November 1997 Vol. 218 No. 11  Exploration

A.E. (Al) Hutchins, Jr.,  Technical Editor

Technology drives exploration successes

Integrated services are expanding from drilling and well service to seismic and reservoir services. Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) has combined all of its products, which include seismic acquisition through interpretation and reservoir characterization, in to Emc^3D (enhanced multi-client 3-D seismic). This integrated package will be available on PGS’ deepwater Gulf of Mexico 3-D data.

IRO (integrated reservoir optimization) was unveiled by Schlumberger last month at the annual SPE convention. IRO is designed to aid oil companies in reservoir development utilizing all of the company’s services; from seismic exploration and monitoring to field implementation of drilling and completion practices. Geco-Prakla now offers SuperVision, a web-based seismic project monitoring service. Using PCs or workstations to access a project “home page,” located on a secure Trusted Web Server (TWS), a client can view updated data from anywhere in the world throughout a project’s lifecycle.

Halliburton Energy Services is opening Reservoir Decision Centers in Houston, Aberdeen and Caracas. These centers will offer integrated reservoir services by networking with the company’s existing log data processing centers worldwide using Landmark soft ware applications to provide real-time access to data, and will incorporate Halliburton’s complete line of well services into reservoir solutions. The Houston Decision Center is fully operational, and the others will be ready early next year.

A few successes. Apache Corp. had a significant discovery on the East Beni Suef concession in Egypt’s Western Desert. Beni Suef-1X flowed at a combined rate of nearly 7,000 bopd from the Kharita and Bahariya formations, the primary producing zones at Apache’s Qarun field, located 75 miles to the north. Trucking the oil and temporary production facilities will probably be used to initiate early production. Apache holds 50% interest and Seagull Energy Corp. owns 50% interest in the East Beni Suef Concession.

Apache recently entered into a technology alliance with Western Geophysical to jointly design, conduct and process seismic surveys on the company’s acreage around the world. The first project for the alliance is Apache’s 28-million-acre leasehold in Egypt. A basalt layer in many areas makes seismic imaging difficult; much like salt does in the Gulf of Mexico. Western will conduct a 40-sq-mi pilot 3-D survey on Qarun, find a solution to the average-to-poor quality of seismic data in basalt areas, then apply it to Apache 3-D shoots throughout the Western Desert.

Phillips Petroleum Co. UK Ltd. and Shell Expro reported a discovery on a prospect that straddles the boundary of Shell/Esso Block 22/23b and Phillips/BG/Agip Block 22/28a in the UK North Sea. The discovery well, located 132 mi due east of Aberdeen, Scotland, in 316 ft of water, flowed 5,590 bopd and 6 MMcfgd from one interval, and 5,900 bopd and 16 MMcfgd from a second interval.

Phillips holds 62.74% interest in block 22/28a along with BG Exploration and Production Ltd. (20%) and Agip (U.K.) Ltd. (17.26%). Shell U.K. Ltd. and Esso UK plc each hold 50% of block 22/23b. The discovery well was jointly funded (50/50) by the two groups.

Closer to home, Union Pacific Resources (UPR) released results based on initial production tests of four Austin Chalk wells that significantly extend the eastward economic limit of Chalk production in Louisiana. Gross production capacity of the four well s totaled 12,569 bopd and 40.1 MMcfgd. UPR’s net working interest is 9,600 bopd and 31 MMcfgd, doubling its oil and gas production from the Louisiana Chalk.

The Harmon 1 well is located in Point Coupee Pasish; 21 mi east of the nearest commercial Austin Chalk completion and nearly 75 mi east of the prolific Masters Creek field. Initial production rate for this well was 4,569 bopd and 8.1 MMcfgd with estimated reserves believed to be in excess of 1.5 million bbl oil equivalent (boe). In 17 days of production the company reported the well produced 75,000 boe. UPR owns 69.5% working interest in Harmon 1 and Amoco owns 22.8%. The two companies jointly own or control over 100,000 acres surrounding this well and believe that as many as eight additional drilling locations could exist.

The other new wells are located in Masters Creek and, in the aggregate, tested in excess of 8,000 bopd and 32 MMcfgd. UPR’s working interest in these wells ranges from 54% to 95%. The gas is being processed in the recently completed Masters Creek Processing Plant, operated by UPR, which is designed to process 100 MMcfgd. Currently the plant is recovering 5,000 bbl of natural gas liquids (NGLs) daily. It is expected to be at full capacity by the second quarter of 1998 at which time NGL recoveries will be around 12,000 bpd.

About 40 mi southwest of Houston, in Wharton County, Coastal Oil & Gas drilled a discovery well in the Wilcox formation. The well, Zeidman Trust 2, was perforated in Wilcox from 16,630 to 17,132 ft, the lower third of the gross Wilcox pay. Two intervals tested at a combined rate of 21.7 MMcfgd. The first interval tested 6.4 MMcfgd on a 14/64-in. choke with flowing tubing pressure of 6,881 psig. The second interval flowed at a rate of 15.3 MMcfgd on an 18/64-in. choke with flowing tubing pressure of 5,000 psig.

The gas contains 6% CO₂ and will be commingled and produced together. A small amine plant will remove the CO₂. Coastal, the operator, holds 55% working interest in the well and nearly 16,000 acres in the immediate area. Seagull Energy Corp. holds the remaining 45% working interest in the well and the surrounding acreage.

Copyright © 1999 World Oil
Copyright © 1999 Gulf Publishing Company