<DrumBeat: August 14, 2006 The Oil Drum DrumBeat: August 15, 2006>

67 comments on The life of an oil reservoir

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memmel on August 15, 2006 - 12:15am Permalink | Subthread | Comments top
 

Now explain to me why Ghawar production is not going to tank if its not already ?

My best guess is that there still able to drill new horizontal wells to offset depletion but it would be nice to just know one fact are the older wells watering out ?

Next can you expand a bit on how the infield drilling offsets depletion how long how much ?  

It seems to me that the infield drilling  as you get close to depletion results in well that go through there production cycle in a matter of years two to five at most since there basically picking up bypassed oil or oil that would be slow to produce from the current wells because of distance is this true ? So they basically just increase the depletion rate in exchange for keeping production up for say 2-4 years at most.  Basically the idea is there extracting out of a much smaller volume then the original field sort of like a mini reservoir a few miles around the well.
Basically the field begins to look like a lot of small fields but pressure mgt is a problem since there all connected.

I'm really really guessing on the production life cycle for infield drilling in depleted reservoirs am I even close ?
What is a normal production profile for infield drilling in old fields.

How many oil fields are now produced with horizontal wells ?

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yashko on August 15, 2006 - 1:41pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Query: If the horizontal wells are all producing at 100% oil and shut down when the water reaches them, and the vertical wells have some water cut, what does it tell us that Ghawar has a 37% (fill in your number) water cut? Do the Saudis average one 100% oil horizontal well with three 50% oil vertical wells, say, to get the water cut figure? Do they drop out the horizontal wells that have shut off due to contact with water?
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memmel on August 15, 2006 - 5:51pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

To follow and restate my main question whats the recovery on secondary in field drilling or maintence wells ?

And I have the same questions as the post I'm replying too.
What happens when horizontal wells water out. I've read that if its a multi branch well they will shutoff watered out branches I guess if its not they can put some sort of plug or sleeve in place that covers the offending section but still has a hole in the middle for oil flow.

In general can someone really expand on what happens in older fields using todays recovery methods.

All I know is they drill a lot more wells but it does not stop the decline.

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67 comments on The life of an oil reservoir

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