To fully evolve any innovative idea in the R&D domain, several components should be satisfied in the process. This includes novelty, relevance, strategy, and budget (Fig. 1). The idea has to be novel such that unconventional and unique solutions are developed to address long-standing challenges in the industry. The assurance of generating novel solutions requires the presence of five elements of innovation management in any organization (Fig 2). First, talent plays a major role in creating innovative ideas to maintain a rich R&D portfolio. Second, aspiration drives the innovation from the ideation phase to the R&D phase. Third, governance controls and manages the innovation process from the ideation phase until reaching field trial phase. Fourth, the workflow is structured in the organization to track the whole innovation process and support the R&D continuity through all phases. Execution is the last element that comes logically at the end of the innovation process to coordinate the operation activities and test the developed idea in the field.
The innovative ideas should address directly relevant and observed challenges in the field. Relevance is very crucial to make sure that the idea has ground applications. A clear understanding of well-defined field challenges usually leads to the best practical solutions with minimal logistic and operational hurdles. The innovation in R&D should fall under an umbrella of clear strategies set by the company to satisfy its ultimate goals in the long run. Finally, budget is the cornerstone to fund the whole R&D process starting from the ideation phase until the field trial phase. A budget plan is set for the business’ long-term sustainability and growth and should not be impacted by short-lived and sudden interruptions caused by the cyclic energy markets.
Production Technology R&D
One of the largest research teams within Saudi Aramco’s EXPEC Advanced Research Center (EXPEC ARC) is the Production Technology Division (PTD). The team focuses on three strategic business objectives: 1) boost, measure, monitor, and control hydrocarbon fluid flow into the wellbore; 2) enhance production from the reservoir in the near-wellbore area; and 3) improve reliability of all production-related systems.
The landscape of R&D work in PTD is established based on upstream production challenges following comprehensive research roadmaps. The results of these R&D activities typically lead to the development of new tools, chemicals, and software as shown in Fig. 3. The tools are developed for various surface and subsurface applications that include flow metering, monitoring, sensing and logging, well completions, mechanical water shutoff, fluid treatment and separation, artificial lift of reservoir fluids, in-situ testing, and high-power laser. In terms of chemicals, new formulations are developed for a wide range of applications such as well stimulation, acidizing, hydraulic fracturing, water control, proppant coating, and prevention of scale and corrosion. Software packages either complement developed tools or provide standalone functionalities in various areas.
Working closely with field proponents is an integral part of the R&D strategy adopted by PTD. After identifying field challenges with the proponent, the team builds the business case and prioritizes different potential R&D projects according to their business impact, development risk, and required investment. R&D projects can range from fundamental researching to modifying an existing technology, adopting a solution from other industries, and/or creating completely new concepts. The outcome of a project typically materializes in a technology prototype that can be tested in the field. An iterative process takes place by improving and modifying the technology prototype in field trials until all predefined field requirements and success criteria are met. Once the field trials are successful, the technology is considered accepted and is added to the approved list of technologies where it can be requested and utilized in the future (Fig. 4).
The team in PTD has a large and diverse portfolio of R&D projects to accomplish its strategic objectives. The portfolio is balanced with short-, medium-, and long-term projects. Short-term projects target the low-hanging fruits where minimal R&D efforts lead to sizable business impact; they also may be projects of high business priority with urgent need in field operations. Long-term projects are strategic investments of relatively higher risk with high potential impact. While short-term projects may have low-to-high impact, long-term projects are feasible only if they have high potential impact (Fig. 5). Similarly, to justify resource allocation, medium-term projects are typically chosen to be high-to-medium impact rather than low impact. For the overall R&D portfolio, striving for the long-term vision of the organization is very crucial for ultimate success. A 2017 comprehensive study in the Harvard Business Review showed that companies that were focused on the long term had significantly outperformed their peers in all financial measures (Barton et al. 2017).
The team conducts a large portion of its R&D projects in-house in Dhahran or in the global research centers. Alternatively, projects are conducted externally in collaboration with academia or industry. The team prioritizes partnerships with in-Kingdom entities, especially collaborations with academia, to increase localization and support local content (Fig. 6). Working with external collaborators provides access to specialized supply chains, services, and partnerships that accelerate the innovation cycle of various technology programs.
The team has been working on numerous projects to embrace digital transformation and create value from 4IR-enabled technologies. Examples of these projects include failure prediction and diagnostics of electrical submersible pumps (ESPs) using machine learning, advanced solutions for real-time wellbore stability analysis, autonomous downhole robots, on-demand through-tubing, intelligent completion systems, untethered sensing tools for well surveillance, multiphase virtual flowmeters, fiber-optic distributed sensing for leak detection and flow allocation, downhole sensing chips, and photonics for several upstream applications.
Contribution Examples
Here, we demonstrate some of the innovative technologies that have been successfully developed and deployed by PTD in EXPEC ARC. The team has pioneered the use of exothermic chemical reactions that are formulated to generate in-situ heat and pressure pulses. Thermochemical treatments can be tailored to address numerous upstream challenges such as reducing breakdown pressure (Fig. 7) and increasing the stimulated reservoir volume (SRV) in hydraulic fracturing, improving wellbore and fracture cleanup following hydraulic fracturing, generating in-situ gas for acid diversion in acid stimulation, and enabling effective sandstone stimulation. Additional applications include removing formation damage due to organic scale deposits, mitigating tar deposits in waterflooding, and changing phase behavior to mitigate condensate banking.
Several thermochemical-based technologies have shown astounding results in many recent field trials. Applications in water disposal wells to remove formation damage have resulted in up to 30-fold increases in well injectivity. Thermochemical treatments have also been applied in water injectors to dissolve organic damage, enable acidizing, and generate in-situ foam for effective acid diversion with up to five-fold injectivity increases. A field trial was conducted to mitigate deep damage of tar layer and enhance communication between injectors and producers, achieving a two-fold increase in well injectivity (Fig. 8).
Another leading effort by the team is the development of the world’s slimmest downhole tractor for matrix acid stimulation and well intervention (Fig. 9). This tractor is a key enabler for rigless stimulation and intervention operations in ID-restricted extended-reach wells due to intelligent completions or ESP installations. To date, the tractor has been used in more than 60 operations across Saudi Aramco’s fields. It helped in increasing the openhole reach of coiled tubing to 90% coverage. The technology will serve hundreds of wells over the next few years, ensuring cost efficiency and maximizing well production.
For acid fracturing in carbonates, the team combined hydrochloric acid and an organic acid to develop a novel, retarded acid system with low viscosity. The developed acid system is a single-phase fluid that is easy to mix on the fly whereas the conventional diesel-emulsified acid requires very careful batch mixing. In addition, the system eliminates diesel usage and achieves acid retardation for deep stimulation without any emulsification processes. Field trials of the new acid system have reduced fluid mixing time by 30% compared to the conventional solutions. The system has also enabled doubling gas production compared to well pretreatment rates and resulted in substantial cost savings (Fig. 10). The acid system is currently underway for large-scale implementation.
References
Barton, D., Manyika, J., and Williamson, S. K. 2017. Finally, evidence that managing for the long term pays off. Harvard Business Review, https://hbr.org/2017/02/finally-proof-that-managing-for-the-long-term-pays-off, retrieved in December 2021.