Reservoir management requires continual efforts to identify opportunities for production enhancement. Radial Drilling (RD) technology is a method for production optimization by extending the contact area with reservoir. It utilizes hydraulic jetting energy to create several lateral holes within the zones of interest along different directions. A candidate cased hole well-A was selected based on sub-normal production from a sandstone reservoir. Three extended laterals holes, at ±300 ft lengths each, are made using the RD technology. Job planning includes core studies, static and rotary jetting test using clean fluid. In order to avoid any possible formation damage during operations, RD job procedures have been optimized by using the different fluids mixtures during jetting, backwash and enlarging the created lateral holes. Jetting fluid used was brine mixed with NH4CL and Mutual Solvent, and followed by 10% HCL regular Acid. The results showed a significant improvement in well productivity compared with previous well history. The post-treatment production test showed a ±110% gain in oil rate resulting from the improved reservoir deliverability. The dominant factor responsible for the success of this technology is the meticulous planning and testing before job execution. Moreover, it has proven to be an effective solution to bypass the deep damaged area around the sandface, and to improve the production recovery from heavy oil zones. The success of the new Radial Drilling technology with the optimized procedures can be implemented as a best practice in similar wells in north Kuwait fields. This paper presents the advantages of the Radial Drilling technology in the recovery of bypassed crude oil from existing thin reservoirs, the optimized radial drilling procedures that ensured a clean lateral hole, and the evaluation of the impact compared to the conventional procedures.

Maximizing oil recovery is a very challenging assignment to oilfield operators worldwide. This requires additional and continuous adoption of new technologies and best practices. Water flooding is one of the most reliable recovery technique and been used for many years around the world to pressure support to the reservoir and minimize the bypassed oil in depleted reservoirs with no aquifer support. This paper is presenting a case of well that was drilled and completed as a dumpflood well to provide pressure support to an oil-bearing zone that contributes most of the field's production. Dumping rates have showed poor performance due to near wellbore damage since completion. Many conventional stimulation trials were carried out with no sustained success. The well was selected for an advanced acid stimulation technique to improve the dumping rate by using the concept of Oscillating Fluid Injection. This process achieves deeper treatment penetration and more uniform fluid distribution. Root cause analysis, core analysis and well history have been used to optimize the job procedures and acid recipe to remove the suspected damage. The above-mentioned process treated the target zone with the same acid recipe that has been used in the previous conventional acid stimulation job. The results of this advanced process showed a significant improvement in well injectivity compared with previous acid stimulation techniques. The post treatment evaluation showed an increased dumping rate by two times. The increased flowing bottomhole pressures observed in the surrounding producing wells confirm the direct benefit of the improved injectivity and consequent pressure support. These promising indications have opened new production optimization opportunities in the nearby wells to add significant oil gain. This paper presents an unconventional method of acid stimulation technology in the improvement of injectivity in surface injection and dumpflood injectors compared with conventional techniques. This technology has opened new opportunities for improving the injectivity of the dumpflood wells, and go for full field implementation to maximize the oil recovery from depleted reservoir.

Underbalance perforation is one of the best practices to insure less damage to the perforation tunnels. Many papers described the effect of the underbalance perforation either static or dynamic on the cleanup of the perforation tunnel based on the King et al correlation presented in (1986). A complete understanding of the effect of both magnitude and duration of the underbalance during the perforation will help petroleum engineers to design a perforation job and achieve the maximum benefit of the perforation in connecting the well bore to the reservoir. A new approach to control not only the amount of the underbalance, but also the duration of this underbalance, has been applied in one of North Kuwait sandstone reservoirs. The results showed the duration of the underbalance during perforation has a significant effect on clean up the perforation tunnel. Reduction and elimination of the perforating damage (perforating skin) ensures increased well productivity. Previously, the basic technique to clean perforation tunnels in order to decrease perforating damage was static underbalance. The static underbalance has been upgraded to dynamic using a down-hole production valve. The down-hole pressure data was collected by a fast reading down hole pressure sensor with 120,000 reading per second, capable of responding and recording virtual instantaneous pressure changes in the wellbore. A combination between dynamic and static underbalance has been configured to maximize the near well bore clean up around the perforation tunnel. A compressed gas, a packer setting depth and surface release valve were configured to control the duration of the static underbalance. The results show a 50% improvement in well productivity compared with the other wells completed in the same layers. The technique provided optimum volume and duration of the underbalance for all layers with up to 500 psi difference in reservoir pressures. Since this technique was being used for the first time in this reservoir, several perforating simulations were run and evaluated to select the optimum scenario for this well. A deep perforation charge has been loaded in the optimum gun size to maximize the amount of the dynamic underbalance. This paper will present the new technique of underbalance to give a clean perforation tunnel and evaluation of the impact compared to the conventional perforation techniques through pressure data and well modeling.