Bringing a new offshore oil field into full production requires timely and accurate decision-making informed by current conditions. Without proper real-time surveillance, however, new fields can be hampered by uncertainty – especially during start-up periods, where rapid assessment of field operations and production conditions is critical to maximizing production.

Ensuring optimum production is not simply a matter of building the infrastructure, installing equipment, and flipping a switch to begin operating. New fields require the right combination of technology and planning at every step of the process. Without adequate means to obtain critical information, the process can be long, cumbersome, and ripe with the chance of error.

Potential pitfalls

Exploration and development company Ithaca Energy is well aware of this and is taking the necessary steps to minimize improvisation in the development of the new Athena oil field offshore Scotland. The Athena oil field – a joint venture among Ithaca Energy, Dyas UK, EWE, and Zeus Petroleum – expected to produce approximately 22,000 b/d of oil at startup. Field operator Ithaca Energy sought the latest monitoring technology available to help with well management and surveillance and to ensure optimal production processes. To ensure expedient startup and maximize production, Ithaca Energy needed to find the right mix of technology to help personnel spend less time gathering data and more time meeting the organization’s operational objectives.

The company needed technology that would provide real-time insight into processes and performance to combat the uncertainty and inaccuracy that often impede the process of bringing new fields onstream. In addition, oil fields are frequently subject to variations in well performance, artificial lift variables, topsides process conditions, and other factors. These, in turn, can cause large fluctuations in total production. Also, process data obtained in these conditions is frequently subject to flat lines, dropouts, and errors that require cleansing for proper and accurate data processing.

Well rate estimations require calculations and correlations using accepted first-principle methods, and these must be adjusted and recalibrated according to field conditions. The resulting estimations must then be presented clearly and accurately to decision-makers – and in a format that allows them to consult with their peers and respond to situations in a timely manner.

Honeywell’s program allows engineers to monitor ESP performance to better manage production. (Images courtesy of Honey-well Process Solutions)

Digital advantages

The Athena oil field required technology that would address these factors as much as possible while ensuring optimal production. Ithaca Energy found the answer to its requirements in digital oil field management technology for the flexibility and control it offered. Central to achieving this was selection of well surveillance software from Honeywell – Well Performance Monitor (WPM) – which provides an easy-to-understand, real-time snapshot of key operations through one information hub, helping key personnel and decision-makers visualize the performance of the entire field.

For Ithaca Energy, choosing the Honeywell WPM software was the first step in the process toward establishing a digital oil field on Athena. The next stem was the implementation process, which entailed determining the proper approach as well as the appropriate phases and structure of the system. Working with Honeywell, Ithaca Energy took a vertical (from data sources to end-user visualization) and phased approach to deployment, implementing an adequate amount of functionality at every automation/IT layer to achieve the business objectives, but allowing room for growth and adaptation based on potential new objectives and future levels of functionality.

From a timing perspective, the phased implementation eliminated costly uncertainty and guesswork during the ramp-up period of the new field and ensured Ithaca Energy would have a fully tested system available when the field came onstream. It also left room for future growth and improvement.

Once the field is on production, the WPM system will enable the engineering team to monitor how the Athena wells are performing compared to expectations. To complement the WPM system, Ithaca Energy also selected an out-of-the-box module for Well Test Validation from Honeywell, further supporting the objective of establishing optimal well performance conditions.

Taking a three-phased approach, the operator first established system requirements and developed a general design for the integrated system. At its core, the Athena field development is producing from wells in which production is being boosted by electrical submersible pumps (ESPs). Engineers sought to automate the well production test capture, analysis, and validation process, so Ithaca Energy formed the project’s main objectives around the set of functions as applicable to ESP wells, and by modifying WPM’s Well Test Validation module, as required, to achieve those objectives.

Honeywell helped extend the Well Test Validation module’s functionality to cover specific model-based validation steps on the well. As part of this activity, the technology provides suggestions of possible well model adjustments to match recent well tests.

WPM will provide the operator with a real-time snapshot of key operations on the Athena field.

Using the module, production engineers can quickly calculate and recalculate well test results based on stable process variable averages to capture valid well tests even prior to creating the well test record. If the well test is deemed valid, the system executes a match with the well model and suggests potential adjustments. This provides engineers with the level of detail necessary to accurately determine which parameters actually require modification. The engineers have the final word on what well model adjustments require changes or if a new well test is required to validate the results of the analysis.

Visual models will help predict what each well is capable of producing. The WPM technology can extract summary information and key performance indicators from real-time process data historians, production databases, and engineering well models, allowing operators to visualize field performance data and manage equipment assets. This picture shows where shortfalls in production are occurring so engineers can take immediate steps to correct them and maximize the production potential of each well. WPM also helps personnel manage costs associated with surveillance by enabling engineers to identify abnormal situations quickly and react rapidly to disturbances.

Because of the system’s flexibility, Honeywell is helping Ithaca Energy use the system to automate as many routine actions as possible to free personnel to focus on more complex tasks and decision-making. By enabling greater automation, the system saves engineers time while providing them with the detailed insight needed to make sound, informed decisions that ultimately affect well performance.

Fine-tuned performance

The second stage of implementation entails deploying the software in a simulated environment, which is enabling operations managers to test the system, train personnel, and fine-tune processes so they can be as fully operational as possible when the wells begin to produce. This is especially critical because the oil field is being developed concurrently with the system.

In the third stage, Honeywell will work with Ithaca Energy to ensure a smooth changeover to the production environment. This involves working with the system users and adjusting the software’s calculation and estimation methods to reflect actual field conditions so engineers can access critical real-time information to pinpoint underperforming wells and help improve collaboration throughout the team. When the changeover occurs in late 2011 and the wells start producing, Honeywell and Ithaca Energy expect the preparations – coupled with the advanced technology capabilities – will ensure the Athena oil field is running optimally from day one and that it continues to perform efficiently long into its future.