Asset Operations Consultancy

'Working with you to drive down unit development and operating costs for oil and gas production. We achieve this by building Life of Field cost models which provide a visible and transparent basis for the subsequent optimisation of field profitability.'

Why use Asset Operations Consultancy?
Traditional pre-sanction operational expenditure forecasts (OPEX) have been based on calculations using a percentage of capital expenditure (CAPEX). This approach presents operational phase risks and leaves OPEX costs ill defined and often understated. This will adversely affect a venture's ability to deliver the expected return.

The IHS approach - increasing asset utilisation while ensuring project integrity
Our approach is different, we use an Activity Based Costing (ABC) model that accurately reflect how activities and resources are consumed on assets. This consulting approach has been proven to work at all project life-cycle stages and in many different operating environments and regions.

Not only has IHS helped operating companies to improve the accuracy of projections, but has enabled major OPEX savings to be made.

Influence Curve
The operators of mature fields have fewer options available than do the managers of new projects, to achieve and extend field life. Here too, it is essential to have rigorous Life of Field operating cost models upon which significant operational and business decisions can be made.

Driving Down Unit Costs
IHS's Asset Operations Consulting Practice has the experience and software tools needed to work with you in determining your Life of Field operating costs. We do this for oil and gas fields at the pre-sanction stage and for mature producing fields. The schematic below shows the workflow we use with our clients to produce Life of Field ABC Models.

We will work with your operations and project teams to build ABC Models which reflect your assets (wells, platforms, pipelines, etc.) and operational activities (staffing, maintenance, logistics, etc.) over the field life and which we combine in a database with a user-friendly interface.

IHS's Consulting services are backed by its OPE$T™ software tool is in widespread use across the upstream industry. OPE$T allows easy comparison of "what if?" cases and provides the data for the optimised case in a format suitable for the support of business plans - sometimes termed Asset Reference Plans.

A Pre-Sanction Project Case Study

Initial Operating Cost estimate was 5% of Capital cost/year
Initial OPE$T based Life of Field estimate US$14 billion
Challenge Process over 3 months with many cases modelled in OPE$T
Final OPE$T based Life of Field estimate US$9 billion
Operations Team's objectives identified for Life of Field

A Mature Producing Asset Case Study

Mature offshore oil producing assets
Close working relationship for Client/IHS audit team
In 16 weeks, the team reviewed, analysed and modelled operating costs
Identified US$60 million of savings

Support Activities

IHS has an extensive database of operating cost data
IHS designed the Operations and Maintenance Asset Management System Architecture for a super giant Middle East oil field
IHS has developed the Operations and Maintenance Sections of Master Development Plans

For further information, please Contact us.