A number of new technologies in recent years have helped change the way in which we develop fields in the direction of better reservoir management and with less cost. These include highly deviated and horizontal wells, sub sea development technologies, FPSO's and SMART wells to name but a few examples. BG's development of the Rosetta and WDDM fields utilised SMART well technology from an early stage. In WDDM this has taken the form of four SMART wells on the Sapphire field and in Rosetta with four SMART wells in Rashid-2. This is especially challenging given the use of open hole gravel pack completions. As of September 2006 Sapphire had been producing for 12 months and Rashid-2 for 17 months. SMART wells are designed to allow production from multiple reservoir zones whilst maintaining the ability to control inflow from each zone independently. This has the benefit of:
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Water management without the need for intervention (especially relevant with subsea developments).
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Understanding the vertical communication in some cases by vertical interference tests.
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Savings on drilling costs by drilling fewer wells to access the same zones.
In the case of the Egyptian SMART wells this takes the form of two productive zones per well controlled through inflow control devices (ICV's). Correct gauge positioning within the well architecture also allows for down-hole data to be collected from each zone independently under the correct conditions. This paper covers the story of SMART well utilisation in Egypt. From design considerations such as completion types for different zones and correct gauge positioning, cost savings (especially in light of large increases in drilling costs in the past two years), through operational considerations such as data gathering from different zones, to a case study of water production management through optimisation of SMART well controls
