Characterizing reservoir fluid composition is a crucial step in all phases of the exploration and development cycle of any oil field. The petroleum industry has dedicated much work to build up computational techniques to model phase behavior through two approaches using conventional regression methods and the Equation-of-State models. Recently, Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) have been successfully used to solve numerous problems in the petroleum industry. This interest is due to the fact that neural networks generally have large degrees of freedom, thus they can capture the nonlinearity of the process being studied better than regression techniques. In addition, neural networks have the ability to model systems with multiple inputs and outputs. The objective of this study was to develop a neural network model to predict the molar compositions of heavy oil as functions of the well location, depth, bottomhole temperature, bottomhole pressure, API gravity, and gas gravity. Since composition may change vertically as well as laterally, well location and depth of the samples are included in the training of the neural network. A total of nine pseudocomponents are used as output variables. The data, on which the network was trained, contained 82 data sets collected from Lower Fars heavy oil reservoir of north Kuwait. Several neural network architectures were investigated to obtain the most accurate model. Results indicate that general regression neural network shows optimum prediction capability for molar compositions as functions of the input variables. In addition, the model was able to successfully predict the molar compositions from inputs that were not seen during the training process. The output of this study is in accordance with the new vision and strategy that Kuwait Oil Company has set toward the exploitation of the unconventional heavy oil resources of Lower Fars reservoir of North Kuwait in which a lot of new wells will be drilled in this area. A development of such a new and innovative prediction model using ANN approach is of great importance in providing the molar composition of Lower Fars heavy oil reservoir, starting only from basic available data, with a limitation of a reliable PVT data base.

Sabiriyah Lower Burgan is a clastic reservoir in North Kuwait on continuous production for the last 45 years. The reservoir, on active water drive, has its inherent problem of rapid increase in water cut, the production performance of wells declining drastically after water cut level of 40%. The well production improvement is continuous effort based on understanding of well fundamentals and actual analysis of well's historical performance. This can be enhanced with Well modeling based on latest field real time parameters to predict well performance and production forecast. The persistent approach to improve well performance was implemented by dividing entire Field into segments based on water encroachment, pressure distribution and fluid properties as each well is located in a segment requiring specific approach and technique's to sustain well production and performance improvement. To implement production sustenance and enhancement plan, huge well surveillance plan was adopted to acquire TDT/PNC, PLT, FBHP and SBHP, PGOR to get latest well and field data to implement following specific actions a) Quick wins: Rig less water shut-off jobs, additional and re-perforations in dry zones to improve well production; b) Rig work overs to cement squeeze the high water cut zones to reduce water cuts and improve well vertical lift performance on natural flow; c) Selective ESP in low pressure and high water cut field segments to sustain the existing production; d) Use of latest ICD design based on PLT results to sustain well production from the existing horizontal wells with less water cut; e) Recompletion of poor performance wells of other zones after critical evaluation. The case history of Production management of this giant reservoir in North Kuwait leading to significant increase in production is a successful journey to be shared with International professional community.

North Kuwait is an active asset with Sabiriyah Mauddud as the largest reservoir undergoing development using water flood. Initially with inverted 5 spot; followed by inverted 9 spot and ultimately with Produce High-Inject Low (PHIL) concept, Mauddud had witnessed a continuous testing of as to what is the best strategy to maximize sweep & recovery. The current focus is on striking a balance between production and injection so as to beat the impact of delays in water injection projects. Several techniques for evaluation of rock, pressure-production; fluid/ PVT; injection water quality; segment reviews; network modelling for producer as well injection network have been either matured to top class stature or initiated with the help of IOC consultants. Out of box solutions to have more injection in needy segments; deferment of drilling of new producers in pressure sink areas; ESP upsizes in segments with excellent pressure support or inversely ESP downsizing in low pressure areas had been the tested options without significantly impacting the trajectory of production build up. Due diligence was conducted to have comprehensive integration & optimization of resources and setting up associated priorities based on the depletion indices, injection efficiency and Voidage replacement trend. Exercise was done to assess the volume of water being re-circulated without sweep benefits so as to mitigate via conformance actions. MOCs have been initiated to fast track injection into the reservoir, even before the major project for water injection facility comes up. Opportunities for aggressive dump flood have been investigated and action plan under implementation. Change in scope from producers to injectors in the drilling plan for 2017/18 & 2018/19 have been proposed for the health of the reservoir. Sabiriyah Mauddud is the single largest producer of oil in North Kuwait since last 2 years as a result of effective water flood management. Grey areas and gaps, as evident from the present performance and upcoming challenging production targets are quickly being bridged so as to encash the subsurface booty of STOOIP in Sabiriyah Mauddud - SAMA.

Water Shut-Off (WSO) solutions are in constant improvement. This paper shares the experience of integrating PLT, CTU, and packer Real-time technologies together in multidisciplinary team and integrated workflows to minimize the uncertainty and maximize the success rate of Rig-less WSO in horizontal open-hole wells completed with passive Inflow Control Devices (ICD) as first time ever in Kuwait, to extend the natural flow life which in turn reduces oil production deferment waiting for slot in busy rig work-over schedule.Water conformance represents common challenge in oilfield industry which increases with the field maturity especially in water flood and active water drive reservoirs. Water production has significant impact on production economics, facilities, adding more challenges to the development of such oilfields.Sabriyah field, most challenging oilfield in North Kuwait, produces from Lower Burgan (LB) Cretaceous Sandstone reservoir which experiences water conformance issues due to water flood and active water drive respectively.Strategy of drilling horizontal open-hole wells completed with passive ICDs in LB reservoir was adapted early 2012 as trial to delay water breakthrough via achieving higher productivity over conventional vertical wells and in turn be able to produce same average production rate at much less and balanced drawdown. However, some wells have shown increased water cut (WC), which constrained their natural flow capability and hence need for rig work-over for WSO and/or conversion to artificial lift.WSO is a common practice in the field but complicity increases in horizontal completions. The main challenge during WSO treatment is the proper diagnosis and full understanding of the water mechanism for selecting the efficient treatment design, which is crucial for a sound decision making considering the associated cost and the operational complications especially in horizontal wells.Process outline: WC monitoring, identification of water source using horizontal PLT, Water Saturation logs, reservoir understanding, production modeling and nodal analysis, identifying best WSO intervention technology, isolation depth and operation design then execution and post job evaluation.The production analysis utilizing horizontal PLT technology, Water Saturation and open-hole logs supports inflow profiling and identification of water entries in horizontal ICD compartments. Hence, better problem understanding and proper decision making for where to isolate using Rig-less Real-time CTU and inflatable packer technology in three wells to-date with following results:• Significant oil gain/restore and WC reduction. • Extending natural flow life and postpone need for rig work-over. • Less water on facility side allowing more production capacity.• Saving reservoir energy.The integration of inflow profiling, water saturation, Real-time intervention new technologies and multidisciplinary team collaboration led to excellent execution of rig-less WSO in horizontal passive ICD completions in North Kuwait.