On how to evaluate decision alternatives in production and transportation systems

Consider a production and transportation system, for example a natural gas network. How should we evaluate decision alternatives to support decisions on infrastructure investments, maintenance and other operational aspects? This is the topic discussed in this paper. Specifically, we address the problem of integrating decision criteria on production assurance and economic values. A portfolio and total value chain perspective is adopted. Of particular interest are the problems of handling risk and uncertainties. In the paper, we present a framework for structuring the decision criteria. Our starting point is the Norwegian natural gas production and transportation system, but our discussion and proposed framework are applicable also for other types of systems and applications.