The Intelligent field is the oil industry's new trend that enables continuous monitoring and optimization of individual wells and overall reservoir performance. This is achieved by integrating fields' real time data in the reservoir management business processes. The results from this integration are anticipated to increase production rates, identify opportunities for higher hydrocarbon recoveries and reduce operating costs and future capital expenditures.Saudi Aramco has embarked on implementing the Intelligent Field (I-Field) initiative through new pilot projects in Qatif and Haradh increment III fields. The objectives of the pilot projects are to provide real-time diagnostic capabilities, highlight and address implementation challenges, and develop a comprehensive architecture for I-Field implementation in Saudi Aramco fields.This paper discusses the implementation approach of the intelligent field initiatives in Saudi Aramco. It will shed light on the challenges encountered and will present the process and methodology of developing the roadmap of the "surveillance layer," the first building block of Saudi Aramco's I-Field architecture.

In order to satisfy the demand for oil and gas, it becomes increasingly necessary to produce from formations that are deeper, have low permeability, and higher temperature. Conventionally, hydraulic fracturing fluids make use of viscosifiers such as guar and its derivatives to generate the rheological properties required during the fracturing process. However, to withstand the high-temperature environments, higher loadings of polymer is required. This leads to an increase in polymer and additive concentrations. Most importantly, these higher loading fluids do not break completely, and generate residual polymer fragments that can plug the formation and reduce fracture conductivity significantly. This work builds on previous work which introduced a new hybrid dual polymer hydraulic fracturing fluid that was developed for high-temperature applications. The fluid consists of a guar derivative and a polyacrylamide-based synthetic polymer. Compared to conventional fracturing fluids, this new system is easily hydrated, requires less additives, can be mixed on the fly, and is capable of maintaining excellent rheological performance at low polymer loadings. In this work, the fluid is further optimized to withstand even higher temperatures up to 400°F. Total polymer loadings of 30 lb/1,000 gal and 40 lb/1,000 gal dual polymer fracturing fluid were tested in this work and were prepared in the ratio of 1:1 and 1:2 (CMHPG: Synthetic). They were then crosslinked with a metallic crosslinker and placed in a HPHT rheometer to measure the viscosity between 200 and 400°F. After observing the failure temperature of the mixtures, additives such as buffers, crosslinking delayers, and oxygen scavengers were added and tested at temperatures above that point. The type of crosslinker used was also varied to observe the effects of the rate of release of the metallic crosslinker on thermal stability. The results indicate that the 1:2 (CMHPG: Synthetic) mixture performed better at temperatures exceeding 330°F than the 1:1 mixture. The failure point of both mixtures was observed to be 350°F for the latter while the former failed at 370°F. The addition of a crosslinker that allowed a more controllable release was observed to improve the thermal stability of the fluid mixture above 370°F by increasing the polymer's shear tolerance. The addition of additives to the mixture was shown to improve the thermal stability of the solution to varying degrees. Of the three additives, the most significant enhancement came from the addition of oxygen scavengers while the least was from the buffer solution.

In today's drive to improve well production and performance, more innovative methods are continually being implemented to enhance well productivity and reservoir management. By increasing reservoir contact and applying fit for purpose technologies, increased production can be attained at lower drawdown. This can be accomplished by the effective implementation of multilaterals wells. In multilateral wells equipped with active downhole control valves and downhole measurement-devices, monitoring and managing the production from each lateral is achievable. These capabilities will enhance well performance and allow better sweep; hence better recovery. This paper describes the design, completion, commissioning, and operational experience of the world's first well equipped with intelligent completion combined with fiber-optic monitoring capabilities. Well-A is a trilateral MRC well with more than 5 km of total reservoir contact. The monitoring system for each lateral includes an optical flowmeter and pressure and temperature gauge. The readings of the flowmeter were compared to the readings against the conventional testing facilities. Production tests were conducted with various combinations of downhole valve positions for each of the three laterals to determine the optimum combination. The pressure and temperature gauges yielded excellent measurements as they were verified against conventional pressure and temperature measurements. The downhole flow rate measurements were assessed against conventional rate measurements and demonstrated acceptable results across most downhole valve positions. A comprehensive review was conducted on the optical flow meter capabilities to provide better understanding; hence, facilitate further enhancement to the technology and better production optimization capabilities. The review was utilized to develop a new system that provides better capabilities across all valves positions. Background The adoption rate of optical sensing technology for in-well permanent monitoring has accelerated dramatically since it was first introduced more than a decade ago. Today, most of the common electronic-based technology measurements for in-well permanent reservoir monitoring have a commercially available optical equivalent; such as pressure, temperature, seismic, and flowmeters. In fact, optical monitoring has exceeded the functionalities of conventional downhole measurement devices. The new fiber-optic devices provide various measurement capabilities such as Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS), Array Temperature Sensing (ATS), and non-intrusive single and multiphase flowmeters.

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Summary This paper describes a case study that details the planning, completion, testing, and production of the first maximum reservoir contact (MRC), multilateral (ML), and smart completion (SC) deployment in Ghawar Field, Saudia Arabia. A well was drilled and completed as a proof of concept. It was set up as a trilateral and was equipped with an SC that encompassed a surface-remotely-controlled hydraulic-tubing-retrievable advanced system coupled with a pressure- and temperature-monitoring system. SC provides isolation and downhole control of commingled production from the laterals. The well was managed to improve and sustain oil production by eliminating water production by use of the variable-positions flow-control valve. Monitoring the rate and the flowing pressure in real time allowed for optimal well production. The appraisal and acceptance portions of the completion process were achieved when this well was completed, put on production, and tested. The concept was approved when the anticipated benefits were realized during monitoring of the performance of the well. Leveraged knowledge from this pilot has provided an insight into SC capabilities and implementation. Moreover, it has set the stage for other developments within Saudi Aramco. Background Haradh forms the southwest portion of the Ghawar oil field, approximately 80 km onshore from the Arabian Gulf, in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia (Fig. 1). Haradh field consists of three increments: The initial production started in May 1996 with Increment-1, followed by Increment-2 and -3 in April 2003 and January 2006, respectively. Increment-1 was developed initially by use of mainly vertical wells, while Increment-2 was developed with horizontal wells. The subsequent MRC/ML wells and SC installations in Increment-2 were part of a proof-of-concept project to test and evaluate the impact of these technologies on reservoir and well performance and on overall reservoir-management strategies. As a result of the proof-of-concept project, Increment-3 was developed with MRC/ML wells with SCs. Modeling was used extensively to illustrate the potential benefits of the incremental expenditure of MRC/ML wells with SCs vs. conventional completions (Afaleg et al. 2005; Mubarak et al. 2007). Several authors quantified potential gains from the use of such wells and completions in field developments (Yeten et al. 2002; Saleri et al. 2006). Haradh-A12 is the first MRC/ML well to be equipped with SC in Ghawar field. It was drilled and completed as a trilateral selective producer with a surface-controlled variable multipositional hydraulic system. This paper discusses a closed-loop approach that led to efficient realtime production optimization.