Page 46 - Intelligent Digital Oil And Gas Fields

26 Intelligent Digital Oil and Gas Fields

1.6.3.6 I-Field Practices
Saudi Aramco has been achieving tangible and intangible benefits from
the implementation of its I-Field practices. The benefits are directly
related to optimizing operating costs, field performance, and safety records
(Abdul-Karim et al., 2010). For example, Al-Malki et al. (2008) report that a
better understanding of reservoir pressure communication during preinjection
stages results in in-time optimum water injection management in new incre-
ments, using real-time reservoir management. The I-Field process in the Abu
Hadriyah, Fadhili, and Khursaniyah fields (AFK) helped to reduce planned
preinjection requirements by 14% from the planned volume, over 3months,
by adjusting the injection rates in the 11 reservoirs in AFK (Al-Khamis et al.,
2009). Additional tangible benefits of I-Field implementation include:
• Significant acceleration of evaluation of extremely complex early inter-
reservoir communication in the Khurais giant field, between the reser-
voirs ArabD and Hanifa, now completed in matter of weeks, not years.
• Minimized well interventions, enhanced work efficiency, and timely
response to production deviations that resulted in an annual fourfold
reduction in wireline jobs to collect flowing bottom-hole pressure
(FBHP) and static bottom-hole pressure (SBHP) data (Al-Arnaout and
Al-Zahrani, 2008).
• Providing quality assurance for crude properties of a blend mixture from
AFK’s 11 reservoirs crude grades at all times (Al-Khamis et al., 2009).
• Enabling a balanced approach in generating data acquisition programs
and field-strategic surveillance masterplans.

1.6.3.7 COP’s Integrated Operations
Conoco Phillips had specific targets, established and tracked KPIs, and
performed evaluations against baselines of its IO program. For its plunger
lift operations, evaluations estimated that annual spending was reduced by
39% in 2012 versus its 2009 baseline (Krushell, 2015). This reduction was
achieved through a centralized management system, smart logic control,
an improved maintenance strategy, and enhanced scrutiny and optimization
of well down procedures. For its intervention processes, the company
reported a 29% reduction in spending for 2012 versus a 2010 baseline,
which resulted from reducing swabbing activity and rod pump downtime
or failure activity and implementing a downhole defect-elimination
process. Other value was captured from improvements or changes in tank
management, operations reporting, trucking logistics, issue tracking, and
data management, and faster communications, which resulted in increased
uptime and production.