Survey Engineer Management

Introduction

In 1933, shortly after Saudi Arabia was unified, the Government granted a concession to Standard Oil of California who recognized the potential of oil as a valuable export commodity and a source of revenue to begin building our nation. Standard Oil of California, the parent company of Chevron, was joined later by several other major oil companies and the venture became known as Aramco - the Arabian American Oil Company (Marriott: 12). In 1938, after five long years of exploration, oil was discovered in commercial volume when a well named Dammam Number 7, near today's headquarters in Dhahran, began to flow -- and ushered in a new era for Saudi Arabia. Things moved quickly, and in 1939 King 'Abd al-'Aziz visited Ras Tanura to inaugurate the first shipload of Saudi crude oil ever exported. The young Kingdom was now officially launched into the international petroleum industry.

Discussion

A major Middle East operator has been producing gas from the same formation for approximately 20 years, using conventional hydraulic actuators to control wellhead gate valves. These actuators have been operated from a hydraulic control panel that is pneumatically powered, and the compressors used to generate the instrument air have been electrically driven. Although the actuators have been able to perform satisfactorily in controlling the wellhead gate valves, the operations have not been cost efficient for several reasons (Marriott: 14). First, the pneumatic/hydraulic control systems have been maintenance intensive. Secondly, electricity has been required to run air compressors to power the hydraulic actuators.

Recently, the operator began a five-year drilling program to develop additional gas reserves, and as part of this process, decided to investigate alternatives to existing wellsite equipment. One of the primary requirements of the new equipment was that it reduces operating costs.

An existing well was converted to the system, and a rigorous one year testing program was carried out by the operator. In addition to normal exposure to the elements and routine opening and closing of the well to meet production demands, the test also included over 300 additional open and close cycles on each of the 3 electric actuators on the tree. After conducting the test program, the operator estimates that capital cost savings for the all electric system could be in excess of $200,000 per well over the present pneumatic/hydraulic systems. Additional savings in manpower and maintenance are also anticipated (Marriott: 17).

Saudi Arabia is pushing ahead with a major project to develop the world's fifth largest oilfield which will pump nearly 900,000 barrels per day of heavy crude and 90 million cubic feet per day of sour gas, according to the field's operators, Aramco. In its 2011 annual report, distributed at Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference (ADIPEC), state-owned Saudi Aramco said its 2011 activities focused on the development of Manifa field, adding that it had completed nearly 97 per cent of offshore construction, including all platform decks, subsea pipelines for crude oil gathering and water injection, and subsea power and communication cables. Construction of the central oil and ...