Unlocking Ultimate Values of a Complex Gas-Condensate Light-Oil Asset in the Middle East with Integrated Pore-to-Process Solutions
Authors: Khor Siew Hiang , Limpasurat Thanat , Zhang Michael Qiong , Graa Ines 
Published: February 2023

Pore-to-process solutions using the integrated asset modeling approach have been successfully developed and implemented to unlock the ultimate real values of a complex gas-condensate light-oil asset in the Middle East. The studied asset was complex, involving multiple reservoirs with dual porosity that required expertise from different domains from subsurface to surface facilities to collaborate and fully understand the complexity of fluid properties, geological properties, network backpressures, and operational constraints of the existing process facilities to recognize any opportunities of optimizing the current field development plan, thereby unlocking the true value of the studied asset.

Integrated asset modeling was adopted for pore-to-process solutions that enable better management of asset operation and identification of optimal field development strategy, where seven black-oil subsurface reservoir models were integrated to six compositional wells, pipelines networks, and subsequently to six process facility models. Black-oil delumping and compositional fluid delumping were implemented to ensure fluid fidelity from pore to process. This approach established the fundamentals of effective modeling solutions that enabled multiple interdependent models to be integrated into a single production model while preserving the fidelity of individual models to reduce uncertainties and to increase confidence in the simulation results with consideration of various component model interactions, system constraints, and backpressure effects.

The integrated subsurface reservoir models, compositional surface network, and process facility models brought insights and a better understanding of flow assurance, well, and pipeline integrity issues that may arise. Simulation results displayed on the asset overview dashboard helped to validate production operation strategy and suitability of the process designs. The pore-to-process solutions empowered comprehensive assessment of various field development plans to minimize uncertainties, mitigate risks; and optimize the overall production performance and reservoir recovery via an evergreen integrated model with the ability to account for the complete system constraints, interactions, and backpressure effects between various models in one integrated simulation platform. Integration of subsurface to process facility models have assisted in determining the optimum distribution of fluids per facility and surveillance of facilities performance. This project has delivered some key asset-level decisions; for example, the possibility of increased recoverable reserves by making changes to the existing process equipment (capacity and/or operational), and flow paths of producing wells, in addition to improved forecast accuracy, capital expenditure prediction, and optimal operational efficiency.

The developed pore-to-process solutions confirmed that the integrated asset modeling approach could effectively validate various field development strategies with consideration of anticipated rig events, required equipment changes (both well completion and process facilities), and subsequently to identify the opportunities of increased production and ensuring safe asset operation. By keeping the integrated asset models live and evergreen, the availability and accessibility of these models (pore to process) established the main pillars of a digital oil field to unlock the real value of the studied complex asset.