Saudi Aramco Expands Reach Through New Technology Centers

Development of a reservoir simulation model involves collection and analysis of an enormous amount of reservoir and well data for initial input. Computer graphics is the most effective tool for geologists and engineers to visualize, verify, and analyze the input data. After each simulation run, simulation engineers then have to depend heavily on computer graphics to analyze an even more intimidating amount of simulation results data. This is especially true at Saudi Aramco because of the large simulation models used to simulate the world's largest hydrocarbon reservoirs. Saudi Aramco's EXPEC Computer Center supports a wide spectrum of computer graphics applications to aid the exploration and engineering staffs through the entire cycle of reservoir characterization. The graphics applications help during the pre-simulation model data analysis as well as in the post-simulation results analysis. Larger and more accurate simulation models are currently being developed In Saudi Aramco. Computer technology (both software and hardware) needs to advance continually such that computer graphics can be utilized as an effective and efficient engineering tool by reservoir simulation professionals. This paper addresses Saudi Aramco's experience in dealing with very large simulation models and using computer graphics as an engineering tool. The program efficiency, device dependence, and data management problems will be discussed. The computer speed, data storage and access methods, data transmission speed, and graphics devices will also be detailed.

Congratulations are due this year’s winners of the Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) awards. The recipients will be honored during OTC, which runs 2–5 May at the Reliant Center in Houston. The OTC Distinguished Individual Achievement Award will recognize J. Kim Vandiver, a professor at the Massachusetts Inst. of Technology. He is being honored for his technical breakthroughs in the dynamics of vortex-induced vibration, which have enhanced the design of structures to with-stand high ocean currents, enabling oil and gas production to occur in progressively deeper water. The 2005 OTC Distinguished Achievement Award for Organizations goes to Kerr-McGee Oil and Gas Corp. and Technip for their pioneering efforts in the Gulf of Mexico in delivering three generations of spar floating production systems in 9 years. This is the second OTC award for Kerr-McGee in recent years. In 2002, the company won the same award for its Neptune Spar project, the first spar production platform. Kerr-McGee and Technip have developed a total of five production spars, using three different designs, over the past decade. The collaboration resulted in the world’s first production spar—now referred to as a “classic” spar design—which was installed at the Kerr-McGee-operated Neptune field in the eastern Gulf of Mexico in 1997. In 2001, the companies developed the world’s first application of truss spars at the Kerr-McGee-operated Nansen and Boomvang gas fields in the East Breaks area of the Gulf of Mexico. Nansen lies in 3,678 ft of water, while Boomvang is in 3,453 ft. Another truss spar for the Gunnison field began production in 2002. Last year saw another world’s first with the development and delivery of the third-generation spar, called a “cell spar,” for the Kerr-McGee-operated Red Hawk field in the Gulf’s Garden Banks Block 877. Kerr-McGee holds a 50% interest in the field, with Devon Energy also taking a 50% share. Red Hawk is a two-well subsea development in 5,300 ft water depth. A sixth spar, using the truss design, is currently under construction for another deepwater project at Kerr-McGee’s Constitution field. The cell spar is designed essentially as an alternative to a long-distance tieback. The design consists of a vertical configuration of seven cylinders that are 20 ft in diameter and form a giant column that supports a 4,700-ton production platform. The spar is anchored to the seafloor by polyester moorings that are lighter, less expensive, and less corrosive than steel cables. Red Hawk’s production is at 120 million ft3/D of gas with expansion capacity of up to 300 million ft3/D. The breakthrough with the Red Hawk spar was its economy and small size. The less expensive cell spars will enable producers to look at deepwater reserves that in the past might have been too small to develop. Reserves previously required approximately 100 mil-lion BOE to justify development, but with smaller production platforms, reserves of less than half that size are now viable. Other producers have begun to adopt Kerr-McGee’s and Technip’s groundbreaking technology. Thirteen spars have been installed in the Gulf of Mexico, and Technip has built 10 of them and is currently constructing another. Technip also just signed a contract with Murphy Oil for the construction of a spar for the Kikeh field in Malaysia, which will be the first spar installed outside the Gulf of Mexico.

The Application of Precision Ultrasonic Technologies to Diagnose and Identify Crossflow between Formations, Flow behind Pipe and Casing Leaks Mahmoud Zakaria; Mahmoud Zakaria Seawell Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Ayedh Al-Shehri; Ayedh Al-Shehri Saudi Aramco Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Hassan Tammar Hassan Tammar Saudi Aramco Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paper presented at the SPE/DGS Saudi Arabia Section Technical Symposium and Exhibition, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia, April 2010. Paper Number: SPE-136922-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/136922-MS Published: April 04 2010 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Get Permissions Search Site Citation Zakaria, Mahmoud , Al-Shehri, Ayedh , and Hassan Tammar. "The Application of Precision Ultrasonic Technologies to Diagnose and Identify Crossflow between Formations, Flow behind Pipe and Casing Leaks." Paper presented at the SPE/DGS Saudi Arabia Section Technical Symposium and Exhibition, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia, April 2010. doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/136922-MS Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll ProceedingsSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)SPE Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Annual Technical Symposium and Exhibition Search Advanced Search Abstract Investigating the integrity of a casing, with the tubing in place, has always presented a challenge to operators worldwide. Even more challenging, is taking on an investigation into cross flow between formations & identifying regions of flow behind pipe, all while the tubing is still in place.Flow behind pipe has always been a well debated subject amongst industry professionals; most advancement in this matter has been subjective, based on well educated speculation and largely dependent on temperature profiles and changes in the geothermal gradient. Saudi Aramco have recently utilized a new ultrasonic based, diagnostic technology, in order to map regimes of flow behind pipe, identify cross flow between downhole formations, locate casing leaks with a pin-point accuracy, all while the tubing is in place, and while using conventional Electric Line logging.This technology exploits the innate physical properties of ultrasound. The capacity of ultrasonic waves to propagate through numerous and varied media, including steel, liquids & compressed gas; allows a radial investigation of up to 3m. Unlike several technologies that utilize ultrasound, this diagnostic tool, is a passive listener, with no transmitters. It is designed to pick up the sonic energy fluctuations created by the turbulent flow of fluids over a specific spectrum within the ultrasound frequencies window. A window that is so uniquely suited for precision wellbore diagnostics.This paper presents the basic physics behind the technology chosen by Saudi Aramco to address the aforementioned issues. It will highlight the possible applications of these tools and more specifically discuss the recent case studies successfully performed in Saudi Aramco. Keywords: crossflow, intervention, pipe, ultrasound, frequency, production monitoring, differential pressure, application, integrity issue, reservoir surveillance Subjects: Wellbore Design, Well & Reservoir Surveillance and Monitoring, Formation Evaluation & Management, Wellbore integrity, Production logging, Open hole/cased hole log analysis Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.

_ This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper IPTC 21182, “The Road to Zero Routine Gas Flaring: A Case Study From Saudi Arabia,” by Majed Alsuwailem, KAPSARC. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Copyright 2021 International Petroleum Technology Conference. Reproduced by permission. _ The complete paper discusses Saudi Arabia’s progress in gas flaring, the measures the government has taken, and how operators have adapted. It also identifies many lessons learned and technological solutions that could be scaled up on a national or a corporate level to reduce gas flaring to achieve zero routine flaring targets, especially in cases where the state owns hydrocarbon assets and leases them to private operators. History of Gas Flaring in Saudi Arabia Following the discovery in 1948 of Ghawar, Saudi Arabia’s largest oil field, oil production in the country increased and more associated gas was produced and flared. The national oil company, Saudi Aramco, had no interest in capturing gas produced from its oil operations. No local or regional market for it existed, and exporting the gas would have required substantial infrastructure investments. This coincided with periods of low crude oil prices that made gas projects uneconomical. However, as the 1960s and ’70s passed, gas came to be increasingly regarded as an essential part of a broader attempt to diversify the Saudi economy. This, in return, allowed the creation of jobs in new frontiers, including the refining and petrochemical industries. In the early 1970s, the Saudi Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals contracted the Texas Eastern Corporation to conduct a technical and economic feasibility study. It evaluated the benefits of establishing a massive refining and petrochemical industry in the city of Jubail on the Arabian Gulf and Yanbu on the Red Sea, with gas as an important feedstock. The study required major capital expenditures on midstream oil operations. Saudi Aramco, on the other hand, proposed exploiting associated gas to generate electricity. Because the price of oil did not exceed $3/bbl before the 1970s, the Saudi government opted for the first option. Saudi Aramco, however, only foresaw an opportunity in this development if the government contributed major capital to the midstream, resulting in a positive outcome for both the stakeholders and the operator, which turned out to be the case. Master Gas System (MGS) The government gave Saudi Aramco a contract to establish the $12 billion MGS to capture, process, and use gas as fuel and feedstock for the petrochemical plants. Most of this project was paid for by the government. By the fall of 1982, the key components of the MGS (gas-gathering and -processing facilities and pipelines) were fully operational. The MGS saved 4.2 billion scf of gas from being flared, which prevented 80 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere annually. Over time, the MGS has been expanded as more oil and nonassociated gas fields have been placed onstream and as demand has risen for dry gas in the power sector. By 2018, the MGS had gathered almost 3.5 trillion ft3/yr and is one of the world’s largest single hydrocarbon networks. It includes 4,000 km of pipelines, 50 gas/oil separation plants (GOSPs), seven gas plants, and two natural gas/liquid units.

A Young Professional’s Guide Welcome to the Kingdom In March of 1938, on the heels of six commercial failures, wildcatters drilled a new well that heralded the arrival of the most prolific oil field yet discovered. The fabled Dammam No.7 well established the existence of the supergiant Ghawar field in the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia and ushered in a new age of petroleum wealth and power for a land that had comprised mostly nomadic tribes. With 71 billion barrels of estimated oil in place, Ghawar takes the prize as the largest conventional oil field ever discovered. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists has identified more than 500 oil fields as world-class “giants” - those with proven oil reserves of 500 million barrels of oil or natural gas reserves exceeding 3 Tcf. A supergiant field is one containing more than 5 billion BOE in reserves. More than 200 of these giant oil and gas fields are concentrated in the Persian Gulf region - meaning that Saudi Arabia drew a lucky hand, indeed. Less than 10 miles south of the prolific Dammam Dome sits Dhahran, a city closely linked to the Saudi oil industry. Initially established as a camp for wildcatters, and then permanently settled after the delivery of commercial oil production, Dhahran has been Saudi Aramco’s headquarters for nearly 80 years. Weaving Together the Threads of Saudi Aramco Synonymous with the Saudi Arabian oil industry, the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (colloquially, Saudi Aramco or just Aramco) has emerged as a key player in the global petroleum scene. Saudi Aramco has exerted its hefty influence on the global crude supply several times in its long history. In the 1990s, the company quickly scaled up production to meet supply shortages caused by Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait. More recently, Saudi Aramco solicited support from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries to maintain production in an effort to reduce global oil prices, the reasons of which could be attributed to geopolitics and other strategic supply and demand initiatives, and is a topic for another article. Much of the history of Saudi Aramco can be found in Daniel Yergin’s award-winning book The Prize. The company originated in 1929 as the Bahrain Petroleum Company, a project backed by Chevron (then Standard Oil of California or Socal) to extend its reach outside of America. Socal was granted a 440,000-sq-mile oil concession in eastern Saudi Arabia, but after several years without a commercially viable well, half of the concession was given to Texaco in exchange for marketing infrastructure. Success came in 1938, when the company drilled the 1,500-B/D No. 7 well on the Dammam Dome. Six years later, the company’s name was changed to the Arabian-American Oil Company - Aramco, and oil production had risen to 20,000 B/D.

Some of the wells in the southern part of a remote field in Saudi Aramco are either producing intermittently or ceasing to flow against the high trunk line pressure. Saudi Aramco had considered various options along with horizontal thrust boring direct drilling under the sand dunes to reduce this high back pressure. A helico-axial multiphase pumping (MPP) technology was selected for the trial test in this field since in 2005 the horizontal thrust boring technology was limited to distance up to 2 km. In addition, the multiphase pump provides the flexibility such as reducing the back pressure and particularly, the helico-axial technology has a wider operating envelope as some wells will be weaker in the long run. Saudi Aramco has successfully re-commissioned the MPP in January 2011, and it was trial tested for a nine month period at the remote area with three dead wells and two marginal flowing wells. A total of 7,000 to 8,000 barrel oil per day incremental production was realized by lowering the back pressure on these wells using the MPP. This paper describes the testing, field operational experience and recommended improvement of a rotodynamic (helico-axial) MPP system at a remote, hilly terrain onshore oil field in Saudi Arabia. This paper is a sequent to SPE-117462 paper, Deployment of Rotodynamic Multiphase Pump in a Remote Hilly-Terrain Oil Field in Saudi Arabia," presented at the 2008 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, Abu Dhabi, UAE.

Air Products, Saudi Aramco to build first KSA hydrogen station

One of Saudi Aramco's strategic objectives is to prepare the work force to meet evolving technical challenges in Petroleum Engineering (PE). To address this important objective, the Petroleum Engineering Technologist Development Program (TDP) was established to provide the opportunity for young engineers to become recognized experts in critical technical disciplines. The TDP provides organizational support for the participants to progress in professional and managerial careers to ultimately fulfill Saudi Aramco's business needs. The program is overseen by management and technical advisory committees. New candidates are selected based on competency, years of experience, outstanding performance and strong personal skills. In addition, they must have demonstrated technical ability, resourcefulness, and dedication to address emerging technical and operational challenges. The technical advisory committee will assist in selecting an area of specialty based on Company requirements, candidates' interests and expertise. Also, they will nominate a mentor (subject matter expert) to guide and manage development of technical and soft skills. Each participant has a competency development road map based on a plan to develop required technical and soft skills. The participants must complete all required tasks and develop expertise in his area of specialty. In addition, the candidates are trained during rotational development assignments and, in many cases, they enroll in an advanced degree program. They need to meet specific TDP graduation requirements including publication in technical journals and active participation in international technical meetings and forums. In addition, to graduate from the TDP, a candidate is must demonstrate to the technical review committee that he has achieved technical expertise in his chosen specialty. Saudi Aramco designed the TDP to ensure young engineers have the opportunity to become technical experts in critical specialties. The program has successfully met its goals as evidenced by the number of successful graduates.

The bombings of Saudi Aramco’s oil-refining complexes in Khurais and Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, on Saturday, Sept. 14, caused a spike in prices for oil and some petrochemicals because of concerns about a tightening global supply. The attacks, which US officials are linking to Iran, forced Saudi Aramco to suspend production of 5.7 million barrels of crude oil per day. That’s half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production and 5% of global output. According to news reports, the attackers launched at least 20 drones along with other missiles and hit 14 storage tanks and three processing trains. Production at the Khurais complex resumed 24 h after the attack, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser said at a press conference. Production at the Abqaiq refinery is back up to 2 million barrels per day—around 50% of full production—and will return to full production by the end of September, Nasser said. Chemical plants at

Management control systems (MCS) are necessary in organizations as they seek to collect information about the entire system, management processes, and people. This study intends to investigate management control system and how firms can incorporate information system (IT) in the process for setting organizational standards as well as comparing the performance with the standards. Three companies in which it is important to deduce the effects of management control system will be studied. The American Halliburton, Saudi SABIC, and Saudi Aramco are all in the oil business. A mixed method approach will be employed where data collection will be done through semi-structured in-depth interviews and surveys. The study examines the incorporation of information system in the management control system. It is hypothesized that information technology and systems can upgrade the management control system in organizations, especially in Saudi Arabia, which is adorned by oil wealth firms, but technology to assist in management control is delimiting. It is observed that there is a general trend towards every likeliness that the IT helps in management control system and job execution. It is worth for a business to look into upgrading its information technology (IT) to help customer and employee satisfaction. In the survey outcome, American Halliburton and Saudi Aramco is exhibiting higher acclamation that IT aids management control and job accomplishment than in Saudi SABIC. Finding shows that IT is more helpful than the employees and revealed that there is a significant correlation with management control and strategic planning.

Saudi Aramco is the world’s leading oil producer based in Saudi Arabia. Around 1/10th of oil is exported from this organization to the world. Oil production is the major source of revenue for Saudi Arabia and its economy relies completely on it. The Shamoon virus attacked Saudi Aramco in August 2012. The country receives over 80% to 90% of total revenues from the exports of oil and contributes over 40% of the GDP [8]. Shamoon spread from the company's network and removed all of the hard drives. The company was limited only to office workstations and the software was not affected by the virus, due to which all technical operations could have been affected. It was the most disastrous cyber attack in the history of Saudi Arabia. Around 30,000 workstations had been infected by the virus. This paper also discusses the effects of Ransomware which recently attacked Aramco. Apart from that, we will also discuss some suggestions and security measures to prevent those attacks.

Distinguished Author Series articles are general, descriptive representations that summarize the state of the art in an area of technology by describing recent developments for readers who are not specialists in the topics discussed. Written by individuals recognized as experts in the area, these articles provide key references to more definitive work and present specific details only to illustrate the technology. Purpose: to inform the general readership of recent advances in various areas of petroleum engineering. Introduction Extrapolation of current and emerging reservoir-management trends in the industry points to a process that is increasingly multidisciplinary, integrated, technology-based, information-loaded, and real-time. None of these attributes by themselves or in total can, however, guarantee profitability or success in the coming decades. What, then, is the winning formula? If a two-hour flight from New York to London represents a straightforward goal for the next-generation airplane, what is our expectation for the reservoir-management process in the year 2010? In searching for the right path, this article proposes a "learning" reservoir as a model for a continual self-improving process. Disruptive Technologies The concept of disruptive technologies (DTs) was introduced at a plenary session, "Anticipating, Recognizing and Managing Disruptive Technologies," held by the MIT office of Corporate Relations on 9--10 May 2000. DTs are technologies that can significantly disrupt the conventional way of doing business, positively or negatively.1 Reservoir management, when viewed as a continual optimization process, has a vital need for DTs, because they can, when managed smartly, more than overcome challenges of increasingly complex field operations (e.g., maturing reservoirs or tight formations). DTs can be classified into three major areas.Diagnostic.Information or knowledge management.Enhanced production or so-called "Q2 "technologies. DTs span the spectrum from reservoir imaging and/or characterization tools, such as 3D and 4D seismic and seismic-while-drilling, to dynamic simulation models. Examples of information- or knowledge-management technologies include advanced communication systems (e.g., satellites), real-time visualization platforms, and Web-enabled data pools. Intelligent downhole completions and novel production or drilling technologies fall under the Q 2category. Case Examples The Shaybah field in Saudi Arabia, which went on stream in mid-1998, provides a powerful demonstration of DTs in two areas. Fig. 1 shows that in the diagnostic technology area, a comparison of the Shaybah full-field simulation-model performance statistics between 1996 and 2001 indicates a two-thirds reduction in overall evaluation turn-around time, in spite of an almost fivefold increase in model size. This trend is a result of the significant computational advances provided by massively parallel processing(MPP) simulation, using Saudi Aramco's simulator as reported by Dogru2 and Pavlas.3 The dramatic effect of horizontal well drilling on Shaybah development costs is an illustration of Q2 technologies (Fig. 2). The field was developed in the late 1990s, primarily by use of 1-km horizontal wells. Had it been developed with conventional wells, assuming 1980s technologies, drilling costs would have been six fold higher on a cost-per-barrel basis of initial oil production. Continuing optimization efforts toward deploying more advanced downhole configurations (including extended horizontals, multilateral wells, and intelligent completions) will further reduce unit production costs. A similar example of Q2 technologies is provided by a comparison of two adjacent development areas (Area 1/ 1996 vs. Area 2/2001) of the Haradh field in South Ghawar (Fig. 3). On a cost-per-barrel comparison of initial oil production rate, Haradh 2 drilling costs are approximately 20%lower, in spite of a 2:1 reservoir quality disadvantage, as inferred by comparative production indices (PIs). An example from the information-technology domain is provided by SaudiAramco's Web-based well-approval process that manages the chain of activities extending from selection to putting wells on production. The new process, oriented toward value addition across the entire chain, is run by a multidisciplinary team and uses an online information highway, which enables a seamless communication among the process stakeholders (reservoir, production, and drilling engineers; Earth scientists; and environmental and land-management specialists). Perhaps the most important aspect of the online process is with respect to its role as a data bank and integrator for all drilling-related activities and, hence, as a learning platform for continual improvement. This is achieved through a control point and feedback process, which reports and grades performance metrics (actual vs. planned) in specific categories (e.g., costs, well productivity, and completion integrity). These metrics then are used for interfield and intrafield ranking (against time) of the drilling process. The online process is expected to generate annual savings in excess of U.S. $35million. Learning Reservoirs Reservoir management can be viewed as a continuous optimization exercise within the context of systems thinking, as proposed by Senge 4 for complex organizations. By the same token, reservoirs can be regarded as learning platforms for this continuous optimization process over the life cycle of a field, as shown in Fig. 4.

Under the new situation of the increasing trend of globalization of the world economy and the accelerated development of regional economic integration, the Chinese government has taken into account the overall situation of international and domestic development and put forward the the Belt and Road Initiative, which has an important strategic value in promoting economic cooperation and trade between China and countries along the route and creates a good opportunity for Chinese enterprises. With the accelerating process of economic globalization, cultural conflicts caused by cultural differences are becoming more and more common in the foreign cooperation of China's petroleum companies. To solve these problems, this paper starts from the cultural differences of China's petroleum companies, takes China and Saudi Arabia as examples, studies the cultural characteristics of the two countries, and focuses on the cultures of Zhongyuan Saudi Arabia Company and Saudi Aramco, analyzes the cultural differences between the two petroleum companies, and discovers the reasons affecting foreign cooperation according to the cultural differences, and explores how different national cultures and company cultures should better integrate with each other.

Editor's column As expected, the job market for petroleum engineering students this year is tight, but overall placement rates so far have been good and salaries high. That is positive news for an industry that continues to warn of future technical-skill-position shortages and sees a future of growing global demand and tight supply. Many top petroleum engineering schools have been successful this year in placing graduates. At Texas A&M University, most BS students were offered and accepted jobs at the end of the fall 2008 semester. The job placement percentage was greater than 90%, which is about normal compared with previous graduating classes. Most, but not all, MS and PhD students also were able to land jobs. The job market tightened, however, in the spring for both permanent jobs and internships. Most companies that normally recruit at the school have indicated that they will return this fall, but may be hiring fewer graduates. At Texas A&M by the end of May, 83 BS graduates (compared with 65 BS graduates last year) had been placed with 8 still looking for employment, while 16 of 17 MS students and 5 of 6 PhD students had found something. However, internships for juniors were down sharply. At Penn State University, the 2008–09 academic year has been a bit more challenging compared with previous years in placing petroleum engineering students, for both those with undergraduate and graduate degrees. However, with only one exception, no company has rescinded a job offer, and the current economic downturn has not dissuaded incoming freshmen from enrolling in petroleum engineering, with approximately 45 new students expected for the 2009–10 academic year. Penn State has 150 undergraduates and 35 graduate students enrolled in petroleum engineering degree programs. For the 2008–09 academic year—which includes December 2008, May 2009, and August 2009 graduations—Penn State will graduate approximately 20 students with BS degrees and 12 students with MS and PhD degrees. Companies have told the university that they are committed to hiring its graduates, even if the economic recession continues. Positive production developments in that region of the US—such as the supergiant Marcellus Shale Appalachian Basin natural gas play—is likely playing a role in that, as the school reports a growing percentage of its graduates being hired by local operators. At Imperial College in London, 51 MSc students are enrolled, including 36 from outside the UK. Approximately 60% of the students looking for a job had one by the end of May, which is not much different from previous years, but salaries tended to be 10–15% higher. Many of the non-UK students did not apply for jobs but returned to their previous company in their home countries. The industry undoubtedly is facing a tough year, but many of its representatives continue to caution against slowing down hiring as it did in the 1980s and 1990s. At this year's Offshore Technology Conference, Amin Nasser, senior vice president of E&P for Saudi Aramco, said that while cycles in the oil and gas industry are inevitable, it is critical that the industry continue investing in people and technology. "We must not make the same mistakes from previous downturns in which large swaths of technical people were laid off," he said, "a move that tended to make the best and brightest of the workforce shy away from the industry."

This paper describes the benefits and lessons learned from drilling 44 deep gas reservoir sections with sodium and potassium formate brine drilling fluids in Saudi Arabia's prolific Ghawar field from 2004 through 2008. Initially in Saudi Aramco, the formate brine drilling fluids were used primarily to prevent formation damage across the pre-Khuff sandstone reservoirs. As formate use burgeoned, their ancillary benefits such as stuck pipe mitigation, better bit performance, better than expected reservoir performance, lower pump pressures, torque and drag, solids content and enhanced temperature stability; use as a completion fluid and recyclability became evident. The fluids have been used in a variety of reservoir drill-in fluid applications in the pre-Khuff, Jauf and Unayzah sandstones with bottom hole temperatures (BHT) up to 323°F. The formates have also been used by Saudi Aramco in the Khuff carbonates for single and dual lateral horizontal wells where the drilling fluid overbalance to formation pressure sometimes exceeds 1,400 psi. In addition to the return permeability testing conducted prior to actually drilling the first wells with formates, the fluids nondamaging properties were proved up in the case of the Tinat-A well, a Unayzah-A re-entry/horizontal sidetrack, that had to be shut in for three years, due to a mechanical obstruction in the completion, with a 90 pounds per cubic foot (pcf) sodium/potassium formate completion fluid left in the hole as kill fluid. After removing the obstruction via a snubbing unit workover the well initially tested at 30 mmscfd with 4,320 psig FWHP, which was much higher than estimated. In a JFYN Unayzah B/C well, JFYN-A, only 1,214 ft of 5-7/8?? hole was cut across the reservoir using a recycled 92 pcf potassium formate and the well flowed back at 45 mmscfd with 358 bopd oil on a 44/64?? choke, which was also much higher than expected. Laboratory return permeability to gas test with Khuff-C cores showed 91% return permeability after flowing through the cores with potassium formate drilling fluid with 2% commercial lubricant as compared to 40% return permeability for the KCl Polymer drilling fluids of the same density normally used across the Khuff-C. The formates have also been used in combination with fine, medium and coarse calcium carbonate functioning as a bridging agent to drill in extreme overbalance situations across the Khuff-C reservoirs. The best example of this practice is UTMN-J, a Khuff-B re-entry sidetrack, where an 81 pcf sodium formate brine served as the base drilling fluid to drill and complete the 3675 ft horizontal section. The well was flowed back at a rate of 35 mmscfd without enzyme treatment or acid stimulation.