How PDO transformed infill
planning using AIM

How PDO transformed infill planning using AIM

How PDO transformed infill planning using AIM

The challenge.

The challenge.

The challenge.

Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), the leading exploration and production company in Oman, faced a familiar but formidable challenge: how to efficiently plan more than 100 infill wells in some of its most congested onshore brownfields — assets with hundreds of existing wells, complex surface infrastructure, and limited remaining pad space.

Manual planning processes were becoming a bottleneck. Sequential workflows between geologists, well engineers, and surface planners not only slowed things down but risked missing value entirely due to the limited number of planning scenarios that could be tested by hand.

To solve this, PDO partnered with WhiteSpace Solutions to implement a full-stack AI-assisted planning platform named Tanseeq, designed to automate trajectory generation, surface pad location optimization, and field development planning in a transparent, collaborative, and repeatable way.

800 wells. 0 room for error.

800 wells. 0 room for error.

800 wells.
0 room for error.

Brownfields bring their own set of constraints — especially in PDO’s case:

  • Over 800 existing wells to navigate

  • A dense network of roads, flowlines, and safety buffers

  • Engineering constraints like dogleg severity, inclination limits, and anti-collision

  • Coordination across multiple disciplines in a high-stakes planning environment

In one asset alone, more than 100 infill targets needed to be assessed, with each well requiring its own safe, feasible trajectory and a pad that didn’t interfere with critical infrastructure.

Conventional methods — hand-calculated trajectories, back-and-forth collaboration between teams, and partial optimization based on the “easiest” paths — were no longer viable. Plans took 6 months or more, and still left value on the table.

AI-assisted optimization at scale.

Tanseeq, developed and deployed in collaboration with WhiteSpace, was designed to overhaul PDO’s well planning approach from end to end.

How It Works:

  1. Scenario Definition
    Users begin by defining constraints and rules—subsurface targets, existing wells, safety distances, DLS thresholds, surface limitations (e.g., roads and pipelines), and preferred well design templates.

  2. Well Trajectory Generation via Evolutionary Algorithms
    Instead of testing a few hand-crafted trajectories, Tanseeq uses AI to generate thousands of feasible options per target. These are ranked based on a fitness function that evaluates engineering quality, risk, and development value.

  3. Interactive Filtering and Visualization
    The system presents results through a rich 3D and 2D user interface, allowing teams to collaboratively filter by feasibility, length, cost, and pad location. Filters can be adjusted live to test sensitivity to different constraints or design philosophies.

  4. Field Development Optimization
    Using selected trajectories, Tanseeq assembles full-field development scenarios—including surface pad layouts, target groupings, and campaign scheduling—allowing for automated optimization against metrics like CAPEX, NPV, or risk exposure.

  5. Export and Integration
    All selected plans, including anti-collision reports and drilling campaign packages, are exportable into PDO’s systems for downstream execution.

AI-assisted optimization at scale

AI-assistance
at scale.

Tanseeq, developed and deployed in collaboration with WhiteSpace, was designed to overhaul PDO’s well planning approach from end to end.

How It Works:

  1. Scenario Definition
    Users begin by defining constraints and rules—subsurface targets, existing wells, safety distances, DLS thresholds, surface limitations (e.g., roads and pipelines), and preferred well design templates.

  2. Well Trajectory Generation via Evolutionary Algorithms
    Instead of testing a few hand-crafted trajectories, Tanseeq uses AI to generate thousands of feasible options per target. These are ranked based on a fitness function that evaluates engineering quality, risk, and development value.

  3. Interactive Filtering and Visualization
    The system presents results through a rich 3D and 2D user interface, allowing teams to collaboratively filter by feasibility, length, cost, and pad location. Filters can be adjusted live to test sensitivity to different constraints or design philosophies.

  4. Field Development Optimization
    Using selected trajectories, Tanseeq assembles full-field development scenarios—including surface pad layouts, target groupings, and campaign scheduling—allowing for automated optimization against metrics like CAPEX, NPV, or risk exposure.

  5. Export and Integration
    All selected plans, including anti-collision reports and drilling campaign packages, are exportable into PDO’s systems for downstream execution.

Faster planning. Better decisions.
Real value.

Faster planning. Better decisions.
Real value.

Faster planning.
Better decisions.
Real value.

50% Cycle Time Reduction
In the project asset, Tanseeq cut the planning phase for 100+ wells from 6 to 3 months,
a ±50% reduction in planning time for highly constrained assets.

$5 Million in NPV Uplift
By accelerating first oil by just three months, one of the fields saw an NPV increase of $5 million USD—demonstrating the tangible financial upside of better, faster plans.

More Options, Fewer Compromises
AI-generated well trajectories allowed engineers to move beyond “what’s feasible” to “what’s optimal” — testing combinations that would never have been attempted manually. Holistic optimization avoided the “greedy” trap of using the first easy pad locations, which often compromised future wells.

Better Collaboration Across Teams
Tanseeq’s user interface brought subsurface, wells, and surface engineers together into the same planning environment. The result was fewer misunderstandings, faster alignment, and a deeper understanding of trade-offs between risk, cost, and technical complexity.


50% Cycle Time Reduction
In the project asset, Tanseeq cut the planning phase for 100+ wells from 6 to 3 months, a ±50% reduction in planning time for highly constrained assets.

$5 Million in NPV Uplift
By accelerating first oil by just three months, one of the fields saw an NPV increase of $5 million USD—demonstrating the tangible financial upside of better, faster plans.

More Options, Fewer Compromises
AI-generated well trajectories allowed engineers to move beyond “what’s feasible” to “what’s optimal”—testing combinations that would never have been attempted manually. Holistic optimization avoided the “greedy” trap of using the first easy pad locations, which often compromised future wells.

Better Collaboration Across Teams
Tanseeq’s user interface brought subsurface, wells, and surface engineers together into the same planning environment. The result was fewer misunderstandings, faster alignment, and a deeper understanding of trade-offs between risk, cost, and technical complexity.


50% Cycle Time Reduction
In the project asset, Tanseeq cut the planning phase for 100+ wells from 6 to 3 months, a ±50% reduction in planning time for highly constrained assets.

$5 Million in NPV Uplift
By accelerating first oil by just three months, one of the fields saw an NPV increase of $5 million USD —demonstrating the tangible financial upside of better, faster plans.

More Options, Fewer Compromises
AI-generated well trajectories allowed engineers to move beyond “what’s feasible” to “what’s optimal” — testing combinations that would never have been attempted manually. Holistic optimization avoided the “greedy” trap of using the first easy pad locations, which often compromised future wells.

Better Collaboration Across Teams
Tanseeq’s user interface brought subsurface, wells, and surface engineers together into the same planning environment. The result was fewer misunderstandings, faster alignment, and a deeper understanding of trade-offs between risk, cost, and technical complexity.


Scalability and change management.

Scalability and
change management.

Scalability
and change
management.

Tanseeq was built to scale—containerized, API-connected to PDO’s data lake, and fully deployable on PDO’s own infrastructure. It currently runs on two virtual machines with 64 CPUs and can scale further as needed.

Crucially, PDO’s change management team supported the rollout with hands-on training, change champions, and technical support. This ensured strong adoption and a successful transition from manual workflows to AI-assisted planning across multiple assets.

Following the initial success, PDO is now expanding Tanseeq into five additional fields and exploring integrations with new data sources such as saturation maps and remaining oil volumes.

Why it matters.

Why it matters.

Why it matters.

Planning bottlenecks in congested fields aren’t just a technical headache—they’re a drag on production, value, and morale. By automating and optimizing the hardest part of the workflow, Tanseeq delivered:

  • More confident investment decisions

  • More drillable, derisked FDPs

  • Faster cycles with fewer surprises later in execution

It’s a blueprint for how AI can meaningfully change the way upstream assets are managed—without removing humans from the loop.

Tanseeq isn’t about automating away experts. It’s about giving them additional power—letting them explore more, decide faster, and maximize the value they create for the business.

Planning bottlenecks in congested fields aren’t just a technical headache—they’re a drag on production, value, and morale. By automating and optimizing the hardest part of the workflow, Tanseeq delivered:

  • More confident investment decisions

  • More drillable, derisked FDPs

  • Faster cycles with fewer surprises later in execution

It’s a blueprint for how AI can meaningfully change the way upstream assets are managed—without removing humans from the loop.

Tanseeq isn’t about automating away experts. It’s about giving them additional power—letting them explore more, decide faster, and maximize the value they create for the business.

Planning bottlenecks in congested fields aren’t just a technical headache—they’re a drag on production, value, and morale. By automating and optimizing the hardest part of the workflow, Tanseeq delivered:

  • More confident investment decisions

  • More drillable, derisked FDPs

  • Faster cycles with fewer surprises later in execution

It’s a blueprint for how AI can meaningfully change the way upstream assets are managed—without removing humans from the loop.

Tanseeq isn’t about automating away experts. It’s about giving them additional power—letting them explore more, decide faster, and maximize the value they create for the business.


Looking ahead.

Looking ahead.

Better planning.
Less guessing.

PDO plans to continue evolving Tanseeq, including:

  • Integration of sidetrack evaluation

  • Linkage to saturation data to prioritize highest-value targets

  • Deeper ties to surface engineering workflows and cost modeling

  • Expanded user base and training support

As new fields and new challenges arise, one thing is clear: AI-assisted planning is no longer a futuristic vision. It’s already delivering value, today.

PDO plans to continue evolving Tanseeq, including:

  • Integration of sidetrack evaluation

  • Linkage to saturation data to prioritize highest-value targets

  • Deeper ties to surface engineering workflows and cost modeling

  • Expanded user base and training support

As new fields and new challenges arise, one thing is clear: AI-assisted planning is no longer a futuristic vision. It’s already delivering value, today.

PDO plans to continue evolving Tanseeq, including:

  • Integration of sidetrack evaluation

  • Linkage to saturation data to prioritize highest-value targets

  • Deeper ties to surface engineering workflows and cost modeling

  • Expanded user base and training support

As new fields and new challenges arise, one thing is clear: AI-assisted planning is no longer a futuristic vision. It’s already delivering value, today.

Unlock your planning potential.

Unlock your planning potential.

Contact us

WhiteSpace Solutions

info@whitespacesolutions.eu