Operating Model and Implementation Plan for Deployment of a Pilot Integrated Digital Oilfield Project
Authors: Al-Za'abi Hamad , Al-Rasheed Mohammad , Franco Miguel , Saxena Rajat , Serice John 
Published: October 2015

In 2009, the Kuwait Integrated Digital Field (KwIDF) project was established in the Sabriyah field in north Kuwait to boost production and reserves (Al-Jasmi et al. 2014). The goal was to help realize the vision of sustained oil production in Kuwait of four million barrels of oil equivalent per day (BOE/D) by 2030 (Goel et al. 2013). The project involved the creation of 11 integrated, automated workflows, and a real-time collaborative environment to help optimize production, reduce downtime, and improve reservoir management: Key performance monitoring—calculates and displays key parameters to monitor and assess asset performance at the field and well levels (Al-Jasmi et al. 2013).Well performance evaluation (WPE)—allows users to model and evaluate any well in real time, from completion face to wellhead (Cullick et al. 2013).Smart production surveillance (SPS)—helps enable users to control production and make surveillance decisions in real time (Villamizar et al. 2013).Production loss—an advance workflow for users to compare current oil production to pre-established allowable rates (Villamizar et al. 2013).Electric submersible pump (ESP) diagnostic and optimization—helps enable users to interactively monitor and optimize ESP operated well operations (Velasquez et al. 2013).Production allocation—integrates the allocation process within the KwIDF environment, increases the frequency of the allocation cycle, and improves the accuracy of allocated volumes (Al-Jasmi et al. 2013).Gas lift (GL) diagnostic and optimization—uses a smart real-time control that provided proactive recommendations for GL systems optimization (Al-Jasmi et al. 2013).Reporting and distribution—displays system generated alarms from all KwIDF workflows, generates tickets, and reports ticket status (Al-Jasmi et al. 2013).Simulation model update and ranking—an automated workflow for reservoir history matching (Carvajal et al. 2013).Reservoir visualization and analysis, and subsurface waterflood optimizer—helps enable the monitoring of subsurface health during the waterflooding process, and provides predictive reservoir optimization analysis and actions (Ranjan et al. 2013).

By 2012, KwIDF had been deployed on 49 wells, representing a pilot that served as a proof of concept. By 2013, cumulative production gains of 756,000 barrels of oil were reported (Singh et al. 2013). While the gains were impressive, and management wanted to expand KwIDF, it was recognized that full deployment would pose significant challenges and, without a set of necessary changes, the value of KwIDF would not be realized.

The key challenge facing management was to identify the appropriate operating model to deliver on the KwIDF vision and scale the program to accommodate future expansion across the rest of the organization. A transition and deployment assessment team was established by management to address this challenge.

The transition and deployment assessment project produced a recommended operating model, a transition road map, change management strategy, risk and mitigation plan, and project charters to assist the program team and steering group in the deployment of KwIDF across the rest of North Kuwait.