Involvement in the Development of Undeveloped Areas in Mature Fields

Abstract

Most of the Russian fields have entered their final stage of development; however, they contain a large amount of remaining recoverable reserves accumulated in unworked areas. To involve the unworked areas, a selection method has been developed to select wells for in-fill drilling. The method includes the following main stages: Identify the areas with remaining recoverable reserves; select the least depleted areas; place in-fill wells; assess geological and development risks; calculate potential production rates; develop rating and carry out expert assessment. The method has been tested on other Brownfields, i.e., - Vyngapurovskoe, Sutorminskoe, Vyngayakhinskoe, Sugmutskoe, Kholmogorskoe, Yety-Purovskoe, Vostochno-Pyakutinskoe and Romanovskoe. Based on the estimated production rates of the wells and geology and development risks, as well as the reserves being involved, a through rating of the wells has been prepared for infill drilling. Expert assessment has identified 265 wells for top priority drilling based on their potential production rates. A well with smaller-diameter pay string has been designed to reduce construction costs and make the involvement of unworked areas more efficient. Pilot project starts in June 2019 on Vyngapurovskoe BV8/1 target to drill the first three small-diameter in-fill wells from well cluster No. A. Should the pilot be successful, the technology roll-out on first-train wells only will enable us involve over 8.1 million tons of recoverable oil reserves into development.