Economic and productivity evaluation of different horizontal drilling scenarios: Middle East oil fields as case study

Abbas Khaksar Manshad,Nazir Mafakheri,Milad Ebrahimi Dastgerdi,Jagar A Ali,Amir H Mohammadi,Alireza Keshavarz,Stefan Iglauer

doi:10.1007/s13202-019-0687-9

Abstract

Development of high-density oil and gas fields presents a great challenge to the energy industry due to the low productivity of individual wells and their high drilling cost. We thus compared the productivity, associated costs and economical revenues gained from two field development scenarios, with multilateral and horizontal drilling, to evaluate the optimal drilling and completion conditions in a giant heavy oil reservoir in the Middle East. Well path design was identified as one of the most complex parameters depending on the well-testing results, field production and reservoir simulation data. The fishbone well of four branches with a length of 300 m each and 30° deviation from the main hole was identified to be drilled and completed using open-hole sidetrack as the best approach. The fishbone structure raised production by 393%, while drilling cost only increased by 130% compared with a conventional horizontal well.

Highlights

High costs associated with oil and natural gas production from tight and unconventional reservoirs pose a real challenge for petroleum companies
Based on the current price list of materials, operation cost and services leasing cost in the mentioned oil field, drilling and completion cost estimation has been done for the single horizontal well compared to the alternative fishbone well (Fig. 11)
Drilling operation costs for drilling more feet tend to raise the costs compared to the single horizontal well

Summary

Introduction

High costs associated with oil and natural gas production from tight and unconventional reservoirs (e.g., tight carbonate, extra heavy oil and shale oil reservoirs) pose a real challenge for petroleum companies. The ultimate goal of this study was to perform a simulation and optimization to identify the best drilling scenario in a problematic reservoir. We compared different drilling scenarios to optimize the well setting for a giant oil. Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology (2019) 9:2449–2460 Reservoir Items Target reservoir. Reservoir depth Net pay Lithology Core permeability Crude oil gravity Solution GOR Formation oil viscosity Recovery factor Reservoir pressure Horizontal (KOP) Rig days for a sample well Mud weight. 2709–2850 m 118 m Bioclastic limestone 3–8 md 19.95 API = 934 kg/m3 276–441 SCF/STB 4.44–5.44 cp. 19% 317.2–346.7 bar 2974 m 99 days 1.22–1.25 gm/cm

Objectives

Results

Conclusion