Drilling and Completing Intelligent Multilateral MRC Wells in Haradh Inc-3

Abstract

AbstractThe Haradh Increment-3 (HRDH Inc-3) development, commissioned in March 2006, has added significant volumes to Saudi Aramco's daily production capacity. The development has 73 wells comprising of 28 water injectors, 13 observation and 32 producers. 28 of the 32 producers are intelligent completions in multilateral wells. The Maximum Reservoir Contact (MRC) wells with multilateral systems improve the reservoir contact while reducing the drawdown on the reservoir. The intelligent completion system allows the inflow from each lateral to be controlled from the surface without well intervention. The combination of the multilateral and intelligent completion system is expected to enhance field recovery by preventing/delaying water coning and improving sweep efficiency. HRDH Inc-3 may be considered as a milestone in the industry where the field development is focused on the "Smart Multilateral Systems"Application of cutting edge technologies like rotary steerables system (RSS), realtime drilling data transmission, Geosteering, non damaging fluids, multilateral systems and intelligent completions have helped in achieving maximum effective reservoir contact and delivering the wells ahead of schedule.The producer wells were drilled with three or four laterals depending on the location of the well. Each of the laterals has around 4,000 ft of reservoir contact and the average reservoir contact for each well is over 14,000 ft.The wells are constructed as Technology Advancement in Multi-Lateral (TAML) Level-2 system where openhole laterals are drilled out of the motherbore that is cased and cemented. The intelligent completion system comprises of pressure and temperature sensors, production packers and hydraulically operated downhole valves that can be controlled from the surface. The downhole valves are placed in the motherbore to control inflow from each lateral.The paper presents details of the field planning, drilling and completion practices. The challenges faced in drilling and completing these complex multilateral MRC wells within a tight schedule and the important lessons learned will also be covered in the paper