Roxar RMS reservoir characterisation and modelling software (photo: Emerson)

Emerson has signed a collaboration agreement with Norwegian operator Statoil to further develop its Roxar RMS™ reservoir characterisation and modelling software. The announcement is the latest in a series of partnerships between Emerson and Statoil that has spanned many years and includes high-value contracts on a number of Statoil’s North Sea fields as well as R&D collaborations.

Under the terms of the three-year agreement, Statoil will share with Emerson some of its Intellectual Property (IP) from its internal “‘Fast Model Update”’ (FMU™) workflow that operates within Roxar RMS, with the goal being to make both workflows even more efficient. The collaboration will include knowledge- and experience-transfer from a number of existing and future Statoil internal FMU™ projects within Roxar RMS. Areas that will be covered will include improving efficiencies, quality control (QC) of subsurface reservoir models, the handling and analysis of big data, and information management.

In particular, the collaboration will support advances in Emerson’s Big Loop™ solution that will also be available to other customers. Big Loop is an automated workflow that tightly integrates static and dynamic domains so that they are synchronised throughout the field’s lifetime, thereby providing the most comprehensive uncertainty assessment and the best-quantified risk in the reservoir model.

“This is a perfect match for both companies. Much of Statoil’s R&D can be found in previous Roxar solutions and we share the same philosophy when it comes to an integrated workflow and the generation of robust, accurate information that can have a direct impact on field development planning,” says Kjetil Fagervik, vice president of Roxar Software product development and marketing, Emerson Automation Solutions. “With margins tight and a continued focus on efficiencies, never has it been more important for oil and gas operators to increase oil and gas recovery, reduce uncertainty, and make improved field management decisions. Collaboration, such as that between Emerson and Statoil, and their unrivalled industry insight, is a vital means of achieving this.”

Statoil has been a long-term partner to Emerson and an industry driver for the Big Loop workflow, with projects including the recently completed Total Uncertainty Management program that examined how E&P companies can improve uncertainty management and quantification across the reservoir. Statoil’s FMU™ is an integrated and automated workflow for reservoir modelling and characterisation. FMU™ connects all steps and disciplines from seismic depth conversion to prediction and reservoir management taking into account relevant reservoir uncertainty.

Tags: Emerson, Roxar, Statoil