Multilateral Wells in the Urucu Field of Western Brazil: Reducing Environmental Impact in the Amazon

Abstract

The operator assessed many technologies to increase production, and reduce costs while protecting the environment in the Brazilian Amazon. For this project, where access to likely well sites is restricted both by limited infrastructure and Brazilian regulations, the operator chose environmental impact as the primary factor in their decision process.To address both environmental and production issues, the operator selected multilateral technology which minimizes the well site footprint yet allows for drainage of a much larger volume of the reservoir from a single surface location. This is a significant advantage when compared to the cost and environmental impact of drilling multiple wells or using large drilling pads.The operator implemented this technology in the Urucu field, located 650 km southwest of Manaus, in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. The field is made up of three reservoirs called 'River Urucu' (RUC), 'East of Urucu' (LUC), and 'Southeast of Urucu' (SUC).The Urucu has 95 oil producing wells and 6 gas injection wells. The target formation is Jurua in the Paleozoic Solimões basin-a basin that includes an important petroliferous system called Jandiatuba-Jurua. The reservoir rock consists of eolian and marginal marine carboniferous sandstones.This paper presents the results of a successful multilateral technology project in the Urucu field in which three TAML Level 4 dual-lateral wells were installed by the operator. Those wells had an average production rate of 1.75 times more than a typical horizontal well while spending only 1.42 times the average cost of the same.