HISTORICAL ASPECTS OF NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS APPLICATION TO INTENSIFY OIL PRODUCTION

Abstract

In the Soviet Union, a large-scale program of conducting nuclear explo- sions for peaceful purposes was carried out, the task of which was to develop the fundamentals of nuclear-explosive technologies and to study safety issues during industrial nuclear explosions. One main directions of the industrial nuclear explosions program was oil and gas flow intensification. To organize, coordinate and conduct pilot- scale works to increase the oil flow from existing wells using nuclear explosions, on August 1, 1963, the NIS-12 research station was estab- lished on the basis of the Ufa Research Institute of the Oil Industry (now BashNIPIneft). One of the massive reef deposits with a large oil-bearing floor, a large range of changes in reservoir properties, frequent alterna- tion of dense and porous rocks in the reef volume, a large depth of occur- rence, a powerful «tire» of halogen rocks and a strong oxidized oil zone, was firmly chosen as an experimental object insulating oil reservoir from the underlying rocks. The point of use of nuclear explosives was chosen in the interval of dense rocks between the two zones of oil-bearing res- ervoirs in order to form an artificial fracture zone connecting the collec- tor lenses. The experiments were conducted successfully, all types of radiation monitoring reported that everything is normal. In 1982, a special commission of the Ministry of Oil Industry was set up to assess the impact of nuclear explosions on the development efficiency of the Grachevsky field, which made the following conclusions: 1) there was a fundamental possibility and effectiveness of conducting nuclear explosions in operating fields; 2) the total additional oil production due to the use of underground nuclear explosions, determined in various ways, was 150 - 300 thousand tons, that is, 5 - 10 % of the total oil production from the start of develop- ment and 12 - 24 % from the moment of the nuclear explosions; 3) impact of the explosions covered 42.5% of the deposit area where the zone of improved conductivity was formed. For 15 of the 40 producing wells drilled, productivity increased markedly, and the rate of natural decline in oil production slowed down almost three times. In terms of deposits, the rate of drop in reservoir pressure has slowed. The role of the program of conducting industrial nuclear explosions to extinguish gas fountains is shown. In general, of the entire Soviet peaceful nuclear program, the greatest return at the lowest risk to the environment came from explosions used for seismic exploration and intensification of oil production.