Rejuvenating Production in Brown Fields with Horizontal Sidetracks

Rejuvenating Production in Brown Fields with Horizontal Sidetracks Victor C. Ogoke; Victor C. Ogoke The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited Port Harcourt Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Matthias Akhideno; Matthias Akhideno The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited Port Harcourt Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Akin Akinkunmi; Akin Akinkunmi The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited Port Harcourt Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Chike Nwosu; Chike Nwosu The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited Port Harcourt Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Remmy Ugboaja; Remmy Ugboaja The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited Port Harcourt Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Roya Simon; Roya Simon The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited Port Harcourt Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Saka Matemilola Saka Matemilola The Shell Petroleum Development Company of Nigeria Limited Port Harcourt Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paper presented at the SPE/CIM International Conference on Horizontal Well Technology, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, November 2000. Paper Number: SPE-65473-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/65473-MS Published: November 06 2000 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Get Permissions Search Site Citation Ogoke, Victor C., Akhideno, Matthias, Akinkunmi, Akin, Nwosu, Chike, Ugboaja, Remmy, Simon, Roya, and Saka Matemilola. "Rejuvenating Production in Brown Fields with Horizontal Sidetracks." Paper presented at the SPE/CIM International Conference on Horizontal Well Technology, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, November 2000. doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/65473-MS Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll ProceedingsSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)SPE/CIM International Conference on Horizontal Well Technology Search Advanced Search AbstractHorizontal sidetracks offer a very viable technique for rejuvenating production in the redevelopment of brown fields. In brown fields where significant reserves exist, but occur as scattered pockets of by-passed oil, or in stacked reservoirs, their development with new wells will hardly satisfy economic screening criteria. The abundance of old wells that have drained the recoverable reserves in their drainage area and are either producing at very low rates or are closed-in, make horizontal sidetracks a viable tool for rejuvenating production and maximising existing assets.With a vision to improve production in SPDC by 60% in 2004 and by over 200% (to 2.5 MMbopd) in the year 2010, producing the limit or sweating the existing brown fields is now a key factor. Most new wells are now horizontal completions, due to their higher productivity over vertical or inclined wells. This paper presents the benefits of horizontal sidetracks as a productivity improvement tool that was used to boost production from Obigbo North (one of SPDC-E brown fields) by more than 10,000 BOPD in 1999 alone. It discusses production gains, geology, well construction, completion types, environmental benefits and petrophysical data acquisition and interpretation problems that could be encountered with horizontal sidetracks in brown fields, based on our experience.IntroductionSPDC operations started in the late 50's from the acreage in the Land Area Team. Most of the oldest SPDC wells and fields are therefore situated in the land area. There are still some significant amounts of recoverable reserves either bypassed or unswept in most SPDC's brown fields. Some 46 % of the wells are closed-in for various reasons mainly HGOR, HBSW, low production rates and High Sand cuts, while some 75% of the drainage points produce under 500 bopd.Up to 20% of reported undeveloped reserves i.e. some 500 MMstb out of 2.5 MMMstb are in reservoirs that make proposals for their development rank low in current portfolio of activities. The stacked reservoir scenario is further compounded by the fact that most of these target reservoirs are overlain by reservoirs that have been depleted by past production activities. This therefore complicates wellbore hydraulic issues when drilling through them due to the severe mud losses encountered.To develop these reserves optimally and economically, there is the need to access them with minimum additional land take and cost while isolating the shallow depleted zones and troublesome shales. Obigbo North field discovered in October, 1963 is one of such brown fields of SPDC East.Application of Horizontal Sidetracks in 1998 and 1999 allowed us get around most of the challenges presented by the above scenarios, This boosted production by more than 10,000 bopd and delivered wells at much lower costs by:Eliminating the need for new land, drilling of surface holes as well as setting surface casing thereby harnessing the attendant gains.Reducing the total footage drilled by starting the window as deep as possible in the old well with impact on rig time, waste management etc.Isolating the depleted zones and troublesome shales with the old casing thereby allowing trouble free access to desired zones.Obigbo North FieldThe Obigbo North field is located some 18km north-east of Port Harcourt and straddles OML's 11 and 17 (fig.1). The field was discovered in October 1963 by exploratory well Obigbo North-1 and covers approximately 50 km2. The exploration well was drilled on the main accumulation of the Obigbo North field and encountered hydrocarbons between 6,540 and 10,000 ftss. The field contains 66 reservoir blocks, of which 55 are oil bearing and 11 are gas bearing. Except for the E6.0 and deeper reservoirs, which contain light oil the average reservoir contains medium gravity (API=26°, Rsi 300 to 400 scf/stb) oil. Keywords: horizontal section, spe ps-cim 65473, akinkunmi, horizontal sidetrack, ugboaja, ogoke, completion, akhideno, culmination, petroleum society Subjects: Drilling Operations, Reservoir Characterization, Directional drilling This content is only available via PDF. 2000. SPE/PS-CIM International Conference on Horizontal Well Technology You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.

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