| Date Published | February 19, 2015 |
| Company | Ka-Blam Consulting Inc. |
| Article Author | Amber Sommer, Chris Gabrielson |
| Article Type | February 2015 Issue |
| Category | Articles |
| Tags | Certification Courses, Oil & Gas Consultants, Operators, SAGD Project Certificate, Vendors |
Having over 20 years of SAGD Project experience in mature oilsands plays, Chris Gabrielson, President of Ka-Blam Consulting, and Darcy Kritzer, have identified two needs in the oil and gas industry. They spent many months developing frequent, affordable SAGD Courses and Oilfield Equipment Tours. These solutions will increase qualified personnel, improve costs, safety and communications, and at the same time, provide people an opportunity to maximize their potential.
There is a significant difference in the way we need to approach conventional oil and gas projects versus thermal oilsands projects. In thermal oilsands projects, there is a unique methodology, terminology, and project structure that cannot be learned from working on conventional oil and gas projects.
However, with proper training and knowledge sharing, people who have worked on conventional oil and gas projects can quickly adapt to thermal oilsands projects. Proper thermal oilsands training will increase company safety performance, improve communications across business functions, and increase the supply of qualified people required to fill the personnel demands of the thermal industry.
Over the years, Gabrielson recognized a change in the oil and gas industry. “The change I see is that it’s much easier for people to work in a Calgary office and manage field personnel and equipment without having worked or seen the equipment they are responsible for making decisions on,†he said. Typically in past generations, if you worked in Calgary in a field planning or supervisory role, you probably “worked your way up†from the field. The field was the ultimate training ground for preparing people to work in Calgary and oversee field personnel and equipment. This was the best case scenario, because now a project has experienced people both in Calgary and the field who know the equipment.
• existing and new employees
• request vendors take it
• student rotations/new grads, ECD’s
employees switching internally to the SAGD business unit
• all groups and types of disciplines benefit – geologists, geophysics, construction, drilling, completions, production, safety, procurement, technicians, etc.
• wanting access to completions and workover knowledge experienced in mature plays
• gaining a competitive advantage over competition
• for salespeople/technical employees to relate better with SAGD clients
• with no SAGD experience and wanting to apply for SAGD jobs
• with little experience and wanting to expand skill set
• students, graduates, media, or anyone wanting thermal knowledge such as to broaden job opportunities and gain an advantage in today’s competitive job market
DAY 1:
THERMAL PROJECT OVERVIEW (SAGD EMPHASIS)
A great mandatory course for oil companies and vendors to send new hires or existing employees who will be or are currently involved with a SAGD Project. Before someone is put to work on a project simply call KaÂBlam and book the seats. It’s frequent and affordable to meet any of your training demands.
It will free up meeting rooms and eliminate needing to use existing employees as instructors.
Once someone completes the course, the person and the company can feel confident they received thorough SAGD Project training and have the certificate to prove it. Vendors can inform their clients their employees are SAGD Project trained.
The person taking the course can go from zero ther mal knowledge, and by the end of the course, they are a valuable contribution to any thermal project.
The course is conveniently located in downtown Calgary but the dates and locations are customizable to meet your needs.
• Bitumen Properties
• Bitumen Recovery Methods
• Common Thermal Oilseeds Terminology
• SAGD Process Explained
• Thermal Pads – pad layouts, pad components, subsurface drill patterns
• Basic Wellbore Construction
• Well Pair Purposes
• Steam Chambers – shape, monitoring
• Wells Encountered inn a Thermal Project – delineation, observation, water source, water disposal, other
• Central Processing Facility – Facility Components explained
• Common Business Functions Encountered Within a Thermal Project and Their Purposes
• Pass-Around-Material – oil sand, slotted liner, bitumen
DAY 2:
SAGD COMPLETIONS AND WORKOVERS
Day Two is a technical course great for oil companies and vendors involved in Completions and Workovers for SAGD Projects.
It was created from a superintendent or wellsite supervisor’s perspective. It’s very insightful for vendors who have employees working on, or about to work on well pads.
All participants receive a ‘Certificate of CompleÂtion’ which is an indicator to the industry the person has received proper thermal training.
• Typical process if a well goes down to perform a workover
• Vendor Travel  highway 63 & 881
• Pad Congestion  pad spacing constraints,sharing the pad with other groups
• Completions Equipment Spacing
• Common Injector wellhead and downhole configurations
• Common Producer wellhead and downhole configurations  Gas lift, ESP, PCP
• Downhole Instrumentation and Monitoring
• Capillary Lines and Clamping
• BOP Requirements
• Surface Wellhead Corrosion Challenges
• Kill / Workover Fluid
• Common Tubing and Handling Equipment
• Multiple Tubulars in One Wellbore / Tight Clearances
• Thermal Expansion of Steel
• Encountering deformed casing, tubing, coil tubing
• Common Fishing Techniques
• Common Vendor Equipment
• PassÂAround Material
ESP Cable, Conax Fitting, Thermocouples, Fiber Optics, VIT Insulator, Mid Joint Clamps, Cross Coupling Clamps, Coil Tubing, Gas Lift Nozzle, Bubble Tubes
1 Identify the weekday that works for you or your group.
2 Call Amber at 780-898-1445 and book over the phone.
Credit cards are accepted.
3 Obtain a Certificate of Completion and maximize your potential.
DAY ONE ONLY: $395 | DAY TWO ONLY: $550 | OR BOTH FOR $895
All course details can be found at www.kablamconsulting.com
Gabrielson is working to improve equipment awareness in the Calgary workforce. “If people are going to be working in Calgary and not coming from the field as much anymore, then we must setup a service for those people to see and learn about equipment,†he said.
Vendors have equipment viewing options, but it’s very selective, meaning they typically will take clients or potential clients to see oilfield equipment. What about the rest of the people who want to see oilfield equipment?
How do people from provinces or countries who do not have an active oilfield see and learn about equipment?
What about those people who come to work in Alberta and want to work in the oilfield but don’t know which equipment or company?
How do existing students or new grads get to see equipment?
KaÂBlam is now offering affordable Oilfield Equipment Tours that are open to the public (18yrs +). Give them a call and book your seat on one of their guided tours if you currently work for an oil company and hear about types of oilfield equipment but have never seen it, you want to take on a new role that requires you to be familiar with certain equipment, or maybe you’re just curious what fracturing equipment looks like.
KaÂBlam has exclusive permission from preferred vendors to see and learn about oilfield equipment. KaÂBlam will provide the tour guide, shuttle, and the equipment. Leave all the planning to KaÂBlam and just bring your excitement and questions.
1 Check www.kablamconsulting.com for the oilfield packages and dates available.
2 Call Amber at 780Â898Â1445 and book over the phone. Credit cards are accepted.
3 Enjoy a stressÂfree day seeing and learning about oilfield equipment.
“For the companies that we work for, they understand firstÂhand the benefits of genuine, experienced, smart, hardÂworking people working on their projects,†said Gabrielson.
Gabrielson started his career in the 1990’s in oil town Drayton Valley, Alberta. Over that period, he worked with several oilfield vendors including well servicing rigs and drilling rigs. In 2001, Gabrielson supplemented his field experience by enrolling in college. He studied geological engineering technology and graduated in 2006 with a Petroleum Engineering Technology Diploma. Throughout school, he worked on service rigs and alongside wellsite supervisors over the weekends and holidays.
Moving to Calgary in 2006, Gabrielson worked for an integrated oil and gas engineering firm and was responsible for undertaking both engineer and superintendent roles, while managing conÂventional, unconventional, and SAGD projects across Canada.
In 2009, Gabrielson left his employer and started KaÂBlam Consulting Inc. as an independent consulting company.
Amber Sommer, Gabrielson’s fiancée, started working fullÂtime for KaÂBlam in 2013, andthe business transitioned to an oil and gas engineering and consulting firm. “Amber has the perfect experience for a company like this,†he said. “In the past, she worked for oilfield vendors in human resources and accounting roles for Canada and U.S. She knows human behavior and knows the oil patch, so coupled with my technical experience, we can match up office and field consultants to meet and exceed the client’s expectations.†Sommer manages the office and is responsible for coordinating KaÂBlam’s consultants for oil and gas clients and maintains the HSE program policies and procedures. Gabrielson continues to be a consultant for oil and gas clients, and both he and Sommer work together to select and supply consultants to existing and new clients.
Gabrielson and KaÂBlam’s consultants have superior safety performances and have worked on over 2,000 oil and gas wells of all types across Canada. They also have provided services on international projects, in areas like Bulgaria and South America. It varies year to year, but on average, the clients’ total budgets managed to exceed 50 MM per year. Since then, Grabrielson has been acknowledged for Operations and Business Excellence and is an active member of the Canadian Heavy Oil Association (CHOA) Drilling and Completions SubÂCommittee.
• Thermal projects – SAGD injector and producers, water source, disposal, observation, caprock integrity testing
• Salt cavern storage, injection, and disposal wells
• Shale gas / tight formation
• Natural Gas – dry, wet, sour, coal bed methane (CBM)
• Conventional oil – light, medium, heavy
• Remote and wildcat statuses
• Identify your project purpose, schedule, and expectations
• Assign appropriate consultants to the project
• Well design (production strategy, artificial lift selection, tubular design, perforation and stimulation design, wellhead selection, production testing design, and more)
• Vendor qualification and selection
• Risk assessment and mitigation
• Well work programs and AFE’s for budget approvals
• Schedule and coordinate the field work
• Supply superintendents to oversee operations and offer technical and operational support
• Supply wellsite supervisors
• Job cost control and tracking
• Review and approve vendor invoices
• AFE vs actual cost comparisons and supplementals (if required)
• Lessons learned for continuous improvement
• PostÂmortems (identifies reasons for
problems encountered)
• Give presentations outlining project outcomes and performance
• Regulatory submissions
• Personnel for drilling, pipeline and facility, environment and safety, geology, reservoir, production
• Technical courses and presentations
• Wellfile reviews  acquisitions, inactive wells, suspensions, abandonments, problem wells, benchmarking
• Corporate HSE program
• Contractor skill competency assessments
• PreÂScreening of contractors for safety tickets, insurance, and WCB
• Regular field visits
• Corporate monthly safety meetings
• Ongoing tracking of contractor certification compliance
• Supply contractor close to your project for journey management
• Confirm contractor knowledge of all regulatory standards
Chris Gabrielson
President
Ka-Blam Consulting Inc.
Originally  published in theÂ