CRITICAL ISSUES IN DRILLING & COMPLETIONS
I think one of the silver linings of the
pandemic was that we were forced to col-
laborate in ways that we wouldn’t have
seriously considered before. We used to
fly people all around the world to attend a
one-hour meeting. Now we have the abil-
ity to share information, solve problems
and develop cross-functional teams better
than ever before.
A lot of it just comes down to collabora-
tion and remote communication. The pan-
demic meant that we needed to be more
agile and create a platform that we could
update remotely without having to send
a technician on site to physically look at
something. Also, we had to create ways
to transfer knowledge when we couldn’t
send somebody out to the rig.
really across the US shale market, look at
how much more footage is being drilled
per day with how many fewer rigs. These
significantly reduced well cycles mean
less emissions across the board.
Decreased engine use is just one exam-
ple. Our carbon footprint has decreased
significantly while, at the same time, our
footage and production have increased. I
think that’s one of those things that people
don’t fully appreciate and understand. We
need to talk about that, as well as our plans
for the future.
What impacts have you seen from
inflation and supply chain bottlenecks
on your business? What do you think
drilling contractors can do to minimize
the impact of these issues?
We have to have these stories in our
playbook. We have to talk about the things
we’ve done and get people excited. We
have a lot of work to do, but we’re a part of
the solution for the future, not part of the
past. We need them to continue to come
up with ideas of how to decrease emis-
sions while we continue to provide all the
benefits of hydrocarbons. It’s not about
hydrocarbons and fossil fuels; it’s about
the emissions.
We’ve been successful in attracting tal-
ent. Yes, it’s going to be harder in the
future, but if you have the right story and
you help people understand the role they
can play in improving lives around the
world, that can get people excited.
We have a longer planning cycle inter-
nationally than in the US. We also have
a robust planning cycle within H&P, so
most of the time the assets we need come
from our US operations, where we have a
large volume of standardized components.
Obviously, we’re not completely insulated
from those supply chain issues, but we can
plan for them.
The industry has seen a lot more focus
on reducing the rig’s carbon emis-
sions in recent years. What is your view
on this, and has the energy transition
had any impact on H&P’s business?
The desire to transition away from fossil
fuels and the speed with which that takes
place, from our view, has to be in proper
balance with the need for energy security
and the importance of energy affordability.
We would love to see solutions grounded
in collaboration and objectivity based on
data. Certainly, reducing emissions is impor-
tant to H&P, and we will continue to look
for ways to reduce emissions in the
future. But we also, frankly, as an industry,
need to emphasize what we’ve already
accomplished in that regard. If you look
at increased efficiencies in our fleet, and
18 The younger generation of workers
coming up have placed an increased
value on sustainability. How do you
reach out to them?
H&P has been a proponent of perfor-
mance-based contracts, calling them
the “next phase” in its evolution as a
service provider. What are some of the
hurdles to widespread adoption of
performance-based contracts, and
how might they be overcome?
One of the hurdles is that you have
to have a foundation of trust with the
customer because, in the end, the reason
that performance-based contracts are so
attractive to us and to our customers is
that we’re focused on the same goals.
We’re talking about shared successes, and
we’re talking about outcomes that we both
see as beneficial to us.
In order to do that, you have to do it
based on a foundation of trust where we
have clarity around how we can both win
together. If you really don’t have clarity
on how we’re going to work together, and
you have different views on what suc-
cess looks like, it won’t work. But we see
customers like it because everybody is
focused on the same outcomes. When you
do that, we can all benefit from it.
The other hurdle is change manage-
ment, and you have to have buy-in all
the way from the rotary table to senior
management, both with H&P and with
the customer. If you don’t have that, you’re
just going to stumble all the way. It’s a big
change, but it can be hugely impactful
when everybody is really clear about how
we’re going to win together.
What are your main concerns around
rig safety right now? What do you see
as the next step-change in keeping
personnel safe?
So, as I said earlier, the cycles that we’ve
gone through in the past have made it
difficult because you have people mov-
ing around between rigs, whether you’re
going into a down-cycle or an up-cycle; it
just changes the dynamics of the rigs and
the crews. It changes what these crews
know and how they access data, how they
access information and how they interact.
Technology is key to creating a consis-
tent set of processes and having up-to-date
information for pre-job planning steps and
so forth. We want these crews and these
leaders to have the right tools and infor-
mation at their fingertips. That, to me, is
really the central aim.
The other part of this is, we should
always ask what’s working and what’s not
working. We have to be careful not to over-
complicate programs and lose sight of the
core elements of what our safety program
is all about.
Several years ago, we shifted away from
a model of focusing on recordable inci-
dents to focusing on serious injuries and
fatalities. We overhauled our program and
changed our mindset and entire approach
to safety. We have to make sure our crews
understand why we did that and what that
means. We have to continually enhance
our processes to make sure that we control
and remove exposures that can cause seri-
ous injuries and fatalities. DC
JAN UARY/FEB RUARY 2023 • D R I LLI N G CO N T R ACTO R
CRITICAL ISSUES IN DRILLING & COMPLETIONS
Industry must fill talent gap for
both today and tomorrow as it
seeks long-term value creation
Petronas looks to school partnerships and upskilling
programs, along with automation and integrated
contracting strategies, to address key challenges
BY STEPHEN WHITFIELD, ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Jumasri Terimo is Head of Wells
Technology and Technical Assurance at
Petronas. From your perspective at Petronas,
what do you see as the biggest near-
term challenges for the global drilling
industry? Currently, getting talents who are the
right fit for our sector is a challenge.
Learning from several years of downturns,
the human capital resources in the drill-
ing industry have generally been kept to a
minimum level.
With the sudden increase in drilling
activity we’ve seen, we have seen a need to
find the right talents. The significant gap
in the level of experience and expertise
in talents today has impacted the overall
quality of the services rendered, not only
to Petronas but to other operators, as well.
We have to see what we can do to attract
people with the right aptitude and skills to
the industry.
Can you talk about what Petronas is
doing to attract new talent?
We look at the education value chain
and have built a talent pipeline right from
universities, as well as technical and voca-
tional education centers.
We create better access for youth to
attain a quality education, especially in
the areas where we operate, by investing
in student sponsorship programs. Our sig-
nature initiative, the Petronas Education
Scholarship Program , which started in
1975, has so far benefitted more than
37,000 students.
We have designed programs that
meet industry requirements and global
standards through Universiti Teknologi
Petronas and Institut Teknologi Petroleum
Petronas . These two institutions have
proven to provide a conducive environ-
ment for the development of the next gen-
eration of talents, with state-of-the-art
facilities, relevant and certified syllabi, as
well as expert educators.
Petronas also provides various upskill-
ing programs and structured training ses-
sions to its entire workforce. For example,
in upstream, we have a program called All-
Rounded Drilling , where new graduates
are exposed to classroom and on-the-job
training sessions.
I think through efforts like these, we
have been able to position Petronas as a
desirable employer.
In 2021, Petronas announced its aspi-
ration to achieve net-zero carbon
emissions by 2050, and in 2022 you
launched a green energy subsidiary,
Gentari. How will climate-related goals
impact your investments to drill tradi-
tional oil and gas wells in the next 2-5
years? At Petronas, we intend to provide the
world with the energy it needs today, with
consideration for the climate goals of the
Paris Agreement. We recognize that each
country has its own energy access, afford-
ability and security concerns that require
a unique spectrum of solutions to address.
Jumasri Terimo, Head of Wells Tech-
nology and Technical Assurance,
Petronas With a strong integrated energy port-
folio, we are focused on delivering our
core responsibilities while transforming
to meet the energy needs of the future – in
line with our aspiration to achieve net-zero
carbon emissions by 2050.
Petronas will produce energy from its
core portfolio and cleaner energy solu-
tions as differentiated products that are
aimed to be safe, reliable, cost optimized
and emissions abated. Gentari, a n inde-
pendent entity focused on cleaner energy
solutions, will capture opportunities in
the energy transition alongside our core
portfolio through lower-carbon solutions
in three offerings – renewables, hydrogen
and green mobility. That is our long-term
goal. Still, Petronas’ production is still expect-
ed to be largely from our core areas in the
short- to mid-term period. As of 2018, 63%
of Malaysia’s energy mix consists of oil
and gas. This is a significant amount even
in the future, despite the declining per-
centage of oil and gas in Malaysia’s future
energy mix.
Given this high demand, our invest-
ments in drilling new oil and gas wells
remain a focus. We are, however, looking
to be more effective in how we operate and
reduce our emissions in the traditional
part of the business.
We are working collaboratively with our
contractors to see how they can reduce
emissions while working on our proj-
ects by optimizing our drilling days and
improving our efficiency. This translates
to lower fuel consumption while the proj-
ects are being carried out. This is in line
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