Session: 01-04-02 Design & Analysis-II

Paper Number: 128351

128351 - Decision Support System for the Selection of Offshore Oil Wells Configuration 

Brazil has made a great effort to explore energy alternatives since the 1970s oil crisis and, as a result, has developed several renewable energy programs such as the Proálcool (est. 1979). Furthermore, there has been an increase in the usage of hydraulic energy, biodiesel, wind, and solar energy, among others. 

These programs have led Brazil to have one of the cleanest energy matrices in the world. However, despite their best efforts, approximately one-third of the energy generated in the country comes from hydrocarbons, and around 97% of that is produced in offshore operations, mainly the pre-salt cluster, one of the most productive Brazilian offshore oil fields. 

The pre-salt fields are 300 to 350 kilometres from the seacoast at a depth of over 2,000 meters, and the reservoirs are 7,000 meters from the sea's surface. Offshore operations under these conditions represent a major technological challenge. If, on the one hand, the production of these wells is attractive (an average greater than 20,000 barrels per day), generating significant revenue, on the other hand, maintenance costs and the risk of accidents are high. 

The operation under these conditions and the high cost per unit demand that oil companies make a substantial effort to operate the well with a reliable integrated set of barriers and a high availability of oil and gas.

During the design phase, the team develops several possible configurations to meet the project's needs and submits them to the decision-makers (DM), who choose the best option. The configuration selection is one of the most critical decisions in the whole oil-well life cycle since, per the Project Management Institute, configuration changes after the design phase are heavily costly. A decision support system (DSS) is under development to assist the DM in this challenging task using quantitative parameters.

The development of this computational tool, called ReliaWell, alone represented an appreciable effort in reliability, petroleum, systems, and software engineering. This article presents a vision of ReliaWell, now in the deployment phase for the operating company, which is the leader in production in the pre-salt fields. 

This article will present the main ReliaWell requirements, the adopted indicators, parameters used to evaluate configurations, the system input and output interfaces, Reliawell's deployment architecture, its internal structure, its main capabilities, and some results already obtained in tests carried out with the operator.

Lastly, the article briefly discusses some system applications and proposals for their use in an even broader context beyond the selection of configurations. Such applications would be, for example, in the operational design of fields and expanding their functionality to support strategic-level decisions.

Presenting Author: Joaquim Rocha Dos Santos University of São Paulo

Presenting Author Biography: Joaquim Rocha dos Santos graduated from the Naval Academy as a Line Officer, in 1982. For three years, he served aboard destroyers and frigates of the Brazilian Navy. ln 1985, he started the professional part of his electrical engineering course, with an option in automation and control., having graduated at the end of 1988. Moving to the Engi­neering Corps, he had the opportunity to work on platform and combat systems of surface ships, submarines, and simulators. He completed his master's degree in 2007 and his doctorate in 2012, with research in complex systems simulation using system dynamics. ln 2008 he joined the Navy Reserve after 32 years of active duty. Since 2009 he has taught several courses in the Continuing Edu­cation Program of the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo. Since 2012, he has taught two postgraduate courses at the Department of Naval and Ocean Engineering of the sarne school as a collaborating professor. ln 2018, he joined the Risk Assessment and Management Analysis Laboratory, where he holds the position of seior researcher in systems theory applied to security. ln 2021, he completed his post-doctoral period in sys­tem thinking applied to system safety. His research interests include various simulation paradigms, system theory, decision analysis under uncertainty, STAMP, and systems engineering.

Authors:

Joaquim Rocha Dos Santos University of São Paulo
Carlos Alberto León Chinchay University of São Paulo
Danilo Taverna Martins Pereira De Abreu University of São Paulo
Eric Tierre Arguello Rodrigues University of São Paulo
Danilo Colombo Petrobras
Marcelo Ramos Martins University of São Paulo