Case History of a Marginal Oil Field Development

Abstract

This paper was aektad r% preaekaticm by an SPE Progrsm Committee foilo$ing review of information ccirtainsd in an atsfract submittad by the suthor(s). Contents of the paper, ss presented, have not been reviswsd by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subjsct to comction by the suthor(s). The material, as presented, does not nacsssarily reflect sny postion of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Pspers presented st SPE rnaebkga are subjact te publication review by Edtirial Cemmitfees of the Ssciaty of Petroleum Enginaers. Ekctmnic reproduction, distrkation, or storage of any psrt of this paper for commercial purpmes without the witten consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is pmhibted. Pemksion to reprcduce in print is restricted to an aktract d not more than S00 v.wxls; illustiatimrs may n~ba copied.The abstract must contain conspicuous sckmmkdgrwnt of Mere and by Warn the paper was preaantsd. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O. @ox S33S30, Rxhardscm, TX75083-3S38, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952S435. AbstractDevelopment of a margkal oit field offers a unique set of challenges. These challenges were experienced in the development of VICO'S Semberah Fiel@ located in East Kalimantau of Indonesia. Semberah Field was originally thought to be a small oil accumulation in a mainly gas arw, therefo~, the facilities and development plans were conceived around a target of 5,000 BOPD. However, an aggressive development effort which included, in addition to moderate drilliig aud re-completions, an on going cost effective production optimization effort of both surface facilities and downhole completions have resulted in maintaining the oil production at a level of more than 12,000 BOPD for the last five years. This paper presents example of the ongoing development process of the Semberah field. Under a complex geological environment and multi-layered saudstone reservoir, the thin non-continuous oil sands encountered were initially developed without detailed planning. Rather than being driven by reservoir studies to guide the delineation pro-the life of the field is extended by cost effective production optimizNion that in tum encoumges further reservoir review.The optimization effo* have resulted in several significant upward reserve revisions of the Sembemh field. The whole field is now re-mapped with a probabilistic method in an attempt to capture the uncertainty of the sand development. Future efforts for additional improvement will be centered on a newly instituted multi-discipline asset team.