Name: James S. Cobbett
Address : Apdo 0819-07231, El Dorado, Panama, Republic of Panama.
Phone : (507)-230-2674
VOIP: (1)-305-7223398
Fax : (507)-230-2680
E-mail : James@JamesCobbett
Personal
British citizen, married with three adult sons
Date of Birth : 6th March 1947
Height : 6 Ft 3 Inches, weight : 230 Lbs
Health : Good
Languages : English as first language, can get by in Spanish
Qualifications
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 and Fellow of the Institute of Mining and Metallurgy,
Diving Diploma to work to 180 Ft, Sub Sea Oil Services 1972.
Experience
2000 – today, Self-Employed Petroleum Consultant
Since 2000, I have been working as an independent consultant, mainly, but not exclusively, as consultant to GCA for GCA’s client projects. <>
Since January 2002, I have been working in India, for ONGC, the state oil company, advising on Bombay High, the World’s largest offshore oil field in terms of infrastructure. This has been targeted at optimising drilling with up to seventeen offshore rigs, drilling highly productive horizontal wells to the design developed with my help in 1999/2000, as part of the field redevelopment, with some 100,000 BOPD currently coming from “my” wells. Recently, I introduced a package of technology new to ONGC, including pseudo oil-based mud and rotary steering, to enable ERD wells to be drilled to circa 4,000 metres drift at 1,250 metres TVD.
Other projects included a review of an oil field in Siberia, Russia, assisting a client to prepare a master development plan for a very large field in the Middle East, reviewing competitive development plans submitted by major oil companies, on behalf of a state oil company in the Middle East, delineating and costing options for drilling & development in a new deepwater area in the Gulf of Mexico and a review of drilling technology for Polar regions.
From Summer 2000 until January 2002, I managed a World Bank project in Kazakhstan. This project comprised the pilot rehabilitation of part of the “supergiant”, six thousand well, Uzen heavy oil onshore field. I recruited a team of engineers, geologists, procurement specialists, field supervisors and others, and managed the project in Uzen, as Technical Manager. The project included working-over 500 wells, replacing some 270 kms of flow-lines, together with a large number of gathering and processing stations, building a geological and reservoir model, training, and overall management of a budget totalling $136 million. Well productivity was key to success.
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, in the period 1999 – 2000 when required.
1999 - 2000, Senior Drilling Engineer and Technical Manager
From Spring 1999 until Summer 2000, I worked on various projects. In the most important, I was asked to reduce drilling costs in the Bombay High field, operated by ONGC, offshore India. A review of drilling and completion practices enabled me to refocus the project from “cost reduction” to “productivity improvement”. The first two trial wells, using new technology, produced more than five times as much as offset wells. This enabled ONGC to add significantly to recoverable reserves. Costs were also reduced, and ONGC are now routinely producing several times (typically five) as much oil from new wells drilled to my recipe, as before. This has helped ONGC justify a $2 billion project to complete the development of Bombay High. During this period, I also acted as expert witness in a patent infringement case, which my client, a manufacturer of drilling equipment, won.
1990 - 1999, Self-Employed Petroleum Consultant
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. Production of all the new wells met, or exceeded, target.
From Autumn 1994 until Summer 1998, I acted as Technical Manager for Genciu Nafta, a 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 with none 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, and still makes a profit!
In 1997, I also advised Minjos Nafta, the joint venture between Dansk Olie-Og Gasproduction (ADONG@) 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, since mid-1994, I have been giving 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 1999, I acted as expert witness in the case of infringement of a patent on novel drilling hard-ware, which my client won.
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 a very large gas find (St Martin).
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.
ASand 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 Productivity
Drilling, working-over and completing wells so as to maximise productivity,
Drilling engineering, operations and management,
Implementing and managing innovation - especially in drilling and completion,
Building and managing ad hoc teams for oil and gas projects in difficult circumstances,
Oilfield operations/project management,
Petroleum engineering, including 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 academic prizes, while at university, including Nobel Prize in 1969, 1970 and 1971.
3rd January 2006
