A mature field is a portfolio of opportunities and liabilities. On one side are shut-in wells that could be reactivated, zones behind pipe that were never perforated, wells lifting inefficiently, water that could be shut off and facilities running at a fraction of their capacity. On the other are ageing equipment, integrity costs, high water handling loads and an abandonment liability that grows more pressing each year.

The engineering work is mostly screening. There are usually more candidate wells and more possible actions than there is budget, so the value comes from ranking honestly: which reactivations will actually flow, which shut-off jobs will hold, which recompletions have enough remaining saturation behind them. Data is often old and incomplete, so screening in mature fields relies heavily on offset performance, production history and the judgement of people who know the field.

Cost is the other half. Operating cost per barrel rises as rates fall, and a mature field that reduces its cost base extends its life and defers abandonment, which is often worth more than a production project. Facility rationalisation, well count reduction, chemical and energy optimisation and contract renegotiation all belong in the same opportunity list as the production work. This course treats them together.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Characterise a mature field and analyse its production and pressure history.
• Identify where reserves and production have been lost.
• Screen and rank opportunities across the well and reservoir portfolio.
• Design water and gas shut-off strategies.
• Evaluate well reactivation and recompletion candidates.
• Evaluate artificial lift conversion and optimisation in mature wells.
• Screen infill drilling and sidetrack opportunities.
• Debottleneck facilities and reduce operating cost per barrel.
• Perform economic limit analysis for wells and fields.
• Plan abandonment deferral and field end-of-life strategy.

Organisations sending participants to this training will:

• Identify remaining value in mature assets that would otherwise be missed.
• Extend field life by reducing operating cost per barrel.
• Prioritise limited budget on the highest value opportunities.
• Reduce water handling and energy cost.
• Plan end-of-life and abandonment on an informed basis.

Participants will:

• Understand how mature fields behave and where value remains.
• Be able to screen and rank a large opportunity portfolio.
• Be able to evaluate reactivation, recompletion and shut-off candidates.
• Understand cost reduction as a production strategy.
• Be able to carry out economic limit analysis.

• Production engineers in mature assets
• Reservoir engineers
• Well intervention and workover engineers
• Operations and facilities engineers
• Asset managers and planners
• Economics and planning staff

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.