SPE 143950

Implementing i-fieldTM Integrated Solutions for Reservoir Management:

San Joaquin Valley Case Study
Andrei Popa, SPE, Katie Horner, SPE, Steve Cassidy, SPE, Steve Opsal, SPE, Chevron Corporation

Copyright 2011, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Digital Energy Conference and Exhibition held in The Woodlands, Texas, USA, 19–21 April 2011.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
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Abstract
To achieve more efficient business processes by exploiting data and knowledge management, real-time systems and advanced
analytical tools, most major integrated and service companies have developed, or are in the process of developing, intelligent
programs also known as Digital Oil Field of the Future3. The i-fieldTM program represents Chevron’s efforts to integrate
people, processes, technology and information to achieve its vision of Upstream Transformation. Ultimately, this vision
translates to higher-quality decision making and changes the way we operate our assets.

A new multiyear i-fieldTM program, Integrated Reservoir Management (i-RM), was initiated in the San Joaquin Valley to
enable efficient reservoir management (RM) and quality decision making for heavy oil assests operating under steamflood
EOR technologies.

The paper describes the journey undertaken by the project team to build a proprietary steamflood integrated reservoir
management tool that answers the basic neverending engineering requirements: instant access to clean data, single source of
information for everyone and seamless data-tools linkage. The ultimate benefit is not only increased time spent by engineers
and earth scientists to analyze data but also consistent project design workflows and decision making processes across fields.
In addition to above documented benefits, the manuscript includes operator’s experience with project framing, development,
deployment and user-acceptance.

Introduction
Seated in the rural Central Valley of California, Chevron’s San Joaquin Valley (SJV) Business Unit (BU) consists of several
large, mature fields that have been producing for over a century. The majority of reservoirs contain dense, heavy oil, which is
defined as having less than 20° API gravity. Due to its high viscosity and resistance to flow, enhanced oil recovery techniques,
including steamfloods and cyclic steam operations, are required to efficiently and cost effectively produce the fields. While
production costs and refining costs for heavy oil exceed that for light oil, applying information technology solutions for
decision making proved to significantly increase the margins and profits of operations.

The paper presents the San Joaquin Valley case study of implementing an i-field reservoir management tool across five brown
thermal fields by integrating more than 30 years of best practices, disperse data and tools within one solution. Given the large
number of active producing wells (>15,000) and with more than 700 new wells drilled annually, a wealth of data is being
generated and stored in SJV’s databases. In Kern River field alone, since its discovery in 1899, more than 19,000 wells were
drilled within its 25 square miles areal extent. Currently, the field operates with more than 9,000 active wells which generate
more than 1,000,000 data points (tests, measurements, dynocards, etc.) being recorded daily. To optimally manage the profuse
amounts of data, the San Joaquin Valley BU is supported by a strong information and SCADA infrastructure enabling an
integrated view of operations. This data is critical for effective reservoir management that results in finding new opportunities
and optimizing production from existing wells. As the journey continues to produce the remaining recoverable oil, advanced
techniques and integrated tools will need to be employed, ever increasing the value of data and information.

History of i-field program in San Joaquin Valley

Chevron’s San Joaquin Valley BU began implementing its first i-field solutions in 2003. Supporting field technical teams and
operation groups, the early i-field projects focused on tactical tasks, often close to the wellhead and targeted production
2 SPE 143950

optimization. The majority of these unique solutions incorporated Artificial Intelligence technologies. A few example of these
projects is presented in work by Patel11 and Popa12,13.

Building on the success of these applications, i-field program’s scope expanded into reservoir management. The first
integrated application to support one of our major capital projects was framed in 2005. The solution’s intent was to use
technology and in-house developed knowledge for heat management optimization. It has been recognized and documented that
an integreated tool using an objective expert system not only will make the project more economically attractive but also
would enable execution optimization. The project called Steam System Optimizer (SSO), incorporated a set of expert rules and
decisions which based on relevant time data (i.e. temperature, saturation, pressure, production, etc.) lead to world class heat
management operations. Additional functionalities include an intelligent alarming system capable of flagging “out of design”
conditions and managing the execution of surveillance programs as planned. The tool development began in mid 2006 and was
deployed to the San Ardo asset in the first quarter of 2007. While possessing a strong rules engine for decision making, the
original solution was developed on a Web-based platform and did not posses an intuitive graphical interface. In addition, the
tool addresses the tail end of the steamflood execution and is focused more on tactical day-to-day decisions. Enjoying
significant success in the newly executed major capital project, the SSO tool was deployed in an updated version to Kern River
field at the end of 2009.

Opportunity
In an effort to standardize, increase consistency and improve decision making in the reservoir management community,
Chevron’s Upstream Capability governance released the Reservoir Management Framework (RMFW) in 2007. The
framework consists of four elements that address the technical reservoir management activities that take place at the reservoir,
field and/or asset level. With more than five fields in San Joaqun Valley using steamflood technologies, the release of the
RMFW spurred a significant interest in developing an integreted tool to address the required RMFW components and assure
best practices and standard tools implementation across the valley.

With more than a hundred years of operations, large amounts of data have been collected and stored for SJV’s assets. While
about 70% of this data is stored in structured corporate databases and managed by Information Technology (IT) teams, the
remaining is stored in Excel spreadsheets or ad-hoc Access databases residing on engineering desktops. Interestingly enough,
while this represents a small percentage of physical data, we estimated it contains more than 70% of the knowledge value of
the business. In addition, through time, a variety of tools, often Excel-based, have been developed by engineers and petrotechs
to aid in their analysis and decision making. As engineers rotate in and out of positions, inevitably, the replacement engineers
will develop their own solutions to meet their needs. Often, this unnecessary rework is due to lack of hand-over processes,
potential misunderstanding or little trust of previous work. These behaviors result in disparate databases and tools,
disorganized shared file servers, excessive spreadsheets and duplication of data. With such a culture, process and tool
standardization is challenging to implement.

In the above paragraph we discussed the overwhelming amount of data, structured and unstructured data storage, and
significant number of valuable ad-hoc tools developed over time by engineers and earth scientists (queries, charting,
computational models, etc.). This information and tools need to come together in a seamless workflow to achieve a successful
project design. For example, in the case of Recompletion workflow for the Kern River field, it was documented that more than
nine databases and eleven tools are used by reservoir engineers and earth scienties to complete the design process. Significant
amount of time is spent not only while finding and opening all these data sources and tools to access critical information but
also in the process of transferring data from one application to another to complete the workflow. In addition, some of the best
practices or tools used by one field are not necessary used by the other even though all Recompletions projects are practically
the same across the five steamflood assets.

Given that prior i-field projects targeted technical teams and operations groups and the above mentioned motives, the need for
a consistent integrated reservoir management tool became evident.

Concept and Definition

The i-field San Joaquin Valley concept of Integrated Reservoir Management for heavy oil assets is a “one-stop shop” tool for
reservoir management. The solution will enable earth scientists and engineers to quickly and easily access critical information
and tools thus increasing productivity through more efficient decision making. It is intended to be an enabler of the RMFW via
a common platform and user interface.

We defined Integrated Reservoir Management (i-RM) as a standard reservoir management solution that integrates common
reservoir management components, tools and data through a set of workflows to increase petrotech productivity through more
efficient decision making. It enables the linkage of reserves, development plans, production optimization and facility capacity
via a common platform. The tool will support the following: opportunity catalog, business plan, reserves management and
reserves audits, heat management, and production optimization. In contrast to its predecessor, Steam System Optimizer, the
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tool targets the opportunity identification workflows and aids in generating and supporting the opportunity catalog as well as
annual business plans.

In practical terms, to achive the vision defined above, an i-RM system for Steamflood reservoir management and operations
must include at least the following four components: Hydrocarbon Resources, Production and Injection data, specific
Forecasting models and a strong tie to Surface Facilities. Each one of the four components contributes its own data and tools to
the integrated system. The set of workflows represent the catalyst between data and tools. Figure 1 shows a simple schematic
representing a potential flow of information along the four components with linking realized throught the underlying
established workflows.

Figure 1. i-RM Proposed Four Component Model

Business Drivers and Value Creation

The i-RM tool intends to strengthen the consistent execution of the RMFW by incorporating core components including
development plans, hydrocarbon recovery, production optimization and facility capacity within a common platform and user
interface.

The main challenge in developing integrated applications is the significant amount of information spread over many sources
and source types. Repeated industry surveys over the last ten years targeting engineering time spent and efficiency revealed
that it is difficult to find the relevant information. Even more challenging is integrating the information across diverse sources
of data to ultimately develop a geospatial framework for rapid visualization. Given the challenges outlined above, by design i-
RM system is addressing three main questions: How to quickly access data? How to visualize and extract information? How to
make well-informed decisions? The answers to the questions above scope the i-RM’s tool value generation by offering:
• Clean and available data
• Fast and intuitive access to a single source of information “3 clicks from decision making”
• Powerful visualizations of data, enabling the extraction of information
• Streamlined workflows and quality decision making
• Common platform for Asset Development Teams and Technical Teams
• Improved Organizational Capability through deployment of standard tools and processes

In addition to the business drivers and benefits listed above, we documented significant indirect value creation. An integrated
tool will increase the efficiency of knowledge sharing among engineers and possible fields; engineers and earth scientists will
spend their time on data evaluation and analysis rather than collection or one-off tool building, increasing efficiency through
understanding of true priorities and increased accountability and learnings by tracking decisions and performance through a
documentation process. The ultimate goal is to realize the transformation by moving from a reactive to a proactive approach.

For a large business unit such as San Joaquin Valley, an integrated reservoir management system such as i-RM enables
seamless execution and standardizing across assets of the following core business functions:
• Creation of Opportunity Catalog, Asset Development Plans and Business Plans
• Reserves Management and Audits
• Accurate Forecasting Models
• Heat Management (Decision Making and Planning)
• Production Optimization
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Project Journey
Given the success of his predecessor, Steam System Optimizer, and the deployment of the RMFW it became apparent that an
integrated solution for reservoir management was needed. However, an initiative of this magnitude is not easy to kick off in a
day. Around mid 2009, project team members began engaging Asset Development and Techical Team Managers along with
Reservoir Management Champions to ensure alignment and gain support for the project. Complete endorsement of the projects
was achieved in late November by the Reservoir Management Leadership Team of the BU.

Thanks to early communiucation and strong alignment with the strategic RM vision, the project enjoys very strong support and
governance. The project is championed by the General Manager of Asset Development, and the Reservoir Management
Functional Manager serves as decision executive. The Decision Review Board is formed by Asset Development, Applied
Reservoir Management and Information Technology managers.

The multi-year i-RM program was initiated in January 2010. A fit for purpose Chevron’s Project Development and Execution
Process (CPDEP) 1, 14 was employed to ensure standard project management guidelines. Technology projects, especially a
large magnitude initiative like i-RM, require certain flexibilitiy in planning, design and execution. The diverse team
composition is a major component of this challenge. In the case of i-RM project, the team was composed in proportion of 75%
by IT professionals, some of whom belong to separate functional teams within IT, i-field engineers and stakeholders
represented by engineers and earth scientists. A generic roadmap used for the i-RM project showing the integration and
engagement of diverse teams to complete major outlined tasks is presented in Figure 2.

Using good practices of project management and CPDEP guidelines, the i-RM journey started with a comprehensive framing
session, followed by solution design, development and deployment. The following paragraphs cover the main goals and
outcomes of each stage.

Figure 2. Generic Roadmap for i-RM project

Project Framing
The project began with a framing and definition workshop, with stakeholder representation from multiple assets with diverse
backgrounds.This included reservoir engineers, production engineers, earth scientists, operations, information technology (data
architects, business analyists, solution developers, etc.) and i-field engineers. Employing a great lesson learned from previous
i-field initiatives, stakeholders and future users were involved early in the project. The purpose of the workshop was to define
the scope and boundaries of the project, achieve alignment across the organization, and set expectations for a successful
deployment. The framing session identified even more clearly the need for a “one-stop-shop” incorporating seamless flow of
data and tools for reservoir management. Using specific criteria, project boundaries were set to ensure high priority items were
delivered first and scope creep was minimized.
SPE 143950 5

Technology Selection
The technology selected for the solution needed to address the challenges discussed above: fast information access,
information integration across diverse data sources, analytical tools integration, and powerful visualization and charting, all
within a common platform.

Over the last few years, Chevron’s San Joaquin Valley has been utilizing and continuously maturing an ArcGIS platform to
enable mapping visualization at a field level. Expertise and organization capability is growing in the BU due to development
of various workflow specific tools aimed at complimenting or adding functionalities to projects such as the Steam System
Optimizer. Aside from SSO, a good number of additional ArcGIS tools have been created to aid in engineering and earth
scientist work processes. Due to the complexity of the engineering and geology related to the individual assets, no ”out-of-the-
box” software solutions could meet the needs of each workflow. Given the proven capabilities, high degree of flexibility,
powerful visualization components and existing expertise in the SJV, ArcGIS was selected as one technology component for
the i-RM solution.

With more than 30 years experience in steamflooding, SJV has developed a significant number of proprietary computer
programs and models to optimally manage the heavy oil assets. These tools are used in different phases during the project
design and execution, serving multiple purposes such as reservoir characterization (Reservoir Attribute Viewer or RAView),
project performance forecasting, heat requirements, tubing and entry design, etc. These components required specific
technologies to enable seamless functionality

The solution required robust charting functionalities. During the workflow analysis phase, charting requirements revealed that
from the existing available chart alternatives such as ChartFX did not meet the individual capability needs of the users. As a
result, a comprehensive research exercise was initiated which captured three alternatives. Through a thorough process of a well
defined matrix of criteria, Spotfire was selected as the preferred charting technology for i-RM solution.

Summarizing, i-RM needed a common platform software solution that allowed for customization and integration with existing
tools. In order to integrate the disparate data and in-house tools into a logical, easily conducted workflow, while being
specifically designed for Chevron’s San Joaquin Valley heavy oil assets, new and emerging technologies were researched and
tested. From the few alternatives for a petrotechnical portal including Sharepoint and ArcGIS applications, petroWEB
Gateway was selected as the preferred host for the i-RM portal. Gateway is a fully extensible visualization platform enabling
developers to integrate innumerable data sources and applications, including ArcGIS and Spotfile, within a common user
interface.

Solution Design
The solution design for the i-RM project was divided in three major components: workflows documentation including
business and information modeling, data requirements and solution architecture.

Workflow Documentation and Business Information Model

The outcome of the Framing exercise turned out an overwhelming number of integration opportunities in form of workflows,
often representing unique solutions by asset. This was due to some fields within the San Joaquin Valley being more advanced
than others when it comes to data quality and availability, tools and process maturity. With standardization and consistency
being one of the main goals of i-field, a significant opportunity exists to unify processes across the business unit. This not only
increases productivity of petrotechs within their current roles, but also improves organizational capability by shortening the
learning curve of new workflows, tools and data as engineers rotate into new positions within BU. Following rigorous criteria,
the key workflows selected for implementation in i-RM’s first release were targeting project Opportunity Identification.
Through an iterative interview process, working closely with earth scientists, reservoir and production engineers, the
Opportunity Identification workflows were broken down in the flowing cathegories: horizontal wells, vertical expansions,
areal expansions, water impacted reserves and recompletions. This process ensured certain standardization across assets;
however, it also revealed both commonalities and differences between the functional groups, indicating that i-RM needed to be
expansive and customizable by asset.

Experienced business analysists and i-field engineers mapped and documented the Opportunity Identification workflows
together with the data flows and built the Business Informations Model (BIM). Figure 3 shows a high level view of the BIM
for the i-RM project.
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Figure 3. High-level View of the i-RM Business and Information Model and Workflow Documentation

Data Requirements
Following workflow documentation, specific data requirements were captured. This involved identifying sources of record,
defining functionality requirements and designing the user interface. This detailed process ensured that the tool provided
access to all of the critical data required for Opportunity Identification workflows.

The i-RM solution incorporates both business and spatial data. These two types of data represent the foundation of the
Production and Injection, Hydrocarbon Resources and Forecasting components. For example, the Production and Injection
component provides access to current and historical production and injection data (well tests, monthly and yearly allocated
values, etc.). This data is later visualized in the form of bubble maps and charts. Wellbore completion data is made available in
a report format. In addition, a wellbore diagram is available for graphic visualization. Openhole and casedhole log data is
provided through a custom built viewer control. The Hydrocarbon Resources component expands reservoir geology
capabilities to engineers. For example maps from 3D Earth models are made available through i-RM in a 2D format. These
include saturations, net pays, temperatures, volumes, surfaces, structures and faults. The maps are exported by flow unit or
sand, and then through an automated process are converted to 2D visualizations. General field information such as well
locations, lease lines, sections/fees as well as facility location and pipelines are available as basemap layers. Figure 4 shows a
simple representation of data required for solution development.

Figure 4. High-level View of Data Requirements Documentation

SPE 143950 7

The data requirements documentation process turned out to be one of the most unpredicted yet satisfying processes. It was
found that critical information is stored in Excel sheets or ad-hoc Access databases floating on share drives with little with no
governance or support. Moreover, multiple versions of the same file exist with each engineer. This type of information was
defined as “homeless data”. This prompted an entire exercise of designing and creating sources of records on main servers to
capture the critical “homeless data”. In addition to transferring the “homeless data” in secure repositories, user interfaces were
developed to capture incoming information as time progresses. Another finding was that Asset Development Teams and
Technical Teams are not accessing the same information. For example, in the case of one asset, each one of the teams has
different pattern maps which led to different production allocation values for the projects and area. This misalignment was
addressed immediately since only one source of information needs to be incldued in i-RM tool. Finally, in the case of Kern
River, it was documented that three basemap were in use with more than 500 layers each on them having multiple versions and
time stamps. Based on the few examples described above, the data requirements exercise prompted a significant data clean-up
exercise with a sizeable benefit for the IT department.

Architecture Solution
In order to provide a sustainable, long-term solution, data architects and solution architects researched and designed a robust
architecture for i-RM solution. With the complex infrastructure and multiple databases serving as sources of record (SORs) for
reservoir and operational data, a data service design was implemented to ensure i-RM was supplied with timely, clean data.
Significant effort was dedicated to map the current dataflows and design the optimum future state. Figure 5 shows in contrast
the migration from previous state to the target architecture. The left side shows the linkage complexity and lack of structure
together with “homeless data” stored in Excel sheets and Access databases. In contrast, the right side illustrates a clean and
simple data flow between tools and visualization, with all critical data in corporate SORs.

Figure 5. Architecture Constract: Prior state and Post i-RM implementation

Solution Development
The scope of the i-RM program includes five large steamflood fields. Due to the magnitude of the project and resource
constraints, two assets were chosen to be the focus of i-RM’s first year of development, leaving three, slightly more complex
assets for the following year’s development. This increased complexity involved data quality and availability. The two assets
chosen for 2010 development were the Midway-Sunset and Kern River fields.

With a large development team of around 15 people, effective communication was critical to ensure alignment and to progress
the team toward meeting its deliverables. In order to aid in the definition and management of project-related tasks, the
8 SPE 143950

Agile/Scrum methodology was adopted. This process involved breaking the project into three week working segments referred
to as “sprints” proceeded by planning sessions. The team met daily for 15 minute update sessions reporting progress and
roadblocks.

Development began with the design and building of data services. Data services supplied i-RM with business data from the
SORs, ranging from production and injection data to well locations and well status. With a nightly update, data services
ensured i-RM users were viewing timely data for decision-making processes. GIS basemaps were created for both assets
incorporating legal and land data such as lease lines, sections and fees. Also incorporated into the map were well locations for
producers, injectors and observation wells along with current well status (producing, injecting, idle, etc.). The next step in
development involved the creation of datagrids. Datagrids provide i-RM with a tabular view of well or pattern data, including
production volumes and completion information such as pump depth. Customizable by the user, datagrids allow for deeper
analysis of data by filtering, grouping, and plotting information. Once the data foundation and basemaps were complete,
development focused on integration with other applications to establish the “one-stop-shop” aspect of i-RM. These
applications, mostly built in-house, leveraged pre-existing work and streamlined workflows by integration within a common
interface. Through the developer toolkit provided with petroWEB Gateway, reports were built to link the basemaps to other
i-RM tools, including the Electronic Wellfiles, RAView, SSO, and Spotfire.

Solution Deployment
Using best practices from prior i-field projects, it was learned that small deployment groups coupled with a testing phase
provided for smooth, effective releases. Therefore, the deployment strategy for i-RM involved a phased approach. Initially, a
total of 40 users were identified to receive i-RM within a six weeks timeframe. A change management process was used to
ensure a successful deployment.

Management of Change
The project had a dedicated management of change champion which ensured continuous communication between i-field
development teams and stakeholders. The process followed several well established steps. First, key stakeholders were
identified and engaged. Within this step a detail analysis of the stakeholders was completed, and they were classified based on
their influence to the project. Examples included power users, management support, subject matter experts (SME), etc. Given
the classification, specific, tailored communication methods and alignment sessions were conducted.

While change management is important during all stages of the project, the highest impact was seen during User Acceptance
Testing (UAT) and Deployment phases. The change management champion developed the training material which included
user guides (manuals) and brochures. A total of nine training sessions were scheduled, out of which four were during UAT and
remaining five for final deployment. A total number of 48 users were trained to date for the two assests deployed (Kern River
and Midway Sunset) and the number is expected to grow.

In addition, the project benefited from strong marketing through one-on-one interactions with Reservoir Management Leaders,
monthly newsletters and a dedicated web page which advertized the progress of the project as well as upcoming features. A
mailbox was set up to collect and streamline communication and inquiries on the project. This ensured requests are addressed
in a timely manner, outstanding issues are documented and users are kept active and engaged.

Lean Sigma Benchmarking

While it is very well understood that the future relies on integrated operations and tools, one common challenge of technology
projects is initial documention of value added. Early on, the qualitative benefits and value added by i-RM were clear: easy
access to quality data, reduced number of spreadsheets, all tools and data in one place, etc. Yet, oil industry projects are
evaluated on the basis of quantitative metrics, such as NPV’s, barrels of oil produced and dollar savings which were difficult
to attach directly to an i-RM solution. However, with the use of Lean Sigma techniques, a study was conducted to identify
quantitative metrics and establish a current state baseline to be measured against post-deployment. The first release of i-RM
was targeted Opportunity Identification workflows. Thus the study was focused on the asset development workflows, ignoring
potential benefits that other work teams and workflows may gain from using the tool, such as project lookbacks and
production optimization.

Results of the study include the following. The largest measurable value-adding benefit is time savings. Overall cycle time,
defined as the time spent from the beginning of opportunity identification to project execution, was evaluated for each
workflow (i.e. horizontals, vertical expansions, etc.) for both Kern River and MWSS assets. From the successful adoption of i-
RM, potential time savings by reservoir engineers and earth scientists during opportunity identification phases alone were
estimated at 5 full-time employee weeks (40 hours). This small time savings was mostly due to the relatively short opportunity
identification phases lasting only one month per year. The estimated Opportunity Identificaiton time savings that resulted from
the Lean Sigma study is presented in Table 1.
SPE 143950 9

      Estimated Time Spent (Weeks) in Phase 1 ‐ 4  Savings Estimates 
Per  Per  % RE  %ES  Ph 1 – 4   Ph 1 OI Savings 
Workflow  RE  ES  Total  Savings  Savings  Potential Savings  Estimate (weeks) 
Infills  14  14  29  10‐15%  10‐15%  3  0.4 

Vertical Expansion  16  4  52  10‐15%  10‐15%  5  0.7 

WIR  16  5  64  10‐15%  10‐15%  6  0.8 

Horizontal Drilling  2  1  8  25%  10‐15%  1  0.4 

Potter (Horizontal)  24  24  84  8‐12%  8‐12%  6  1.1 

Spellacy (Vertical)  24  24  84  8‐12%  8‐12%  6  1.1 

Geology  0  42  42  10‐15%  10‐15%  4  0.5 

Totals  96  114  363      31  5 

Table 1. Estimated Opportunity Identification (OI) Time Savings.

In mid-2011, a value capture exercise will be conducted to evaluate adoption of the tool and measure time savings incurred
using the process baseline that was established in 2010. With expansion to other assets and large increases in the tool userbase,
a more automated approach to tracking usage and value capture will be explored.

Discussion and Results

In a previous paragraph we discussed the “one-stop shop” concept. While the project design was grounded in this concept, the
team migrated its ultimate vision to a more dynamic approach defined as “organic growth.” Let’s consider a tree as an analog
example. It is defined as a woody plant that has the following parts: roots, trunk, main branches, secondary branches, leaves
and if productive, makes fruits. During its life the tree organically grows in size, both height and width by vertical increase and
lateral expansion. Initially it has small roots, a thin trunk and a few branches. At maturity it has a well developed trunk, solid
branches, which in turn grow newer branches and a full crown. Everything is supported by a stong feeding system that starts
from the roots in the ground and continues with the main trunck to the branches. The ultimate goal of i-RM tool is very similar
with the organic tree growth. The essential nutrients and water that enable the growth or development is data. Well structured
and maintained sources of data together with fast and efficient access to data are the roots of i-RM. The SQL Server
Information Service (SSIS) packages that transfer the data to ArcGIS maps, Spotfire and Steamflood proprietary tools
represent the main trunk of the tool. The step-by-step workflows outlined by engineering and earth scientists form the main
branches. Along the main branches, seamless integration of data, tools and processes allow the effortless project design which
ultimately represents the fruits of the system. One-off tools, spreadsheets, research models, and unique or specific processes
are captured in the secondary branches. Given this secondary branch model, each asset or individual can still be unique and
creative about his/her work allowing flexibility in performing daily tasks while also following the project workflow (main
branch).
Data foundation was one of the main targets of i-RM program. Building a solid architecture that enabled seamless access to
data assured the health of the system. Significant time was dedicated to mapping the main workflows and ensuring they
addressed all the critical tasks required for a successful project design. However, in its first deployment, the tool implemented
only the main workflows used for steamflooding operations design. A good number of less critical or secondary workflows are
currently performed in our day-to-day operation and are subject of future developments in alignment with our organic growth.

With a solid data foundation, “organic growth” is easy. Resembling the tree example creating and imbedding new workflows
is an easy task given that new main branches often grow off the main trunk. Ingenuity and creativity is fostered through the use
of secondary branches. Engineers and earth scientists are encouraged to research and conceive new models and processes and
to test them by applying new during projects design. With a new break-through tool or process change, the secondary branch
can become the main branch representing the new workflow. One may think of even eliminating the old part of main branch
by simply cutting in.
Business and value creation for deploying an integrated solution is significant for Chevron’s San Joaquin Valley BU. With the
majority of the assets using steamflooding technologies, the i-RM solution is driving consistent processes and workflows for
five major fields. This is considerable since these five assets employ more than 15,000 wells representing approximately 75-
80% of the total active wells operating in San Joaquin Valley.
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The 2010 scope of i-RM solution was achieved as planned. The solution was successfully deployed to Midway Sunset and
Kern River assets in November 2010 and includes the following features and functionalities:
• Five complete Opportunity Identification workflows designed for horizontal wells, vertical expansions, areal expansions,
water impacted reserves and recompletions.
• Interactive (look-up) ArcGIS maps for both fields serving both Asset Developement and Technical teams
• Reservoir attributes mapping (net pay, temperature, etc.) and production attributed mapping (oil, water, steam, etc.)
• Completion information or “well review” report on demand
• Production and injection charting through integration of Spotfire software
• Integration of in-house steamflood proprietary tools into workflows (RAView, Heat Models, etc)

The capabilities and functionalities listed above fully address the three components of the i-RM solution. As engineers and
earth scientists identify opportunities for development, it’s important to understand the impacts on facilities and whether or not
capacity is available. The forth component -- Facility Capacility -- was not addressed in the first release of the tool. It should
be noted that a separate team in the Base Business department is framing a BU wide surface reliability and facility availability
effort. The i-RM solution has partnered and plans to adopt the critical facility segments serving Opportunity Identification
workflows. Thus, future development will incorporate the design limits and capacity availability. A high level view of i-RM’s
components including snapshots of mapping, charting, reports and tools is given in Figure 6.

Figure 6. High-level View of i-RM’s Components

The tool was developed on state-of-the-art data architecture which enables superior development flexibitily and support. In
addition to achieving a long-lasting and stable solution, a substantial secondary benefit was the capture of critical homeless
data and the clean-up effort. Pointing tools and application to one source of records eliminated the large redundant number of
duplicate files. Only in the domain of ArcGIS, it was estimated that more than 5000 shape files were removed from share drive
for the Kern River field alone.

During the early conceptual phase, it was estimated that the application would initially target about 32 petrotechs, including
reservoir engineers and earth scientists. Currently the total number of user has reached 48 and is expected to increase to 110
users as the solution is deployed to the other three assets in 2011. This increase in userbase is accredited to user-friendly
functionality, flexibility and integration of the solution which attracted production engineering staff as well as field operations
specialists like production technologists, artificial lift specialists, etc.

The Future of i-RM

The i-RM program, initiated by the i-field Reservoir Management team in San Joaquin Valley, is just at its beginning. The
multi-year progam is expected to continue past 2015 with inclusion of all critical workflows identified in the initial framing
session. Moreover, considering the “organic” growth, we expect that the tool will naturally and dynamically enhance with time
SPE 143950 11

with the addition of new analytical and intelligent applications. An example of a next generation intelligent application is the
Visualization Grammar Tool (VGTool). The tool was conceived with University of Southern Calilfornia (USC) and piloted on
SJV’s databases through Chevron-USC CiSoft partnership program. From early phases, VGTool showed great potential,
allowing operators and technologists to query data from multiple sources without training on databases or query writing
techniques. Reviewed and endorsed by Operations Leadership and IT teams, it is expected to be fully functional and
incorporated into standard workflows in 2012.

In a recent paper, Crompton5 discusses the concept of Integrated Operations (IO) and reviews Chevron’s experience during its
past eight years. The concept of IO is not new to San Joaquin Valley BU, and shaping plans have already been developed and
are currently in execution stage. At present, the IO program is focused on steam generation and production and operations day-
to-day workflows, including reliability and efficiency processes. However, the ultimate vision of a comprehensive IO center is
integration of all solutions under a single common platform with i-RM solution representing major building block of the final
vision.

Conclusions
Effective Information Management is vital for efficient Reservoir Management and quality decision making. The i-field San
Joaquin Valley BU initiated a steamflooding enabler application that integrates data, tools and workflows to aid in project
opportunity identification, creation of asset development plans and support the strategic BU’s business plan. In addition,
through its smart design concept, the tool is intended to foster ingenuity and creativity thus allowing organic growth. While
not initially planned, the project has already realized indirect value through the massive homeless data capture and file
clean-up exercise. Credit goes to the large team of IT professionals who spent numerous hours addressing data requirements,
architecture and developing the final solution.

The Lean Sigma exercise proved to be very useful in capturing quantitative business value. While analyzing the specific
workflows, the team was able the capture significant documentation to allow benchmarking of current and future state after
application deployment.

Finally, a strong Decision Review Board along with management support and project champions was critical for the success of
the i-RM application. The tailored, steamflood Reservoir Management solution is just one of the many building blocks which
will enable the ultimate vision of “transforming our operations.”

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to express thanks to the i-RM team for their constructive input. We gratefully acknowledge the support
of all the IT professionals for their contribution and hard work in accomplishing the first fully integrated reservoir
management tool in San Joaquin Valley. In particular, we would like to acknowledge Ricardo Montiel, Jim Swartz, Bob Hall,
Ana Simonato, Jack Stevenson, and Graci Griebling for their support and contributions.

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