An Interactive 5-Day Training Course
Writing & Defending a Field Development Plan
Preparing and presenting a defensible field development plan
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Duration
5 Days
Price
$ 4,000
Starting From
20 Sep 2027
Writing & Defending a Field Development Plan
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Writing & Defending a Field Development Plan - RE-FDP-PEA27
| Code | Date | Time | Duration | Location | Currency | Early Bird Fee Per Person |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RE-FDP-PEA27 | 20 - 24 Sep 2027 | 10 AM CST | 4 Hours Per Day |
Online |
USD |
4000 |
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Writing & Defending a Field Development Plan
Description
A field development plan is the document on which a development is approved. It presents the subsurface understanding, the development concept and its justification, the wells and facilities, the production forecast, the reserves, the economics and the plan for executing it, and it is reviewed by internal management, by partners, by a regulator and frequently by lenders. It commits large capital on the basis of subsurface understanding that is necessarily incomplete, and its quality determines both whether approval is obtained and whether the development that follows is the right one.
This training covers writing it and defending it. FDP purpose and audience are established first, since a document serving management, partners and a regulator simultaneously must satisfy different requirements without becoming three documents. The subsurface basis follows: what must be presented, at what depth, and how to convey uncertainty without undermining confidence. Concept selection and its justification are then covered, including the alternatives that must be shown to have been considered. Well and facility plans, production forecasts and reserves, and economics follow. HSE, environmental and regulatory content is addressed. Document structure, writing practice and presentation are then covered directly, since a technically sound plan that is badly written fails reviews it should pass. The review and approval process and the defence of the plan close the training.
The plan must show that alternatives were considered, not merely that the chosen concept works. Reviewers, and regulators in particular, want evidence that the selected development is the best available rather than the first that was found to be feasible. A plan presenting a single concept with supporting analysis invites the question of what else was examined, and a plan that cannot answer it convincingly has a weakness that no amount of detail on the chosen concept will repair.
Uncertainty has to be presented honestly and constructively. A plan that presents a single production profile with no range invites disbelief from experienced reviewers, who know that subsurface forecasts carry substantial uncertainty. A plan that presents a wide range without indicating which outcomes drive which decisions is equally unhelpful. The useful presentation shows the range, identifies what drives it, explains what the development does to remain robust across it, and states what would trigger a change of plan.
Regulatory requirements vary and drive substantial content. Many jurisdictions require an approved development plan before production, with specified content covering recovery optimisation, resource conservation, flaring, environmental protection, local content and abandonment provision. These requirements are not optional additions to a technical document; they are conditions of approval, and a plan that treats them as an appendix prepared late frequently fails on them.
Finally, the document is read by people with limited time. An executive summary that conveys the concept, the volumes, the cost, the value and the principal risks in a few pages determines how the rest of the document is read. A plan whose summary is a table of contents in prose, or which requires the reader to reach section nine before understanding what is proposed, is a plan that will be reviewed by people who did not fully understand it.
By the end of this training, participants will be able to:
- Define FDP purpose and structure it for its multiple audiences
- Present the subsurface basis at appropriate depth with honest uncertainty treatment
- Document concept selection including alternatives considered and the basis for the choice
- Present well plans, facility plans and their justification
- Present production forecasts, reserves and their evidence
- Present economics and demonstrate the development's value
- Address HSE, environmental, regulatory and abandonment requirements
- Structure and write a document that reviewers can use efficiently
- Prepare for internal, partner and regulatory review
- Defend a plan under challenge and manage the approval process
Organisations sending participants to this training will:
- Improve the quality of development plans and their approval success rate
- Reduce review cycles and the delay they cause to project schedules
- Improve concept selection through disciplined documentation of alternatives
- Improve partner and regulator confidence in submitted plans
- Ensure regulatory content is addressed rather than appended late
- Build a repeatable standard for development plan preparation
Participants will:
- Structure and write a development plan that reviewers can use
- Present uncertainty in a way that strengthens rather than weakens the case
- Document concept selection convincingly
- Anticipate the questions reviewers will ask
- Defend a plan under challenge
- Build a capability that positions them for development and project leadership roles
- Reservoir, production and facilities engineers contributing to development plans
- Development planners and project engineers
- Geoscientists preparing subsurface content
- Asset managers and team leaders accountable for FDP delivery
- Commercial and economics staff contributing to plans
- Regulatory and government relations personnel
- Technical staff reviewing plans submitted by operators or partners
Module 1 - Purpose, Audience and Framework
- What a field development plan is for
- Audiences: internal management, partners, regulator, lenders
- Different requirements of each audience and how to satisfy them together
- Position of the FDP in the project lifecycle
- Relationship to concept select, FEED and sanction
- Regulatory requirement for approved plans by jurisdiction
- Consequences of plan approval and its conditions
- Plan revision and amendment processes
- Timeline for preparation, review and approval
- Resourcing and coordinating FDP preparation
Module 2 - Subsurface Basis
- Geological description: setting, structure, stratigraphy, reservoir
- Data inventory and its completeness
- Petrophysical evaluation and its results
- Reservoir fluid characterisation
- Static model description and its basis
- In-place volume estimation and its range
- Dynamic model description, history match status and its quality
- Drive mechanism and recovery expectation
- Analogue support and its use
- Subsurface uncertainty and its presentation
- Appraisal status and remaining subsurface risk
- Depth of technical detail appropriate to the document
Module 3 - Concept Selection
- Development concept options considered
- Screening criteria and the screening process
- Comparison of concepts on cost, value, risk and operability
- Documenting why alternatives were rejected
- Sensitivity of concept selection to subsurface uncertainty
- Robustness of the selected concept across the uncertainty range
- Phasing and staging options
- Recovery optimisation and its demonstration
- Flexibility and future expansion provision
- Presenting the selection convincingly
- Anticipating challenge on the concept choice
Module 4 - Wells and Drilling Plan
- Well count and its justification
- Well type, trajectory and placement rationale
- Well spacing and drainage assumptions
- Completion design and its basis
- Artificial lift requirement and timing
- Stimulation requirement
- Injection well requirement and placement
- Drilling sequence, schedule and rig requirement
- Well cost estimation and its basis
- Well delivery risk and contingency
- Future well requirement and infill provision
Module 5 - Facilities and Infrastructure
- Facility concept and configuration
- Capacity determination and design basis
- Process description and major equipment
- Utility and support systems
- Export route and offtake arrangements
- Water handling and disposal
- Gas handling, utilisation and flaring provision
- Facility cost estimation and its class
- Construction and installation plan
- Operations and maintenance philosophy
- Facility flexibility for future development
Module 6 - Production Forecast and Reserves
- Production profile construction and its basis
- Well and field level forecast reconciliation
- Facility constraints applied to the profile
- Uptime, availability and deferment assumptions
- Low, base and high case profiles
- Reserves estimation and classification
- Evidence supporting each reserves category
- Recovery factor and its justification
- Reserves reconciliation against in-place volumes
- Forecast sensitivity to the dominant uncertainties
- Presenting profiles and reserves clearly
Module 7 - Economics and Commercial
- Economic evaluation and its assumptions
- Capital and operating cost summary and phasing
- Fiscal terms and post-tax economics
- Value indicators and their presentation
- Sensitivity and scenario analysis
- Breakeven and downside analysis
- Commercial arrangements: offtake, transportation, processing
- Partner arrangements and approvals
- Local content and national requirements
- Financing and funding arrangements where relevant
- Presenting the value case
Module 8 - HSE, Environment, Regulatory and Abandonment
- HSE philosophy and major accident hazard management
- Environmental impact assessment and its findings
- Emissions, flaring and their reduction commitments
- Waste and discharge management
- Social impact and community engagement
- Regulatory requirements specific to the jurisdiction
- Resource conservation and recovery optimisation obligations
- Measurement and reporting commitments
- Abandonment plan and cost provision
- Decommissioning security arrangements
- Compliance demonstration within the document
Module 9 - Writing, Structure and Presentation
- Document structure and its logic
- Executive summary: what it must convey and how
- Writing for readers with limited time
- Technical depth against readability
- Figures, tables and their design
- Consistency across sections and between numbers
- Assumption registers and their placement
- Appendices and supporting documentation
- Version control and multi-author coordination
- Common writing failures in technical documents
- Editing and quality control before submission
Module 10 - Review, Challenge and Approval
- Internal review and peer assist
- Independent technical review and value assurance
- Partner review and its typical concerns
- Regulatory review process and its criteria
- Lender and third party review
- Preparing for review: anticipating questions
- Presenting and defending the plan
- Handling challenge on subsurface uncertainty
- Handling challenge on concept selection and cost
- Managing conditions and commitments attached to approval
- Plan revision and resubmission
- Post-approval: managing against the plan and amending it
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.
Your expert course leader is a senior petroleum engineering consultant, certified trainer and university lecturer with more than 25 years of experience, specialising in writing and defending a field development plan.
His technical expertise covers FDP purpose and audience, subsurface basis and its presentation, concept selection and justification, well and facility plans, production forecasts and reserves, economics, HSE and regulatory content, document structure and writing, and the review and approval process.
Over the course of his career, he has provided consulting and project support to international operators and national oil companies across the Middle East, North Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas, working on field development plan preparation, concept select studies and internal and regulatory approval submissions.
He has designed and delivered technical training programmes on writing and defending a field development plan for engineers and technical teams, conducting these sessions both onsite and online across the Middle East, Asia Pacific, Africa and Europe.
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.
