Journal of Petroleum Technology, Vol.53, No.4, 52-54, 2001
Achieving low-cost operation in mature oil fields
A challenging problem in mature oil fields is maintaining profitable operations when oil production continuously decreases. To survive, companies look at ways to rationalize their assets, which include rearranging operation modes or suspending production facilities. A drastic cost reduction was achieved by restructuring the operation mode in the Kilo now station. This success depended on cooperation among engineering, production, and the shared technical-services group and embracing a new operating plan for the flow station. In early 1999 the team targeted a direct cost reduction of 75% by the end of 2000, in reality, 60% of the cost-reduction target was realized in 1999.