Saudi Aramco Loses Count - What KSA Says About Haradh vs. What Google Earth Imaging Shows - Oil Drum

[hatrack]

The Haradh III development at the southern tip of the Ghawar oil field in Saudi Arabia, completed in 2006, has been portrayed by the national oil company Saudi Aramco as the turning point in the battle between geological adversity and engineering prowess. The poorest reservoir rock in Ghawar has succumbed to the latest in well and drilling technology. Aided by 3D Seismic images showing fracture locations, well sites were optimized and drills were guided by remote control from Dhahran. Smart completions were standard (did they ever call them "dumb" completions?), and something called an "iField" was set up. Maximum-reservoir-connectivity wells (MRCs) were fitted with monitoring electronics and valves on individual laterals such that they could be throttled back as needed to minimize water encroachment. Testing was done, adjustments were made as needed, and everything rolled out ahead of schedule. Goals for individual well productivity of 10,000 barrels/day were met, and projections indicated smooth sailing for ten years or more. Lots of glowing articles were published, and the man in charge eventually rode off in glory to solve the rest of the world's oil production problems.

Funny thing, though. When you look at a satellite photo and count the number of producer wells they ended up drilling, it adds up to quite a few more than they have been claiming -- about 60% more. There must be a reasonable explanation. Perhaps they simply miscounted.

EDIT

While we can't double check the flow measurements, we can count wells. I took a look at the Haradh-III development project a couple years back to determine if the field was laid out they claim. Satellite imagery from Google Earth was used to identify and count wells to check against those reported. Unfortunately, most of the southern end of Ghawar was covered by high resolution imagery only as recent as 2004 (i.e. prior to the Haradh III project). Some 2006 low resolution imagery was available, and this plus the fortuitous location of a few wells on the eastern fringe (where there were 2006 hi-res pictures) gave a reasonable indication that the project was as advertised. Another complication is the large number of gas wells present in that region, and gas and oil wells can be distinguished only at high resolution. So a definitive assessment would have to wait. See Satellite o'er the Desert and selected stories on The Oil Drum for more background on this and subsequent work on visually characterizing the oil fields of Saudi Arabia.

EDIT

Mission Accomplished?

With a flurry of rather glowing articles in the press as well as in technical journals, Saudi Aramco has crowned the Haradh-III project a resounding success. These articles are so consistent in their assessment of the project that it was rather surprising to find that it has required 52 producer wells instead of the claimed 32 and also required 3 additional injectors. A couple extra might be expected, but that so many more were needed and that this has not leaked out is somewhat shocking. What are we to infer from this? Lower production from each well (vs. the claim of 10k b/d)? More total production (i.e. over 300k b/d)? My bet is on the former. This certainly doesn't mean that Haradh-III isn't a significant achievement, but this does suggest that the geological complexity still hasn't been overwhelmed by technology. Saudi Aramco has been scrambling since opening day in early 2006 to meet the 300,000 barrels per day production target, and as of last fall, had at least a couple more wells planned. Finally, I will note that the latest grand achievement by Saudi Aramco, the Khurais field redevelopment, also suffers from well inflation. When first announced, there were to be a total of 310 wells. When finally started up, there were 420 wells. At least they admitted it this time, although no explanation has been offered (perhaps they haven't been asked nicely). Hopefully, Google (GeoEye) will point its new camera at Khurais sometime soon so we may help them count wells.

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http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6248#more

Very interesting story.

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