Unlocking Hydrocarbon Resources - The Importance of Infrastructure

Abstract
The latest hydrocarbons findings in the East Mediterranean area have changed the energy map of the world. The prospective of the new discovered reserves in the area seems to be enormous, but from the discovery to the development and final production there is a long distance that should be covered. The decision about the development of an oil and gas asset is a complicate process and depends on many factors. Besides from the complicity of the quantity estimation and classification- which is based on technical criteria that must be considered for its evaluation- there are many other factors that affect the chance of commerciality and finally the value of the assets. The asset value is highly considered in the internal company’s decision process about future investment, mergers, acquisitions and farm outs activities. The resource or reserve status and the estimated hydrocarbon volume affect the valuation process. This thesis will investigate the requirements for the oil and gas asset classification as contingent resources or reserves. The importance of the infrastructure to the classification methodology for reserves will be analysed into detailed by providing information about the chance of commerciality and the impact on the field development plan. The outcome of the analysis will present the relationship of the technical requirement for oil and gas asset volume classification, the infrastructure requirements involved in the classification standards and the benefits for a company to hold assets in regions where infrastructure is currently available or planned to be available in the next 5 year.