System engineering applied to early phase offshore oil and gas projects

Abstract

Companies around the world have established project development processes that begin with identifying an opportunity and end in execution with various iterations of developing design in between. Those various design iterations are critical to the success of any project. For complex projects, the inability to identify and evaluate feasible architectures in early design phases leads to long, iterative and costly design cycles. This thesis will explore application of both system engineering and system architecture tools and processes to early phase design of an offshore oil and gas processing facility. Base principles of decomposition, form to function mapping utilizing object-process methodology, and design structure matrices leading to development of tradespace modeling techniques will be explored. Application of these methods will provide insight to developing an understanding of the entire landscape of possible architectures and ensure that all options are considered in development of these complex systems. Application of these tools will identify new concepts, highlight preferred architectures, and identify variables or constraints requiring further architecting throughout the project development cycle. These outcomes highlight the ability to evaluate complex projects utilizing modeling tools ultimately leading to reduced design iterations and subsequently reduced development costs.