Organizational Development: Enhanced Skills and Accountability Improve the Bottom Line
Training Improves Production and Safety
A decade ago a rock formation in the mid-continental U.S. represented a geological puzzle that had gone unsolved for more than 40 years. Geoscientists knew vast energy reserves were sealed inside the tight, black rock formed from organic deposits 325 million years ago. The challenge was recovering them.
While not particularly deep or impervious to the drill bit, it would take more than conventional thinking to recover the gas locked inside the stingy shale, known for its low porosity and high complexity. Our client, a leading independent energy producer, is a pioneer in this area, using innovations in fracturing technology to crack open the shale and release the natural gas sealed inside. The technology has provided access to vast reserves, transforming this area into one of the nation’s most important natural gas producing fields.
Because MTG was able to achieve significantly improved production at some of their other assets, our client’s leadership called upon MTG to assist in further optimizing the mid-continent asset’s gas recovery efforts. The result was year-long project named T.I.P.S (Training Improves Production and Safety) which focused on enhancing the skills, tools, and accountability of the lease operators. By providing the lease operators with the skills and tools to improve their route’s performance, and then reinforcing the importance of applying the skills and tools, dramatic improvements in production were achieved.
Organizational Development - Training Approach
We started with a six-week analysis of current training needs/systems (also known as an “As-Is” or
“Current State” analysis). This involved speaking with a representative cross section of the operations
staff – from superintendents and supervisors to foremen, assistant foremen, and lease operators.
Through the use of one-on-one interviews, surveys, and lease operator ride-alongs, a thorough
understanding of our client’s training strengths and weaknesses was developed on which to build a
sustainable training project.
Once this basic understanding of the asset’s current-state training was completed, a customized training matrix was developed in conjunction with operations management. This training matrix sought to answer two questions:
- What areas or skill sets must an ideal lease operator in this asset know in order to safely manage a given set of wells?
- Specifically within each stated skill set or area of operations, what is required knowledge to qualify the lease operator as being “Basic,” “Intermediate,” or “Expert”?
Following the development of a customized training matrix, which incorporated the required skills for that particular asset, the entire lease operator pool was assessed against the matrix by their foremen in order to determine the requisite training populations by skill level (basic, intermediate, and expert). Once the individual assessments were completed, the results were processed through a customized database that tabulated the number of courses required, the ideal class sizes, and other variables used to develop a training schedule unique to the asset.
Classes were then scheduled; instructors (both outside vendor and in-house experts) were interviewed
and selected; course content was prepared; exams (both pre-tests and post-tests; written and practical)
were perfected; tip sheets were developed for inclusion into personalized lease operator training
manuals, and all the material was pre-presented to the foremen in advance of the lease operator class to
ensure the proper content was presented.
Classroom training alone does not ensure effective training. In addition to traditional classroom instruction, our client also instilled in-field demonstration and exercises that were further reinforced with follow-up coaching by foremen or senior lease operator personnel. In addition the foremen used regularly scheduled “route reviews” with their lease operators to ask questions about well performance, identify opportunities for the lease operators to apply their new skills, and determine if additional training or coaching was needed.
To further push the training envelope, we jointly developed a professional training DVD to augment classes. Tailored to the new lease operator with little or no knowledge of oil and gas production, it covered the key concepts involved in basic lease operator operations.
Still not content, our client created a unique “Outdoor Training Academy.” By employing the considerable
talents of the asset’s welders, gang crews, and painters, our client utilized retired or inoperable equipment
rusting in its scrap yard to build a “simulator” of a typical well head site. Complete with various well heads,
separators, tanks, tubing, line heaters, and other examples of equipment commonly found on a well head
site, training can now be done in complete safety without having to take down a productive wellhead. To
further enhance learning, certain sections of the equipment were cut out to provide interior views of
otherwise invisible parts and equipment.
Conclusion
Working jointly with MTG, our client focused on the development and continual maintenance of a progressive training system to aid lease operators in becoming the most highly trained and productive members of the team. The net results: accelerated production, improved revenue, and a stronger, more confident and more proactive workforce.
Results
Actual Project-to-Date (total MCF):
Pre-project base well projection: 91,593,575 MCF
Actual Production: 93,646,137MCF
Actual Savings to date: $9,236,529
Projected Project End (total MCF):
Pre-Project base well projection: 122,067,287 MCF
Actual Production (projected): 125,828,960 MCF
Actual Projected Savings at Project End: $16,927,528
End of Project Annualized Savings Projection:
Pre-Project base well projection: 304,986 MCF (daily)
Project Projection: 324,797 MCF (daily)
Annualized Savings: $32,539,567
