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Abstract Smart field technologies offer outstanding capabilities that increase the efficiency of the oil and gas fields by means of saving time and energy as far as the technologies employed and workforce concerned given that the technology applied is economic for the field of concern. Despite significant acceptance of smart field concept in the industry, there is still ambiguity not only on the incremental benefits but also the criteria and conditions of applicability technical and economic-wise. This study outlines the past, present and the dynamics of the smart oilfield concept, the techniques and methods it bears and employs, technical challenges in the application while addressing the concerns of the oil and gas industry professionals on the use of such technologies in a comprehensive way. History of smart/intelligent oilfield development, types of technologies used currently in it and those imbibed from other industries are comprehensively reviewed in this paper. In addition, this review takes into account the robustness, applicability and incremental benefits these technologie bring to different types of oilfields under current economic conditions. Real field applications are illustrated with applications in different parts of the world with challenges, advantages and drawbacks discussed and summarized that lead to conclusions on the criteria of application of smart field technologies in an individual field. Intelligent or Smart field concept has proven itself as a promising area and found vast amount of application in oil and gas fields throughout the world. The key in smart oilfield applications is the suitability of an individual case for such technology in terms of technical and economic aspects. This study outlines the key criteria in the success of smart oilfield applications in a given field that will serve for the future decisions as a comprehensive and collective review of all the aspects of the employed techniques and their usability in specific cases. Even though there are publications on certain examples of smart oilfield technologies, a comprehensive review that not only outlines all the key elements in one study but also deducts lessons from the real field applications that will shed light on the utilization of the methods in the future applications has been missing, this study will fill this gap.