Preliminary Technical Agenda

Monday, 21 June 2010

Session I– Facilities: Important Issues and Case Studies

Session Managers: Dr. John Hargreaves, Phil Roberts, Robert Weston

This session is planned to give a clear and systematic introduction to the main concerns of the facilities engineer in the development process. Major issues in facilities development will be identified, discussed and illustrated through case studies, establishing shared terms of reference to be developed, enabling active discussion on the issues.

Tuesday, 22 June 2010

Session II– Reservoir: Important Issues and Case Studies

Session Managers: Shahin Abasov, Farzad Farshbaf, Iain Percival

This session will introduce the issues and allow reservoir engineers to present their understanding of what is required of them by the facilities engineers to give the best chance of the project delivering maximum value to the owners. Examples of both positive and negative experiences will be discussed with the aim of capturing lessons learned. It will address the key question of what can be done to improve communication with the facility engineers in order to ensure production and recovery is maximized. It will also explore the issue of whether the understanding of subsurface uncertainties is improving especially in terms of the impact of the
uncertainties at various stages of project maturation. In particular, the issue of “when is enough work, enough?” will be discussed in terms of understanding the project in the wider commercial context and timeframe.

The discussion will consider issues such as the:

• link between uncertainties, consequent decision making and risk management
• structure and process to ensuring the knowledge is captured and shared amongst all team members as time goes on, more work is done and knowledge grows
• importance of clear information management and knowledge preservation particularly in dispersed/ distributed teams
• structure of team communication: do the project team members communicate in a structured way using a
  shared “language” with a view to addressing uncertainties and preserving decision making rationale throughout project life

Session III– Modelling and Dealing with Uncertainties

Session managers: Jean van Berkel, Tao Yang

This session will focus on the current status of integrated modelling of reservoirs and facilities for development planning. PVT remains a major issue as reservoir models tend to have no more than ten components but facility models 20 to 50 components.

Examples of integrated reservoir - facility models will be discussed.

• What is the best approach in modelling for development planning, e.g. separate reservoir and facility models or an integrated model?
• What are the pros and cons of simple and rigorous methodologies?
• What is the impact of uncertainties in the reservoir on the design of the facilities and are the current modelling tools able to handle them?
• What are the issues in characterising the PVT for the reservoirs and facilities and why do the surface facilities need so many components?
• Are there any water issues?
• How sure are we of the final outcome and what has been the impact when we were wrong?

Wednesday, 23 June 2010

Session IV– Reaching Field Development Decisions

Session Managers: Nigel McKim, Neeraj Nandurdikar, Simon Richards

Successful field development decisions can only be reached by effective interaction between the subsurface community and the facilities concept and engineering teams and overcoming the facilities and reservoir divide. This session will focus on presentations and case studies that will identify key factors and practical solutions by which this divide can be bridged.

Example topics that will be covered in this session include:

• Identifying what we can do better: How can we improve our decision making process? How do we balance the needs for shorter project timelines with getting complete data? Can a production engineering
  perspective provide some insights?
• Team Formation: Are there elements of team formation such as functional representation, timing of forming an integrated team that have been proven or have the potential to overcome this divide?
• Do we require a new role and skill: What is it about our education and industry experience that leads to this divide? Does the industry need to train a new breed of people – “Asset Integrators” or “Development Planners” - who are comfortable with uncertainty and certainty and see the big picture simultaneously with clarity on detail
• Case studies of successful projects: How did they overcome these challenges? What practical steps did these organisations/projects take to enhance the development decision making process?

Session V– Improving the Development Planning Process

Session Managers: David Aron, Dr. Neil Renton

The purpose of this session will be to concentrate on how the development planning process can be improved whether by better and more effective communication or the use of innovative techniques. It will also explore the impact of commercial and drilling requirements on the development planning process. The session will conclude with a summary of the main lessons and conclusions of the workshop.

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