DHAHRAN: The operations to rehabilitate oil, gas and water wells owned by Saudi Aramco is very challenging and the employees involved in the work are mostly Saudi youths, say company officials.

Abdulaziz Al-Thwaigeb, manager in the Southern Area Oil Operations (SAOO) of Saudi Aramco, said the wells are distributed over a wide geographical area, which requires a continuous follow-up, besides the modern wells that need complex ways in the upstream operations, depending on the geological structure of the reservoir.

"The far-reaching exploration of old wells effectively increases the production of oil and gas, which is reflected positively on meeting the Kingdom's needs for petroleum products as well as the needs of the global market," he said.

"The increase in oil, gas and water production is a result of stimulating the rocky-plug producing hydrocarbons, besides working at hydraulic fracturing of rocks in all gas well reservoirs, at depths up to 15,000 feet. This advanced expertise was gained through 17 years of work to achieve more than 1,200 hydraulic cracking operations," Al-Thwaigeb said.

Yousef Abdulateef, head of planning and programming in well-completion operations, said: "We handle with the planning, coordination and follow-up of many administrative aspects, including the provision of the required training programs for staff, and preparation of safety, leadership and academic studies programs."

He said Saudis who work in well-completion operations in Saudi Aramco is estimated at 97.5 percent, with the youth representing 60 percent of the staff.