Field Development Plan

Reservoir, Production, and Facilities Design
The design stages are usually run concurrently with the pilot. The engineering design outputs are fine-tuned in an ongoing, phased approach. An increasingly detailed reservoir model is extended to the scale of the development area and it uses data acquired from seismic, drilling, logging, testing and coring services and fluid analysis studies. The final well design and completion program are determined and verified using this model, so input accuracy is essential for the profitability of the operation. The same applies to the surface facilities and transport design. By using both static and dynamic reservoir models, simulations help determine the production profiles and infrastructure loading for the selected recovery methods.

Downstream Plan
Stranded products are of little value to an operator, so creating an appropriate transport system for crude and/or refined products is a key element to the marketing plan. Pipeline, rail, road, or sea transport, or a combination of all of these depending on existing infrastructure and timing of development plans for the region, should be considered.

The importance of product contracts cannot be underestimated, as these will ultimately drive the revenue for the project. Therefore the downstream planning phase should include product contract discussions and initiation.

Plan Evaluation
As with all parts of the heavy oil value chain, the plan should be evaluated before moving forward. This would include conducting a full technical and commercial viability review of the design using inputs from the ongoing pilot. The review allows for small changes to the design based on simulation, testing these in the pilot, or applying them to the first development phase. At this point, the planned construction of the well, production, and facilities design can take place, with ongoing evaluation and review of project performance (including safety) to ensure adherence to the plan is maintained.