- To provide technical authority and assurance for high-risk well projects, ensuring safe, compliant, and cost-effective well delivery.
Key Responsibilities
HPHT and Exploration Well Planning and Design Assurance:
- Lead the planning and technical assurance of HPHT, exploration, appraisal, and other high-exposure wells through comprehensive engineering reviews and risk-based design methodologies, to ensure safe and successful well delivery.
- Review and validate well designs, casing programs, pressure management strategies, and drilling philosophies to ensure compliance with HPHT standards and operational requirements.
- Validate casing design, mud-weight windows, BOP specifications, wellhead systems, and critical well control equipment to ensure integrity throughout the well lifecycle.
- Provide expert technical input during peer reviews, design verification processes, and operational readiness reviews to identify and mitigate technical risks before execution.
- Recommend advanced drilling technologies, methodologies, and engineering solutions that optimize well performance, reduce technical uncertainty, and enhance value creation.
Well Control, Risk Management and Operational Support:
- Provide technical leadership during well control events, abnormal pressure encounters, and other critical operations through real-time advisory support and structured decision-making processes, to protect personnel, assets, and the environment.
- Lead risk assessments, contingency planning workshops, HAZIDs, and operational reviews to ensure critical well risks are identified, assessed, and effectively mitigated.
- Maintain oversight of barrier management strategies and pressure management programs throughout well execution to sustain well integrity and operational safety.
- Support operational teams with expert guidance during drilling, testing, and evaluation activities in complex HPHT and exploration environments to improve operational outcomes.
- Maintain proficiency in well control technologies, HPHT operational practices, and emerging industry developments to support continuous enhancement of operational assurance.
Well Integrity, Safety and Regulatory Compliance Management:
- Ensure all HPHT and exploration well designs, procedures, and operational activities comply with THE COMPANY'S well integrity requirements, industry standards, and regulatory obligations, to maintain safe and compliant operations.
- Provide technical oversight of safety-critical equipment and barrier verification activities to ensure effective management of operational risks.
- Participate in operational audits, technical assurance reviews, and compliance assessments to verify adherence to established standards and best practices.
- Promote operational excellence by integrating safety, environmental stewardship, and risk management considerations into all engineering recommendations and decisions.
- Ensure lessons learned from incidents, near misses, and operational reviews are incorporated into future well planning and execution activities to strengthen organizational resilience.
Technology Development, Performance Improvement and Cost Optimization:
- Identify, evaluate, and promote deployment of best available technologies applicable to HPHT and exploration wells to improve drilling performance, reliability, and operational efficiency.
- Review and challenge cost estimates associated with HPHT-specific equipment, services, and operational programs to ensure cost-effective well delivery and resource utilization.
- Benchmark well performance against industry standards and peer operations to identify opportunities for performance improvement and technology enhancement.
- Recommend optimization strategies to minimize HPHT-related non-productive time (NPT), reduce drilling risks, and enhance overall well economics.
- Drive implementation of industry lessons learned, emerging technologies, and innovative engineering approaches that improve technical and commercial outcomes.
Technical Leadership, Stakeholder Engagement and Capability Development:
- Provide technical mentoring, coaching, and development support to Well Engineers, Well Supervisors, and drilling teams to strengthen organizational capability in HPHT and exploration well delivery.
- Drive knowledge-sharing initiatives, technical workshops, and lessons-learned sessions across the Wells organization to enhance competency and continuous improvement.
- Serve as the primary HPHT technical interface between THE COMPANY'S management, project teams, contractors, and external stakeholders to ensure alignment on well objectives and risk management strategies.
- Represent THE COMPANY'S in technical peer reviews, industry forums, workshops, and assurance reviews to promote technical excellence and adoption of best practices.
- Collaborate with subsurface, drilling, completions, production, HSE, and contractor teams through integrated planning and execution activities to optimize delivery of exploration and HPHT objectives.
Qualifications and Requirements
Minimum Qualification:
- Bachelor's Degree in Petroleum Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or related Engineering discipline.
Required Professional Certifications / Accreditations / Registrations:
- IWCF or IADC Well Control Supervisor Level Certification.
- Training in Completion and Well Integrity Design (SPE, IADC, or equivalent).
- BOSIET (Basic Offshore Safety Induction and Emergency Training) Certification.
- COREN Registration and membership of relevant professional bodies
- (preferred).
Minimum Years of Experience and Relevant Areas:
- 10 - 15 years of drilling engineering experience, with significant exposure to HPHT and exploration wells. .
- Demonstrated experience supporting high-risk and technically complex well delivery projects.
- Significant experience in offshore, onshore, exploratory drilling, and HPHT operations.
- HPHT and exploration well design, planning, and execution.
- Management of complex and high-risk drilling operations.
- Well control management and advanced drilling technologies.
- Safety leadership, environmental stewardship, and operational excellence.
- Technical mentoring, coaching, and leadership of multidisciplinary teams.
- Risk assessment, contingency planning, and well integrity assurance.
Any Additional Qualifications / Certifications or Experience (Desirable but not Essential):
- Master's Degree in Petroleum Engineering, Drilling Engineering, or related discipline.
- Specialized training in HPHT well design and operations.
- Experience in deepwater exploration and frontier basin drilling.
- Experience with Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD), advanced pore pressure prediction, and real-time drilling optimization systems.