The Oil Drum

345 comments on DrumBeat: October 18, 2006

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elwoodelmore on October 18, 2006 - 6:17pm

well it appears no one is going to respond so i'll take a stab at it the size of a field depends on the volume of rock areal extent x net thickness the porosity, water saturation and fluid skrinkage (from reservoir to stock tank) the rate of production is a function of the well density wellbore size and orientation (ie horizontal or vertical) completion techniques possibly artificial lift (type of pump if any) permeability of the rock (which is generally a function of porosity) fluid viscosity and pressure and reservoir drive mechanism ( solution gas water drive gravity drainage) and possibly pressure maintainance techniques some of these factors are interrellated but i suppose to answer your question every field is a different animal the producer will generally try to operate the field in such a way as to maximize financial return (at least what they believe to be optimum)

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PhilRelig on October 18, 2006 - 10:59pm

Thanks for your response. But how flexible are all these variables? Could Ghawar, for example, have been substantially exhausted within 10 years of the first well drilled if there had been 50 or 100 times as many wells drilled as there actually were?

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sendoilplease on October 18, 2006 - 11:19pm

In a nutshell - yes.

The more straws in the milkshake, the sooner you hear the slurping sounds.

But if some slurpers get head-freeze and their consumption drops there will be a delay until you hear the slurping sounds. And if one person is a head-freeze recessive mutant and therefore can suck down the milkshake at a rate 10X that of everyone else...

sluuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrp!**

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elwoodelmore on October 20, 2006 - 8:37pm

well yes in theory but would the oil market absorb this level of production (supply)

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