SPE R&D Technical Section - Evolution of Upstream Technologies ft Saeed Al-Mubarak

Reservoir management is a continuously evolving process that adopts various technologies and strategies, to achieve a mission of maximizing total asset value. The infusion of the various technologies into the upstream industries has significantly impacted the E&P business environment. In recent years, industry has heavily turned to horizontal and multilateral wells to greatly expand reservoir contact, and thereby maximize oil production with lower unit development costs. Moreover, the appropriate use of advanced well completions has extended well life, increased productivity, and reduced field development costs when compared to conventional completions. The advancement in reservoir monitoring technologies has significantly changed from monitoring saturations around wellbores to realtime monitoring reservoir fluid dynamics.

What will come next?

• Extreme reservoir contact wells with wireless downhole control, sensing and telemetry.
• Downhole power generation and storage.
• Nano agents to collect reservoir and fluid properties directly from the reservoir.

Applying these technologies on a fit for purpose basis has further enhanced the performance of wells in general, and will greatly enhance performance of wells with challenging reservoir conditions in particular.
This presentation demonstrates the evolution of various upstream technologies and their applications. The presentation also highlights the uniqueness of some applications, their implementation approach, and their potential impact on field development and production strategy. The material of the presentation is based on real data, on field observations, and on rational speculation about future trends and advances in technologies and their implementation.