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Oil & Gas Technology
AOC has devoted itself to applying advanced technologies for oil & gas exploration, development and production in the offshore Divided Zone (ex-Neutral Zone between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia) as well as other operation areas to add its reserves as well as to increase and stabilise production in cost effective way. The following are a few examples of the major technologies AOC and its group companies have applied to oil & gas projects.
Reservoir Management

For maximizing oil recovery, AOC makes use of the advanced technology of geological analysis and reservoir management, which was well developed by experience and expertise in the operations conducted in the offshore Divided Zone:
AOC has built up the detailed geological model based on 3D seismic surveys for reservoir description and characterization, which covered Khafji, Hout and Dorra fields.

Furthermore, AOC established the in-house reservoir simulation models for major oil reservoirs in the offshore Divided Zone. Such models have been further up-graded to those of the most advanced device in the world, having more than a half million numerical grids by utilizing the massive parallel processors system.

RESERVOIR SIMULATION MODEL
Drilling Technologies

AOC completed a horizontal well (lateral well) as the first operator in offshore oil field of the Middle East. Since 1989, 35 new horizontal wells were drilled and more than 10 existing wells was converted to lateral-completion wells in the offshore Divided Zone.

It is also noted that AOC has enough experience in drilling in the condition of high pressure & temperature in the deeper horizons of Khafji oil field as well as in oil exploration projects in the South-east Asia.
CONCEPTUAL ILLUSTRATION OF MULTI-LATERAL WELL
CONCEPTUAL ILLUSTRATION OF
MULTI-LATERAL WELL
Improved Oil Recovery

One fourth of total production of Khafji crude oil (300 thousand B/D) in the offshore Divided Zone was produced from some 50 gas lifted wells. AOC started gas lift operation in 1989 which continued in a stable manner.

AOC also applied dump water injection in efficient way in the Khafji oil field from 1976. This project contributed to a large extent to the enhancement of oil recovery while maintaining reservoir pressure.
Gas Development

AOC conducted gas development and production activities through its wholly-owned subsidiary as an operator at the Mississippi Canyon Block 487 in the US Gulf of Mexico for 14 years from 1990.

In this project, AOC successfully completed extended reach drilling (ERD) in this block two to five kilometers away from an offshore platform. One of the wells reached a total depth of 20,000 feet with maximum inclination angle of 70° and departure of 15,532 feet. The well was listed among the record ERD wells in the Gulf of Mexico in the year 2000. This technology of ERD helps to develop smaller reservoirs via the relatively remote existing production facilities.
PLATFORM AT MISSISSIPPI CANYON BLOCK 487
PRODUCTION PLATFORM AT
MISSISSIPPI CANYON BLOCK 487
Collaboration with JNOC-TRC

AOC also conducted various research programs on the oil fields in the offshore Divided Zone jointly with Japan National Oil Corporation's Technology Research Center (JNOC-TRC), which carried out R & D programs on petroleum exploration & production technologies and providing Japanese private oil companies with technical supports.

AOC also participated as key researcher in the joint research programs JNOC-TRC conducted with Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) and with King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals (KFUPM) respectively on the technology of oil recovery applicable to oil fields in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.
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