Enhancing Midstream Efficiency: The Power of ComboCurve

ComboCurve: What is ComboCurve to a midstream operator?

Allyson: From a midstream perspective, ComboCurve is a production and producer analytics tool. It gives you a realistic view of current gathering volumes, and what they will look like in the future. This, in turn, allows for better financial or operational planning that is closer to reality.

One of the biggest challenges midstream companies face is ensuring that they have a realistic view of the volumes they will gather, both currently and in the future. This information is vital for planning and analyzing assets.

Some producers are overly optimistic about volume estimates because they want to keep excess equipment in place for maximum takeaway capacity. This can lead to over-investment in unnecessary infrastructure. With ComboCurve, leaders can ensure their planning and decisions are based on realistic expectations rather than hopeful guesses.

ComboCurve: In preparing to talk to you, we saw a story that Energy Transfer was purchasing Lotus Midstream. The story included a map of both company’s pipeline systems throughout West Texas. It got us thinking, you could easily import pipeline shape files into ComboCurve and begin to see where production is trending, right?

Allyson: Yes, after importing shape files, you can set a custom radius around your pipelines, and then bring in existing producing wells to forecast production in specific areas. This allows you to examine forecasts, create type curves, and assess your pipeline or gathering system’s capabilities. By determining the excess capacity in the coming years and anticipating future production trends, you can strategically plan upcoming projects and allocate resources effectively.

ComboCurve: It sounds like ComboCurve helps midstream companies see things from the producer’s perspective.

Allyson: By forecasting existing PDPs, you can gain insight into a producer’s projected production for the next 5 to 10 years. From there, you can run sensitivities based on the producer’s projections, adjusting for potential optimism or conservatism in their estimates. With “Combos”, you can visualize various scenarios and hedge against headwinds, like collapsing prices or delayed drill schedules. Ultimately, this comprehensive approach allows you to make more informed economic decisions before committing capital to further development.

ComboCurve: Why not use a consultant to do all these things?

Allyson: A lot of people definitely do. There are several benefits to keeping things in-house, especially in the early stages of a project. When a strategic initiative is at the inception phase, confidentially and timing are critical. By keeping evaluations internal, you are able to ensure confidentiality and are able to prioritize the timing of the evaluation to meet internal deadlines. In the end, keeping it in-house limits cost, saves time, and increases confidentiality.

ComboCurve: How does ComboCurve help you convince stakeholders or executive teams to approve your recommendations?

Allyson: ComboCurve gives you ways to integrate multiple operators’ production forecasts, existing production data, and more, all within a single project. This provides an integrated view of how a basin could be developed. You can layer in various sensitivities, such as timing, price outlook, and economics, then run all the calculations in one place. You can then present a robust set of options to board members, executive teams, or other decision-makers and stakeholders. This thorough analysis gives them greater confidence in the decision-making process. It ensures you carefully considered a portfolio of options before committing to a specific course of action.

ComboCurve: There is much more both of us could say, but we will leave it there for now.

Allyson Kidwell, thank you for sitting down with us.

Allyson: Thank you.

Allyson Kidwell is a Petroleum Engineer with over 16 years of experience managing projects across the world, utilizing Lean and Agile methodologies to drive continuous improvement throughout organizations. At ComboCurve Allyson serves as Vice President of Customer Success, transforming customer goals into bottom line improvements and results. Allyson comes to ComboCurve with experience in reservoir, petroleum, and production engineering as well as field development.