Early Production Facility (EPF) Market

EPF: A Fast-Track Approach to Meet Oil and Gas Field Requirements

The Early Production Facility (EPF) Market is valued at USD 8.3 Bn in 2026 and is projected to reach USD 9.8 Bn , growing at a CAGR of 2.4% by 2033. The down-hole logging, and completion evaluations of a company show promising reserve potential when it has drilled, and completed a few exploration wells. However, there is no substitute for actual well production to determine if its expectations of reservoir quality, and well productivity can be met. Early, temporary, and interim production facilities provide operators with the ability to fast-track first oil, or gas on new, or marginal field developments. From the performances of the wells, their evolution in time, and the content of the produced crude, the operator would get a better estimate of the most likely size, and long-term productivity of the targeted reservoir.

An early production facility (EPF), typically located on land, is a complete facility to produce oil and gas and dispose the produced water. Large facilities are also common. The size range is usually between 5,000 and 60,000 barrels per day. The facility is usually all skid-mounted and is put in place, interconnected, and commissioned. It comprises all the equipment such as separators, heaters, scrubbers, power supplies, lighting, and water treatment units that are required for treating the oil, gas, and water. The number of service providers offering complete packages of early production facilities is increasing rapidly over the recent past, which is a strong sign supporting the growth of the global early production facility market.

The data acquired will allow the operator to plan the full field development with greater confidence. This is particularly important when the field is marginal because of its size, or location, or when several developmental scenarios have to be accurately compared. The conclusion can either be to avoid unnecessary CAPEX, or to justify more substantial developments than originally planned. Moreover, the sale of the crude produced with the EPF provides direct commercial benefit to the operator. During the EPF phase, a reduced profit on the production can be justified by gaining earlier vital knowledge on the field with the objective of increasing profitability during the full-field development.

EPF Brings Economic, and Reservoir Management Advantages

It helps in achieving-

1. Faster oil and gas production
2. Usage of equipment with shorter lead delivery time
3. Reduced initial capital investment
4. Early cash flow

It allows to-

1. Collect further reservoir data during the early production period
2. Accurately determine the reservoir data
3. Monitor reservoir depletion by extended testing
4. Better plan the appraisal/development wells
5. Optimise the design of the permanent facilities

EPF Provides an Immediate Return on Investments

The real-time production data helps appraise reservoir performance. This appraisal period can be achieved through either an extended well test (EWT), or a longer term EPF, resulting in optimal design of the final permanent facilities.

From discovery to commercial production, time is the key to achieving top financial performance, and commercial benefit. To ensure rapid production of new oil and gas finds, EPFs are typically used for early well testing, or reserve monetisation - get a field, or some part of the field on line, and produce in a minimum amount of time whilst a full-field concept is developed, and a permanent facility is installed.

Accelerate Facility Development with Modular Technology

The delay from reserves discovery to positive cash flow, following the typical timeline for facility delivery, is lengthy, and locks up too much cash. Engineering requirements, supply chain, and change orders compound, and push out construction, commissioning, and ultimately time to first oil. The modules, and quality equipment (meeting all international standards, and regulatory requirements) are needed to maximise uptime during asset design life. The flexible, modular early production system enables companies to fast-track production schedules, providing available production capacity when and where it is needed for early cash flow.

Industry Regulations, and Standards

The oil and natural gas industry is international in its operation, with many large oil companies and their suppliers operating all over the globe. The oil and gas sector faces heavy scrutiny regarding environmental issues such as air, and water quality, and offshore regulation. No wonder, the oil and natural gas industry uses a great number of standards developed by a range of organisations including industry associations, and national, regional, and international standardisation bodies, including Regulations of Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), OSHA rules and standards for working conditions, The International Comparative Legal Guides (ICLG), and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

API’s American National Standards Institute (ANSI), DNV-GL, International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and European Standard (EN) are the most widely recognised, although there are numerous others including International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (IOGP), Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation (OPITO), the British Standards Institute (BSI), Oil and Gas UK (OGUK), OISD (Oil Industry Safety Directorate), India, ASTM International, Object Management Group (OMG), Training Within Industry (TWI), British Standards Online (BSOL), and  Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) Foundation.

Although the proliferation of standards can seem daunting, and confusing, in reality, it reflects the intense industry focus on safety, reliability, and efficiency, to ultimately showcase the growing international collaboration between organisations. The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) is a key resource for technical knowledge, information exchange, events, training courses, publications, and other resources.

EPFs Hold Potential on Back of Continual Oil and Gas Future Prospects

According to DNV GL, a quality assurance, and risk management company, and technical advisor to the oil and gas industry, the total global final energy demand in 2015 was 400EJ - equivalent to 9,600 million (m) tons of oil. This demand will possibly increase to 430EJ in 2050, accounting for 44% of the world’s primary energy supply. Continued investment will be needed over this time to maintain production at levels required to meet demand. The demand growth is expected to come from emerging economies, with the largest growth markets being China, India, South East Asia, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Whereas, North America, Europe, Pacific OECD will see dampened demand due to the shift to alternate sources.

Major EPF Companies in Global Landscape

• Schlumberger Limited
• Halliburton Company
• Baker Hughes Company
• Weatherford International plc
• Expro Group
• TechnipFMC plc
• Petrofac Limited
• TAQA (Abu Dhabi National Energy Company)
• TETRA Technologies Inc.
• SGS SA
• CECO Environmental
• Penspen Limited
• Al Shirawi Equipment Co. LLC
• 2H Offshore Engineering Ltd.
• Pyramid E&C

Global Early Production Facility (EPF) Market segmentation

By Type                            

• Oil Early Production Facilities (EPFs)
• Gas Early Production Facilities (EPFs)

By Component

• Separation Unit
• Storage Unit
• Pumping Unit

By Application

• Processing Unit
• Onshore
• Offshore

By Region

• North America
• Europe
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East and Africa