Applying analytics to production workflows: Transforming integrated operations into intelligent operations

Several industry technologies support integrated operations, such as intelligent completions, real-time systems, surface-sub-surface models, workflow automation systems, etc. Each of these technologies provides relevant data pertaining to one specific part of the asset. The integration, correlation, and analysis of this data (current and historic) help the operator to understand the current state of the asset, as well as make inferences about future behavior. Such capabilities are provided by a set of tools and techniques known within the industry as analytics. Operating and service companies are using new and improved analytics to support oil and gas operations and management processes. Additionally, several analytics commonly used in the foreign market are being applied to industry operations and management workflows. This has led to more robust and effective solutions for oil and gas production operations. However, the analytics value added is limited if implemented in an isolated fashion; the real value is obtained when analytics are immersed within comprehensive production workflows, which aid in analysis, processing, and modeling of the production process. Workflows enhanced using analytics can transform integrated operations into intelligent operations. This paper presents an analysis of the primary analytics techniques and how they have been applied to support intelligent operations. To support this analysis, several application examples of analytics in oil and gas intelligent operations are described, and several case studies of real applications of analytics are referenced.