New Enterprise Well Activity Management System launched

Safaniyah Area Producing has launched the Enterprise Well Activity Management System (EWAM 4.0), successfully rolling it out across Northern Area Oil Operations (NAOO). This system was designed and developed in collaboration with Southern Area Oil Operations (SAOO) and Information Technology (IT) to plan, schedule, and execute upstream jobs on producing wells for effective well surveillance. 

Initiated in 2017 with an IT-led feasibility study to identify process gaps and opportunities for automation and savings, IT worked with NAOO and SAOO to bring a fully integrated solution to NAOO and SAOO. This included a series of workshops with experts from Production Engineering, Well Completion, and Producing, concluding the feasibility study with a clear implementation strategy.

Azeb M. Al-Qahtani, general manager of Safaniyah Area Producing, said the project's success was the direct result of the great foundation built through the exhaustive scope and comprehensive feasibility study.  

EWAM 4.0 is a great example of great teamwork and collaboration, and a model for future projects to follow. IT, along with the production engineers and planners who took active role, have exhibited high level of professionalism and dedication in the design and development of EWAM 4.0.
— Azeb M. Al-Qahtani

Abdulaziz S. Al-Shafi, acting general manager of Information Technology Infrastructure, said his department appreciates the project team and IT’s commitment for digitalization to deliver state-of-the-art business applications. He added that EWAM 4.0 will be the foundation for future digitalization initiatives. 

This is a great process re-engineering initiative with many innovative data management techniques adopted and delivered, and is a huge value and operational efficiency to Upstream.
— Abdulaziz S. Al-Shafi

Abdulrahman Al-Ghamdi, manager of the Northern Area Well Completion Operations Department, said, ‘EWAM 4.0 is a game changer tool that will elevate efficiency, timely divert right resources to high demand areas and harmonize inter-departmental communication among Production Engineering, Well Completion, and Producing departments. 

Second phase of the project was initiated in March 2018 with a team formed with IT, NAOO, and SAOO, and the project was successfully concluded in October 2020. EWAM 4.0 system was developed with many modules, each addressing one of the important Well Surveillance processes managed by 16 departments under NAOO and SAOO. 

EWAM 4.0 features

EWAM 4.0's offers a wide variety of features, including administrative functions, a business planning module for production engineers, a detail planning module (which is the heart of the tool and drives the invoice job process), and a Production Engineering dashboard to monitor and process management solutions for production engineers in real-time.

The custom-developed dashboard and utility for Well Services planners is so well developed it is the only key application they need for day-to-day operations, integrating all functions required into a single SAP transaction. It has proved a real game-changer by eliminating many manual processes.

It also delivers a comprehensive error-handling tool that Well Completion departments can finish their jobs without a single error or disagreement with stakeholders.

Meanwhile, the EWAM 4.0 Frequency Planning Model provides a highly integrated but simplified tool for frequent jobs in Well and Field Services, eliminating much of the manual intervention for the thousands of jobs that NAOO and SAOO executed every year. It also updates engineers with real-time status on the jobs.

And the EWAM 4.0 Well Services and Field execution module allows engineers to view the total demand while entering activity details and other necessary information.

In general, EWAM 4.0 has automated many Well surveillance processes but can be further extended to integrate with other Upstream processes, as it has provided an excellent and stable foundation for future digitalization initiatives.