S-045 - Field Rejuvenation
Introduction
Oil & gas production in fields may have decreased over time for example due to depletion or water break-through. That does not necessarily mean these fields have reached the end of their life. There could be many improvement opportunities, such as:
- Well interventions to restore production
- Sweet spot and infill drilling potential
- Missed, bypassed or deeper pay potential
- Tie-back of nearby discoveries
- Smart well placement, using state-of-the-art well designs, completions and pumping configurations
- Improved/Enhanced recovery techniques
- Smart Field (Digital Field) technology application
- Operational & safety performance improvement
Breathing new life into mature assets with existing infrastructure and access to market offers an exciting business proposition, and may unlock many millions of dollars in value. An integrated field rejuvenation study in the MENA region in 2015 demonstrated a 50% resource volume increase in undrained reservoir compartments and previously bypassed reservoir levels. Conservatively, its value is estimated at 100 mln $, which can be developed fast by low cost interventions in depleted wells.
Other examples show that field rejuvenation efforts can cut capital expenditure up to 20% and operating costs up to 5%. This shows that such an analysis could be well worth the effort and is more than likely to repay itself, as it may unlock many millions of dollars whilst operating within the approved budgets.
Based on the global experience of our subject matter experts (SME), many former Shell staff, their knowledge of best practices and integrated ways of working, we can help you unlock value through identifying field rejuvenation, enhanced recovery, optimized production, improved production reliability and cost saving opportunities.
We can also help design and implement plans to realize value in the mid to longer term. This can come in many forms, such as support field development planning, or help improve the operational and safety performance. The latter can for example be achieved through enabling integrated work environments, combined with operational excellence and smart field processes, tools and technology application.
There is no simple formula for success in rejuvenation of mature fields, as each field is different. A range of issues will need to be understood, from subsurface aspects, such as reservoir and wells management, to surface aspects, such as facility and field operations management. Unless the client already knows what to focus on, it is therefore best to start modest and at low cost, through a holistic review of the asset by an integrated, multidisciplinary geoscience-engineering team.
Such an assessment will provide a granular view of the client’s asset, identifying the key risks, issues, gaps and improvement opportunities. This allows recommendation of tailor-made remedial actions and best practice solutions with focus on the client’s bottom line. In dialogue with the client’s decision makers, we can then jointly define the way ahead and the next steps and priorities, from realizing quick win operations to designing and implementing longer term rejuvenation, production improvement and risk mitigation initiatives.
