Early Production Systems – When Do They Make Good Sense for Your Project?

摘要

Many teams believe an Early Production Systems(EPS) will be valuable for their offshore projects, butstruggle when asked to make the business case. Typically, if there is value in an EPS it is derived eitherfrom early resource sales and or providing information on key dynamic uncertainties in order to decidewhether and or how to optimize development. The latter often being the driver of value.As the industry moves to deeper and deeper waters, getting quality information on dynamic uncertaintiesgets more expensive and for some, cost prohibitive. As a result, companies either need to bewilling to sanction expensive developments with sizable risk (potentially bearing a higher risk tolerance)or find ways to make extended tests or Early Production Systems compelling financially in addition totechnically.The key dynamic uncertainties teams often want to reduce before sanctioning development arecompartmentalization, natural or enhanced drive mechanism and or initial production rate. Each is linkedto different decisions which can be optimized given uncertainty is reduced. Compartmentalization directlyaffects the number of development wells, drive mechanism affects the need for injection, associated wellcount and facilities and initial rate directly affects facility size.Ultimately, the key to deriving value from an EPS resides in its design, which includes the type of EPSvessel, the associated fiscal terms and the quality of the information gathered from the early productionsystem prior to finalizing development (Mastrangelo, et al. 2003, Valenchon, et al 2000). This includesthe tests and data to be collected, as well as the duration of the production period prior to making theimportant development decisions.This paper discusses the design aspects which drive value of an EPS and introduces a stepwiseapproach for teams to follow to frame and evaluate dynamic tests and EPS design options using a genericdeepwater case example. Alternatives ranging from a drill stem test (DST) to an EPS to a tie-back arecompared and sensitized to understand under which conditions each option might be worthwhile,ultimately providing information for an informed decision.