Adoption of Integrated Asset Modeling Approach to Kick-Start the Corporate Digital Transformation Strategy

Abstract

The adoption of an integrated asset modeling approach was explored to kick-start the corporate digital transformation strategy for its oil and gas section. Besides the integrated asset model, the digital initiatives included predictive maintenance, well performance optimization, and a flow assurance advisor aimed at daily production operations and maintenance, creating a pathway to the digital oilfield (DOF). The integrated asset model would be the main pillar of DOF realization and implementation, its offered technology aimed at short-term, medium-term, and long-term planning. The adopted well-proven integrated asset modeling methodology enabled a geological complex with a high-fidelity physics reservoir model, multiple interdependent wells, pipeline networks, process facility models to be integrated seamlessly on a single platform for validation of its existing production operation strategy and field development plan. The black-oil reservoir model was history matched, and the production network models had detailed wellbore and pipeline hydraulics calibrated with the latest well-test data. The compositional fluid modeling allowed the capture of any flow assurance issues that arose across the networks, which were mapped to the corresponding process facility models with physical specifications and operational constraints defined. A fully integrated asset model was developed for the studied asset, where liquid/vapor tables were prepared for black-oil delumping (Ghorayeb and Holmes, 2005) of the reservoir models to surface network models (Mora et al. 2015), while fluid models of both production network and process models were validated before mapping to ensure fluid fidelity. The availability of this integrated asset model with an embedded spreadsheet program incorporating some simple economic calculations allowed the flexibility of short-term production optimization and long-term asset planning, which was focused to provide all the vital valuable inputs to better field management, fast and accurate decision making, and optimum safe operation of process units in meeting the sales contract. The integrated asset model offered a platform for engineers from different domains to collaborate with aligned common operational and planning objectives. It empowered assessments of production operation strategy and field development scenarios conducted at full field level from pore to process. The customized reporting, the ability to connect to other tools, and to push results to dashboards helped to kick-start the corporate digital transformation strategy.