Address : Apdo 0819-07231, El Dorado, Panama, Republic of Panama.
Phone : (507)-2302674
VOIP : (44)-(0)-20-81440913
Mobile : (507)-66710616
Fax : (507)-2302680
e-mail : James@JamesCobbett.com
Personal
British citizen, married with three adult sons
Date of Birth : 6th March 1947
Height : 6 Ft 3 Inches, weight : 225 Lbs
Health : Good
Languages : English as first language, can get by in Spanish
Qualification
B. Sc. 1st Class Honours, Mining Engineering, Nottingham University 1971,
Chartered Engineer (C. Eng.),
European Engineer (Eur Ing),
Member SPE of AIME, the Institute of Petroleum, the Society for Under-water Technology and MENSA,
Diving Diploma to work to 180 Ft, Sub Sea Oil Services 1972.
Main Skills
1. Improving well construction, in terms of time, cost and value, principally via identification and implementation of cost-effective technology, new to a specific operation.
2. Maximising the productivity of new and old oil and gas wells, via an integrated approach to design, drilling, evaluation, completion, testing, production, maintenance, modification and repair.
3. Oil field operations management, principally well construction and workover.
Experience
1999 – present, Petroleum Consultant, both via Gaffney, Cline & Associates (GCA), and independently.
Main activities have included :
- Advisor to ONGC, 1999 - 2008 on and off, mainly for optimizing Bombay High development well construction, with up to fifteen jack-up rigs, including:
- Fivefold increase in well productivity, via introduction of new well designs (2000), procedures etc,
- Omitting one casing string,
- Converting the dominant operating mode from "crisis management", to "well construction as a routine industrial activity", (No more “train wrecks” due to losses and kick-loss while drilling the reservoir, or due to hole stability problems/ stuck pipe, in the "Big Shale" on the way down),
- Moving to "higher-tech" wells; horizontals are now the norm, with ERD and multilaterals being common, and 50% reduction in rig Non-Productive Time.
- Project Manager for the World Bank's, $109 million, Uzen project in Kazakhstan (2000 - 2002); the Bank's close-out report noted that targets for increasing oil production were "significantly exceeded",
- Management audit of an HPHT drilling campaign using three jack-up rigs, in the Bay of Bengal, for GSPC, (2007),
- Four projects, two in Ukraine (2006 – 2008), one each in Kuwait (2009) and Peru (2008), to use small, hydraulic, rigs, typical of the mineral exploration industry, for drilling shallow oil wells.
- Technical Director of EborEnergy, 2004 -2008, identifying, and working on, a number of opportunities, including heavy oil sands in Peru and offshore prospects in the UKCS and Irish Sea. This came to an end when funding dried up in mid-2008, as it did for many others.
- Well design and costings for an exploration well to be drilled offshore West Africa, for Svenska Petroleum (2008).
- Expert witness in the High Court in Edinburgh, for a patent infringement case on behalf of an oilfield equipment manufacturer – my client won the case (1999).
From Summer 1998 until Spring 1999, I assisted Dresser-Kellogg Energy Services, in their (Woking, UK) office, with the development of the EM gas field, offshore South Africa for Mossgas. This work included planning and programming the drilling, completion and testing of horizontal gas wells, so as to ensure that productivity was maximised, enabling Dresser-Kellogg to qualify for a “well productivity bonus”. Production of all the new wells met, or exceeded, target.
From Autumn 1994 until Summer 1998, I acted as Technical Manager for Genciu Nafta, an oil producing joint venture, between Svenska Petroleum and Geonafta (the state oil company of Lithuania), to complete the development of Genciai, Lithuania’s largest oil field. After initially acting as General Manager for three months, I re-wrote, and then implemented, the development programme. This included working over a number of old wells, drilled and suspended by the Russians, for which it was necessary to adopt sand jet perforating technology after explosive perforators proved ineffective, and installing jet pumps. Excellent well productivities enabled field production targets to be met without needing any of the new-drills originally planned. Once all the worked-over wells were on production, a new oil and gas processing plant had been built and commissioned, and Lithuanian staff had been recruited and trained, both abroad and in the Genciai field, my task was over. Unlike many Western companies working in the FSU, Genciu Nafta made a profit!
In 1997, I also advised Minjos Nafta, the joint venture between Dansk Olie-Og Gasproduction (?DONG?) and Geonafta, developing other oil fields in Lithuania. My initial review of options for re-using fifty old wells has led to a programme of work-overs, reperforation and jet pump installations. My first well operation was to reperforate the best oil producer with sand jets, under-balanced, via coiled tubing through the completion and xmas tree, using crude oil as carrier fluid and without shutting in production. This, a World first, yielded a doubling in production to 800 BOPD.
In addition to this, from mid-1994 until late-1999, I gave occasional Well Productivity Awareness Schools for BP, to BP and contractor staff at various international locations, including the USA, UK, Australia, Columbia and Venezuela.
In 1998 I made a study for Saga Petroleum to review possible applications of sand jet perforating offshore, on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.
From Summer 1993 until April 1994, I worked as Operations Manager for Eastward Energy, drilling and testing a low-cost gas exploration well onshore Turkey.
Until Summer 1993, I mainly worked for the Finnish state oil company, Neste Oy, as : Directeur Général for Neste Algeria (2/92 - 7/93), resident in Algiers, managing Neste's exploration business in Algeria, including the drilling of a well in the Sahara Desert;
Drilling Manager for Neste Syria (4/91 - 2/92), responsible for planning and drilling two wells onshore Syria; Drilling Manager for Neste Turkey (3/91 - 11/91; in part concurrently with the work in Syria), drilling an exploration well in eastern Turkey, and Drilling Manager for Neste Portugal (1/90 - 12/90), planning and drilling an offshore exploration well from a semi-submersible.
During this period, I also completed a drilling engineering study for Shell, a survey of the upstream oil and gas market in Venezuela for the Scottish Development Agency, a review of a client’s development programme for Fred. Olsen Energy and a development study for an offshore gas field for Turkish Petroleum Corporation.
Gaffney Cline and Associates (GCA)
This international oil and gas consulting group has a wide range of expertise and offices throughout the World. I was based in the head office in England, with frequent overseas travel.
1984 - 1989, Senior Engineer and Project Manager
I was responsible for a very wide range of activities, including at times commercial management, computing and business development for GCA. For clients, usually as Project Manager, I completed various studies in well planning, drilling engineering, market research, marketing strategy, exploration strategy, well testing and production and reservoir engineering. At GCA, I supervised teams of consultants, and sometimes also oil company employees, located around the World. In addition to the U.K, periods were spent working in Australia, the Middle East, Canada, Indonesia, continental Europe, the USA, and Scandinavia.
Shell Exploradora Y Productora Del Peru This exploration company, operating on behalf of Shell and Phillips, was drilling in the Peruvian Amazon jungle, using a heli-rig.
1983 - 1984, Chief Petroleum Engineer I was responsible for well planning, monitoring and evaluation. After two wells failed to find oil, operations were suspended, in spite of finding the very large Camisea gas field - now producing..
Shell Winning NV / Badr Petroleum Company, Cairo, Egypt In late 1981, Shell Winning's first exploration well in Egypt's Western desert found a commercial oil field, Badr El Din. Activities then quickly increased to three rigs and, on the 1st January 1983, Badr Petroleum Company, the joint operating company between Shell and the Egyptian Government, came into being. The field started commercial production in Summer 1983, some eighteen months after the testing of the discovery well.
1981 - 1983, Operations Manager and later Chief Petroleum Engineer I was initially responsible for the planning, drilling and evaluation of the first two wells, including supervision of a team of engineers, as well as the Drilling Department and the Materials & Transport Department. After the Badr El Din discovery well, I headed up the field development efforts, before moving to create a Petroleum Engineering Department within BaPetCo. In addition to the design of the field development and specification of all the necessary well and other equipment, I was also responsible for recruitment and training of the expatriates and Egyptians required to staff the department.
Petroleum Development Oman
This company operated ten rigs and produced, at that time, around 300,000 BOPD from the Oman desert, providing almost all of the country's foreign exchange.
1978 - 1981, Head of Drilling Engineering I set up and managed a Drilling Engineering section within the Petroleum Engineering Department. This involved such diverse activities as redesigning all the company's well standards, making the World's first successful foam cementation outside the USSR, developing foam drilling and coring techniques and inventing a novel well testing technique, which revealed an oil field on the first trial. During this period, I also provided general staff engineering assistance including editing the Petroleum Engineering Monthly Report, acting as leave relief for the Head of Operations, interviewing and recruiting staff, contract negotiation and acting as in-house drilling engineering consultant.
Shell UK Exploration and Production
This company, operating in the North Sea on behalf of Shell and Exxon, was active in both exploration and production.
1977 - 1978, Senior Operations Petroleum Engineer
I led a team of Operations, Projects and Well-Site Engineers, responsible for the start of all oil production drilling. This included drilling and completions on Brent A and Dunlin A platforms, planning for Cormorant A and Brent C, as well as much development of equipment and techniques. Day-to-day tasks of my group included the preparation and supervision of drilling programmes on Auk A, Brent B and Brent D.
1975 - 1977, Drilling Engineer and Senior Drilling Engineer
I was initially mainly occupied with the optimisation of a four string exploration drilling programme, using semi - submersibles. My assessment of the need for deep diving services, together with the development of alternatives, allowed Shell to operate floating rigs without divers. At the same time, I headed up an R & D programme which culminated in what was then the World's deepest ever working dive. Subsequently, I headed up a team of three drilling engineers responsible for the development of innovative techniques for deep water production drilling, particularly from concrete gravity platforms. I was also lead drilling engineer for Auk A, Brent B and Brent D platforms.
Shell Company of Qatar Ltd
This company, operating offshore oil fields in the Arabian Gulf, had exploration, development and production. The main fields were Bul Hanine, Maydan Mahzan and Idd El Shargi.
1972 - 1974, Well - Site Petroleum Engineer
I was responsible for the programming and on-site supervision of jack-up rigs, including exploration and development drilling, completions and work-overs. I also planned and supervised the logging and stimulation of a number of sea-bed completed wells from a work boat. A high-light was the drilling and testing of the second well on the World's largest gas reservoir, the North Field. As Company Diver, a part-time job only, I was able to programme and directly supervise the work of the diving contractors. This culminated in reducing the diving time needed for an under-water completion to forty minutes, at the time probably a World record.
Papers Published
"Conductor Installation on Deep-Water Platforms", Ocean Resources Engineering, August 1978.
"Drilling From Deep-Water Concrete Gravity Structures", Journal of Petroleum Technology, July 1979.
"Foamed Cement - A Cement With Many Applications", Proceedings of the SPE - AIME Middle East Technical Conference, Bahrain, March 1981.
"Applications of an Air Drilling Package in Oman", Proceedings of the SPE - AIME Middle East Technical Conference, Bahrain, March 1981.
"Use of a Down-Hole Mud Motor as a Pump for Drill-Stem Testing", Journal of Petroleum Technology, March 1981.
?Sand Jet Perforating Revisited?, presented at the SPE Formation Damage Control Conference, Lafayette, February 1998; published in SPE Drilling & Completion, March 1999.
Principal Professional Skills
Well construction optimisation,
Selection and implementation of appropriate innovation for oil & gas well construction,
Drilling, completing and working-over wells so as to maximise productivity,
Building and managing ad hoc teams for oil and gas projects in challenging conditions,
Oilfield operations/project management,
Petroleum engineering, drilling engineering & well evaluation,
Cost-efficient development of small oil fields,
Oil field commercial negotiations and management,
Training,
Oil & gas-related market research,
Technical writing.
Prizes : Various university prizes, including Nobel Prizes in 1969, 1970 and 1971.
24 October 2009