6 - Kuwait Oil Company

are many methods of
well stimulation which
can be applied in both
sandstone and carbonate
reservoirs. Primary
stimulation methods
include matrix acidizing
in which treatment fluids
flow through the pores
spaces removing damage
and fracture stimulation
treatments in which the
formation breakdown
gradient is exceeded and
large fractures created that
significantly increase the
inflow area. Other more
exotic stimulation methods
are also available
using, for example, high
energy sound waves,
explosives and heat.
Bader Al-Matar, the
Ag. Team Leader for
Research & Technology
Subsurface, Research &
Technology Subsurface
Team at KOC was the
first speaker during the
fifth session. Al-Matar,
who has worked for KOC
for almost 15 years, is
currently working with the
Research and Technology
Group and has introduced
a number of successful
technologies to KOC.
During his presentation,
Al-Matar discussed
waterflood optimization
using an ensemble
based method. Al-
Matar maintained that
numerical waterflood
optimization is applied
to two representative
sector models of the
main producing reservoir
of the Minagish Field
located in Southwest
Kuwait. Although the
reservoir is mature,
it is still under active
development as there is
still a large potential for
oil production. To sweep
the oil and to maintain
pressure, injectors are
placed in a peripheral
configuration around
the producers. A major
challenge is to work
out an injection and
production strategy that
optimizes the long term
reservoir performance.
As reservoir performance
indicator the Net Present
Value (NPV) was chosen,
penalizing water injection
and production. The
operation of conventional
wells have been optimized
and the resulting reservoir
performance is compared
to a reference with a
reactive control strategy,
that is, closing a producer
if its producing liquid
stream is no longer
profitable. Furthermore,
the added value of
smart wells have been
investigated by applying
well completions with
multiple ICVs of which
the settings, represented
by values between 0
(fully closed) and 1 (fully
open), are optimized.
The other speaker from
KOC to present to the
audience was Abrar
Hajjeyah, who is a
Petroleum Engineer I from
the Field Development
Gas Team. During
her presentation,
Hajjeyah maintained
that optimization, timely
decisions, and safety
were key requirements
for achieving KOC’s gas
production targets. In
2009, KOC launched
the Kuwait Integrated
Digital Field Jurassic
(KwIDF-Jurassic) project
together with SIS as a
cross-domain solution.
Of significance is
that for the first time
in Kuwait, KOC has
achieved objectives
that include design and
installation of every
component of a digital
oilfield solution. Surface
instrumentation (SCADA
System), comprehensive
infrastructure
(communication and
data), data management,
intelligent workflows,
function-relevant
visualization, ergonomic
collaboration, and change
management were
included. Furthermore,
new Digital Field Work
Processes, supported by
sophisticated collaboration
rooms, have been
developed to enable
proactive, real-time
decisions to be made
in accordance with the
exploitation strategy
defined for the field.
The intelligent workflows
incorporate the requisite
underlying production
science to liberate
engineers from tedious
manual data preparation,
redirecting their focus
to optimization alaytics.
In effect, by applying
petrochemical knowhow,
cross domain
experience, and scientific
principles, KwIDF
Jurassic is automating
the evolution of data
to knowledge, thereby
enabling a new standard
of asset awareness not
previously achieved
with other solutions.
The resulting collaborative
work ties together
work processes from
different teams such as
Production Support, Field
Development, and the
facilities operator. KwIDF
Jurassic thus unifies KOC’s
technical resources,
achieving a new level of
decision-making behaviors
and cooperation. For
example, the subsurface
team can now also make
real-time contributions to
Production Operations as
opposed to being limited
to only the traditional
non-operational role of
studies and reviews.
About Society of
Petroleum Engineers
The Society of Petroleum
Engineers (SPE) is a notfor-profit
professional
association whose
members are engaged
in energy resources
development and
production. SPE serves
more than 104,000
members in 123 countries
worldwide. SPE is a key
resource for technical
knowledge related to the
oil and gas exploration
and production industry
and provides services
through its publications,
events, training courses,
and online resources
at www.spe.org.
April - June 2013 27