Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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Abstract
Hfstpry of 13eveIopment
In, Nov., 1944, with the completion of Humbles C. D. <
Nichols 1, initial production was obtained from the Pickton field in the East Texas basin located in the northeast
corner of the state. The presence of the reservoir had first
been indicated by geologic ko~elation cf iubsurfBce data
and was later cordirrned and isolated by geophysical data.
Structurally, Pickton is an extremely low-relief anticfine
which, of itself, is not unusual- for small structures, in the
East Texas basin, The unique feature of Pickton is the structural low relief in a field large enough to contain 34
million STB oil and to extend over an area in excess of
Original manuscript receivqd In .%cJetyof l%troleum Engineers of%e
AUE. 16, 1568, Paper Drrsentsd at SPE Annual Fall Meeting held In New
SMrans. Oct. S.9; 1963.
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An attendant characteristic of progressively increasing gasoil ratios was also noted. A study of geological data from
wells drilled to the Bacon ~ime indicated that the formation is permeable only in small areas and was therefore
unlikely to have sufficient areal extent of adequate permeability to supportan appreciable water drive for the Pickton reservoir, even though a water table is present, This
information, coupled with the absence of a gas cap and
the lack of large volumes of water production from wells
completed 10,win the structure, confirmed an earlier conclusion that primary production from the Pickton field
would be by dissolved-gas-drive mechanism. Its early
establishment for Plckton as a primary recovery medium
completed the picture of a difficult field to develop and
produce profitably under primary operations only,
In late 1947 areservoir study of theoriginal areaof the
field was completed, Detailed economic analyses were made
for several plahs of operation for pressure maintenance
which were investigated in the study. In line with the recommendations advanced in the report, plans were initiated
for unitizing the field and constructin~ facilities to gather
the produced gas from the Pickton oil reservoir, along
with extraneous non-associated gas from the nearby Yantis
(Rodessa) gas reservoir, and inject approximately 15
Mcf/D of gas info Pickion. Plans were also made to
install a gasoline plant to process both the Pickton casinghead gas and the extraneous Yantis gas before injection.
By mid-1949, observed pressure performance was div&ging from the behavior predicted by conventional dissolved-gas-drive calculations. An additional reservoir study
was made in order to obtain a more accurate concept of
the producing mechanism at Pickton. From the calculations made at that time it was apparentthat
either the
original estimate of oil in place was low or that a weak
water drive was effective. Individual wel[ performance did
not stsbstantiate the presence of a water drive since t~e
structurally low wells failed to. produce large volumes of
water, but the development of the extension area in 1950
did verify the conclusion that the original estimate of oil
in place was low, When the development of the extension
area had been c&npleted, the original oil in place wascalculated to be 70 millitm reservoir bbl or 34 million STB.
Dissolved-gas-drive calculations indicated that the expected
primary recovery would be 19.4 percent of the oil originally in place, or 6,6 million STB,
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JO UBNAL OF PETROLEUM
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TECHNOLOGY
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5. Aprii, 1961, initiation of pilot miscible flood and water injection program;
6. Ott,, 1961, extraneous gas injection ceased and gas
sales initiated; and
7, 1963, watqr injection program expanded to rim-type
water flood.
The first event has little significance for the present pur.
pose but a brief discussion of each of the remaining six
turning points in the life of the Pickton field wiil aid in
understanding the conservation and economic implications
of the cooperatively controlled reservoir behavior, without
which the venture would have ended in financial loss for
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many+
The engineering studies pteceding the initiation of pressure maintettance in Aug., 1949, gave a sound basis for
prediction of recovery efficiency under primary operations
and gas displacement by pressure maintenance. These,
studLes further served to guide the operating practices of
the major operator in the @eId.During the early life of the
field, daily production was held to a fairly constant level
even though drilling was in progress.
It was during this period.that reservoir anaiysts first attempted to determine the producing mechanism of the
field. The first study was of necessity tentative in nature
and was completed 16 months after iiiitial production, At
that time, approximrtteiy 0.5 million STB of oil had been I
produced, reservoir pressure had dropped 219 psi, and
producing gas-oii ratios had risen slightly. These data, together with suspected insufficient offstructure porosity to
account for an effective water drive, indicated the primary
producing mechanism to be dissolved-gas drive.
The rapid initial pressure deciine during the early period
of production, coupled with the known high shrinkage
characteristic of the oiI, led the major operator to present
this information before the Railroad Commission, and perwell allowable were reduced from 75 to 50 BOPD in late
1946 (Fig. 3). Aithough the pressure decline was arrested
by this reduction in aliowable, the completion of new weils
and the gradual increase in daily production during rnld=
1947 led to the resumption of the previous pressure trend.,
After presentation of this information. as testimony before
scores the speed with which these negotiations were completed. Their superimposition on the bottom-hole preasuretime curve in Fig. 3 dramatically shows the effectiveness of
the cooperative effort in wresting and reversing dbkwtrous ,
reservoir pressure trends.
The first joint operating contract, eqtered into by three
oil companies, was signed three years and three months
after the discovery well was completed. The second set of
agreements, which included approximately 10 operators as
well as a large body of royalty owners not included in the
first agreemen~ became effective just two years and one
month after discovery of the extension area.
There is one final feature which contributes to the
uni@re nature of Plckton. The period from discovery to
the beginning of final blowdown should occur well within
the professional life span of a host of engineering aid man~gerial pcr50nnel
who were instrumental
in the fields
initial development,
During the time from discovery to the present, rt;ne
major cugineering and research studies have been made
on Pickton EL
nd another one is now in progress, When flrtal
blowdown is begun, at least five of these studies will have
been translated into operating plans, and it has been, or it
will be, possible in each case to evaluate the accuracy and
the effectiveness of the engineering and operational techniques used.
Production Iitstory and Data
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Viewed in retrospect, in terms of controlled rese~oir
operations, the life hktory of Pickton is, or will be, dominated by seven important eventti
1, Nov., 1944, completion of discovery well;
2. Aug., 1949, pressure maintenance begun in originaf
ficid under cooperative agreements with royalty owners
and operators;
3, March, 1950, completion of first .weli. in extension
area;
4. Sept., 1952, pressure maintenance begun in extension
area under new cooperative ~agreement~
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made by the major operator in the field to attempt pooling
of the royalty interests and to work out a mutually acceptable cooperative operating agreement ip order to conducl:
pressure maintenance operations, These agreements would:
(1) prevent changes in equity as a result of oil migration
between leases; (2) permit use of structurally favorabie <
wells for injection without drilling new wells; (3) permit
selective production from favorably located wells to minimize free gas production; and (4) permit art injection pattern conducive to the formation of an associated gas cap.
The signing of the joint operating contract; the pooling
of more than 95 per cent of the royalty owners, and the
approval of pressure maintenance operations by the Railroad Commission of Texas all took place concurrently with
the construction of the compression and gas-handling facilities necessary to begin a .1S MMcf/D. gas injection
program. The initiation of pressure maintenance operatiom in AugT, 1949, was indeed a turning point in the life
of the Pickton field. The subsurface pressure, Fig. 3, took
a satisfactory upward turn. Jloyalty owners and operators
began looking forward to early restoration of the original
pressure level, and there ww reasonable expectation of increased producing rates and marked improvement in an
otherwise rather discouraging financial picture,
Effect of Extension Area D~cove~
This excellent progress was poor preparation for the
next turning point in the life of the Pickton field, when the
discovery well in the extension ares. ,was completed in
March, 1950, and an intense development program was
begun. Reference to Fig. 3 shows an upward turn of well
completions during 1950 and 1951. Fig. 3 also shows that
the upward trend of reservoir pressure under gas injection
was arrested during 1950 and sent plunging downward
again. The CLUVS
of daily production on the same figure
shows a steep uptrend in late,1 950 that eventually resulted
in rates excegding all previous levels.Further reference to
Fig. 3 and the curve of effective per-well allowable shows
the inequities that were creat?d for a time as wells in the
extension area were assigned an allowable of121 IWPD
compared to 25 BOPD assigned to wells in the origimd
area, Thk inequity was eliminated on Dec. 1, 1950, when
the Railroad Commission recognized the origina~ area and
the extension area as a common reservoir and assigned all
wells an allowable of 80 BOPD,
For a period of about 16 months, from March, 195o,
through Aug., 1951, effective control of reservoir operations was lost. Production rose to 3% times the rates which
had previously caused a sharp decline in subsurface pressure, Fig. 3. Per-well allowable remained at more than
three times the levels shown to be in the best interests of
conservation, and gas-oil ratios @lg. 5) increased considerably.
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Unitized
Operations
Injection
Program
Initiated
Lindt Provisions
April, 1956, the average gas-oil ratio for the .fleld
had increased to more than 10 Mcf~b151 and the gas_
compression facilities could no longer handle sufficienbextraneous gas to maintain reservoir pressure and sufficient
Cooperative Agreements for
field gas ,to maintain previous oil production levels. If exOperation of the Extension Area
traneous gas injection were eliminated the resultant decline
The major operators in the field, following the pattern
in reservoir pressure and subsequent loss of oil by shrinkset in the original field development, worked diligently
age would have been undesirable; therefore, the field rules
during this period to produce new operating agreements
F
were grn~nded to incorporate a gas Iimit for producing
for ~he field that would be acceptable to the new as well as
wells .in the field, with some compressor capacity reserved
the old operators. At the same time a complete reservoir
for extraneous gas.
study was coniiucted and presented to the operators so a
At this time, almost 100 of the 166 wells with assigned
sound basis could be estitblished for evaluating the various
allowabies were shut ,in, with their allowable transferred_
operating plan%
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to-lower ratio -wells.-The welfs with low gas-oil ratios were Results of Engineering Sntdy
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Program Inittated
Careful maintenance of records ,on ail welis now permitted a study of the gas-sweep pattern from individual
gas-oil rrdiok This study indicated that there might possibly be shut-in welIs in areas of relatively low gas-oil
ratios created by readjustment of the gas front, With the
latitude of operation permitted by the joint operators
agreement and the royalty owners agreement. it was ag+n
ossible for the operator to control the reservoir in the
Eest interests of all the owners.
A retesting program was initiated which veritled the
conclusions of the gas sweep study arid resuited in the return to production of some wells which had been shut-in,
with allowable trartfermd because of high gas-oil ratio,
This program can be credited to a large degree with flattening of the daily oil production curve, Fig. 3, through
late 1957 and early 1958 at the level of 3,000 B/D.
Retesting
production had again begun and it was apparent that the economic limit of full
pressure maintenance would be reached in the foreseeable
future. Preliminary cafcuiations made in ZarIy 1958 indicated that the economic fimit of pressure maintenance
would occur when the average field gas-oil ratio reached
50 Mcf/bbl and cumulative oil production was 15.6
million bbl, or 45.8 per cent of the original stock-tank oil
in place.
, These preliminary calculations indicated that further
detailed study utilizing a high-speed electronic computer
~ould be necessary to develop an optimum blowdown plan.
Due to the volatile nature of Pickton oil, stock-tank liquid
is recovered by a combination of gas dhplacement by inj&cted gas and vaporization of oil by contact with dry gas.
The effect of vaporization on tim resefioir oil, the gas
volume factors, and stock-tapk liquid recovery made corld~ntional volumetric balance ,and displacement calculations
i~adequate. To iietermin& thd stock-tank and gasoline-plant
xecoveries to be expected, it was necessary to predict the
~&mbined result of gas displacement and vaporization, a
type of calculation which, at that time, had never been
t$ied as far as was known.
I A special computer @rogram was devejoped for these
.calctdations. To insure validity of the resui@ a match of
calculated and observed field gqs-oil ratio behavior and
production history was computed for the period from Jan.
1, 1955, to Jan, 1, 1959, After obtainirig a satisfactory
match of calculated. and observed production data, predictions for various plans of operatiori were made. The conclusion of this study led to the next turning point in the
,fields history.
Based upon the computer study results, the decision was
made tcx (1) $ease extraneous gas injection into the Pickton reservoiq (2) begin gas sales from Pickton; (3) replaae
gas sales reservoir voidage with water injection to maxi.mize vaporization recoveiy by maintaining pressure and to
recOver some non-patterq oil; (4) initiate a five-spot miscible pilot test to evaluate the degree to which are~ within
the pattern are susceptible to additional recovery and.(5)
to continue gas plant operation at near- capacity, with injection of the Pickton residue gas not sold, until the field
gas-oil ratio reaches. 100 Mcf/bbl, The. first four rec. . ... . --ommrmdations were afi,i.mitiatsd.duringl !?61. Prior &udieshad been mack on ,both water and miscible fluid injection
on a field-wide basis and.lboth had been considered
unattractive.
, A 1956;study of water injection was made to determine
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if it wo@d di~place more oil- within t,he.swept or depkted
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APRIL, 1964
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References
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Present estimates indicate that with the controlled reservoir operations at Pickton made possible by cooperative
agreements between operators and royalty owners, he
total drilling cost for the field will be only slightly more
than $1/STB of oil that will be ultimately recovered and
that the total investment, including the gas plant, will
amount to slightly less than $1/STB of oil plus gasoline
plant products. Although some Pickton field operators
might have been able to realize a narrow margin of profita
under primary operations ordy, the opportunity for a reasonable profit has certainly ebeen improved by pressure
maintenance, pooling agreements and increased liquid
recovery.
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addition to actual and anticipated stock-tank oil. recovery being considerably higher than had been originally
estimated, there have been appreciable gas-plant products
recovered from Pickton throughout the gas injection program. Total gas liquid recovery from Pickton gas to the
end of all operations is now estimated at about 7 million
bbl. The combined stock-tank oil and gas liquids recovery
should therefore amount to approximately 25 million bbl,
or more than three times the 6,6 million bbl estimated for
pri~.
Even if a gas plant had been constructed in the
absence of pressure maintenance, the operation at best
would have been economically marginal; therefore, for,
comparative purposes, no gas liquid recovery value has
been credited to primafy-operations.
Reeovery
Conclusions
In
Vaporization
Fig. 5Reservoir
Reeovery
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DISCUSSION
AITON B. COOK
MEMBER AIME
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U. S, BUREAU OF MINES
SARrLESVILIE, OKLA.
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TABLE
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9.1-COMPARISON
OF FACTORS AFFECTING
BY VAPORIZATION
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OIL
RECOVERY
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900to100*
il.
., Pickfg@A.2%
3,000
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References
1. Matthews, T. A.: The South Burbank Unit-A
Comparison of
Oil Recoveries by Various Types Drives, jour. Pet. Tech, (Nov.,
1963) 1180.
2. Whorton, I.. P. and Kieschnick, W, F., Jr.: Oil Recovery by
I#hN~&7~
Gas Injection, Oil & Gas Jour. (Ap,ril, 1950)
Gas Repressuring
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