By CHIBUZOR EMEJOR

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As Nigeria prepares for the 2025 NAPE AICE, with a focus on revitalising petroleum exploration for energy security and sustainable development, the innovative research of Mr Chibueze Amadi is gaining significant attention. His award-winning work, recognised at the 2023 SPE NAICE, offers a practical solution to a critical challenge in High- Pressure, High-Temperature (HPHT) drilling: lost circulation. By utilising real-time data to optimise casing setting depths, Amadi’s approach promises to reduce costs, enhance safety, and improve efficiency in accessing challenging oil and gas reserves – aligning seamlessly with the conference’s core theme. CHIBUZOR EMEJOR writes

Nigeria’s petroleum in-dustry is looking ahead to the 2025 Annual Inter-national Conference and Exhibition (AICE) of the Nigerian Association of Petroleum Explo-rationists (NAPE), scheduled for November 9–13, 2025, in Lagos. This year’s conference centres on the theme: “Revitalising the Nigerian Petroleum Exploration and Production Strategies for Energy Security and Sustainable Development,” reflecting the in-dustry’s commitment to meeting the nation’s growing energy needs responsibly.

This theme resonates with the vision of Johnbosco Uche, the current NAPE President. In a March 28, 2025, interview with GBReports, Uche emphasised the pressing need to “explore deeper and utilise advanced technology to efficiently discover and develop additional gas reserves,” highlight-ing that operational efficiency and technical innovation are essential for Nigeria to meet its increasing energy demands. He also stressed that sustainability is paramount to aligning with both national en-ergy self-sufficiency and global ex-pectations for responsible energy development.

Against this backdrop, the award-winning research of Mr Chibueze Amadi takes on even greater importance.

At the 2023 Society of Petro-leum Engineers (SPE) Nigeria Annual International Conference and Exhibition (NAICE), Amadi co-authored groundbreaking work that addresses one of the most costly and hazardous challenges in High-Pressure, High-Tempera-ture (HPHT) drilling: lost circula-tion caused by suboptimal casing setting depths.

His paper’s technical rigour and practical impact were recognised with the Best Paper Presentation Award at SPE NAICE 2023, an accolade reserved for the most in-novative and field-relevant contri-butions from among hundreds of submissions. This recognition not only affirmed the scientific sound-ness of his approach but also its immediate relevance to global oil and gas operations.

HPHT wells represent the cutting edge of drilling complexity. In ba-sins such as Nigeria’s Niger Delta, operators often face the challenge of drilling through pressure-depleted sands that directly overlie highly overpressured reservoirs.

This juxtaposition of contrast-ing pressure regimes creates a narrow drilling “window.” Setting a casing shoe too shallow risks exposing the well to influxes and instability, while setting it too deep can exceed the fracture gradient of the depleted shale, leading to severe mud losses.

The consequences of misjudg-ing this delicate balance can be substantial. A Nigerian operator documented a case where a poorly chosen casing point triggered the loss of 5,100 barrels of mud and added 35 drilling days, escalating costs by millions of dollars. Glob-ally, similar HPHT failures have resulted in well abandonments, sidetracks, and even blowouts. In-dustry analysts estimate that lost circulation alone adds tens of mil-lions of dollars annually to HPHT drilling budgets—a financial and safety burden that significantly impacts project viability.

These challenges are further amplified as the industry ventures into deeper, hotter, and more geo-logically complex reservoirs.

Without reliable methods for casing-point selection, operators are often forced to rely on conser-vative assumptions, resulting in overdesign, extra casing strings, and increased costs. The need for a more precise, scientifically robust solution is therefore critical.

Amadi’s research directly ad-dresses this need by introducing a mechanistic model that inte-grates real-time resistivity and sonic data with geomechanical interpretation.

The innovation lies in its abil-ity to pinpoint the true “pressure ramp” depth within shale se-quences that separate depleted and overpressured zones. By de-tecting subtle but consistent re-sistivity signatures across shale intervals, the method identifies optimal casing setting depths without compromising the frac-ture gradient or drilling margin. Unlike traditional rule-of-thumb approaches, which often overlook localised depletion effects, this workflow utilises dynamic, da-ta-driven analysis during drilling to optimise decisions in real time.

As documented in his SPE pa-per, wells where this workflow was implemented achieved smooth drilling through challenging HPHT intervals, avoiding mud losses or instability events. The model provides not just predic-tive capability but also operational confidence, giving drilling teams actionable insights while drilling.

The broader implications of this innovation are substantial:

Reducing Non-Productive Time: By avoiding catastrophic mud losses and sidetracks, oper-ators can save millions of dollars per well. In frontier HPHT proj-ects, this can be the key to com-mercial success.

Enhancing Safety: Preventing mud losses also minimises the risk of well control events, includ-ing kicks and blowouts, which can endanger lives and assets.

Improving Efficiency: Reliable casing-point selection allows op-erators to drill deeper into HPHT reservoirs, unlocking reserves vi-tal for LNG projects and Nigeria’s long-term energy supply.

Supporting Sustainability: By preventing waste of drilling flu-ids, minimising additional casing strings, and reducing carbon-in-tensive re-drills, the workflow contributes directly to lowering the environmental footprint of petroleum operations.

Industry analysts note that in regions such as the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico, where HPHT proj-ects often involve billion-dollar investments, even modest reduc-tions in drilling risk translate into substantial economic benefits. Amadi’s contribution, therefore, extends beyond Nigeria to global HPHT operations.

The relevance of Amadi’s work becomes even clearer when considered against the theme of NAPE 2025 AICE: “Revitalising the Nigerian Petroleum Exploration and Production Strategies for En-ergy Security and Sustainable De-velopment.” By enabling more re-liable access to complex reserves, his workflow strengthens energy security, ensuring that Nigeria and other hydrocarbon-dependent nations can continue to meet do-mestic and export demands. Fur-thermore, its ability to minimise waste and environmental impact aligns perfectly with sustainabil-ity goals, reflecting the priorities articulated by NAPE President Johnbosco Uche.

As delegates convene in Lagos this November to chart the future of Nigeria’s petroleum industry, Amadi’s award-winning research serves as a prime example of the innovation required to achieve both resilience and responsibili-ty in exploration and production. The Best Paper Presentation Award at SPE NAICE 2023 under-scores the recognised significance of Amadi’s contribution, placing it among global best practices.

His methodology also antici-pates the industry’s ongoing shift toward real-time drilling optimisa-tion and predictive analytics, com-plementing advances in Managed Pressure Drilling (MPD) and other cutting-edge technologies.

By bridging rigorous geosci-ence with practical drilling solu-tions, Amadi has established him-self as a thought leader in HPHT well design. His work not only ad-dresses immediate challenges in the Niger Delta but also provides a transferable model for HPHT basins worldwide, from offshore West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico and the North Sea.

As the global energy sector faces increasing pressure to de-liver hydrocarbons more safely, efficiently, and sustainably, inno-vations like Amadi’s stand out as game changers, reducing costs, enhancing safety, and pushing the boundaries of what is technically achievable in HPHT drilling.