Recently, a large independent oil and gas operator in the Permian Basin developed custom in-house desktop software applications designed to support multiple reservoir engineering and planning teams. During the process, they were troubled by a critical question: should they build or buy a sustainable solution for their core petroleum economics and forecast software that underpinned their planning and decision-making workflows. In the end, they decided to adopt ComboCurve as what they described as a “shale-native” application that would replace their tools and the key capabilities that kept their forecast accuracy high and iteration-time low.
Challenge
Match and Exceed the Capabilities of Internally Developed Tools
Our operator was troubled with the question to build or buy a sustainable solution for their core petroleum economics and forecast software that underpinned their planning and decision-making workflows. They decided to adopt ComboCurve as what they described as a “shale-native” application that would replace their beloved tools and the key capabilities that kept their forecast accuracy high and iteration-time low.
This large independent used advanced RTA workflows, facilitated by custom in-house desktop software applications, to create multi-segment decline curve forecasts on top of their high-fidelity daily production data. Their forecast tools allowed them to perform forecasting, type curves and economics for field development planning, facility design, land evaluations, and budgeting needs in a tightly integrated workflow. Their tools rapidly reconciled their forecasts against actual data using a few clicks of a button and the backing of their most experienced and opinionated SMEs – how was anyone going to beat that?
Key Capabilities:
- Daily-resolution forecasts
- Daily-resolution type curves
- EUR-based Type Curve Normalization methods
- Multi-segment forecast methodology
- Rapid reconciliation of forecast and economics
- Easy what-if scenario generation for capital, price, completion design, and lateral length
- Forecast approval workflows and merging of multiple reservoir engineers’ work
- Direct integration to future “stick” location database
- Inverse hyperbolic GOR forecasting
- Combine GOR Exponential-flat fitting technique
Solution
Adopt a Rapidly Developing Platform
By adopting ComboCurve, this large independent O&G operator embraces a company with an entrepreneurial spirit that got the core functionality “right” while listening to their clients’ needs. They maintained key capabilities that ensured workflow continuity and developed new features through feedback and regular communication.
Impact
Reduced Cost, Increased Capabilities, and Improved Sustainability
- Maintained greater than 90% accuracy
- Seamlessly transitioned existing workflows and migrated historical forecasts and the body of work to the new platform to reconcile the past and learn from workflow history
- More cost-effective than internal development due to the high cost of experienced software developers, project managers, contractors, and the opportunity cost of reservoir engineering SMEs
- Faster development time due to pressures of the marketplace