Samarang Integrated Operations (IO): Integrated Asset Modeling - An Innovative Approach For Long Term Production Planning Focused On Enhance Oil Recovery
Authors: Sifuentes W. , Moreno J. , Kumaran P. , Hamdan R. , Salim M. Muhamed , Som M. Mohd , Lee H. W. , Ahmad A. , Pangereyeva N. , Biniwale S. S. , Rodriguez N. J. , Nitura J. T. , Alia R. , Talabi O. A. , Halabe V. , Pedraza S. 
Published: October 2015

With the production declining trends and dwindling reserves for a 35-year-old Samarang offshore field, Samarang Redevelopment Project was kicked-off with a vision to implement Integrated Operations (IO) as Asset Management Decision Support tool. To realize the expected reserves and optimize the production, an "Integrated Asset Model" (IAM) concept is introduced with a state of the art modeling techniques to treat the asset as a whole unit rather than isolated silos as was being done traditionally. Understanding the complex interactions and synergies between reservoirs, production networks and process facilities was the key in the decision making process, where strategies implemented and decisions taken on the production networks would greatly impact the reservoirs' performance and vice versa.

This was achieved by creating an Integrated Asset Model that included the eight reservoir simulation models, together with a common production network model of around 80 strings and a complex process facilities model. This new business process is supported by an underlying system that keeps model up-to-date with the current reservoir and production changes. This innovative approach for long term production planning is used to better manage and plan the continuous production flow stream from reservoir to field export point. The main objectives for the Long Term Production Planning approach are:Obtain more accurate and reliable forecasts by having the reservoir, surface network and process models integrated.Recognize the complex interactions between reservoir and production networks and understand facilities constraints and potential bottlenecks.Compare different EOR, redevelopment strategies scenarios thereby obtaining the optimal scenario.Increase collaboration and reduce communication time between different domains to enhance the decision making process from an integrated asset management perspective.

This approach has been implemented recently for the Samarang long term asset management strategy and has revealed very remarkable results which would help the asset team for improvising the short and long term strategies. The paper also divulge how the underlying foundation platform has been set-up to run such integrated studies followed by capabilities to run the various optimization scenarios to assist the development strategies especially after introduction on enhanced oil recovery (EOR). This innovative approach delivers value with the enhanced asset management by focusing on decisions to improve production and operations performance. Forecast production profiles reported from the subsurface models now incorporates the impact of network and process facilities, which allows for more efficient decisions leading to maximization of the production and reduction of CAPEX/OPEX costs.

Some of the key benefits and early value gains of an Integrated Asset Model for Long Term Production Planning (LTP) are:Realized the promised reserves expected by the EOR program by optimizing the production.Cross-domain collaboration among the different disciplines as Reservoir Engineers, Production Technologist, and Process Engineers are working together. In other words, it brings people, process and technology together. This promotes effective decision making.