Emerged Horizontal Drilling Technology and Its Applications in Saudi Oil Fields in The Last Ten Years

Abstract

Abstract The technology of drilling and production of horizontal wells is probably one of the most significant breakthrough in the oil and gas industry of the eighties. What was considered ten years ago, as an exotic way of drilling has become reality. The continuous improvement of hardware equipment made horizontal drilling cost-effective technique for developing reserves, improving productivity and recovery in oil and gas reservoir. Horizontal well technology continues to be at the forefront of the oil industry. This paper will highlight the Saudi experience in horizontal drilling. The past ten years have been an exciting period for those who believed in horizontal drilling applicability in Saudi Arabia. At the end of the year 1997 over than 150 horizontal wells have been drilled in Saudi oil fields. There are four major horizontal well applications identified in Saudi Arabia oil fields; 1) Control of coning in relatively thin remaining oil column area, 2) Improving sweep efficiency of water flooding program, 3) Improving productivity rate in thin/tight reservoirs and 4) Saving in total development costs in conjunction with previous three applications. This paper presents the major areas of application of horizontal wells and more specifically the objectives of applying horizontal drilling in different Saudi oil fields. In this paper, the world horizontal drilling activities along with the Saudi experience will be covered. This paper surveys different field examples to show the application trends of horizontal well technology in both offshore and onshore oil fields. The main objective of this survey is to demonstrate the performance improvement of these oil fields after the application of horizontal well technology.