SPE 63168
The Application of Stand-alone Injection Systems in Remote and/or Highly Populated
Areas Reduces Construction Costs
Abdulwafi A. Al-Gamber,SPE, Abdulazeem A. Al-Towailib,SPE, Saeed H. Al-Wabari, Saudi Aramco
Copyright 2000, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.
This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2000 SPE Annual Technical Conference and
Exhibition held in Dallas, Texas, 1–4 October 2000.
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Abstract
This paper discusses the successful application of a stand-
alone injection system to provide pressure support for Hanifa
reservoir of Abqaiq Field, Saudi Arabia. This stand-alone
injection system is a cost-effective method to provide
localized powered-water injection for areas inaccessible by
pipelines or costly to tie to the centralized injection facilities.
Such a system has recently been successfully deployed for
developing part of Abqaiq Field overlain by a residential area.
The reservoir under development is relatively tight that would
not effectively respond to the prevalent simple gravity dump
flood, as is the case for the overlaying high-permeability Arab-
D reservoir. The system consists of a single well that serves as
the water supply and injector in one, and a horizontal pump.
The well has a dual completion across a shallow aquifer and
the target reservoir. A tubing and packer allows aquifer water
to free-flow behind the tubing to a skid-mounted surface
horizontal pump, where it is then boosted and injected back
through the tubing to the target reservoir. The introduction of
this system in a pilot well and two subsequent completions has
resulted in significant cost savings versus the conventional tie-
in to the centralized injection facilities. The construction of a
potentially hazardous high-pressure flowlines across the
population center has been avoided, while allowing the
development of this part of the field, which, otherwise, would
require the more expensive extended reach drilling.
Motivation for the Concept
A high injection rate into the relatively tight Hanifa reservoir
in a most cost-effective way is needed to proceed with
development of this reservoir. The consideration for a stand-
alone injection system is entertained for the following:
Requirement for Reservoir Development: Hanifa is a tight
fractured reservoir with an average matrix permeability of 1.5
md. Effective sweep would require injection through the
matrix using horizontal wells that avert fractures, to avoid
premature water breakthrough. To accomplish that, high
injection rates and pressure will be required.
Limitation of Gravity Water Injection: Gravity water
injection (GWI), though sporadically used, is inadequate to
support the additional withdrawal. The average GWI rate into
a Hanifa injector is about 1500 bbl/d, while the required
injection rate for the new development is 15000 bbl/d per well.
Additionally, injection in dump flood wells cannot be
controlled from the surface, as that is needed for the fractured
injectors. Some of the GWI wells intersect fractures that
conduct excessive floodwater into the direct path of offset
producers, at which they die prematurely. As such, the GWI
wells could not be relied upon to maintain pressure and
achieve uniform reservoir sweep.
Remoteness from Centralized Water Injection Facilities.
The Hanifa reservoir is partly located under a highly populated
area. Some of the injectors are required to be drilled in
proximity to the population center to effectively sweep the
underlying reservoir. However, the existing centralized power
water injection (PWI) facilities are remote from these new
injectors locations. They would require long high-pressure
flowlines that need to circumvent the residential areas at a safe
distance, per our safety standards. Additionally, the existing
power water injection facilities are at full capacity. They
would require expensive upgrade to provide power water to
the new injectors (Fig. 1).
In light of the above, the stand-alone injection system can
be an opportunity to provide powered water injection
capability to such locations.
Stand-alone Injection System Description
The stand-alone injection system is basically a dual-
completion well that serves as an aquifer water supply and an
injection in one. Aquifer water flows from perforations above
the packer to surface through the tubing-casing annulus, and is
then pumped into the under-laying reservoir down the tubing
2 A.A. ALGAMBER, A.A. AL TOWAILIB, S.H. AL WABARI
using a skid mounted horizontal pump. The entire system is
protected against corrosion by a continuos chemical dosing
system. Corrosion inhibitor is pumped through a ¼” control
line strapped to the backside of the tubing to just below the
perforations, to effectively mix with the supply water to
provide total system protection (Fig.2).
Well Completion Design
An existing 9-5/8”X7” horizontal GWI was selected to be
converted to trial-test this new concept. Normally for a typical
GWI, the dynamic section of the wellbore, from top of aquifer
perforations downward to the reservoir, is cased with
corrosion resistant Cr-13 casing; while the static section above
the perforation is cased with carbon-steel to economize on
well cost. A diesel cushion is usually placed across the static
section to protect the carbon-steel casing from the corrosive
aquifer-water, and also to mitigate galvanic corrosion across
the mating zone of the two casings.
The well was converted by setting a 9-5/8” packer at 50’
below the aquifer perforations to isolate the water supply
source. The well was then tubed with a 4 1/2” tubing to
provide the injection path to the reservoir. Carbon steel tubing
was selected over Cr-13 to reduce cost, as the system would be
continuously protected with corrosion inhibitor. As mentioned,
a ¼” stainless steel tubing was run in the tubing-casing
annulus to 40’ below the perforation to pump oil-based
corrosion inhibitor at the source to effectively inhibit the entire
system.
Surface Pump Design
The Horizontal Pump System (HPS) has several advantages
over the conventional positive displacement pumping system.
First, it costs less, as it utilizes off-the-shelf downhole ESP
components mounted inside a hollow barrel. An advantage
when the pump fails would be to readily replace it with
another one of the same kind, just as the case in downhole
application. Secondly, it has lower maintenance requirement,
as there is no daily maintenance and lubrication requirement.
Thirdly, it has less vibration related problems, and this reduces
piping fatigue and associated leaks.
The pump was designed to achieve a maximum flow of
15000 bbl/day at 1500 psi discharge pressure at a minimum
suction pressure of 20 psi. The pump metallurgy was selected
to stand the corrosive nature of Wasia aquifer, as summarized
in Table-1.
The basic two component of the HPS are a 500-HP 3600
RPM motor and a 38-stage barrel-pump mated with a high
load thrust chamber, and the whole is mounted on a steel skid
(Fig. 3). The HPS also includes a control panel with event
processor and protection system. Power to the motor is
provided with a 1500 KVA 3-phase/60/13800/4160 volt
transformer, through a 13.8 kV power line. The system
protection is provided for motor bearings and winding
SPE 63168
temperature, vibration, low suction pressure, low/high
discharge pressure and velocity.
Cost
The HPS unit cost was about $340,000. The unit was
fabricated to meet our stringent Engineering Standards
requirement on pump metallurgy and motor electrical
specifications. This had escalated the cost by about 30%,
compared to an off-the-shelf delivery. However, even with the
upgrade, the HPS remained significantly cheaper than a
conventional positive displacement pump.
The entire project cost, including surface facility
construction and site electrification reached $830,000. Future
projects are expected to cost considerably less, as the
experience gained from this first well will help in better
defining the equipment requirements.
Realized Benefits
Cost Savings. The introduction of this system in a pilot well
and two subsequent completions has resulted in significant
cost savings versus the conventional tie-in to the centralized
injection facilities. The total cost for the complete stand-alone
systems in the three wells is about $ 2.2 M. This is only 40%
of the cost of tying-in one of the three wells to the centralized
water injection facility. Additionally, the existing facility
required upgrade to provide the additional injection capacity.
We also realized cost saving from eliminating need to drill
additional water supply wells.
Safety. The implementation of the stand-alone completions
has resulted in avoiding the construction across urban areas of
the hazard-prone high-pressure flowlines.
Field Development. The stand-alone completions helped
expedite the development of the Hanifa reservoir, which,
otherwise, would have required the more-expensive extended
reach drilling.
System Performance Evaluation
The well was re-completed and commissioned in August 1998
on gravity injection at a rate of 2,000 bbl/d, as the HPS unit
was not delivered yet. The HPS was installed and
commissioned in November 1999 at a rate of 20,000 bbl/d at
1100 psi injection pressure. This was a ten-fold increase in the
well injection rate. The HPS operated for 2 months without
any operational problems. During a routine flowmeter survey
to assess system integrity, a leak was detected in the 4 ½”
tubing. The HPS was shutdown in January 2000 awaiting a
workover rig to fix the leak.
A subsequent corrosion log showed moderate external
corrosion in the 4-1/2” tubing, but no internal corrosion. The
external corrosion was limited only to the bottom section of
the tubing that offsets the Cr-13 section of the 9-5/8” casing.
We believe this to be due to galvanic corrosion, with the
tubing acting as anode and the Cr-13 casing as cathode, with
the supply water in-between as an electrolyte. As the rest of
the system is corrosion-free, this suggests that the corrosion
inhibition system provides effective protection against
 THE APPLICATION OF STAND-ALONE INJECTION SYSTEMS IN REMOTE
SPE 63168 AND/OR HIGHLY POPULATED AREAS REDUCES CONSTRUCTION COSTS 3

corrosive water attack, but not against galvanic corrosion (Fig. As for protecting the system against corrosion, continuous
4). dosing at the supply source has effectively protected the entire
The galvanic-corrosion problem is eliminated in the two system. However, particular attention needs to be paid to
new wells by initially equipping them with both carbon-steel avoid galvanic corrosion from dissimilar metal mating or
casing and tubing. offsetting in an electrolytic medium.
Operating Cost. Based on an average injection rate of 15000
bbl/d, the cost per bbl/day injected by the HPS is $0.017. This Acknowledgement
is 10% more cost-effective than that from the centralized We thank the Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals and the
injection facility in the same field. The annual operating cost Saudi Aramco for permission to publish this paper. We also
of the HPS is summarized in Table 2. That cost-effectiveness thank M.A. Farooqui for providing editorial support in putting
is primarily attributed to eliminating manning operation and this paper together.
servicing and maintenance of the dedicated water supply
wells, as required for the centralized system. References
1. M.A.S.Z. Farooqui and Scott Holland: “Corrosion-
Conclusion Resistant Tubulars for Prolonging Gravity-Water-
In conclusion, the stand-alone injection system has proved to Injection Well Life,” paper SPE 21365 presented at the
be a cost-effective and safe alternative for supporting 1991 Middle East Oil Show held in Bahrain, March 2-5.
production from a field nested in an urban area.
For such a system, we avoided laying high-pressure lines SI Metric Conversion Factors
through the populated areas. We also eliminated the need to
drill dedicated water supply wells. This had significantly MD x 9.869233 E-04=um2
reduced the cost to pressure-support that portion of the field, ft x 3.048* E-01=m
which otherwise would require the more costly extended- psi x 6.894757 E+00=kPa
reach drilling. bbl/d x 1.589873 E-01=m3/d
* Conversion factor is exact

Table 1- Typical Wasia Water Charactristics

Dissolved O2, ppm 0.02
H2S, ppm 0.3
CO2, ppm 40
Chlorides, ppm 5,000
Temperature,º F 179
pH 6.5 to 7.0
Corrosion Rate, mils/yr 15 to 70

Table 2- Stand-Alone Completion Annual Operating Cost

Item Annual Cost ($) Remarks
Power 42,000 Based on $0.03/Kw-hr
Consumption
Corrosion 13,000 Includes transportation. Based on $4/gallon
Inhibitor
Maintenance 20,000
Operation 20,000 Unmanned facility cost
Total Cost 95,000
Cost per bbl/d 0.017 Based on 15000 bbl/d
4 A.A. ALGAMBER, A.A. AL TOWAILIB, S.H. AL WABARI SPE 63168

Hanifa Reservoir

Residential Area Production

Facility
Industrial Area

Production
Facility Centralized
Injection Facility

Stand-alone Completion
PWI Wells
Producer
PWI Lines
Railroad
Highway

Fig.1 - Conceptual Layout of Facilities on the Southern Part of Abqaiq Field (not to scale).

From the Pump into the Tubing

Out of TCA to the Pump

Horizontal Pumping System

Corrosion
Inhibitor
Injection
4-1/2”
Tubing
Wasia
Perforations
9-5/8”
Packer Corrosion Inhibitor Pump

Hanifa

Fig. 2 - Typical Stand-alone Completion

 THE APPLICATION OF STAND-ALONE INJECTION SYSTEMS IN REMOTE
SPE 63168 AND/OR HIGHLY POPULATED AREAS REDUCES CONSTRUCTION COSTS 5

Motor Pump Discharge

Thrust Chamber Intak Skid

Fig. 3 – Schematic Arrangement of the Horizontal pumping System

4-1/2”
tubing

H2 Fe+

Fe+
9-5/8”
Casing

e- e
-
Carbon steel

13 chrome

Fig. 4 – Galvanic Corrosion on the External side of the tubing