Samotlor Field Research Articles

Samotlor Oil Field, West Siberia, USSR

The Samotlor oil field is located in the Tyumen region of the vast West Siberian Lowland of the Soviet Union. It is the largest of the more than 300 fields that have been discovered in the region as of the late 1980s. This field is typical of many of the giant fields of the world with respect to reservoir rock (sandstone), trap type (anticlinal), age of reservoir rock (Cretaceous), average depth of pay (1,700-2,400 m), deepest pay (2,400 m), and depositional environment (shallow-water marine). The field was discovered in 1965, and production began in 1969. More than 15 billion barrels of oil have been produced, but yields are now perhaps 25% below the peak. The Samotlor field is on a structural high that is on the larger Nizhnevartov arch. Total thickness of the sedimentary section is 2,700-2,900 m. The reservoir rocks are within a section more than 1,200 m thick. Ten pays are present, each having its own independent water-oil contact. Fine- to medium-grained deltaic sandstones and siltstones alternate with shales and also grade laterally to the west and northwest into shales. The sandstones and siltstones contain 25-60% feldspar, which is strongly altered to various clay minerals and sericite. Themore » remainder is mostly quartz. Porosity is from 20-25%, and average permeability is 500 md.« less

Petroleum Exploration and Production in Europe in 1978

North Sea oil production rose to more than 1,700,000 b/d in December 1978 as new fields went on production in the British sector and other fields attained their maximum producing rates. Elsewhere in western and southern Europe there were modest increases in oil production, except in Germany where decline continued. Gas production leveled in The Netherlands but increased in other producing countries. Exploratory drilling declined in the North Sea, as most of the promising licensed areas had been evaluated in previous years and companies concentrated on delineation and development of earlier discoveries. An apparently large field was found in northern Norwegian waters near the Statfjord field. A well in the Porcupine basin, in deep water of the Atlantic Ocean west of Irelan , tested oil. Small oil and gas discoveries were made in Austria and France. In Germany, oil was found off the Baltic coast and there were 4 gas discoveries onshore. In Italy, exploration of stratigraphic trap prospects in the Po Valley were remarkably successful. Oil and gas were found off the coast of southern Sicily. A significant gas discovery was made off southwestern Spain and there were 2 oil finds in the western Mediterranean. In the Soviet Union, average production of crude oil and condensate was 11,450,000 b/d, and daily gas production averaged 36.85 Bcf. Oil production increased in the West Siberian basin, mostly from the Samotlor field, but it declined in most other producing regions owing to depletion of some of the principal older fields. Production from the giant Urengoi gas field of northwestern Siberia began. No major oil or gas discoveries in the Soviet Union were announced in 1978, and the yield from new fields connected to pipeline was disappointingly small. The importance of an increased exploration effort was emphasized.

Petroleum Exploration and Production in Europe in 1974

Oil production continued to decline in the older fields onshore in Europe, and large-scale production from North Sea fields still awaited completion of producing facilities. Gas production increased in The Netherlands and in the British North Sea, but was near its peak from present producing fields. There were 2 giant oil discoveries in Jurassic sandstones in the northern North Sea, Statfjord in the Norwegian area and Ninian in the United Kingdom sector. A series of still mostly unevaluated oil and gas condensate fields was found in the United Kingdom sector, including 4 oil discoveries in the Moray Firth basin east of Scotland. Oil and gas fields were found in the Norwegian and Dutch areas, and a gas discovery in German waters. There was active exploratory drilling on th Atlantic shelf west of the Shetland Islands, and oil shows were reported in one well. Oil was discovered for the first time in Greece, in the northern Aegean Sea. Two wells off the coast of southern Ireland flowed oil. In Italy the Melossa field, discovered in 1973 northeast of Milan, proved to have major gas and oil reserves. An oil discovery was made on the Adriatic coast of Italy. Wells on the Swedish Island of Gotland pumped small volumes of oil from the lower Paleozoic. Minor oil and gas discoveries were made in France, and there were 4 gas finds in Germany, one of them apparently important. In the Soviet Union production of oil and condensate was 9,185,000 b/d and of gas 25.2 Bcf/d. Production from the West Siberian basin increased 40%, and most of this was from the Samotlor field. A new-pool discovery in the Jurassic of the Salym field of western Siberia proved giant-size oil reserves. Oil was found in the Paleozoic in 2 new West Siberian fields. Gas discoveries were made in central and northwestern Siberia, Middle Asia, and offshore in the eastern Caspian Sea, and new oil fields were found in the western Caspian.