A Step Change; Achieving Excellence in Optimizations and Exceeding Global Top Quartile in a Brown Field

Abstract

This SPE paper provides valuable insights into a brown field facing significant challenges, including a sharp decline rate resulting from nearly exhausted optimization opportunities, a rapid increase in water cut, and high deferment due to frequent pump failures. However, through a well-coordinated and multidisciplinary approach, the field managed to achieve a remarkable 15% optimization gain, surpassing the global top quartile, and improved the decline rate from 11% in 2020 to -7.7% in 2022. The success of the field's transformation was driven by an integrated field review, which uncovered overlooked opportunities through extensive participation from various disciplines. Key to this success was the conversion project, which involved changing Beam pump (BP) or Progressing Cavity Pump (PCP) to Electrical Submersible Pump (ESP) and BP to Long Stroke Pumping Unit (LSU), significantly boosting production and enabling the reopening of Closed-In Wells (CIWs) that greatly benefited from these conversions. Furthermore, the implementation of other identified opportunities such as Water Shut-off (WSO), stimulation, Proactive Pump Replacement (PPR), and pump upsize resulted in the execution of a total of 82 activities in 2021 and 2022, all accomplished without encountering H2S issues. The maturation of these activities yielded impressive results in terms of decline rate improvement, optimization gain, and deferment reduction. The field's decline rate notably improved from around 11% in 2020 to -7.7% in 2022. This achievement can be attributed to the substantial increase in optimization gains from 3% to 15.3%, and a significant decrease of 68% in unscheduled subsurface deferment. The conversion project, particularly the shift to ESP, significantly increased net oil production by enabling higher gross production, contributing to the remarkable optimization gain. The Long-Stroke Pumping Unit conversion also demonstrated a remarkable 40% energy saving. The implementation of the conversion project also positively impacted deferment by significantly reducing pump failures, as evident from the drop in the failure index from 30% in 2020 to 18.8% in 2022. Despite the overall improvements in various aspects, it is essential to acknowledge that water production increased due to the higher gross production resulting from the ESP conversions. The paper highlights the significance of this brown field's unprecedented achievement, surpassing the global top quartile in optimizations despite almost depleted opportunities. It showcases how thinking outside the box and employing engineering judgment can lead to a remarkable transformation in a matured field. The success story demonstrates how the spark of innovation evolved into a flame that far exceeded global top quartile benchmarks, making this field one of the most important and noteworthy in the cluster.