Services · Field Assessment & Redevelopment
Oil & Gas Field Assessment
& Redevelopment Planning
Understand the opportunity. Define the right investments. Build a practical development plan.
Mature oil fields may retain significant production potential, but realizing that value requires a sound understanding of reservoir behavior, well conditions, production constraints, infrastructure requirements and economic viability.
OCALEAN provides multidisciplinary technical and economic assessments to support informed decisions on field recovery, optimization and redevelopment. Our approach combines hands-on upstream experience with specialized technical capabilities, focusing on practical solutions, measurable outcomes and disciplined capital allocation.
The challenge
Significant Potential. Complex Decisions.
Redeveloping a mature heavy-oil field involves multiple interconnected challenges:
Declining well productivity, steam cycles past their economic limit and uncertain reservoir performance.
Aging wells with mechanical damage, including casing and tubing failures linked to thermal cycling.
Unreliable power supply and scarce fuel gas for power generation and steam.
Aging production facilities, flowlines and pipelines affected by corrosion.
Heavy-oil handling: viscosity, emulsions, sand production and dehydration.
Ground subsidence and coastal protection where reservoirs compact.
Communities living over or around the field, and a weakened local supply chain.
Incomplete, scattered or outdated technical and operational data.
Limited capital competing across multiple recovery opportunities.
Addressing these challenges requires an integrated view of the asset rather than isolated technical solutions. OCALEAN helps structure that evaluation.
How we build the baseline
Evidence from Multiple Independent Sources
Decisions on a mature field are only as good as the information behind them. Field data is often incomplete, so we cross-check independent sources to build the most reliable baseline possible:
Field and operator data
Verified well by well during the assessment.
Historical reference documentation
On the asset, where access is authorized.
Published technical literature
Decades of papers on thermal recovery, completions and well integrity.
Satellite images
Where suitable imagery exists, radar (InSAR) and optical images help assess ground deformation and infrastructure, analysed with specialists from our network.
Current public information
On production, energy supply, infrastructure and the regulatory context.
Our services
Three Steps, Each One a Decision Point
Screening · Assessment · Work Programme
Field Opportunity Screening
An initial evaluation designed to identify opportunities, critical uncertainties and the next technical decisions.
Typical deliverables
- Review of available field and production information.
- Initial identification of reservoir, well and facility constraints.
- Preliminary identification of recovery and optimization opportunities.
- High-level assessment of technical and economic attractiveness.
- Identification of information gaps and recommended next steps.
- Desk review of published technical literature on the field and analogue assets.
- Satellite-based review of ground deformation (InSAR) and infrastructure condition, where suitable imagery is available.
Field Redevelopment Assessment
A structured multidisciplinary assessment of redevelopment options, based on available data, appropriate technical analyses and clearly stated assumptions.
Typical deliverables
- Reservoir and production performance review.
- Well productivity and artificial lift assessment.
- Evaluation of well reactivation, intervention and drilling opportunities.
- Surface facility and infrastructure assessment.
- Heavy-oil production and handling alternatives, where applicable.
- Steam generation and thermal recovery review, including cycle performance.
- Energy and fuel balance: power, steam, water and fuel options, including diesel and crude-fired equipment where fuel gas is scarce.
- Well integrity review, including damage associated with thermal cycling.
- Ground subsidence and coastal protection baseline.
- Stakeholder, security and local supplier baseline.
- Preliminary production improvement scenarios.
- Indicative CAPEX and OPEX requirements.
- Initial economic screening and sensitivity analysis.
- Technical risks and uncertainty assessment.
- Prioritized portfolio of redevelopment opportunities.
Redevelopment Work Programme
Development of a phased work programme to validate, mature and implement the most promising solutions.
Typical deliverables
- Prioritized technical initiatives and project packages.
- Data acquisition and validation requirements.
- Candidate wells and intervention strategies, where supported by data.
- Preliminary engineering and facility improvement requirements.
- Pilot testing and implementation sequence.
- Pilot design and decision gates before scaling any technology.
- Fuel supply and logistics plan for power and steam.
- Monitoring plan, including ground-deformation monitoring where relevant.
- Indicative schedule, budget and resource requirements.
- Project risks and mitigation measures.
- Decision gates, performance indicators and recommended next steps.
How we decide
Our Working Principles
Reactivate existing wells and remove surface bottlenecks before drilling new wells.
Without reliable power and steam there is no stable production. Where fuel gas is scarce, plans are designed around diesel and equipment capable of burning the field's own crude.
Decisions based on field verification and cost per barrel, grouped by shared facilities.
Every new technology is tested on a limited area before wider deployment.
Ground movement and coastal protection are evaluated before restarting thermal operations in sensitive areas.
Local employment, local suppliers and agreed security are conditions for sustainable operations.
Our current focus
Heavy-Oil Field Redevelopment
Heavy-oil fields present distinct redevelopment challenges: complex fluid behavior, thermal recovery, artificial lift, well integrity, energy supply, surface handling and, in some areas, ground subsidence.
OCALEAN is preparing an initial technical assessment framework for a heavy-oil field redevelopment case in Venezuela.
Our network brings together professionals with long first-hand experience in heavy-oil operations, including one of the co-authors of a reference development plan prepared in 2002 for a major heavy-oil asset.
The objective is to evaluate production recovery alternatives, identify technically and economically promising initiatives, and establish a phased approach for further development.
This initiative provides a practical starting point for engaging specialized technical professionals and exploring collaborations with interested asset stakeholders, operators and potential study sponsors.
Project-specific information will be made available only when the necessary rights, authorizations and confidentiality arrangements have been established.
Clients & partners
Who We Work With
Oil & Gas Operators and Asset Owners
Seeking to improve production performance, evaluate redevelopment options and prioritize capital investments.
Investors and Industrial Partners
Looking for technical and economic insight to support their assessment of potential upstream projects.
Oilfield Service and Technology Companies
Interested in evaluating opportunities where their technologies and specialist capabilities may contribute to production recovery or field redevelopment.
Technical and Engineering Partners
Interested in collaborating on multidisciplinary assessments, engineering activities and project execution.
A flexible engagement model
From Initial Assessment to Project Execution
Initial Discussion
Understand the asset, available information, the client's objectives and the decisions that need to be supported.
Scope Definition
Agree on the assessment methodology, technical disciplines, data requirements, deliverables, schedule and commercial terms.
Multidisciplinary Evaluation
Mobilize the relevant technical specialists and perform the agreed assessment.
Recommendations and Roadmap
Present findings, development alternatives, uncertainties, priorities and recommended next steps.
Implementation Support
Where requested, assist with further engineering, specialist selection, project planning and execution support.
Specialized expertise
Specialized Expertise for Every Assignment
OCALEAN combines senior upstream management experience with project-specific specialist capabilities. Depending on the technical scope, assignments may require expertise in:
Specialist participation, professional responsibilities and deliverables are established for each engagement.
Our talent model
Connected to Specialized Energy Talent
OCALEAN works with a growing, project-based network of specialized energy professionals, organized around the competencies each assignment requires.
This model gives our clients access to specialists matched to each assignment, without the overhead of a permanent team.
For each assignment, OCALEAN defines the required competencies, coordinates the selected specialists and maintains responsibility for the services contracted directly with OCALEAN.
Join us
For Energy Professionals
We are building a project-based network of at least 20 specialists with heavy-oil experience in three areas: subsurface; surface and energy; and management and environment.
If you have contributed to thermal recovery, field operations, production optimization or redevelopment projects, we welcome your expression of interest.
Join Our Expert Network →The application form is in Spanish and English.
Let's talk
Let's Evaluate the Opportunity
The first step toward a successful redevelopment programme is understanding where the technical and economic value may lie.
If you are evaluating a mature oil field, exploring production recovery opportunities or considering a technical partnership, we welcome a confidential discussion.
OCALEAN provides technical advisory and project support services. This information does not constitute an offer to sell petroleum assets or rights, or a solicitation to invest. Access to field-specific information is subject to applicable authorizations, confidentiality requirements, sanctions regimes and legal compliance.
We diagnose what's holding your operation back, bring in the senior experts to fix it, and leave your team able to sustain it.
OCALEAN GROUP SL · CIF ES-B87449245
CONTACT
c/ Anabel Segura, 10, 3ª planta
Edificio Fiteni IX, 28108
Alcobendas, Madrid, Spain