The prolonged volatility and uncertainties of the oil and gas industry have significantly impacted investment decisions for new and complex field developments with high capital expenditure. Essential oil and gas industry operators have now shifted to lower capital-intensive activities in maximising asset values from existing and matured fields. Operators have also been extending production from late life assets (LLA) while reducing risks and liabilities through innovative production and decommissioning strategies. Learnings from current strategies and activities can be adopted to lower risk exposure of future developments.

The current industry challenges have re-energised operators and solution partners to further develop and re-invent technologies and enhance work methodologies to focus on maximising economic and reserve recovery from mature and late-life assets. Continuous improvements have been achieved in operation reliabilities, production efficiencies, production sustainability activities, idle well restoration, applications of Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) and Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods, and innovation in reducing handling costs in managing sand and water breakthrough from the reservoirs. Novel technologies for flare gas capture and carbon capture and storage (CCS) can be applied to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to achieve our net-zero target. Innovative development, operational excellence synergies, clustering approaches, and potential re-use of the decommissioned assets are among the key focus areas that will continuously add value to existing assets, including the development of the Near Field Exploitation (NFE) opportunities in existing hubs/systems. 

Mature and late-life assets carry a vast amount of valuable data to identify further opportunities in maximising field values. A lot has been spent on those data. Embracing digitalisation and technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) with advanced predictive analytics, especially in the areas of asset integrity and maintenance, are key enablers for efficient decision-making of the integrated value maximisation process, and to achieve positive Health Safety and Environment (HSE) performance of the asset. However, the current reality shows that AI and advanced analytics still fall short, and companies must put effort into adopting digitalisation and AI technologies widely.

Formulating new commercial or partnership models is also crucial to sustain the appeal of late-life assets. Innovative partnerships and commercial arrangements are important to align with investor expectations in generating interest in late-life assets; starting with contrasting differences in operating environments of traditional assets compared to late-life assets, followed by discussions on available avenues to innovate commercial terms that drive business decisions.

In summary, this session aims to share knowledge on cost-effective methods to enhance production and reserves recovery, maximise the value of matured and late-life assets, and look at what more can be done. Embracing technological advancement, digitalisation, AI, intelligent decommissioning strategies, and deploying attractive commercial and innovative partnership models are potential breakthroughs for asset sustainability.