Overview

The North East Bab (NEB) Asset is located 31 km from the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi. The asset comprises three producing fields, Al Dabb’iya, Rumaitha, and Shanayel and one undeveloped culmination, Jumaylah. The Al Dabb’iya field lies on a coastal/shallow and deep marine area, while the Rumaitha/Shanayel fields lie onshore. The developed fields cover an area greater than 1,400 km2.

NEB produces approximately 8% of ADCO’s production. The main hydrocarbon reservoirs in the NEB structures are Thamama Zones ‘A’, 'B', 'C’ , ‘F’ , ‘G’ and Habshan. However, there are significant number of zones\units that are under early production schemes and will be developed in the coming future.

NEB is located in one of the most environmentally sensitive areas which include desert, sea, mangroves, salt marshes, coral reefs and Sabkha, all supporting diverse wildlife species. The marine environment is both highly sensitive and of great ecological importance.  In addition, the area is also of archaeological significance.  New technologies and management systems were implemented to minimize the impact of ADCO's operations on the environment.

NEB is the first ADCO full field development which is built with an i-field concept (i.e. real time data acquisition and analysis (IAOM (Integrated Asset Operating Model) / FDIS (Field Data Integrated System)) via a collaboration Centre (CWE (Collaborative Work Environment))) 

These included:

Field Wide Implementation of Water-Alternating-Gas (WAG) Injection System

ADCO’s first full field miscible gas and WAG injection process was implemented to maintain the field's reservoir pressure and enhance oil recovery from field start-up. All produced gas is re-injected to improve ultimate recovery.

Artificial Islands

With most of Al Dabb'iya field's concession located along the coastlines and in shallow marine areas, artificial islands were constructed to facilitate drilling wells to access the reserves located offshore.

Well Clustering

Offshore clustering technologies were adopted to minimize the “footprint” of the new production and injection facilities. Cluster drilling enabled wells to be drilled from a common location on a 10 meter surface well spacing.

Pipeline Corridoring

Due to the environmentally sensitive areas, the development facilitated the implementation of buried pipeline corridoring design that eliminated the risks of having pipelines scattered all over the field concession areas.

Smart Wells Completions & Down Hole Gauges

Smart wells completions technology was implemented in some of the wells (gas producers).  And in some strategic wells, down-hole gauges were installed in order to acquire subsurface data in real time.

Intelligent Field (i-Field) Technology

Application of intelligent-field technology enabled interfacing the field process monitoring and control systems with ADCO business applications, facilitating real-time field production data/information sharing via the local and corporate network infrastructure.