Production Optimisation in Mature Fields

Abstract

Reservoir uncertainties, increasing water cut, vertical lift performance, well integrity issue along with decline in production are some of the typical challenges of a mature asset. These coupled with ageing facilities and lower production efficiencies are key issues that an operator faces while operating any mature asset. Production decline from a mature field cannot be fully arrested. However, it can be reasonably controlled by using real-time optimisation techniques. This paper deliberates on how BG India has been able to address these issues successfully while operating mature assets in Mumbai offshore region. This paper presents how real-time production data, performance monitoring and application of innovative techniques can help in adding extra barrels to production. In the past few years, oil industry has been moving towards Real-Time Optimisation (RTO). However, to achieve optimal benefit from RTO, a new implementation approach-based on People Process Technology (PPT) framework has also been proposed in this paper. This paper recommends innovative practices like integrating non-technical disciplines, for e.g. Logistics, Planning, Contracts and Procurement etc into core production enhancement team. It also presents techniques to setup required processes to complement the traditional way of production opportunity and loss management. Furthermore, an outline has been presented on how to select the suitable technologies during the state-of-the-art Real-Time Optimisation Centre (RTOC) set up for any Oil and Gas asset. Several case studies have also been included in the paper to highlight the benefits from a RTOC based on PPT framework to manage the typical challenges of a mature asset. Using this approach, BG India has been able to reduce decline in production while achieving high production efficiency of more than 90 percent in the last three years for its fields in Mumbai offshore region. Going forward, more and more assets worldwide are likely to enter into the mature stage of lifecycle. Methods suggested in this paper provide a unique approach to implement a strategy to shift production management culture from reactive to proactive domain.

Challenges of a mature Russian field's redevelopment – Advantages and disadvantages of quick-look geologic modeling

“…Also, according to various authors worldwide, one of the key challenges related to mature fields is data availability, reliability and relevancy (Parshall, 2012), as case studies from Kazakhstan (Elliott et al, 1998;Bigoni et al, 2010), Russia (Cimic, 2006), Venezuela (Agbon et al, 2003), Indonesia (Handayani & Simamora, 2012), or India (Tiwari et al, 2015) show. Similar challenges were also identified in the case of Field A during Phase 1.…”

“…At MOL Group (Hungarian Oil and Gas Public Limited Company), the existing portfolio was revised to minimize risk and maximize value. Similar approaches are described by Golovatskiy et al (2015), Sarkar et al (2015), Tiwari et al (2015), and Rajput et al (2015). The goal was to transform the business to withstand abrupt market changes.…”

“…Similar redevelopment efforts took place worldwide (O'Brian et al, 2016). A few examples are from Russia (Golovatskiy et al, 2015), India (Sarkar et al, 2015;Tiwari et al, 2015), Indonesia (Waskito et al, 2015), Malaysia (Ng et al, 2016), Australia (Mantopoulos et al, 2015), Egypt (El-Bagoury et al, 2017), China (Rajput et al, 2015), among many others.…”