Prudhoe Bay Field Development Plan

Abstract

The process of petroleum field development is one of the most important in the oil and gas industry which requires significant planning, technical skills and financial resources. An effective Field Development Plan (FDP) is likely to be needed to ensure that a field is developed in the best manner to reduce risks, maximize the value of the economics and resources and to align with the corporate goals as well as the governmental laws. The report below shows the Field Development Plan (FDP) of the Prudhoe Bay field. Prudhoe Bay is a massive onshore oil field in the North Slope of the Alaska region of USA, which is approximately 400 km to the north of the Arctic Circle. It is the largest oil field in North America, and was discovered in 1968 and came online in 1977. The reservoir lies in Ivishak sandstone formation that lies at a depth of about 2,500-2,900 m as an anticlining trap that is covered by overlying shales. Prudhoe bay had initially had about 25 billion barrels of oil and 46 trillion cubic feet of gas and its top had a huge gas cap which covered a big oil leg. Waterflood, miscible gas injection (EOR) and gas cap management have been used to develop the field which has so far recovered more than 13 billion barrels but this is still a major source of future enhanced recovery. Prudhoe Bay field is the object of our capstone project due to a number of reasons. The super-giant fields of Kazakhstan (e.g., Tengiz and Kashagan) are critically similar to Prudhoe Bay: they are world-size, they are complex in structure, they have a high initial gas cap or high solution gas and they demand advanced reservoir management techniques, including crestal gas injection and produced water disposal. Also, the oil sector in Kazakhstan is proactively implementing the best practice in the mature field management and EOR technologies. The 45 years history of the Prudhoe Bay water-alternating-gas (WAG) injection, infill drilling and advanced surveillance is a proven case study of optimization of recovery of oil in a challenging environment. The outstanding data availability is another crucial aspect. Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (AOGCC) as well as operating companies have published a wealth of data in the form of published SPE papers, technical reports and well databases to the general public. This openness enables us to develop a complete statical and dynamic model that would not be limited by the data as in Kazakhstan. The rich and well documented production history, core studies, fluid samples and pilot project studies of Prudhoe Bay provide an unprecedented learning platform to develop a robust FDP that encompasses geology, reservoir engineering, production technology, drilling, facilities, and economics. So, because of the unprecedented accessibility of data, and the direct applicability of its subsurface issues to the giant oil fields of Kazakhstan, the Prudhoe Bay field will be the perfect object of our elaborate Field Development Plan.