A Systematic Approach to Offshore Fields Development Using an Integrated Workflow

I present a systematic method to primary develop existing black oil fields. This method uses integrated reservoir development workflow (IRDW) that relies on integrated asset model (IAM). Developing any existing field means providing a plan that generally serves the development goal(s) specified by management. However, serving the development goal(s) by itself does not guarantee an optimal development plan. Plans that do not rely on an IAM are less accurate. Some plans do not include economics in their evaluation. Such plans are technically accepted but usually impractical or unprofitable. Plans that only evaluate the field based on current, or short-term, conditions are potential candidates for bottlenecks, thus costly reevaluations. In addition, plans that do not consider all suitable options are misleading and have no room for optimization. Finally, some plans are based on ?rules of thumb,? ease of operations, or operators? preference, not on technical evaluation. These plans mostly lower long-term profitability and cause further production problems. To overcome these problems, project management must form a multidisciplinary team that uses the IRDW. The IRDW guides the team through its phases, stages, and steps to selecting the optimal development plan. The IAM consists of geological, reservoir, wellbore, facility, and economic models. The IRDW dictates building an IAM for the base (do nothing) case and for each development plan. The team must evaluate each scenario over the lifetime of the field, or over the timeframe the management specifies. Net present value (NPV) and Present value ratio (PVR) for all options are compared to the base case and against each other. The optimum development plan is the one that have the highest NPV and highest PVR. The results of the research showed that forming a multidisciplinary team and using a LDFC saves time and it guarantees selecting the optimal development plan if all applicable development options are considered.