Many producing fields worldwide have reached the mature phase of development, these fields have been producing for several years (25 to 40 years or more), which is typically beyond the design life, and at this stage there are several challenges from different perspectives from the reservoir to the surface and there are nevertheless a number of viable options for extending the economic life. Recent studies estimate than hydrocarbon production from mature fields will account for more than one-half of the global energy mix for the next 20 years, and probably munch longer (Syed,2008), hence the importance of apply technologies and methodologies (IAM) capable to capture all the interaction in this complex system. There are several key factors in developing mature oil fields. Reservoir conditions, oil prices, development costs, surrounding pipeline infrastructure, and regulatory frameworks. The recovery and production from these fields can be enhanced by infill drilling, different stimulation and remediation techniques, artificial lift systems, secondary or enhanced recovery, etc. Selecting the optimal strategy requires an integrated approach in the total production system and be able to forecast and evaluate different options of integrated performance, linked to the economic value to support the decision making process. This paper describes a case study where the implementation of an integrated asset model was performed, taking into account the production system elements (well, reservoir, and production network) as part of the reservoir management strategies developed with the purpose of evaluating, designing and optimizing the field exploitation to increase the recovery factor and profitability of the field. Different studies were performed using the reservoir, surface production network and well modeling, under this integrated approach to quantify the possible production rates, identify the potential effect of artificial lift systems, production capacity and all the technical – economical viable options that can help to reach the goals of the asset in terms of investment and production, justify with high level of engineering all the investment vs benefits; and also helping to generate the plans and actions associated in the execution phase. Several challenges shown by this field are due to its extensive previous exploitation activity, which leads to the integrated approach becoming the key factor for predicting the real alternatives previously mentioned. As a result, an integrated field management proposal was developed seeking for production optimization and evaluation of different artificial lift options along with recovery schemes such as water injection for pressure maintenance.
The current business strategy of Operators in Mexico has considered finance Enhance Oil Recovery projects. Moreover, the potential in Mexico for EOR is represented by 80% of the total production coming from mature fields. However, these projects are difficult to be executed below current circumstances, oil prices and existing fiscal terms. For this reason, there is an opportunity to evaluate how to switch the situation and generate scenarios where it might be possible to perform such as complex project. Therefore, this study presents a methodology from a technical and economical perspective that includes the selection of a representative reservoir, evaluating different production forecast scenarios below EOR schemes, comparing fiscal models and running sensitivity analysis to end up with an incentive adjustment, to evaluate the potential benefits of fiscal incentives and how they could be applied effectively to EOR implementation projects. To demonstrate the potential of these projects in Mexico, a reservoir with specific characteristics had been selected to simulate the performance of a mature field where thermal pilot projects are conceptualized. Nevertheless, the focus of this study is to evaluate the current fiscal terms and taxes versus innovative fiscal terms with applied incentives. This work pursuits to find a window of opportunity for complex projects that embraces current oil prices, appropriate fiscal terms, tax incentives, and technical considerations. Overall, the proposed methodology defines how to apply the appropriate incentive in combination with several parameter to enable the execution of these projects. Finally, as a result of this study, it had been demonstrated that at given conditions and adding a package of incentives, there is a win-win schema where the Government and the Operators obtain higher returns than the conditions of exploiting the fields only with natural depletion. These proposed conditions can be used to promote economic benefits that encourage EOR projects and attract investment in Mexico, and consequently, increase recovery factor of mature fields.
<p>In the modern ocean, deoxygenation is a major consequence of climate change induced by eutrophication and expansion of oxygen minimum zones.&#160; To better understand the exact mechanisms that promote the development of anoxia requires observations not available at human time scale, and therefore demand the study of intervals of rapid warming in the geologic past. During the Cretaceous Period, massive submarine volcanism during the construction of Large Igneous Provinces gave rise to the development of several episodes of widespread oxygen-depleted waters and enhance organic carbon deposition, including the &#160;Cenomanian-Turonian Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE 2) and the &#160;Late Turonian&#8211;Coniacian Event (LTCE). In this study, we reconstruct climate and oceanographic conditions in the Mexican Interior Basin during these events, a key area that connected the Western Interior Seaway to the equatorial Atlantic Tethyan water mass. To accomplish this, we applied an integrated multi-proxy approach that includes sedimentological, microfacies, mineralogical and geochemical data from a upper Cenomanian&#8211;lower Coniacian section.</p><p>Organic-rich sediments were accumulated during the initial stage of OAE 2 and the middle stage of LTCE (Hitchwood Event), under increasingly warm and humid conditions, as evidenced by high chemical index of alteration (CIA) values. High detrital index (DI) values coupled with high phosphorus mass-accumulation rates suggest that this scenario increased detrital and nutrients fluxes. Eutrophic-anoxic/dysoxic marine conditions are corroborated by the highest TOC values coinciding with significant enrichments in redox- and productivity-sensitive trace elements. Moreover, they are supported by the abundant presence of radiolarians and filaments in the OAE 2 interval, and the occurrence of opportunistic foraminifera in the LTCE interval. Oxygen-depleted bottom waters are also indicated by Mo&#8211;U systematics and a small-sized population of pyrite. The onset of the Mexican Orogen tectonic uplift together with upwelling intensified the transference of nutrients and enhanced organic matter burial during the initial stage of OAE 2. In the mid-OAE 2 &#948;<sup>13</sup>C trough&#160;interval equivalent to the Plenus Cold Event, bioturbated sediments with low TOC values accumulated during a short episode of cold climate conditions reflecting the southward flow&#160;of&#160;boreal&#160;water throughout the Mexican Interior Basin. The minimum &#948;<sup>34</sup>S<sub>py</sub> value occurring within the OAE 2 interval in the Mexican Interior Basin is lower than elsewhere due to a local increase in sulfate concentrations.</p>
To optimize profit from Oil and Gas production activities, the Operating companies are often constrained in one side by contract terms with the host governments and on the other side by the nature of the reservoir, its fluids, and the resulting economics associated to its production and development. Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methodologies have shown to provide satisfactory results in increasing the recovery factor. Nonetheless, their applications are normally linked to important capital investments which might turn the economics of the project not favorable, unless enticements are offered to ease the way towards a win-win pre-arrangement. This paper aims to contrast results from economic evaluations and assessments for the implementation of an EOR methodology in a type field and how to foster cooperation with regulatory bodies to adapt their fiscal conditions to stimulate implementation of EOR techniques. In that way the host country could benefit from higher investment, larger production, increased tax revenue and a better recovery factors while the operating company would be enticed to assemble a quality team to design viable alternatives to maximize recoveries, increase reserves while increasing their profitability. The methodology proposed considers the calculation of economic and business indicators such as: Net Present Value, Internal Rate of Return, Payout time, Company take and Government take which are obtained considering typical fiscal regimes applicable for Enhanced Oil Recovery techniques as a function of production profiles and EOR methodologies. The analyses are benchmarked versus natural depletion of current development, comparing investment alternatives and technical and economic benefits of possible Enhanced Oil Recovery alternatives and their prudent implementation. The implementation of EOR techniques for different fields are either incentivized or discouraged as a function of the different terms of typical fiscal regimes for hydrocarbon production. A proper analysis of the alternatives could be used as the basis of negotiations for the fiscal regime configuration to be applied. Provided the regulations are already intelligently designed and properly approved. Various production scenarios are analyzed to ascertain which EOR methodology may be more advantageous from the points of view of operating companies, national oil companies and government take.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
hi@scite.ai
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.