With approx. 130,000 employees, Schlumberger is the world’s largest service provider for the energy sector. Monzurul Alam works out of London in the company’s Geomechanics Center of Excellence. The geomechanics group in Gatwick is part of Schlumberger headquarter operation and supports all operational areas around the world.
“The geo-mechanical behavior of an oil and gas reservoir and the surrounding formations can be assessed by a 3D Mechanical Earth Model. The model can provide insights which may reduce uncertainty and allow improved planning of drillings, completion and production,” says Monzurul Alam.
A 3D Mechanical Earth Model is built in PETRELTM. Stress magnitude orientation, strain, and displacement in a 3D Mechanical is solved using the VISAGETM finite element simulator, which can be directly coupled to reservoir simulators such as ECLIPSETM and INTERSECTTM.
“The 3D Mechanical Earth Model is the backbone for all geo-mechanical analyses,” Monzurul Alam states. “We consider the other Schlumberger divisions as internal customers, and also have direct end-user clients outside the company. Input from universities, not least from CERE, is important for us when we consider development of potential future software products.”
Monzurul Alam is far from being new to the Discussion meeting as he wrote his Ph.D. in CERE.
“I witnessed the transition from the previous center into CERE. I think this was a very fortunate event. Previously, the group at DTU was strong on modelling of fluids, but fluids is only one side of oil and gas exploration. By including other side, which is the rock, you put yourself in a much better position.”
The same goes for the Discussion meeting, he notes:
“I like this years’ format, where all sessions are plenary. Previous years saw a number of parallel sessions, but I feel it is important that we in the geo-mechanical field get insights into what the researchers in fluids are doing, and vice versa.”
Last, but not least is the recruitment side of the conference.
“It is always interesting for us to scout for new talent. For instance, I myself was recruited by Schlumberger based on my work in CERE, and I don’t expect I will be the last to take that route!”