Innovative FDP Reframing to Reverse Unfavorable Project Economics of Underdeveloped Field via Modular Approach Utilizing Digital FDP Ecosystem
Authors: Isa A. Bin Mohd , Tauphy R. Rj Kamal , Mokhtar Z. , Seah Y. , Rahman M. Abdul 
Published: October 2023

Field S is the last oilfield with relatively significant 2C remaining volumes in Peninsular Malaysia of which its oil is at premium category. It is an under-developed brownfield with 12 years of production history, 145 km offshore Peninsular Malaysia. It consists of four main areas: North, North-West, Graben, and South, having an East-West elongated anticline field structure. The field holds relatively huge oil in place; however, its recovery factor is still less than 5% and full Field Development Plan (FDP) is advancing to fully uncover its true potential. In 2021, over 150 development scenarios were evaluated encompassing optimum recovery strategies, various facilities capacity limits, multiple schedules, and CAPEX phase sequencing. After many iterations, one development concept was selected and aimed for Final Investment Decision (FID) in 2023. Unfortunately, at the end of 2022, the team faced significantly higher CAPEX increase due to market factors, turning the project to unfavorable economics. The challenges faced by FDP team was to turn the project negative economics into positive by revisiting hundreds of development concepts within shorter period which among others include: 1) screening best depletion strategy techno-commercially, 2) strategizing development either by phased or integrated, 3) reducing cost effort without jeopardizing recoverable volume, 4) accelerating 1st oil to maximize production prior to Production Sharing Contract (PSC) expiry.These challenges are addressed by the PETRONAS Digital FDP Ecosystem (DFE) transformation program, through deployment of digital cloud technologies and solutions with scalable High-Performance Computing (HPC) environment to supercharge the overall FDP orchestration. The cloud-based FDP orchestrator and Petrotechnical Suites (PTS) ensure full data auditability in an integrated E&P cognitive environment and facilitates the management of the end-to-end FDP process across disciplines. The FDP Orchestrator includes Fields-driven comparative economic evaluations workflows for modelling production forecasts, surface constraints and costs, demonstrating an innovative Step-Up Development method to pinpoint the best concept with highest Net Present Value (NPV). In addition, unlimited HPC power accelerates subsurface studies, and facilitates a broader spectrum of development scenarios to be investigated for robust decision making.This paper describes the study of the first field in Southeast Asia for DFE deployment, breaking domain silos and providing an integrated platform for FDP study: 1) Team successfully achieved in turning project NPV from negative USD 700 million into positive USD 100 million within two months instead of the normal turnaround duration of six to twelve months. 2) Determine a final techno-commercially viable concept for project maturation. This final concept is able to be NPV positive due to overall cost reduction on: a) Facilities CAPEX reduction about USD 500 million; b) Wells CAPEX reduction about USD 700 million; and c) OPEX reduction about USD 1,300 million.