x @ owes» te | Shell Expro simulation program =: predicts oil-field production Shell U.K. Exploration and Production (Shell | wi Pe Expr), Based in Aberdeen, Seond, has devel oped an advanced forecasting program that de achieved more than $1.6 million in cost swvings the firse two months ic was implemented and of 4 a 5 currently provides an estimated 5:1 payback in & ies ec nar) dedion-making cox. me ¥ ay S Called the Integrated Production Simulation dy Fe ee TE IMM | Enironmene (PSE) the inceacve progam, 3 %, ay which Shell Expro is considering commercializing tify potential system constraints and bottlenecks. 2a produc, is being primarily used for “medi m= term (less than two years) business planning at several oil lds, said Kevin A. Welre, IPSE pro- ject manager. The program also has been given ti fadded Functionality for use ia long-term (feld- life) planning, and Shell Expro hopes to use it beginning cis year for some short-term (Iessthan ‘hee months) planning, Welte told fa Tech é PSE does what Shell Expro previously did P using spreadsheets. Ie builds business models-— it forecasting furures—based on production trends and oil-well activities using clasic “what if” sce- narios, Welte explained. Compared to spread- sheets, however, IPSE is more graphical and interactive, “Its like going from DOS to Windows,” Welt said. And, IPSE has proven to be far more productive and accurate, he said. Developed for Shell Expro by Logica U.K, the system was buile using Gensym’s G2 software, ‘which provides the intelligent user interface and. Re mnodeling environment, and. PV. Wave from Ky a =, Visual Numerics. G2 shows IPSE the topology of a the oil-Beld network and enables the system to feed equations describing the network into a lin- tar optimization engine fom Visual Numerics tod fre nonlinear eptnizaion. engine, one From Visual Numerics and one developed by Shel/Logica. PV Wave was used to develop IPSE's graphing/plorting functionality. X i f t 1 ‘Major North Sea producer ‘Operating on behalf of Shell, Eso, and other coventures, Shell Expro is one of the lagex *PROCESS SINULATION| Ire + Maret @ producers of oil and gas in the North Sea. Like many operators, itis facing the combined chal- lenges of historically low prices, increasingly difi- cal field locations, aging infrastructure, and very scrict regulations. To remain competitive, the company must extract the maximum amounc of oil and gas quickly and economically. Production ‘optimization is therefore a top priority. ‘According to IPSE. technical project leader George Rorie, “IPSE provides an excellent method for preparing a production forecast. As a model of the production system including the reservoir performance and an activity schedule, IPSE can quickly provide an optimized forecast (Shell |] within system constraints.” devel- Following an initial feasibility and outline that design phase, 2 rapid application ‘development wings ] (RAD) team, comprising system analysts, devel- Vand | opers, business representatives, and users, was ck in csablished to address Shell Expeo's evolving busi- ness requirements. Based on the nonproprietary ation iynamic systems development methodology, the seam, | RAD team created the IPSE system. ing Shell Expro first used IPSE in early 1996 to perform medium-term forecasting for the Brent Field, the largest oil field in the North Sea. Within co months of the initial implementa- tion, IPSE saved the company more than $1.6 million through increased ousput and more effi- cient use of assets; Rove said. “IPSE enabled us «0 make more informed and auditable planning \ecisions, which we expect to inerease oil and gas production in the range of 196 t0 5% once implemented,” predicted Rorie. “IPSE will become increasingly important as an offine tool to enable engincers to opcimally design new wells and facilites identify and use existing ones, and identify potential sytem con- straints and bottlenecks,” he noted. ‘According to Rorie, future phases of IPSE. will support increasingly rigorous optimization. Because IPSE is custom-built, the IPSE team «an continue to ensure chat future development reflects business needs. Described in SPE paper ‘A technical paper on IPSE was presented by ‘Welee and Johan Jager, Shell Expro senior process caginees, at the Society of Petoleum Engineer (SPE) European Production Operations Con- ference and Exhibition held in Savanges, Norway, in April 1996. SPE holds the papers copyright, but has given fn ech permission ro extract from it for purposes of this article Tn the paper, the authors contend IPSE is a Sofiware development with which 2 wide user ‘community-—fiom subsurface engineering to sur- face engineering and production operations and planning—can create production system models of any field. Ic links existing dseipline modeling tools and provides varying levels of modeling ‘complexity to support the short, medium-, and pocentially long-term production system opti imization needs of Shell Expro, they sid. ‘A production system model (PSM), such as IPSE, is an integrated model that simulates the field from the reservoir through the wells, pipelines, and process facilites to sale or export. FSMs can provie uch benefits as * Optimized field forecasts and activity plans + Quick assessments of altemate development + Accurate predictions of the gains from debortlenecking options ‘Toolkit approach IPSE isa “toolkit” chat can be used to ereatea ‘model of any production system or field. By cre- ating an environment where che discipline mod- cls can communicate in a standard way, any Feld ‘or production system configuration can be mod- led. This approach allows the IPSE environment to be used for any configuration of wells, Pipelines, and process facilities. Integrated production simulation enviconment Instead of building complex modeling func- | Rome PSE environmen ins existing Gsiine model to del complete tionality within IPSE, the existing discipline models used in Shell Expro were networked, and production rates, pressures, temperatures, and ‘compositions were transferred berween the mod- cls to simulate che production sytem (see Figure 1). This allowed existing reservoir, well, pipeline, and process modeling tools to continue to be used. Benefis included che following: + Users were already familiar and comfortable with their discipline tools. + Extensive functionality developed in the exist- ing discipline tools is not duplicated. + Moddls already developed in discipline tools can continue to be used on their own and within IPSE. production system,Offers icon palette library ‘An IPSE user drags and drops icons from a palerte library (reservoir, wells, pipelines, and process facility icons) onto a workspace. With 2 few clicks of the mouse, the icons can be quickly ‘connected together on-screen to emulate che con- figuration of any production system or field (see Figure 2) Fear 2. PSE sree shot sowing tool- it of cms, schema of the production syste, and process made, Under each icon can be the existing discipline ‘model of the respective component—for exarn- ple, existing well modes behind the well icons. IPSE then networks the discipline models and transfer rates, pressures, temperatures, and com- pposiion among the models to simulate the pro- duction system. PSE incorporates rigorous models in each discipline area to simulate actual components. This also allows each discipline ro assess alterna- quent sapacy (process) itr h nie Sc Phase equibrum (process) | Thermodynamic fesh calculation, ‘Vendor design curves tive designs or characterizations with their rigor- cous models. For example, by changing the rubing size in the rigorous well model, the impact on the production of the total system can be predicted “However, in addition to nerworking rigorous simulation modes, IPSE can provide various lev- cls of modeling complexity in each of the disc- pline areas (se Table 1). This meets the needs of a wide user community who may not require rig ‘orous models in all discipline areas, depending on their particular need, optimization time frame, and system of interest. For example, generating a field-life produc sion forecast only requires a simplified model of the process facilities. The prociss can be modeled by calculating oil gas, and water rates using sim- ple ratios and by applying single number con- straints on these rates for each process compo- rent instead ofa rigorous process simulation. ‘Optimization of a production stem is a business process that requiresa multidiscipline e- fore and communication. Different disciplines, from within subsusface engineering to surface engineering and production operations, need t0 ‘work together to create, use, and validate @ pro- duction system model in IPSE. By incegrating the individual discipline models, IPSE can assist discipline integration by demanding and enhanc- ing the multidiscipline communication. ‘Additional IPSE features, Other features developed for IPSE compare optionsfcases, add drilling and shurdown sched- cles, and automaticaly optimize field production based on specified criteria. Links ro databases can hhold the actual measured production data for automatically updating the models created in IPSE. There is also heavy emphasis on the data moda, ran and data management, and system Cumulative producton ‘elationships (simulation output) (if and gas inflow equations Vertical flow it table {simulation output) Empirical equations “Sinale-phase pressure drop orrelations ‘Phase rats (at standard condions) Maximum throughput (for sina ‘operating poi bidPROCESS SIMULATION Intech « Me28t @ rigor. ubing on the ted. is lev- cds of | tig ngon oduc- iel of 4 dled mpo- architecrare, which are important components of a stable and effective application, Although each time frame—short-, medium-, and long-term—has the same common goal of optimizing the toral production system, the modeling requirements in each of the time frames are different. They are distinguished by degree of complexity of the component models, flexibility to change the configuration of the production system (eg, Can wells or tains be added or removed?) and use as either an online or offline system (eg. Is the system updated by actual field and plane measurements?) By developing 2 production system model- ing toolbox, IPSE can meet the needs of each of the diferent optimization time frames even ‘hough they are different in terms of modeling complexity, flexibility, and use as an online ot offline system. ‘Medium term was initial focus ‘The first phase of IPSE development was focused on providing the functionality required for medium-term forecasting by the end of 1995. ‘The first deliverable of the IPSE coolkic was 10 provide the Brent field with an application for ‘medium-term forecasting (see Figure 3). Brent has more than 50 wells, four platforms, many process trains, and a subsea stllce tie-in, PSE. automatically optimizes Brent oil produc: ‘on within the process constraints while meeting « single field gas nomination. Platform and Urilling schedules, automated optimization, and simplified modeling (see Table 2) characterize the Brenc medium-term forecasting application. Although simplified, the modeling is still very powerful for dealing with a complicated network Tike the Beene system. Reservoir recovery Wat iow | wo outiow ase equim (roces) Eeuioment capaci proces) ‘Schedules Productivity index Vertical flow it tables (vertical low simulation outpit results) 62s, of ratios and water cuts Gas, of, and water production constraints Platform modes and shutdowns Dilinghworkover actives asia esta as nonnaon fn ; In conclusion, developing the IPSE pro- duction system modeling environment met Shell Expro’ needs and also has the following advantages: + Production system models can be created | for any system ot field by using a coolkic | | approach. + Existing modeling tools sith substancal functionaliey can continue to be used and not duplicated, + Differene levels of modeling complexity can meet che needs of a wide user community. | The benefits of production system modeling are | being implemented in Shell Expro at a far lower | cose than a numberof separate software applica | | Hons developed for each production system | | modeling need. Gis oi, wate relaonships ve cumulative of produced Tresenisimulatonaupit resus) Fase 3. PSE screenshot shoving ferent parts ofthe complicated Beat ibid stem.