The Benefits of Integrated Asset Modeling: Lesson Learned from Field Cases

Abstract

Abstract Nowadays oilfield development has become more technically and economically challenging and a high degree of interdisciplinary interaction is needed to have an effective and efficient management of the field. The achievement of this goal is made possible only if all the different resources of an organisation work together sharing the same reservoir model. Indeed, the main breakthrough behind Integrated Asset Modeling (IAM) is to combine reservoir, production and surface engineering modeling into an asset management tool that allows the simulation of the whole oilfield system. Though the need and the benefits of IAM were already recognised during the seventies, it is only in the last decade that software tools required to perform integrated production simulation have become available. Coupling dynamic reservoir and surface facility models into a single integrated model may address the following issues: pressure interaction between the surface and the subsurface; mixing of different fluids and flow assurance; accounting for facilities constraints; and identification of system bottlenecks and backpressures. In this way, unnecessary drilling can be avoided, new opportunities can be discovered, optimal artificial lift programs can be implemented to meet production targets. In this paper the state of the art of IAM tools is reviewed, with emphasis on the solution implemented in our company. Benefits and criticalities are then discussed on the basis of three cases, including integrated models for regional gas production systems, deep water mixed oil-gas assets and gas lifted reservoir. Indeed, it has been noted that integrated surface-subsurface modeling will have a critical impact on field management by offering increased accuracy in forecasting reservoir behaviour and maximising the recovery factor at minimum cost.