The huge drilling programme has seen 333 new oil-producing wells access the Main Pay, Upper Shale and Mishrif reservoirs. These new wells have been – and continue to be – crucial to the field’s oil production. A further 35 new water injector wells and 32 produced water disposal wells have also been drilled.

High angle wells have also been used for the first time in the field’s history, allowing drilling to commence at an angle or horizontally across the formation.

Maximizing production from existing wells is also crucial. More than 1,150 workovers have been completed to renew old and underperforming wells to keep them flowing and to bring ceased wells back into production.

Activities include:

• more than 300 Electric Submersible Pumps (ESPs) repaired or installed from new, then placed at the bottom of wells to push oil to the surface
• 135 ceased or less productive oil producing wells transformed into water injector wells to boost reservoir pressure
• hundreds of wells upgraded with chrome tubing to prevent corrosion
• advanced tools used for acid stimulation, leak detection and fishing tasks to improve well bore effectiveness.

Smart coil units and mast coil units undertake a range of jobs without the need to erect workover rigs – a costly and time-expensive process. More than 55,000 ‘rigless’ well service jobs have been completed since 2010 to:

• slow reservoir depletion by stimulating and re-perforating wells
• re-energize ceased wells through nitrogen lifting.