Integrated Asset Modelling Unlocks Reservoir Deliverability and Maximizes Asset Value in a Middle East Digital Oil Field

Abstract

Historically, field development plans are determined by reservoir production profile generated in standalone subsurface models using a simulation-based forecast. The resulting oil production profile is commonly over estimated because the constraints imposed by the infrastructure capacity on the surface network are not captured appropriately. Moreover, reservoir simulation engineers are forced to apply many simplifications to represent the backpressure impact of topside facilities over the reservoir deliverability. A common practice is to constrain the model, assigning the same minimum bottom hole pressure or well head pressure to all wells and thus misrepresenting the actual wells' behavior. In general this approach may lead into poor development plans, suboptimized system designs, incorrect budget estimation, over expenditures, and so on; all of these issues will impact the overall asset performance and hydrocarbon recovery. Integrated asset modeling (IAM) is a holistic approach that allows upstream and downstream components to be modeled together in order to accomplish a comprehensive production forecast on truly surface constraints. This paper contains a smart field case that demonstrates how coupling subsurface and surface models can effectively improve production forecast accuracy and leverage production optimization from well to asset level in order to provide decision support that takes into account the complexities of interactions between upstream and downstream domains. This work addressed problems such as: the impact of fluid composition variation over time, the interdependencies between wells sharing facilities, the effect of the production strategy or reservoir guidelines over total field production when multiple reservoirs are connected to a surface network sharing common capacity constraints, and optimization of the artificial lift strategy in place. After economical evaluation, it was possible to redefine a development plan considering surface constraints and actual production profiles that optimally extent production plateau for the next 10 years. The value of having an IAM is that it allows for the evaluatuation of the relative impact of downstream and upstream interdependencies over time, thus enabling comprehensive assessment of a wider range of scenarios and development opportunities. This is turn shall contribute to maximize asset profit and generate opportunities to sustain production based on economic and financial indicators.

Integrated asset management: a case study of technical and economic optimization of surface and well facilities

“…As a result, lower costs and higher engineering productivity would be obtained. Moreover, hardware and software integration can reduce the associated uncertainties and challenges during the field study (Cosentino 2001;Rubio et al 2017). For instance, IAM could be used to connect reservoir, well and surface facilities to achieve maximum field profitability.…”