Beyond the hype : Using AI-assistance to Revolutionize Field Development Planning
Michiel van Haersma Buma, Chief Commercial Officer, WhiteSpace Solutions
In this insightful session, Michiel van Haersma Buma of WhiteSpace Solutions explored how AI-assisted technologies are reshaping the way energy companies approach field development planning, one of the most complex decision-making processes in the upstream sector.
Field development planning requires teams to assess countless potential configurations for wells, infrastructure, and facilities while balancing competing priorities such as cost, value, and operational risk. Traditional workflows often explore only a small portion of the possible solution space, leaving significant value unrealised.
The presentation introduced AI-assisted maturation (AIM), an approach that rapidly generates and evaluates thousands of development concepts to help teams understand trade-offs and identify more effective strategies. By analysing scenarios in near real time, AI can provide clearer insights into how key decisions influence project outcomes.
Examples demonstrated how AI-assisted planning can produce integrated development concepts in seconds and optimise them within minutes, enabling faster workflows while reducing costs and maintaining acceptable risk levels. The approach ultimately helps transform complex planning challenges into confident, data-driven decisions.
