ASSESSMENT OF AVAILABLE TECHNOLOGIES TO REDUCE WATER USAGE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF UNCONVENTIONAL RESOURCES IN THE KINGDOM OF SAUDI ARABIA

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest exporter of petroleum and the nation’s oil company, Saudi Aramco, seeks to maintain the momentum by moving forward with an unconventional along with conventional resources. Recently, Saudi Aramco announced that it is spending $7 billion to develop unconventional resources in three separate areas in the Kingdom: The Northwest, South Ghawar and the Rub’ al-Khali. In fact, sustainable development of unconventional resources in these areas would pose several challenges due to the low permeability and depth of the related reservoirs. One of the main challenges is associated with the scarcity of water in the Kingdom and thus advanced stimulation technology is needed to replace the current hydraulic fracturing technology.

In this study, we explore the various technologies that could be helpful in reducing the amount of water used in the stimulation. We look into the possibility of using viscoelastic surfactants (VES) fluids, energized fluids, carbon dioxide (CO₂) based fluids and alcohol based fluids and also discuss advantages and disadvantages of each technology. In fact, an understanding of the geology of the reservoir that holds the unconventional resources is essential to its development and thus we discuss the geology of the three reservoir areas that hold the unconventional resources in the Kingdom. This study recommends a new combined approach that could be useful in increasing the efficiency of stimulation and reducing the amount of water usage for future unconventional resource development in Saudi Arabia.