Haradh-III: Industry's largest field development with maximum-reservoir-contact-wells, smart-well completions, and the iField concept

The development of Haradh-III in the southernmost region of Ghawar represents a major shift in paradigm in terms of the combination of the technologies. The field development combines four main technology features, which include maximum-reservoir-contact (MRC) wells, smart completions, extensive use of real-time geosteering, and iField initiatives. This paper describes the motivation, implementation, and post-production evaluation of this unique field development. In the case of Haradh-III, field development with smart MRC wells delays water encroachment, improves flood-front conformance and recovery, and lowers water production and long-term development and operating costs. Bottomwater encroachment into the wellbore is mitigated as downhole internal control valves (ICVs), as part of the smart completion, are adjusted. This, in turn, lengthens the life of the well, allowing sweep and recovery to take place in the reservoir below the horizontal wellbores with the most effective sweep process: the replacement mechanism by gravity. The objectives of the development are accomplished by use of a reduced number of wells that minimize the accompanying infrastructure, which lowers the capital expenditure while reducing the operating cost by maintaining, on a long-term basis, a low-water-producing system, all in real time and within the iField environment.