Intelligent-Field Technologies on a Mass Scale: Change for Efficiency Improvement

The Northern Area Oil Operations of Saudi Aramco has embarked on the installation of Intelligent Field equipment and innovative technologies on a mass scale for the past decade. It was noticed that the initial performance and utilization of such technologies were lower than expected. Therefore; a plan comprised of the following was devised to tackle these deficiencies: 1. Launching a major organizational restructure and assigning a dedicated team of specialists to look after the Intelligent-Field equipment and the real-time data transmission to the databases. 2. Establishing a tailored maintenance service contract with the providers of such technologies. 3. Developing an in-house training program for specialization in the operation, maintenance and utilization of Intelligent-Field equipment. 4. Launching of an innovative technology deployment and evaluation program where each technology is assigned to a technical champion who assumes full responsibility of the technology deployment process. 5. Initiating and maintaining state-of-the-art knowledge management system to track the progress, document the procedures and processes, and capture the lessons learned from the application of each technology. The implementation of these steps resulted in enhanced Intelligent-Field equipment performance efficiency. In addition, the utilization of real-time data — in advanced production and reservoir engineering analysis; such as automated well rate validation and allocation, production optimization and sweep monitoring — has improved due to the high availability and quality of the transmitted data. This paper will provide details of the holistic approach developed by Saudi Aramco for the installation and maintenance of Intelligent-Field equipment and all the implemented changes in the work processes to maximize their performance and tangible benefits. The success and value-added by implementing this generic approach will be illustrated through the high efficiency of Saudi Aramco’s Intelligent-Field equipment, which has been maintained at 99%.