New life for old fields: Alternatives to abandonment

Advanced methods of well completion (e.g. horizontal drilling) and secondary recovery have the potential to extend our hydrocarbon resource base until alternatives can be brought onstream in the required quantities. Structural integrity management (SIM), also know as platform reassessment and rehabilitation, is a key to extending the useful life of offshore platforms which support these activities. This paper will review recent and proposed research in the area at the National University of Singapore, as well as reassessments done to support the case for renewed drilling offshore California. The same technology is also useful for catastrophic risk modeling on a regional level.