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This paper describes a systematic assessment artificial lift methods for a heavy oil development in Kuwait. The main recovery strategies that were being considered for the development consisted of different sequencing of primary production, cyclic steam stimulation and steam flooding, with both vertical and horizontal wells.In 2007, Kuwait Oil Company drilled five vertical wells in their heavy oil fields, as a precursor to the full field development planned in the coming years. These five wells represented the first major activity in the formation since the 1980s when two cyclic steam stimulation pilot tests were conducted. The characteristics of the development and of the associated planned recovery strategies presented several AL challenges that needed to be assessed.This work consisted of an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of various AL systems and a ranking of these systems according to well geometry, oil viscosity, targeted flow rate and the recovery method. The assessment and ranking were mainly based on vendor quoted capabilities, focused wellbore modelling and lessons learned from other heavy oil field cases around the world. While significant experience with rod pumps in cyclic steam stimulation exists in Canada, the lessons learned from that experience needed to be evaluated due to the differences with the Kuwait heavy oil development, such as the requirement to "easily" transition from primary to thermal production and the possible use of metallic stator progressing cavity pumps.This paper provides guidance to other developments around the world in regards to heavy oil AL selection and to how best to apply lessons learned from existing heavy oil developments.

Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) launched the Kuwait Integrated Digital Field GC1 (KwIDF-GC1) pilot project in 2009 as an investigation into how a cross-functional and cross-domain infrastructure could be established to aid in the achievement of corporate goals set for the following two decades. The company's vision for 2030 includes a philosophical shift in the way that the country's workforce accomplishes its tasks, employing the latest technologies and work processes. The project solution integrates field instrumentation, workflows automated in software, and focused collaboration. The Burgan oil field, the second largest in the world and the largest clastic reservoir, was discovered in 1938 and commercial oil production from it began in 1946. Production peaked in 1972 at around 2,400,000 barrels per day, and declined to around 1,700,000 barrels per day by 2005 [Croft 2013, Cordahi and Critchlow 2005]. Management of the reservoir has become increasingly challenging, partly due to damage that was incurred as the Iraqi invaders set fire to the wells during their retreat in 1991. This project is a first in the State of Kuwait to instrument oil wells with pressure and temperature gauges, multiphase water cut meters and remotely automated chokes. Automation of the field was the first step in providing the advanced technology required of this project, realizing tangible advantages in minimizing the health, safety and environmental (HSE) exposure of field personnel. Wellsite data can be read, and choke positions can be set, remotely at the gathering center without the need for field personnel to enter hazardous areas. Work processes were converted into automated digital workflows supported by advanced network modeling and nodal analysis software in a state-of-the-art collaboration center. The collaborative teams use optimization and visualization software to contribute in real time to production operations that optimize production gains. Integration of multidisciplinary teams such as field development, sub-surface, production operations and maintenance in a real-time work environment enables proactive and reliable decisions to be made much more quickly than in traditional environments with disparate work teams. This paper describes how the various technologies and work processes are used by the collaboration teams during the pilot project to increase efficiencies in oil production. Introduction A SCADA system is employed at the gathering center (GC) that interfaces with smart wellhead controllers and instruments. The implementation is digital throughout, employing a field-level WiMAX radio system to provide fast and secure Ethernet-based communication from the GC to the wellhead. At the wellhead, digital instruments provide real-time data for wellhead pressure, flow line pressure and temperature, flow/no-flow indication, and water cut. A remotely controlled adjustable choke governs the wellhead pressure to achieve desired flow characteristics. Selected wells contain highly accurate downhole pressure and temperature gauges. All instruments and control devices are interfaced through the smart wellhead controller. A proprietary closed-loop algorithm in the smart wellhead controller receives a set-point value for desired wellhead pressure from the SCADA system. The algorithm then controls the adjustable choke to maintain the pressure in the wake of fluctuating properties of the produced fluid from the well.

Several years back, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), the National Oil Company (NOC) of the State of Kuwait initiated multiple projects on Kuwait Integrated Digital field (KwIDF). There was a significant amount of planning before launching the KwIDF program, however, the projects involved lots of intricacies and the implementation process involved novel experiences of obstacles and setbacks caused due to introduction of innovative work and business process which were overcome over the project cycle. The paper will delve upon the positive facilitators enabling implementation of a complex project of this nature, lessons learnt from the project and necessities of an excellent change management and project management program to successfully execute the program. The key drivers for the projects, team structure for program management and lessons learnt will be discussed during course of this paper. There will be a short description of the KwIDF program, technical workflows implemented and production optimization runs along with conceptualization of the new concept of an integrated surface-sub surface workflows.

Kuwait Integrated Digital Field Gathering Center 1 (KwIDF-GC1) pilot project was launched in Burgan field in 2009 as an investigation into how a cross-functional and cross-domain infrastructure could be established to aid in the achievement of corporate goals set for the following two decades. The company’s vision for 2030 includes a philosophical shift in the way that the country’s workforce accomplishes its tasks, employing latest technologies and work processes. The project solution integrates field instrumentation with workflows automated in software and focused collaboration. All well sites were instrumented with pressure and temperature gauges, multiphase water cut meters, remotely automated chokes and electronic H2S detectors. Automation of field was the first step in providing the advanced technology required of this project, realizing tangible advantages in minimizing the health, safety and environmental (HSE) exposure of field personnel. Well site data can be read, and choke positions can be set, remotely at the gathering center without the need for field personnel to enter hazardous areas. The implementation is digital throughout, employing a field-level WiMAX radio system to provide fast and secure Ethernet-based communication from gathering center to the wellhead. Work processes were converted into automated digital workflows supported by advanced network modeling and nodal analysis software in a state-of-the-art collaboration center. This paper presents framework of the pilot project demonstrating the hardware and software tools that have been used to optimize production of the Burgan field assets as a part of the KwIDF-GC1 project. The concentration of this paper will be a detailed discussion on designing of the field instrumentation system.