Enhancement Of Oil & Gas Production Using Integrated Network Analysis
Authors: Li K.J. , Thijssen Nort , Mittendorff Ilse 
Published: February 2016

For a mature oil field gas and liquid compositions tends to change due to the aging of the field because watercut will increase thus may increase the gas lift requirement. Also the smaller accumulations near by tend to be developed as satellite to the main facilities.

Analysing the entire upstream supply chain in an integrated manner, compared to looking at the individual elements, is becoming increasingly important in the current business, because the system bottlenecks could shift from year to year.

Integrated network analysis will look at the impact of changes on the entire network over the entire time period with the aim to determine the optimal timing of developments of new fields, to identify bottlenecks in the network and evaluate options for removal of these bottlenecks. This analysis can also be used to underpin investment decisions, to help optimise the product slate and analyse trade-offs between, for example, energy efficiency, production and overall recovery. Overall it supports the activity known as strategic or investment planning.

Recent studies confirm that integrated network analysis helps to bring production closer to the technical potential of the wellhead platforms. An example showed 10 % acceleration of 15 years Oil Production and 5 % increased recovery of 15 years Gas Production.

Introduction

An integrated business development modelling approach is often used in energy master planning studies, where the focus is on the commercial value of oil & gas and related value streams in the market while balancing the costs of production, transport, processing and storage. It provides a structured framework for analysis across the whole energy value chain in order to focus on the key business opportunities.

The same approach can be used for a smaller section of the energy value chain, for example when the focus is only on the upstream sector. In this sector all individual elements in the oil & gas upstream supply chain are typically modelled in isolation using simulation programs. Analysing the upstream supply chain in an integrated manner, compared to looking at the individual elements, is becoming increasingly important in the current business, because the system bottlenecks could shift from year to year [1].

For these integrated studies, one typically considers the oil & gas supply chain starting from wellhead platforms via multi-phase pipeline to a production platform, then through a network of pipelines to the export facilities.

Bottlenecks that arise in the upstream supply chain can be a result of:Field composition (gas-liquid) changing over time and increased water content in the oil-water liquid stream due to ageing of fields.Increasing use of existing infrastructure for the implementation of new projects to compensate the production of ageing fields or to increase overall production. New projects that come on stream typically will use part of the existing facilities, which may have sufficient capacity to handle increase of production from one individual project, but will not be adequate for other projects.The drive toward no venting and/or reduced flaring policy, which is becoming increasingly important.