<DrumBeat: February 29, 2008 The Oil Drum DrumBeat: March 1, 2008>

23 comments on Intro to Satellite Sleuthing 101: Finding Haradh III

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

| Show without comments | PDF version

memmel on February 29, 2008 - 12:38pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

No doubt. I've been to Mount St. Helen's and the destruction around the oil sands was very similar to what I saw at the volcano. I can't believe Canadians are allowing it. The pits of oil stained water are huge. I'd have to think the groundwater and streams flowing out of the area will be destroyed for centuries as this stuff leaks.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.
myndlessconsumption on February 29, 2008 - 12:54pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Haradh III is the bottom of the barrel.

let me rephrase that...300k barrels aint doin' squat. I don't care who you are. What was their decline rate for last year on their older projects? This bought us a month. Is that cause for celebration? maybe panic. My righteous indignation against this mentality is showing, I know, but how we can sit here and talk about Haradh III like everything is ok is beyond me.

I might as well ignore all of this and just watch the inventory reports to know when to get out of dodge.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.
JoulesBurn on February 29, 2008 - 1:20pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I agree that 300k doesn't do much, and my point certainly isn't that things are rosy there. Yes, it has been hyped to death. But read this:

Thunder Horse is one of the key discoveries upon which the company will grow its future Gulf of Mexico production. Designed to process 250,000 barrels of oil per day and 200 million cubic feet per day of natural gas, Thunder Horse will be the largest producer in the Gulf. The field will be supported by a network of 25 subsea wells.

250 k/day. Wow. At least Saudi completed their project somewhat on time. If something causes you to get out of Dodge, that snippet above should be it. Or perhaps to at least get out of BP stock.

I am partly interested in it for clues to what is going on in a broader context. Their underlying message is "see, the latest technology helps get oil out of bad rock". Of course, the other way to interpret it is "all we have left is bad rock". They are currently working on Khurais, which ain't no north Ghawar either, and I am interested in parallels between the two developments.

A big problem is that we don't really know what the depletion rates of their older fields are. One possibility is to look at the number of new wells going in. Especially if these are MRC wells, and in the good rock of the north, the productivity should be high. If they put in 100 wells and each flow 5k/day, that is 500 kbarrels/day that those wells are replacing. What happens when they run out of real estate for new wells?

Comments can no longer be added to this story.
memmel on February 29, 2008 - 2:56pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Well lets see if they can even find Thunder Horse later this fall.

LOST !!!

1 Multi Billion Dollar Oil Platform.

Last seen right before the Cat 5 Hurricane.
Responds to the name Thunder Horse.
If found please return to BP.

Thanks !

GWB.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.
karlnick on February 29, 2008 - 4:47pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Thunder horse: 250 k/day / 25 wells = 10 k/day/well
Haradh III (producers): 300 k/day / 31 wells = 9.7 k/day/well

Comments can no longer be added to this story.
rainsong on March 1, 2008 - 6:01am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Sometime after 90% water cut; oil wells became stripper wells that produce a few barrels a day for years. The United States has tens of thousands of these. How long will they maintain peak capacity of 12 million barrels a day of total liquids, if they reach it as scheduled in 2009? Insufficient data.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.
Magnus Redin on March 1, 2008 - 9:15am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Can there be slowly seeping oil to a stripper well in an oilfield that has been washed thru by water flood? Stripper wells ought to be the end point of pre waterflood technolgy. But if you cap the wells and wait a few hundred years I guess there will be a redistribution of the oil in the wet field.

Comments can no longer be added to this story.
peakoilBob on March 6, 2008 - 8:03pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

wait a few hundred years I guess there will be a redistribution of the oil in the wet field

Will rust not be an issue in that time frame, or was that a sarcastic comment?

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

23 comments on Intro to Satellite Sleuthing 101: Finding Haradh III

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

| Show without comments | PDF version