Innovation and Technology

The challenge of finding and extracting enough hydrocarbons to meet world demand is not getting any easier. It is not easy to find them, work out what’s there, how to get to it and how to keep it flowing once you have.

Meeting that challenge in a sustainable manner requires smart technology, systems and people.
Woodside’s oil and gas resources are located in remote, offshore fields. They are in cyclonic environments, sea bed temperatures are very low, pipelines are long and expensive and the available landfall locations are expensive places to build large gas processing plants.

Woodside’s approach to these challenges is two-pronged: we utilise the best exploration and production technology and we emphasise operational excellence.

In 2008, Woodside invested $10 million on about 100 technology projects in its Strategic Technology Plan.

We identified 10 areas in which Woodside could research, develop, improve or invest in technology that could have a positive impact on the company’s financial performance, it's communities and the environment.

Our focus was on LNG construction technologies, options for developing remote deepwater fields, detailed knowledge of meteorological and oceanographic (metocean) conditions, exploration and reservoir characterisation methods.

The plan includes Woodside-specific projects undertaken by our own staff, collaborative research with industry participants (large and small) and direct funding of university research, professorial chairs and other programs.

The innovation life cycle has three phases: discovery, development and deployment. Woodside’s focus is on the deployment phase. 

Technological innovation is not limited to the plan – it is fully integrated into the way Woodside operates. Research and development occurs in all areas of our business. In 2007, Woodside identified $132 million of project expenditure with research and development characteristics, making it eligible for Australian R&D tax concessions.
 
Our Strategic Technology Plan Themes in 2008 were:

• Technical Excellence in Exploration
• Technical Excellence in Reservoir Characterisation and Performance
• Technical Excellence in Drilling and Completions
• Technical Excellence in Development Engineering 
• Technical Excellence in Production Operations, Health and Safety 
• Technical Excellence in Environmental Management
• Increased Recovery Factor Using Improved Hydrocarbon Recovery technologies 
• LNG Plant Technologies - Australia Gas 
• Build new Business using Emerging LNG and other Gas Technologies 
• Improved Options for Developing Deepwater Fields