The AFE (Authorisation For Expenditure) Designer is a budgeting and approval tool used during the planning process for a well about to be drilled. Once completed the AFE provides, amongst other things, a budget for the project against which actual expenditure can be compared, along with a detailed breakdown of projected timings for each phase of the proposed scope of work.
The AFE Designer can only be accessed via a plan, by right clicking on a planned well in the database tree and selecting AFE designer via the reporting submenu. This option will be greyed out when accessed from any other level in the database tree.
Export AFE: Exports the AFE, which allows the user to quickly copy the data from one plan to another.
Import AFE: Imports an AFE export file. It is important to note that if the cost codes used in the original export are not available as options in the well which the AFE is being imported into, then the cost section for each activity will remain unpopulated.
Calculate: Runs the AFE calculation and opens the AFE Designer Results dialog.
Apply: Saves any changes made
Close: Closes the well AFE designer dialog
The AFE activity tree is where the user can detail all the relevant activities which make up the scope of work. These can be further broken down to incorporate as much detail as the user requires.
New activities are added by either right clicking on the tree itself and choosing from the available options, or from the radio buttons at the bottom of the window.
Once created, activities can be move around the tree to allow them to be positioned appropriately by using the Move Up / Down options. It is also possible to copy activities and paste them into other areas of the tree, where there is a requirement for a duplicate activity.
Note that it is only possible to copy activities which have properties assigned, and that once an activity has a property assigned to it, it is no longer possible to add a new activity below it in the tree.
The user has the option to choose from two different probability types when running the AFE calculation, Probabilistic and Deterministic.
Probabilistic: Uses a Monte Carlo simulation to determine the probability of various outcomes for the well. It will produce the minimum and maximum expected duration of the well along with the probability it will occur.
Deterministic: The length of time taken for an operation is fixed and cannot be changed. The cost and duration of the well is fixed and only a single output will be produced
Correlation Coefficient: The user can enter a value here between 0 and 1. This determines how closely correlated (matched) certain parameters are to one another. A high correlation coefficient (1) means directly correlated. This is where a change in one parameter has a direct impact on another parameter. A correlation coefficient of 0 means that parameters are not correlated at all and will be calculated independently of one another
Outputs: Allows the user to select which P values are displayed in the calculated outputs. The user can choose 3 outputs with P90, P50 and P10 as the defaults.
Monte Carlo Analysis: This option, allows the user to adjust the number of iterations that are used in the probabilistic calculations. 5000 is the default.
DP Jnt Length: DP joint length used by the program when Tripping DP (jnt/hr) is selected in the activity properties
DP Stand Length: DP stand length used by the program when Tripping DP (std/hr) is selected in the activity properties
Casing Jnt Length: Casing joint length used by the program when Tripping CSG (Jnt/hr) is selected in the activity properties
Activity Name: The name of the specific activity. This is the name that will appear in the activity tree.
Activity has Properties: When checked, this option allows the user to enter data in the activity properties, costs and risks sections. It is important to note that when this option is selected, it is no longer possible to add a new activity below this in the activity tree.
Activity Properties: This section allows the user to enter the relevant properties for a given activity. The properties available to enter will vary slightly depending on the probability type selected.
Start Depth: Start Depth for the given activity
End Depth: End Depth for a given activity. This depth can be shallower than the start depth for activities such as tripping out of hole etc.
Time: This dropdown menu gives the user the following choices: ROP, Tripping DP (std/hr), Time, Tripping DP (jnt/hr), Tripping Csg (jnt/hr). The user should select the most appropriate option for the activity.
Variable: This dropdown menu allows the user to choose between Variable and Fixed. This option is only available when Probabilistic is selected as the probability type. Variable will allow the user to enter a min, avg and max value; while fixed will only allow the user to enter an avg value.
Min: The minimum value associated with the selected time option. This forms part of the Probabilistic calculation and will not be available when Deterministic is selected.
Avg: The average value associated with the selected time option. This input is required for both the Probabilistic and Deterministic calculations.
Max: The maximum value associated with the selected time option. This forms part of the Probabilistic calculation and will not be available when Deterministic is selected.
When a selected activity has properties, the AFE cost section will be available to populate. Selecting the description or cost code cells will open a dropdown menu where the user can select the appropriate cost. This dropdown list is populated directly from the Cost Codes section associated with the well (Section 13.3). New costs can only be added in the cost code section.
When a selected activity has properties, the AFE risks section will be available to populate. Risks are events which could impact the overall time for the selected activity. Risks are only available in the probabilistic model and the time will be calculated based on the probability entered using a distribution based on the min max and avg times.
The AFE designer results window gives the user access to all the calculated results data in Chart and Excel format. All the chart outputs and data are available to view and print via the various menu options.
File Menu: Allows the user to exit the results window.
Charts Menu: Allows the user to switch between all the available chart outputs. The selected chart will be displayed in the window. The user can choose from the following options.
The final option available on this list allows the user to show annotations on the depth v time chart.
Excel Documents Menu: Allows the user to print an excel report for any one of the following options.
Chart Settings Menu: From here the user can change the background colour of the charts from black to white.
Report Settings Menu: Allows the user to select which charts and excel documents are included in the full report.
Time Probability Density Function
Cost Probability Density Function
Time Cumulative Density Function
Cost Cumulative Density Function
Depth v Time
Cost v Time
Time - Interval
Time - Cumulative
Cost - Interval
Cost - Cumulative
Event Model
Detailed Event Breakdown w/Costs
Cost Model
Time v Depth
Time v Cost
Time Histogram
Cost Histogram
Full Report