Implementingi-field™ Integrated Solutions for Reservoir Management: San Joaquin Valley Case Study

Abstract

To achieve more efficient business processes by exploiting data and knowledge management, real-time systems and advanced analytical tools, most major integrated and service companies have developed, or are in the process of developing, intelligent programs also known as Digital Oil Field of the Future 3 . The i-field TM program represents Chevron's efforts to integrate people, processes, technology and information to achieve its vision of Upstream Transformation. Ultimately, this vision translates to higher-quality decision making and changes the way we operate our assets.A new multiyear i-field TM program, Integrated Reservoir Management (i-RM), was initiated in the San Joaquin Valley to enable efficient reservoir management (RM) and quality decision making for heavy oil assests operating under steamflood EOR technologies.The paper describes the journey undertaken by the project team to build a proprietary steamflood integrated reservoir management tool that answers the basic neverending engineering requirements: instant access to clean data, single source of information for everyone and seamless data-tools linkage. The ultimate benefit is not only increased time spent by engineers and earth scientists to analyze data but also consistent project design workflows and decision making processes across fields. In addition to above documented benefits, the manuscript includes operator's experience with project framing, development, deployment and user-acceptance. History of i-field program in San Joaquin ValleyChevron's San Joaquin Valley BU began implementing its first i-field solutions in 2003. Supporting field technical teams and operation groups, the early i-field projects focused on tactical tasks, often close to the wellhead and targeted production