Flow Assurance Risks Impact on Kuwait Offshore Field Development Plans

摘要

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) offshore exploration and development plans are underway to boost its production capacity to the future target rate. However, the selection of offshore field development scheme is critical due to the associated flow assurance risks, which impact project economics, safety, and sustainability. The objective of this study is to simulate and evaluate two offshore field development schemes, namely subsea multiphase flow, and platform schemes. The evaluation is based on the associated flow assurance risks, project economics, and environmental impact of each development schemes. The analysis covers simulation of each scheme, prediction of flow assurance risks, and prevention/mitigation of the risks during the entire life of the field. Results revealed that although the flow assurance risks in the subsea multiphase flow scheme are significant, it eliminates the large investment cost of platform, which improves the project economics significantly, and minimize environmental impact. Conversely, although the platform development scheme has low flow assurance risk, platform capital investment cost may impair the project economics, safety, and environmental impact. This study investigates each scheme by simulating, economically evaluating, and environmental impact assessing both schemes, to enable the right decision and selection of field development plan.