Value Chain Optimization in Oil & Gas Companies – Integrated Workflows

Abstract

Meeting energy demands and generating profit to shareholders is a continuous quest for oil and gas companies. Production and business planning in integrated oil and gas operating companies is a complex process involving numerous organizations, historic data collection, modeling, prediction, and forecasting. Integrated business planning complexity intensifies due to the uncertain nature of past facts and future conditions. We propose a framework for integrating upstream and downstream production planning processes using data-driven models representing the upstream capacities, downstream processes, and a countrywide profit model. The upstream production model forecasts optimum capacity scenarios of the reservoir fluids with their compositional characteristics and hydraulic performance of the surface facilities while honoring business rules, and based on the various long-term expenditure scenarios, downtime requirements, and downstream demand schedules. An integrated optimization model for value chain has the potential to protect profitability for oil and gas companies in times of unbalanced market forces.