Application of Best in Class Reservoir Management Practices in the Production Startup of a New Giant Field Development through Integration of Real Time Data: A Case Study

Abstract

The development team successfully met the production startup milestone for a giant carbonate oil field. Central to the story of this significant accomplishment was the application of best-in-class reservoir management practices through integration of real-time data. In this field development, Saudi Aramco invested the necessary resources to bring Intelligent Field capabilities to its field operations. The challenge to fully utilize real-time data for prudent reservoir management practices prior to field startup and during the pre-water injection phase was met by the development team as described in this case study. This paper describes the nature of the reservoir development and puts emphasis on the advantageous role that real-time data acquisition has played in allowing key reservoir management objectives to be met. The field is equipped with state-of-the-art data sensing and transmission capabilities. Examples of key reservoir management goals that will be discussed in this paper include maintaining reservoir pressure, water injection efficiency assessments, dynamic reservoir characterization process, real-time reservoir simulation model calibration process, and the concurrent release of field production/injection guidelines.