OREANDA-NEWS. April 15, 2013. During 2012, Apache field personnel in Egypt and the North Sea came up with work-arounds that eliminated the need to shut in production and kept thousands of barrels of oil per day – and a total of USD40million in revenue – flowing.

The crew at South Marsh Island 268 in the Gulf of Mexico Shelf Region rearranged some piping to direct natural gas that had been vented so it could be used as fuel on the platform. The impact: Gas venting and the need for a new USD 200,000 vapor recovery unit were eliminated. Using the gas as fuel for the platform continues to save USD 850 per day.

Every five years, the North Sea Region’s SAGE gas processing plant’s flare tips need to be inspected to ensure the gas tips are functioning properly and the structure is in good condition – a procedure requiring the facility to be shut down for 21 days. The SAGE team used 21st-century technology – an unmanned aerial vehicle, or drone – to inspect the flare tips without shutting in the plant. The drone’s USD 24,000 (GBP 15,000) price tag was recouped tenfold-plus when USD 321,500 (GBP 200,000) in deferred production was averted.

Light-bulb moments like these were delivered through AIM UP – Apache Improvement Method through Understanding Performance. Introduced at Apache in 1992, AIM UP encourages operations personnel to find measures to maximize production and reduce costs – all in a safe and environmentally responsible manner. Thousands of employee ideas have been developed and implemented and millions of dollars have been saved – ultimately beating the decline-curve nature of the industry.

Shannon Savoy, Apache’s veteran GOM Shelf district production manager, recalls how an AIM UP project enabled the region to bring the Eugene Island 187 JE-2 on production in 2000, after an acquisition. Today, the once-moribund well is still producing, bringing cumulative revenue of USD 100 million over the last dozen years.

In 2012, 2,119 ideas were generated across the company, with the potential to generate more than USD 500 million in benefit to the company – either as cost savings or new revenues.

“AIM UP gives everybody ownership in what they’re doing,” said Allan Briand, deputy field manager at Apache’s Kalabsha Field in the prolific Faghur Basin in Egypt’s Western Desert. “We want all of our employees to feel like they own their own field route, facility, chemical costs, or whatever they are looking after.”

Briand and the Faghur Basin team – all Apaches working for the Khalda Petroleum Co. joint venture – came up with a plan to install USD 25,000 of pipe to keep five wells on production during a two-month project to upgrade handling capacity and improve safety.

With greater size, extending Apache’s track record of growth has become a bigger challenge.  Recognizing field employees for their contribution to company success has been given a new priority, re-energizing AIM UP and establishing new ways to recognize and reward field personnel for their time- and cost-saving ideas. Apache’s senior management visits regions regularly to hear the latest ideas.

Last year, a new global AIM UP competition was organized to select the best ideas every month and award cash prizes to the individuals and teams that made the most impactful suggestions. When a flurry of top-notch entries poured in, management decided to expand the competition with three monthly prizes in order to keep the momentum going. Each month, operations personnel around the world turn in their AIM UP ideas, and each region submits its top ideas to the competition.

Region vice presidents ultimately choose the winners. In addition to the cash rewards, winners receive a special commemorative art glass plaque and are featured in an intranet article chronicling their ideas and the impact they have made.

Seven regions submitted winning ideas in 2012 (the contest started in March). The winners brought nearly \\$47 million in benefit. Some winners may have a big payoff in terms of production, like the Faghur Basin oil pipeline project, but that’s not the case every month.

For example, GoM Shelf’s gas-venting project at SMI 268A was honored because the idea can be used elsewhere in the region.

The region vice presidents honored a team at Forties Delta in the North Sea Region that used industrial fans already on the platform to supply air moving through a cooler,  enabling the platform’s gas lift system to operate at 100-percent efficiency.

“The Apache culture allows us to explore solutions like this because there is that sense of urgency,” said Derek Petrie, operations supervisor on Forties Delta. “You are expected to think about problems and solutions for problems.”

At Apache, best ideas win, and some of the winning ideas emerge when people challenge the status quo.

When a company hired to install the Forties Alpha Satellite Platform jacket in the North Sea insisted that production from Forties Alpha be shut in for eight to 10 days during installation for safety reasons, Offshore Installation Manager Stephen Bristol wasn’t buying. “We told them they needed to look at a different way to approach this. They agreed to a different way to lift the jacket that was completely clear of the existing pipelines.”

By avoiding the shut-in, Forties Alpha kept USD 17.5 million of oil flowing.

Construction Foreman Frank Ludwell and Pumper Greg Featherston had been battling high line pressure in the Verden Field in the Central Region’s Chickasha District when they noticed other nearby fields didn’t have the same issue, which brings increased downtime in the winter and the summer as well as environmental issues.

After laying 1.8 miles of new pipelines and getting the gathering system operator to reduce pressure on its lines, production from the field increased about 30 percent, to 12.3 million cubic feet of gas per day, and emissions were reduced when compressors were taken offline.

“The Apache culture plays a tremendous role,” Ludwell said. “The company is always receptive to bigger and better things and gives us the opportunity to present our ideas.”

Technology is helping spread ideas around the company.

Sebastian Roldan, gas processing supervisor in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina, used Sage communities – the company’s knowledge-sharing system – to share challenges, and Jim White, EH&S manager for Kitimat LNG in Canada, responded with a solution that enabled the TDF team to solve a problem they were facing with gas locks on rod pumping units.

In 2013, the regions are focused on the “understanding performance” side of AIM UP, said Carl Heinrichs, chief of staff of Engineering. The Information Technology team is working to make some data retrieval systems more user friendly.

A winning example of understanding performance: The San Sebastian gas plant team in TDF was recognized for a project that attacked the rising cost of kerosene, which is used as a process absorbent.

The team put in service an existing distillation unit and adjusted process parameters to produce kerosene, reducing lifting costs significantly. They also upgraded plant processes to improve propane recovery efficiency and increase Apache revenues.

The cash prizes  – first place, USD 5,000; second place, USD 3,000; and third place, USD 2,000 – also have generated innovative thinking.

Briand said the Faghur team donated half of its first-place award to a Canadian charity and half to an orphanage in Egypt. “With the Apache matching gift, we’ve been able to give a total of USD 10,000.”

The San Sebastian team used their proceeds to host a barbecue for the entire team.

While the program is based on tangible results, primary goals of AIM UP are to instill accountability and develop a culture of ownership in each employee, Heinrichs explained. By understanding the field data and what drives results, operations personnel are better able to improve their business process.

In essence, a pumper who oversees wells producing 400 barrels of oil per day is running a USD 14 million annual business. That “big picture” highlights the importance of each operator’s job.

To read and learn more about AIM UP ideas, click on the AIM UP link under Top Applications on the right side of Apache’s intranet home page. Submitted ideas are organized by region on the AIM UP page. To find in-depth articles on more winning ideas, click on the AIM Up link on the upper right column on the intranet home page.

“I can’t tell you how important these projects are. You can affect the outcome on a daily basis because you’ve got your hands on the business. These projects all add up.”

Rod Eichler, chairman and COO
“In addition to recognizing bright ideas, the idea library is there to promote idea sharing among Apaches worldwide.”