The Important Role of Flow Control Device Technologies in Delivering Net Zero Production

Summary Growing energy demand heightened by climate change challenges have seen the oil and gas industry tightly embrace smarter and more sustainable technologies. The motivation is to quickly grasp net-zero targets, while optimising oil and gas production. Traditional oil and gas development plans relied on the application of conventional wells with minimal or no emphasis on the well configuration and the completion’s performance. The advanced well completions using various flow control technologies have already shifted the paradigm for many operators across the globe. These completions have helped operators to produce with much higher efficiency compared to traditional techniques. In this paper, the impacts of flow control completions technologies in the reduction of GHG emissions and achieving net-zero targets have been investigated. The study includes using a workflow using a publicly available GHG footprint estimator for different oil and gas field development plans. Having this calculation enables the operator to recognize the major GHG emitter operations and to optimise the process toward net-zero using new technologies, methods and/or workflows. The workflow then was applied to two typical oil fields to illustrate the significant impact of flow control technologies in reduction of GHG emissions.