Abstract

We have developed a program to assist management, EPODS: Evaluation Program for Offshore Oil Development Systems, utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology. EPODS evaluates the technical and economic applicability of each hardware element for marginaloffshore oil field development systems. The purpose of this program is to assist the engineer and manager in selecting the most feasible system for development of a specific offshore discovery.

The program is designed to be used at various project stages, such as the preliminary stage of bidding on a concession, the conceptual study stage after acquisition of the concession, and the final feasibility study stage before commitment for development.

The program consists of two parts. First the "Selection" part which technically evaluates the applicability of each hardware element of an offshore oil field development system and calculates capital expenditure, operation expenditure, lead time economic index, etc., under specified environmental and operating conditions. In the process of selecting development systems, the program adopts the "Expert System", AI technology, which incorporate the heuristic and experience knowledge base.

The second part of the program is the "Data Base System" which incorporates oceanographic, technical, and economic data for the evaluation of each element of the development project. The Data Base System was specifically designed for EPODS, and the registered data is selected and classified by experts in the offshore industry. The program selects the relevant data base for the evaluation of technical and economic applicability of specific field development hardware. The data base also provides specific data and calculates cost and delivery schedules. Furthermore, the Data Base System provides general information concerning existing oil fields and the application of technology to offshoreoil fields.