Keeping Abreast of New Technology Enhances Asset Value - Experience in Romanovskoe Oilfield, Western Siberia

Abstract

Recent years have seen a growing trend towards applying new and advanced technology in the Russian oil and gas business to maximize productivity and enhance assets value. This has led to improved efficiency and greater technical challenges. In large measure, Sibneft owes its predominant position as one of the rapidly growing oil producers in the Russian energy business to its willingness to embrace new technology in order to enhance the value and maximize the productivity of its assets. This paradigm shift has been critical to the company, not only to maintain its leadership among the majors in Russia, but also to be consistent with the country's aggressive strategy to enhance production rapidly to meet local and international energy demand. This paper focuses on how Sibneft management has been keeping abreast of new technology in order to meet these technical challenges. Romanovskoe oilfield, which is located in the Western Siberian region, is one such field that has been subjected to this proactive philosophy. Due to the heterogeneous characteristics of the reservoir, inefficient thin beds and relative low permeability, specific applications or "right sizing" of technology are crucial to ensure effective exploitation of the field potential. All the wells in the field are either producing via horizontal wells or have been fracture-stimulated since the beginning of their production history. The critical success factors that emerged from the applications are accurate well placement within the thin oil column (landing the well in the right place and at the right angle), avoiding poor quality reservoir and undulating wellbore for the horizontal wells, and fracture-stimulating the wells in the low productivity regions. The adoption of the strategy has seen substantial increase in the field total production, which is otherwise difficult to achieve without appropriate applications of specific technology. The successes on overall enhance the long-term value of the asset. Introduction For the past several years, there has been a growing trend towards applying new and advanced technology in the Russian oil and gas industry. The main reason for this growing trend has been the increasing awareness of the Russian energy business about the critical need to improve production efficiency and maximize reservoir productivity. This is further catalyzed by the country's aggressive strategy to enhance production to meet the local and international energy demand. Among the major operators in the country, Sibneft has been the frontrunner in embracing this paradigm shift, and has been instrumental in proactively putting the idea into action. The purpose of this paper is not to discuss the philosophy and vision adopted by Sibneft concerning the application of new and advanced technology in detail, but rather to focus on how the company has been adopting and applying certain technologies, namely hydraulic fracturing and horizontal wells, and judiciously utilizing them in order to develop its assets. The underlying philosophy is fundamentally simple, but practical; selecting "fit-for-purpose" solutions, and then "right-sizing" them according to the needs, depending on the nature and characteristics of the reservoirs. The Romanovskoe field, which is located in the Western Siberian region, has been selected as a case example to show the company's experience in leveraging these technologies. The field is one good example to reflect the characteristics of many assets in the Western Siberian region, inefficient thin beds with relatively low permeability, and widespread structural and geological heterogeneities with underlying water bearing zone in close proximity. Due to these heterogeneous characteristics, efficient development of the field to enhance productivity and maximize recovery is a challenge that requires careful selection and application of technology. The paper begins with a fundamental review of the Romanovskoe oilfield structure and geology. This provides understanding of the reservoir and formation heterogeneity, and some critical insights of the technical challenges associated with the development of the field. The key technology applications focus on hydraulic fracturing (for the vertical wells) and horizontal wells. Several well case histories are provided to demonstrate the applicability of the technology employed, including the analysis of the wells and the field production performance to evaluate the overall success of the endeavors in enhancing the value of the asset.

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“…Нефть в Западной Сибири добывается главным образом из неоднородных песчаников юрского и мелового происхождения. Причиной неоднородности служит ламинированность песчаников [3][4][5] . Глинистые минералы, присутствующие в таких пластинчатых образованиях 18 , а также в песчаниках продуктивных пластов, представлены главным образом каолинитом, илитом, хлоритом и перемешанными слоями глины и в меньшей степенисмектитом.…”