An Interactive 5-Day Training Course
Conceptual Design and FEED of Production Facilities
Get facility design right before construction begins
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Duration
5 Days
Price
$ 4,000
Starting From
20 Dec 2027
Conceptual Design and FEED of Production Facilities
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Conceptual Design and FEED of Production Facilities - SF-CDPF-PEA27
| Code | Date | Time | Duration | Location | Currency | Early Bird Fee Per Person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SF-CDPF-PEA27 | 20 - 24 Dec 2027 | 10 AM CST | 5 Days - 4 Hours / Day |
Online |
USD |
4000 |
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Conceptual Design and FEED of Production Facilities
This training covers the front end of facility projects, from design basis through concept selection to completed FEED. It works through design basis development, concept generation and screening, process and utility design, equipment definition, layout and weight estimation, cost and schedule development, risk and value engineering, FEED deliverables and the stage gate criteria that determine whether a project is ready to sanction.
Description
Most of a facility project's cost is committed during front end engineering, when very little of it has been spent. Concept selection determines the process route, the facility configuration, the location and the scale, and once those are fixed the remaining design work optimises within them rather than changing them. Projects that go wrong commercially usually went wrong at this stage, either because the design basis was inadequate, the concept selection was too narrow, or the project moved to sanction on an estimate that the definition did not support.
This training covers that front end work in the sequence it is executed. Design basis development is addressed first, covering the reservoir, well, fluid, production profile, product specification, site and regulatory inputs that constrain everything downstream, and the treatment of the uncertainty in each. Concept identification and screening follow, covering the generation of genuinely different options, screening criteria, and the selection process that narrows to a preferred concept. Process design is then developed through block flow and process flow diagram production, heat and material balance, equipment sizing and datasheet development, utility and safety system definition. Layout, weight, space and plot development follow, with their particular importance offshore. The training closes with cost and schedule estimating, risk and value engineering, FEED deliverable production, contracting strategy and the stage gate criteria applied at sanction.
Design basis errors are the most expensive errors available. A production profile that overstates plateau rate produces a facility sized for volumes that never arrive, with the capital spent and the operating cost carried for the field's life. One that understates it produces a facility that constrains the reservoir. Fluid composition assumed rather than measured produces treating and processing equipment matched to the wrong fluid. Water cut profiles that assume late breakthrough produce water handling capacity that is exhausted years before it should be. These errors are not caught by good detailed engineering; they are locked in before it starts.
Concept selection deserves proportionate effort. The value difference between concepts is typically far larger than the value difference between good and poor execution of a single concept, yet concept work is frequently compressed to meet a schedule. Generating genuinely different options, rather than variants of a preassumed answer, is the discipline that creates that value. So is deferring the decision long enough to evaluate the options properly, and no longer.
Estimate maturity has to match project maturity. A class five estimate produced at concept stage carries wide uncertainty and should be presented that way. Problems arise when a number produced at that maturity becomes the project's committed cost, or when a FEED estimate is produced from a design definition that is not actually complete. The relationship between definition level, estimate class and expected accuracy is well established and is frequently ignored under schedule pressure.
Finally, offshore work is constrained differently. Weight and space are the governing currencies, not plot area, and every equipment selection is evaluated against topsides weight because weight drives hull or jacket size, which drives cost at a large multiple. This changes technology selection, layout, redundancy philosophy and design margin throughout.
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
- Develop a design basis covering reservoir, well, fluid, production profile, product, site and regulatory inputs
- Assess and document design basis uncertainty and its consequences for facility sizing and flexibility
- Generate and screen genuinely distinct facility concepts against defined criteria
- Produce block flow and process flow diagrams with a supporting heat and material balance
- Size and specify major equipment to the level required for concept and FEED estimates
- Define utility, safety, control and support systems appropriate to the concept
- Develop layout, plot plan, weight and space estimates and apply offshore weight discipline
- Prepare cost and schedule estimates of appropriate class and state their accuracy correctly
- Produce the FEED deliverable set and assess project readiness against stage gate criteria
The training follows a facility project through the front end in sequence, with each phase producing the deliverables that feed the next. Participants work through design basis development, concept generation and screening, heat and material balance construction, equipment sizing and layout development on a worked facility case, so that the connection between early assumptions and final cost is visible. Estimate classes are applied to the same project at successive maturity levels to demonstrate how definition drives accuracy. Project outcomes, both successful and unsuccessful, are examined for the front end decision that determined the result.
Organisations sending participants to this training will:
- Improve capital efficiency through better concept selection and earlier identification of value
- Reduce late design change and its schedule and cost consequences
- Improve estimate reliability and reduce the frequency of cost overrun against sanction
- Strengthen design basis development and reduce facilities sized on incorrect assumptions
- Improve internal review of contractor concept and FEED deliverables
- Build capability to challenge contractor recommendations rather than accept them
Participants will:
- Develop and challenge a design basis rather than inheriting one
- Generate and evaluate facility concepts systematically
- Produce and review the technical deliverables that define a facility
- Understand how early decisions propagate into cost, schedule and operability
- Assess whether a project is genuinely ready to move through a stage gate
- Build capability that supports movement into project engineering and development roles
- Facilities, process and project engineers on development projects
- Concept and front end engineers
- Development planning and asset engineers
- Reservoir and production engineers contributing to design basis development
- Cost estimating and project services staff
- Operations representatives assigned to projects
- Technical staff reviewing contractor concept and FEED work
Module 1 - Project Framework and Stage Gates
- Project lifecycle phases from identification to operation
- Stage gate processes and decision criteria at each gate
- Value assurance and independent review
- Front end loading and its measured effect on project outcome
- Roles: operator, contractor, vendor, and their interfaces
- Deliverable maturity expected at each phase
- Cost commitment against cost expenditure through the lifecycle
- Common causes of front end failure
Module 2 - Design Basis Development
- Reservoir and well inputs: production profile, pressure, deliverability, well count
- Fluid characterisation inputs and their required maturity
- Water and gas production profiles and their uncertainty
- Product specifications and offtake requirements
- Design life, availability targets and turndown requirements
- Site data: environmental, metocean, geotechnical, seismic, ambient conditions
- Regulatory, environmental and permitting constraints
- Existing infrastructure, tie-ins and brownfield constraints
- Uncertainty documentation and its treatment in design
- Design basis approval and change control
Module 3 - Concept Identification and Screening
- Generating genuinely distinct concept options
- Facility configuration options: onshore, offshore fixed, floating, subsea tieback
- Process route options and technology selection
- Centralised against distributed processing
- Phased development and modular expansion concepts
- Screening criteria: cost, schedule, risk, operability, flexibility, emissions
- Screening methods and multi-criteria decision techniques
- Concept comparison on lifecycle cost rather than capital cost alone
- Concept selection documentation and decision recording
- Avoiding premature convergence on a preassumed concept
Module 4 - Process Design Development
- Block flow diagram development
- Process flow diagram production and stream definition
- Heat and material balance construction and case selection
- Design, turndown, future and upset case definition
- Separation, treating, gas handling and water handling scheme selection
- Operating pressure and temperature level selection
- Design margin philosophy and its cost consequence
- Process simulation support to concept and FEED work
- Preliminary P&ID development during FEED
- Process design deliverable list and maturity requirements
Module 5 - Equipment Definition and Selection
- Equipment list development and tagging
- Sizing to concept level and to FEED level accuracy
- Datasheet development and vendor enquiry
- Technology selection and vendor pre-qualification
- Package unit definition and scope boundary setting
- Long lead item identification and procurement timing
- Materials selection strategy and its cost consequence
- Sparing philosophy and its effect on availability and cost
- Standardisation, replication and its benefits
- Vendor data requirements and their schedule impact
Module 6 - Utilities, Safety and Support Systems
- Utility system definition: power, fuel gas, air, nitrogen, water, heating, cooling
- Utility load estimation and its evolution through design
- Power generation concept and electrification options
- Safety system definition: relief, flare, blowdown, fire and gas, ESD
- Control system architecture and philosophy
- Accommodation, marine and support systems where applicable
- Chemical injection and production chemistry provision
- Drainage, effluent and waste handling
- Utility system sizing margin and future expansion allowance
Module 7 - Layout, Weight and Space
- Plot plan development and layout principles
- Spacing, separation and hazardous area considerations
- Access, maintenance and operability in layout
- Escape, evacuation and rescue in layout design
- Topsides layout and deck arrangement offshore
- Weight estimation methodology and weight control
- Weight growth allowance and contingency
- Centre of gravity and its structural consequence
- Modularisation strategy and module sizing
- Constructability and installation constraints on layout
- Interaction between layout, weight, structure and cost
Module 8 - Cost and Schedule Estimating
- Estimate classes and their expected accuracy ranges
- Relationship between design definition level and estimate class
- Estimating methods: capacity factored, equipment factored, detailed
- Direct cost, indirect cost, owner cost and their components
- Contingency determination and its basis
- Escalation, currency and location factors
- Schedule development, critical path and long lead constraints
- Estimate review, benchmarking and validation
- Presenting estimate uncertainty honestly
- Lifecycle cost and operating cost estimation
- Economic evaluation inputs and their sensitivity
Module 9 - Risk, Value and Assurance
- Technical risk identification and register development
- Cost and schedule risk analysis
- Technology maturity assessment and qualification requirements
- Value engineering and value improvement practices
- Constructability, operability and maintainability reviews
- Hazard studies during concept and FEED
- Inherently safer design during front end work
- Design reviews, peer assist and independent assurance
- Managing scope growth during FEED
- Interface management across disciplines and contractors
Module 10 - FEED Deliverables, Contracting and Sanction
- FEED deliverable register and its content
- Process, mechanical, piping, electrical, instrument and civil deliverables
- Specifications, philosophies and design standards
- Level of definition required to support the sanction estimate
- Contracting strategy options and their risk allocation
- EPC, EPCM and hybrid contracting approaches
- Tender package preparation from FEED output
- FEED verification and readiness assessment
- Sanction documentation and investment decision support
- Transition from FEED to detailed engineering and execution
- Preserving design intent through the handover
Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.
Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.
This course is led by a conceptual design and FEED specialist with more than 20 years in the oil and gas industry, built on the principle of designing it right at the front end, not on site.
He currently holds front-end engineering leadership responsibility with a major operator managing new production facility developments, covering concept selection, design basis development and FEED execution — the disciplines that determine whether a project succeeds before construction ever begins. Earlier in his career he served as a process engineer on major greenfield developments, leading conceptual design and FEED studies on some of the industry's most complex production facility projects. Across two decades he has taken several projects from concept screening through FEED into successful detailed design and execution.
That operating background shapes how he teaches. Delegates learn not only how conceptual design and FEED are meant to work, but how they actually play out in practice — where scope gaps get missed at the front end, why design basis decisions made early drive costs and schedule later, what makes concept selection studies robust, how FEED deliverables set up detailed design for success or failure, and how project and operations teams align on design intent together. Every module is anchored in real project data, design decisions and lessons from facilities taken from concept to construction.
His subject coverage spans the full front-end engineering chain: concept screening and selection, design basis development, process and facility design at FEED level, cost and schedule estimation, and the front-end decisions that determine project success.
He has delivered conceptual design and FEED training for many years across the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia, working with mixed groups of project engineers, process engineers and technical management at every level of experience. He is an active contributor to industry forums on front-end engineering and project development.
His approach is practical, discussion-led and grounded in real front-end engineering experience — not the textbook.
Frequently Asked Questions
All course bookings made through PEA are strictly non-refundable. By registering for a course, you acknowledge and accept that all fees are payable in full and are not subject to refund under any circumstances, including changes in personal or professional commitments or partial attendance.
PEA reserves the right to make reasonable adjustments to course content, trainers, or schedules where necessary, without entitling delegates to a refund. Comprehensive details of each course — including objectives, target audience, and content — are clearly outlined before enrolment, and it is the responsibility of the delegate to ensure the course's suitability prior to booking.
For any inquiries related to cancellations or bookings, please contact our support team, who will be happy to assist you.
