$Target accounts for geophysical, seismic pick, survey and steering uncertainty, and
optimises the wellbore position with respect to net present value.

An example is well-planning, where reservoir engineers, geologists, geophysicists and drilling engineers need to work together to obtain the optimal well location.

A research project in Statoil has developed a software tool that helps the well planning team optimize the placement of production wells with respect to positional uncertainties and the net present value of the targeted hydrocarbons.

The software tool has been used in planning and operations on several wells, and the well planning teams reported improved cross disciplinary collaboration, improved risk evaluation and also adjustment of several well paths to optimise the net present value of the wells.

An important part of the well planning decision basis is to provide a continuously updated model of subsurface structure positions, and their corresponding three dimensional uncertainties.

A key element is to provide fast updates ensuring that the latest subsurface information is available as decision basis during every stage of the well planning process.