Hello,

I’m very pleased to let you know that we are seeing an increasing trend for both new and long-established participants to commit to much longer term contracts as the value of participation becomes even more evident.

In the last newsletter I reported the Det Norske and NOIL Energy commitment from 2000 to 2011 and this time I’m delighted to let you know that another brand new participant, Noble Energy, has signed up for a ten year period from 2000 to 2009. This contract will deliver a decades worth of wells from Cameroon, China, Denmark, Ecuador, Equatorial Guinea, Israel, UK, Vietnam and deepwater GOM.

It is not just new participants, however, choosing to benefit from the bigger fee discounts and reduction in contracting work. Woodside Petroleum who have participated continuously since we first covered Australia in 1994 have now committed to participate globally in both studies to 2017.

"Woodside's Drilling and Completions culture is "Performance Matters" and we are proud of our Technical Limit focus. We are committed to participate in both the Drilling and Completions Performance Reviews for the next decade as the data we obtain from these studies has consistently proven valuable for our planning and performance benchmarking activities".
Paul Hyatt,
Well Engineering Manager, Woodside Petroleum, Perth.

The increase in participation means that we are recruiting for staff. We have recently advertised and are looking forward to having the additional resources to further develop our services.

Our ‘data input’ service has been in particular demand recently. Rainer Jackisch, has been busy inputting data in Nigeria and Egypt whilst in Aberdeen we have been transferring data from EOWR’s and Daily Operations Reports to the data input workbooks for clients in Gabon and the UK.

Yet another member of the Rushmore clan has joined the company. Tom Rushmore is working on data quality control issues to ensure that our ‘expert system’ checks identify wells sufficiently outside of programmed norms that they need to be queried.

We are continuing to develop the next version of the website with advanced features being included of particular value to the ‘power user’. We do recognise, however, that with this increase in functionality comes a degree of complexity that can be difficult for the occasional user. We have therefore decided to retain our existing website when the new version is published until such time as we are happy that the new site is suitable for all users.

Best wishes

Helen Rushmore

The data requirements and ‘rules’ of this new Review have now been finalised in liaison with the representatives of BP, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell, Talisman and Total that comprise the UK Oil & Gas (formerly UKOOA) Working Group on Abandonments.

Click here to view the proposal to establish this study made by the Working Group at the last participants meeting.

We are now working to contract with the proposing Operators and any other participants who have shown an active interest to date before making a general launch to our other participants and then the industry in general.

The data input workbook can be obtained here and the T&C’s here.

For more information please email or call Helen on + 44 (0) 1224 251041.

At last November’s participant meeting it was suggested that we consider reducing this years Aberdeen meeting by one or two days and instead hold a number of one-day seminars at locations around the world. This would allow the staff of participants who are not able to travel to Aberdeen to benefit from the key information that has been provided at the Aberdeen meetings over the last years.

In recognition of this we have decided to hold a three day meeting in Aberdeen this year from Tuesday 11th to Thursday 13th November as a number of presentations have already being offered by participants, and significant progress has been made on the Rushmore Drilling Index (RDI).

A traditional Scottish evening Reception and Dinner will be held on the evening of Tuesday 11th at Castle Fraser (pictured), a wonderful grand baronial castle dating from the 16th century.


The first day will allow participants to share information on how they use the data and to agree on the next steps for the RDI development and other topics. If you would like to share how you have gained value or improved performance as a result of utilising the studies please do contact Helen.

The second day will agree proposals (posted on the website forum) to changes to the rules of participation and the DPR. The third day will consider proposals for change to the CPR and the Abandonment Performance Review.

"Devon drilling personnel attend the Rushmore meeting to network with other participating operators. This experience affords us the opportunity to learn and obtain insight into what the ‘best in class’ operating companies do differently and provides us a format for sharing our ideas and success cases. The conference is always a positive experience."
Marty Rolleg, International Drilling Manager, Devon Energy, Houston.

The venue will again be the Marcliffe at Pitfodels Hotel and, as usual, we would suggest that you book your rooms as soon as possible quoting the “Rushmore Conference” in order to obtain a discounted rate. You can contact the hotel on + 44 (0) 1224 861000 or via their website at www.marcliffe.com

Our first one-day seminar (pictured below) was held in Houston in February.

We were pleased to have representatives from; Anadarko, ATP, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Gulfsands, Hess, Nexen, Noble, Occidental, Petrobras and Total.

More of these seminars are planned for later in the year, details to be announced.

We are very pleased to welcome some new participants…

• Lundin UK into both the Drilling and Completions Reviews for 2005 to 2012.
• Noble Energy, on a global basis, in the DPR from 2000 to 2009.
• PA Resources Tunisia into both the Drilling and Completions Reviews for 2008.
• Silverstone UK in the DPR from 2006 to 2008.

A number of existing participants have renewed or expanded the scope of their participation:

• BG have renewed on a global basis in both the Drilling and Completions Reviews for 2008 to 2012.

"After participating for fifteen years we have just contracted for another five because I have clearly seen the benefits and I know it is helping us to improve the business.

BG are using the benchmarking principles in all our worldwide well engineering operations now as a must to continue our ambitious organic growth programme. It is particularly relevant for new countries of operation".

John de Lange,
Head of Well Engineering, BG Group, Reading.

• Chevron have renewed on a global basis into the DPR, and in a number of countries for the CPR, for 2008 to 2012.

"Rushmore’s Drilling and Completions Reviews are Chevron’s global standard for external benchmarking.

In our mission to become the leader in drilling performance we use the Reviews to challenge our own performance by identifying top performers, studying their practices, and incorporating best practices into our own well construction process".

Chris Carstens, (pictured right)
Manager Engineering, Business Development and JV’s, Chevron, Houston.

• Dubai Petroleum Establishment have renewed their DPR participation for 2008.
  
  
• DONG have extended their participation on a global basis into both the Drilling and Completions Reviews for 2008 to 2010.

"DONG is using the Rushmore Reviews in the planning phase as an independent check of our well design and costs to ensure we stay among the best in class. If we do not plan to be excellent we will never be.

DONG is also using the Reviews in the reporting phase as a part of our 'Plan-Do-Check–Report' procedures to ensure we constantly improve.

The Reviews have several times been a strong tool for DONG to promote our company, as most companies know the quality of Rushmore data."

Jens Melchiorsen, (pictured left)
Drilling Engineering Manager, DONG, Copenhagen.

• Maersk UK have renewed their participation in both the Drilling and Completion Performance Reviews from 2008 to 2010.
• Noreco (previously Altinex) have extended retrospectively and forward on a global basis in the DPR from 2005 to 2010.
• Petronas Carigali have renewed on a global basis into the Drilling Performance Review for 2007 to 2011.
• Total UK have extended their Completions Performance Review participation from 2008 to 2010.
• Woodside have renewed their participation in both the Drilling and Completions Reviews on a global basis for a decade from 2008 to 2017.

Note: North American land and GOM shelf wells are currently optional for 'global' participation.

There is just one place left on the DPR Data Input Training Course on the 24th and 25th of June.

There are still plenty of spaces available, however, for the 23rd to 25th September course for the submission of data into the DPR and CPR data input workbooks. If there is sufficient demand we will run additional courses.

For more details please email Beryl or call her on +44 (0)1224 251061.

This training at our offices in Aberdeen is specifically for those people responsible for inputting the data into the workbooks. Although a short session is provided on website navigation and charting facilities it is not a course on how to analyse data.

Following a feasibility study, this Review has now been put ‘on ice’ pending sufficient demand becoming available to obtain a critical mass of participants able to provide the required data.

After being initially proposed by BP, and supported by, amongst others, BG, Chevron, Shell and Tullow the current pressures on Operator staff time resulting from the high oil prices have made it difficult for Operators to provide this data.

A number of companies had contracted to participate and many others were enthusiastic about the clear potential benefits to well productivity enhancement. It is clear, however, that the industry in general is not ready to take this step at this time.

For more information please click here.

Quick and easy but powerful analysis of Rushmore data can be made using a PC-based customised MS Access program developed for participants by Cheval Computing. One participant is now using this facility whilst others are in the evaluation stage.

For further information please go to www.chevalcomputing.com.

We have recently made a change to the order of columns downloaded from our website as we are now publishing 2008 data and there are some fields which are new for this year.

In addition, at the last Participant's meeting, it was agreed to split out the casing sizes into separate columns. Also, some fields which were originally specific to deepwater or Gulf of Mexico wells are now applicable to other offshore wells, so we have moved them to positions in the display where they more logically belong.

We also re-positioned a few other fields to improve usability. If you would like specific details please email Pat.

We are pleased to report that IDS, Landmark and Peloton continue to actively develop and refine their data extraction routines for the DPR and CPR.

For more information please click on the logos above.