
  • Matrix Acidizing Fundamentals (OL)
  • Matrix Acidizing Fundamentals - Session 2 (ILT)

Week 11
  • Flow Assurance and Production Chemistry (OL)
  • Sand Control (OL)

Week 12
  • Sand Control Fundamentals - Session 1 (ILT)
  • Sand Control Fundamentals (OL)
  • Sand Control Fundamentals - Session 2 (ILT)

Week 13
  • Hydraulic Fracturing (OL)
  • Production Problem Diagnosis and Intervention Planning (OL)

Week 14
  • Production Logging (OL)
  • Production Logging Fundamentals - Session 1 (ILT)
  • Production Logging Fundamentals (OL)
  • Production Logging Fundamentals - Session 2 (ILT)
Instructors:

MR. PAUL BARRY is a petroleum engineering consultant specializing in production operations and oilfield development and management. Mr. Barry has over 44 years of international upstream oil and gas production and reservoir engineering and management experience resident in various US locations, South America, SE Asia, the Middle East, and the North Sea. He has been a consultant and PetroSkills instructor since 2002. With PetroSkills, he was based in Perth, Australia from 2007-2008 and in Dubai, UAE, from 2003-2006, developing PetroSkills regional business in both locations. Industry experience has been as a consultant for shale oil and gas exploitation planning and multi stage, fractured horizontal well completion practices. Previous experience has been as a field production engineering manager of an onshore oilfield re-development/brownfield project for PDVSA and partners in Venezuela which required a combination of gas lift, submersible pump, and rod pump artificial lift completion technology, and frac pack sand control well completions. Previous Indonesia experience was in the design and completion of dual string, multiple selective, underbalanced, TCP high pressure gas wells, artificial lift oil well completions, and exploration well testing and evaluation for Pertamina and ARCO partners for Bontang LNG gas supply operations. As district reservoir engineer for Pertamina and Arco partners in Indonesia, Mr. Barry was responsible for the plan of development and reserves determination and certification for a 1.3 TCF offshore Bali gas field. He has also worked as a field engineer in Saudi Arabia for Aramco, responsible for a 1.2 MMBWD reservoir pressure support injection well system and injection water quality, producing well gravel pack completions, corrosion control systems, and, as Mobil Oil facilities engineer in the Aramco Gas Projects department. He has represented company technical and commercial interests in both UK and Norwegian North Sea sector oil and gas producing fields. Mr. Barry has served as an officer in the Jakarta and Dubai SPE sections. He holds a BSCE from the University of Notre Dame and an MSCE from Marquette University, and is a registered Professional Engineer in Colorado, USA.

DR. ISKANDER DIYASHEV is a director and a co-founder of Petroleum and Energy Technology Advisors, Inc., an engineering and consulting firm based in Houston, Texas, focused on drilling, completion and stimulation (www.1penta.com). Prior to that Dr. Diyashev was an officer and a board member with Independent Resource Development Corporation, based in Moscow with operations in Western Siberia Russia. Dr. Diyashev was responsible for the planning of field development, reserves evaluation and addition, planning of exploration activities, as well as engineering and technology. In 2001-2006 Dr. Diyashev served as a Chief Engineer for Sibneft, one of the largest integrated oil companies in Russia with a daily production of 700,000 BOPD.

During his career, Dr. Diyashev worked in R&D, consulting, and the service and production sides of the business both in Russia and internationally. Prior to his work with Sibneft, Dr. Diyashev was one of the key Schlumberger specialists to start the horizontal drilling project in Noyabrsk Western Siberia. He holds a PhD in Petroleum Engineering from Texas A&M University, and advanced degrees in Physics and Mathematics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. He has authored 30 technical papers. Dr. Diyashev is a member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, and served on the Board of Directors of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE International), and on the boards of various private E&P, service and engineering firms in the petroleum industry. Twice in his career Dr. Diyashev was elected to serve as a Distinguished Lecturer of the SPE, in 2005-06, and in 2017-18.

MR. RON FREND is a registered engineer, and has extensive engineering and management experience in the oil and gas sector. He rose to a senior position in Shell International (Middle East) before opening a worldwide engineering consultancy based in England and a senior position in a global training enterprise. His entire career has been concerned with practical applications of maintenance and engineering from a solid business foundation. Ron is experienced in a variety of maintenance analytical techniques as well as possessing management skills suitable to a large multi-national corporation working in the oil and gas industry. Ron has also undergone specialized training on the following topics: management techniques, non-destructive testing, oil tanker cargo operations, instrumentation and control, resistance and gas welding, vibration analysis, infrared thermography, and ultrasonics. He is a Registered Engineer with an MSc from Huddersfield University in England as well as being a certified Chief Engineer Officer (marine). Ron is currently Technical Director of Facilities Training for PetroSkills with special responsibility for Mechanical Engineering training.

MR. DAN GIBSON is a consulting engineer with over 35 years of experience in production, completions, and well integrity issues from oil and gas fields all over the world. After working as a roughneck and roustabout through college, he started his professional life as a facility engineer in Alaska. He has worked his way through the value stream from facilities to completions with jobs in Anchorage, Denver, Houston, Gabon, Congo, Egypt, Scotland, Russia, and Australia. He is currently a consulting engineer, working on completions and well integrity problems for a wide range of independents and majors. He has worked as a Wells Technical Authority for a large international independent with a varied portfolio of offshore oil and gas wells. He was the first Senior Completion Advisor for a super major. As part of this role, he worked with teams on both major technical incidents and on planning and assurance of high profile projects around the world. These experiences have given him a unique viewpoint of how fields are developed; how wells are designed, constructed, and produced; how things can go wrong with a well during construction and production; and how best to mitigate and manage well problems. He has authored and co-authored a number of papers, ranging from polymer flood management to ice mechanics and most recently a design of an innovative ICD system for a high rate water injection well. Dan graduated from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater and Studied Arctic Engineering at the University of Alaska, Anchorage. His teaching style focuses on first principles and developing an understanding of why things happen which then dictates an appropriate response.

MR. MASON GOMEZ is a Licensed Petroleum Engineer (LA#26131) with 30 years diversified experience including production/reservoir/drilling engineering, offshore field development/mature field optimization, unconventional drilling/ completions, operator/service company perspectives, engineering, sales, operations management, human resource development, and project management roles. He received a BS degree in Petroleum Engineering from Stanford University. Within PetroSkills, he teaches 8 courses across the Completions, Reservoir, and Drilling disciplines, and helps support the overall organization as VP, Learning.

DR. HOWARD L. MCKINZIE is a petroleum consultant from Sugar Land, Texas. His prior industry experience includes 21 years with Texaco, Inc. and Getty Oil Company in numerous areas of production and completions engineering. Specific specialties include sand control, downhole oil/water separation, compact surface oil/water separation, artificial lift with progressive cavity pumps, formation damage, water shutoff, drag reduction techniques for fluid flow, and well stimulation by acidizing and fracturing. He also worked in the area of surface well logging, and was one of the co-developers of QGM (Qualitative Gas Measurement) and QFT (Qualitative Fluorescence Technique). Prior to joining Getty, he was employed by GTE Labs in Waltham, Massachusetts, where he worked primarily in the areas of catalyst development research and developing photo-catalytic techniques. He was the Chairman of the Completion Engineering Association in 1991-1992, after being Vice Chairman in 1989-1990. He was a member of the research team that received the Special Meritorious Award for Engineering Innovation from Petroleum Engineer International (1999). He was also a member of another team that received the Hearst Newspapers Energy Award for Technology in 1998. He has twice received Texaco's Corporate Technology Innovation Award and holds numerous patents in several of the above areas. He held a post-doctoral appointment in Chemistry at Brown University, and subsequently taught engineering several more years at Brown. He received a BS degree in Chemistry and Mathematics from Central Oklahoma University, and a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Arizona State University.

MR. MANICKAVASAKAN (MANICKAM) S. NADAR is a consultant Principal Petroleum engineer with 27 years of experience in the upstream oil and gas industry and 6 years in petrochemical process operations. With a strong background in Production Technology, Well Operations, Well Completions & Workovers, Artificial Lift, Asset Modeling and Optimization, he has specialized in artificial lift technologies, well and system designs, analysis, trouble-shooting, reliability improvement and production enhancement. He has made significant contribution in the artificial lift selection, design, operation, surveillance and optimization of large volume gas lifted and ESP wells for many operators. Mr. Nadar has worked for major international operating companies and handled various responsibilities in production engineering operations and artificial lift systems, onshore and offshore. In the service sector, he has delivered many challenging well and network modeling and optimization projects that helped clients achieve substantial increase in production, operation efficiency and cost savings. Recently he has helped companies to implement real-time surveillance and optimization systems that allows operators use collaborative work environments for achieving their KPIs. A university topper and gold medalist, Mr. Nadar holds a BSc degree in Chemistry from Madurai University, India and a degree in Chemical Engineering from Institution of Engineers (India). With several SPE papers and text book publications to his credit, he has conducted many workshops, training seminars and short courses for SPE and other organizations.

MRS. KINDRA SNOW-MCGREGOR is the Technical Director of Oil and Gas Processing with PetroSkills | John M Campbell. She has a master's and bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering and Petroleum Refining from the Colorado School of Mines, and over 22 years of experience in the oil and gas industry. She has served as the technical lead on several significant projects in the industry for clients such as BP, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Occidental, QatarGas, and XTO. Mrs. Snow-McGregor has been active in the gas processing / midstream industry for many years and is on the Board of Directors for the GPSA. In addition, she serves on the GPSA Engineering Data Book Editorial Review Board. She has published 9 technical papers at international conferences and is a coinventor on two technology patents in the gas processing industry.

MR. KYLE TRAVIS is a Petroleum Engineer with 38 years of diversified experience in the oil and gas industry. He is very experienced in all phases of petroleum engineering including drilling, log analysis, completion, production, reservoir and economics. He has a BS degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Oklahoma.

Mr. Travis has a proven track record of effectively building oil and gas companies from infancy to significance. In addition to many years of “hands on” experience with both major oil and small independent companies, his background also includes managing oil and gas companies from the initial formulation of a business plan and establishment of corporate goals through the execution of such. He has built and supervised a staff of experienced oil and gas professionals, evaluated drilling prospects, acquired producing properties, managed the operations of drilling and the production of oil and gas properties.


In-House Course Presentations
All courses are available for in-house presentation to individual organizations. In-house courses may be structured the same as the public versions or tailored to meet your requirements. Special courses on virtually any petroleum-related subject can be arranged specifically for in-house presentation. For further information, contact our In-House Training Coordinator at one of the numbers listed below.
Telephone 1- 832 426 1234
Facsimile 1- 832 426 1244
E-Mail inhouse@petroskills.com

Public Course Presentations
How to contact PetroSkills:
1-800-821-5933 toll-free in North America or
Telephone 1-918-828-2500
Facsimile 1-918-828-2580
E-Mail registrations@petroskills.com
Internet www.petroskills.com
Address P.O. Box 35448, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74153-0448, U.S.A