Haradh III: A Milestone for Smart Fields

N.G. Saleri, Saudi Aramco Reservoir Management Head; A.O. Al-Kaabi, Haradh Reservoir Management Supervisor and General Supervisor; and A.S. Muallem, Udhaliyah Reservoir Management

The Haradh III project came on stream in February 2006, adding 300,000 B/D of Arabian light crude production capacity to Ghawar, the world’s largest oil field. The project’s main significance, however, derives from the fact that it sets a milestone for smart technologies at a scale and complexity unprecedented for Saudi Aramco and, arguably, for the industry. Haradh III might be regarded as the entry point to a new era in upstream projects and specifically into the domain of real-time reservoir management. The project spanned a period of 21 months. It entailed construction of a grassroots surface-facility network, integrated with a complex subsurface development program. Maximum-reservoir-contact (MRC) wells, smart completions, geosteering, and i-field features provided the four main technology components. Their efficient integration was the key to the project’s success.

Background

Haradh constitutes the southernmost portion of the Ghawar complex and covers an area 75 km long and 26 km wide at its widest section (Fig. 1). The field consists of three subsegments of approximately equivalent reserves, with an aggregate oil initially in place of 38 billion STB. Initial production from Haradh I occurred in May 1996, followed up by Haradh II and Haradh III in April 2003 and February 2006, respectively. The field developments, occurring over a span of a decade, offer a unique opportunity in gauging the impact of technologies, the main thrust of this article. Haradh I was developed exclusively with vertical wells, whereas horizontal completions provided the primary configuration for producers/injectors in Haradh II. Haradh III, the main focus here, was developed by relying mainly on smart MRC completions within an i-field framework (Fig. 2). The total Haradh production capacity is 900,000 B/D, with equal contributions from the three respective subsegments I, II, and III.

Fig. 1—3D map showing Haradh field and its three main subdivision

Fig. 2—Areal map showing Haradh III initial development plan using MRC wells.

Arab-D, the producing horizon, belongs to the lower member of the Arab formation of the Jurassic period. It is characterized by a complex sequence of anhydrite and limestone events, with varying degrees of “‘dolomitization’.” Faults, fractures, and fracture swarms were known to be part of the regional geology and attracted considerable attention in the project planning, given their propensity for creating water-encroachment problems.

Project Statistics

Table 1 presents the key project statistics for Haradh III. It entailed a production target of 300,000 B/D, using 32 multilateral wells. A peripheral water-injection program (with an ultimate capacity of 560,000 BWPD) preceded the crude production by 4 months as part of the planned pressure-maintenance program.

Smart Technologies: A Matter of Necessity

Haradh III posed a variety of challenges that were recognized as being unmanageable within a conventional “business-as-usual” framework. Most notably, three issues demanded attention. First, geological complexities—presence of fault/fracture systems, reservoir heterogeneities, and associated premature-water-breakthrough (and, hence, oil-productivity-decline) risks. Second, the fast project schedule—a 30-month time window between the spud date of the first development well and the scheduled startup of 300,000 B/D production by July 2006. Finally, the emphasis on long-term production sustainability—a prerequisite for company development projects. While the concept of “smart” technologies and their impact have been addressed previously (Saleri, 2002 and 2003), what makes Haradh III stand out as a milestone is the convergence of four recent upstream technologies. The value appreciation through the synergy among the four technology components merits more discussion.

Haradh III became the first Saudi Aramco development project to be developed exclusively with MRC wells with downhole ICVs for flow control. Average well-production rates were targeted to be 10,000 B/D, compared with 3,000 and 6,000 B/D for Haradh I and II, respectively (Fig. 3). The smart completions were necessary to ensure production sustainability in the face of premature water encroachment through fault/fracture systems. In fact, the well requirements and relative unit costs would have been considerably higher had vertical or conventional single-horizontal wells been selected instead of MRC wells for Haradh III (Fig. 4).

Fig. 3—Impact of technologies on average planned well production rates for the three segments of Haradh field over a 10-year span.

Fig. 4—Relative unit well costs for Haradh III show impact of technologies. Note: Costs are relative to vertical wells in cost per B/D.

The role of geosteering as an enabling technology also has been noted previously by Saleri (Saleri 2005). Its value was even more pronounced in Haradh III because accurate placement of multilaterals within the Arab-D reservoir (and integrity of hole trajectories) was necessary to achieve desired target rates of 10,000 B/D. Post-drilling production tests yielded well production indexes (PIs) averaging 150 B/D/psi—exceeding planned productivities (100 B/D/psi).

The fourth upstream technology that played a defining role in Haradh III was i-field. The boundaries and desired expectations from i-field, very much like the Internet a decade ago, are yet to be defined (Unneland and Hauser 2005). I-field was part of the field’s strategic surveillance master plan—a prerequisite for the company’s reservoir-management tenets (Saleri 2005). The surveillance master plan called for a network of wells (injectors, producers, dedicated observation) providing full areal coverage to monitor key reservoir-performance attributes continuously (Fig. 2).

All 12 of the observation- and 28 of the MRC-well completions were equipped with downhole PDHMSs. The subsurface data were transmitted in real time to Dhahran (roughly 350 km from Haradh) and complemented real-time surface measurements (water horsepower, rates, cuts) being fed through the supervisory-control and data-acquisition (SCADA) system.

The onset of peripheral injection in November 2005 allowed real-time generation of fieldwide isobaric maps (Fig. 5), which in turn produced an instantaneous and improved understanding of the reservoir geology, most notably such features as fault/fracture systems and intrareservoir connectivity. We might arguably claim this event, however modest in its scope, to mark the beginning of the real-time reservoir-management era for Saudi Aramco. The real-time isobaric maps indicated excellent communication between the east and west flanks and the crestal portion of the reservoir, thus defusing preproject concerns about efficacy of peripheral injection. Even more importantly, the northwest portion of Haradh III was diagnosed to provide a superhighway of communication because of the presence of faults/fractures—an eminent risk to offset crestal wells (because of accelerated water encroachment). Note the rapid rise and fall in pressures at observation Well HRDH 1500 in response to the injection from HRDH 1711.

Fig. 5—Isobaric map showing pressure distribution 3 months after startup of preinjection. The top plot shows the pressure response in an observation well resulting from injection at the offset injector.

The quick diagnosis and subsequent response (i.e., cutback in injection) most certainly averted premature water breakthrough and loss of oil production in the northwest segment of Haradh III.

The implications of Fig. 5 are far-reaching. A real-time 4D visualization of reservoir attributes opens huge opportunities for optimization with respect to extended well lives, plateaus, and ultimate recoveries, hence the gateway to real-time reservoir management.

Key Enablers: What Made It Work?

The successful “onstreaming” of the 300,000-B/D Haradh III project reflects, by and large, the impact of new technologies, a point reinforced by the comparison of unit well development costs and productivities. A more subtle, albeit less appreciated, aspect, however, relates to the organizational and cultural elements that played a key part in the project’s success. As pointed out by Lovallo and Kahneman (2003), many project failures can be attributed to lack of objective challenges to the underlying project assumptions—a critical step, particularly in a project such as Haradh III, where new technologies and their realistic risks and counterstrategies needed to be built into the project plans. What facilitated this process? Specifically, how was the balance among the various stakeholders of the process (e.g., reservoir management, drilling operations, producing, geology, project management, and service providers) achieved, while meeting the grand goal of 300,000 B/D by March 2006? Several key enablers can be identified, most notably:

Best-in-Class Initiative in Well Optimization. This corporate initiative allowed the Haradh III multidisplinary team to develop plans, execute them, and revise as necessary in a fast-paced manner. Regularly held workshops and “Communities of Practice,” a Web-based knowledge-sharing platform, provided two effective mechanisms of action-oriented communication.
A culture of “lessons learned.” While there were no major surprises in the key reservoir-performance fundamentals or geological features, the volume of new data coming in through geosteering and i-field necessitated a project culture that was intensely adaptive. Interestingly, the two notable sources of live data, geosteering, and i-field, became enablers for interdisciplinary cooperation and convergence of solutions.
A simple performance-based tracking system that ensured that new technologies (e.g., MRC wells and smart wells) worked as planned and that revised strategies were executed quickly whenever gaps emerged. For instance, what if smart wells malfunctioned or the desired target rates were not achieved?
Reservoir-management excellence as the prime driving force and tie breaker in decision making. Long-term sustainability and performance outweighing short-term cost and operational-convenience considerations. The extra efforts taken to flow back, clean up, and test smart completions illustrate one example. The achieved productivities clearly justified the incremental cost incurred.

A note of caution, however, might be appropriate. The value gained from smart technologies may vary depending on the underlying reservoir-management tenets. For instance, the successful Haradh III injection reallocation was realized on the strength of a surveillance master plan (and more specifically thanks to well-planned observation wells). In their absence, i-field would have been an interesting information technology endeavor of marginal consequences. In Haradh III, reservoir-management tenets magnified i-field’s benefits.

Synopsis

Haradh III can be viewed as a notable milestone in smart-technology deployment because of the convergence and successful integration of four technologies: MRC wells, smart completions, geosteering, and i-field. The project’s apparent success can be traced as much to the game-changing attributes of the aforementioned technologies as to the successful integration of them. The latter was made possible by new work processes, which enabled rapid decision making in a collaborative work environment covering numerous disciplines.

Haradh III also represents an important, albeit modest, step into the realm of real-time reservoir management. Injection/production plans (by well and region) were modified (in near-real time) in response to subsurface pressure/temperature readings transmitted through the i-field network, resulting in potential gains in well lives and production sustainability. The implications and possibilities for future field-management practices are profound, yet need to be further delineated and defined. In essence, i-field enables real-time subsurface monitoring in combination with real-time control through ICVs. The resulting synergy is bound to bring long-lasting improvements in field performance well beyond gains realized in the startup phase of Haradh III. The journey has just begun.

Acknowledgment

The authors wish to thank Saudi Aramco management for permission to publish this article. The contributions of the entire E&P community, as well as project-management teams and Well-Dynamics and Schlumberger, are duly noted.

References

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