Publications

The “M” reservoir in field “A” is a large, blocky clean sand, and mature siliciclastic formation produced through primary recovery. Currently this reservoir is achieving a recovery factor of over 40% with a high water cut of 98% production. To prolong the field's life, a breakthrough strategy was essential, focusing on optimizing existing wells to maximize oil recovery, particularly in bypassed oil behind casing.

The redevelopment campaign targeted the unperforated zones, especially the lower lobe of the “M” reservoir, which showed promising resistivity anomalies compared to the upper lobe. Initial saturation logging at attic wells indicated over 40% remaining oil, resulting to production rates exceeding 300 BOPD from these zones. A comprehensive development plan involved structural and stratigraphic analysis, petrophysical analytical, and reviews of well integrity. High-resolution stratigraphy revealed thin shale barriers between lobes that lead to identifying over 10 potentials well candidates. So far, six wells have been executed with outstanding results.

To date, the project was able to unlock bypassed oil optimizing “M” Lower Lobe, resulting in exceptional oil gain production. The most phenomenal gain was achieved in well “A59” and “A51” which delivered initial oil production totals exceeding 1200 BOPD from the production single lower lobe of “M” reservoir. These wells dramatically reduced water cut from 99% to 0% and decreased water production from 3000 BFPD to 600 BFPD. The ongoing optimization campaign has achieved maximum initial production rates of over 2000 BOPD, with an average oil gain of 300 BOPD per well, success ratio producing this reservoir over 80%, and contributing additional reserves up to 100 MSTB.

This paper elaborates the journey of the past two years optimizing “M” Lower Lobe reservoir, which was previously misinterpreted as water-producing. Innovative and deep dive analysis unlocked bypassed oil opportunities, marking a new phase in this mature field.