(RTOC), located in downtown Calgary, is Fourth, the multi-client data hub delivers
state-of-the-art when it comes to secure, reliable and organized
melding the virtual world of cyberspace operational-data streams from remote
with the underground world of oil and sources in Canada and around the world.
gas reservoirs. The technology contained
in the RTOC allows the instant As the centre for project data
transmission of downhole drilling and management and application hosting,
reservoir data to virtually anywhere in this hub allows clients like Dan McKain,
the world. drilling supervisor for CNRL thermal
operations, to remotely dial in to a job
from hundreds of kilometres away to
monitor the geosteering support
Halliburton delivers to CNRL.
From drilling to production, information general project management. The room is
technology tools play a key role in modelled after the best of the best in
allowing oil and gas producers to access offshore and onshore real-time control
and produce Alberta’s heavy oil resource centres, where Halliburton has played a
in an economic fashion. role working for clients including Shell,
ConocoPhillips, Statoil and Petrobras.
Halliburton’s Real Time Operations Centre
Canadian Natural Resources Limited
(CNRL) is Halliburton’s first partner in
developing real-time solutions for the
heavy oil marketplace. In the Primrose
field, the companies have successfully
drilled 55 wells, placing each horizontal
well only one metre above the base of
the reservoir to maximize recovery in a
10- to 20-metre-thick reservoir, where
every metre counts.
Finally, the aptly named HPod functions
as a communications centre for
Drilling operations can be monitored from
downtown Calgary office towers
PHOTO BY Joey Podlubny
According to Darcy Cuthill, manager of
Halliburton’s RTOC, the centre delivers
cutting-edge planning, management and
monitoring technologies, as well as a
process that radically transforms the
industry’s approach to drilling,
completions and production
optimization.
The RTOC brings together technologies
such as real-time data transmission,
communication and three-dimensional
(3-D) modelling tools that allow
geoscientists and engineers to visualize,
analyze and interpret reservoir,
completion, drilling and operational data.
Unveiled in June 2004, the RTOC, which
houses five key operational features,
looks the part—sleek and futuristic.
Everything about the spacious facility
says, “The future’s here.”
First, there’s an immersive visualization
centre designed for integrating and
visualizing complex 3-D reservoir and
engineering data sets. Second, there are
two private decision centres geared
toward real-time operations for
engineering practices, such as cementing,
fracturing and drilling operations.
Third, a large multi-dimensional
monitoring centre is designed to stream
real-time data from multiple sources for
continuous or scheduled monitoring,
intervention, troubleshooting and
Instrumentation monitors plants to ensure they are running at optimum levels
PHOTO BY Joey Podlubny
