Average rock and fluid properties include. The main reservoir in the Field is the 450-foot thick Permo-Triassic Ivishak formation, with the much thinner Sag River formation forming a second reservoir above the Ivishak. 1980s oil glut-Wikipedia In 1953, British Petroleum entered the Canadian market through the purchase of a minority stake in Calgary-based Triad Oil Company, and expanded further to Alaska in 1959, resulting discovery of oil at Prudhoe Bay in 1969. The natural gas liquids (NGL) are also produced using a refrigeration process. Fluor was one of the contractors involved in the construction of Trans-Alaska pipeline. The Prudhoe Bay field, located on the North Slope of Alaska, is the largest oil and gas field in North America. Although the field was discovered in 1968, because of its remote location, first production did not begin until 1977 after an oil pipeline across Alaska to the southern port of Valdez was built and extensive oilfield facilities were installed. SPE Res Eng 10 (2): 88–93. Gas Handling Expansion Facilities at Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. Prudhoe Bay 2006 Oil Spill. Of the total oil recovery, the miscible contribution is 10% OOIP in affected areas. The oil reservoirs of the Prudhoe Bay field comprise the Sadlerochit formation at a depth of approximately 9,000ft. The reinjection of residue gas served two purposes. Reservoir Management of the Prudhoe Bay Field. The water and gas removed in the separation units is used to maintain the reservoir pressure. Prudhoe Bay is adjacent to the largest oil field in the United States. Presented at the SPE Western Regional Meeting, Anchorage, Alaska, 26-27 May 1999. Structurally, the field occurs between 2500 and 2800 m subsea (8200 and 9200 ft), and original oil- and gas-column thicknesses were 142 m (465 ft) and 122 m (400 ft), respectively. Gas-handling facilities subsequently were expanded three times and reached a capacity throughput of 8.0 Bcf/D by the late 1990s. Prudhoe Bay Oil Field is a large oil field on Alaska's North Slope.It is the largest oil field in both the United States and in North America, covering 213,543 acres (86,418 ha) and originally containing approximately 25 billion barrels (4.0 × 10 9 m 3) of oil. The oil, gas, and water are held in the Prudhoe Bay field by changes in the rock type (stratigraphy) and by the tilt and faulting of the rock layers. Michael Baker International provided engineering consultancy services for the pipeline construction. 1), and waterflooding and miscible water-alternating-gas (WAG) processes have been used in the very downdip portions of the oil column. Inverted seven- and nine-spot injection patterns were used in areas of the oil column not overlain by the gas cap. Fig. It takes 1 hour and 40 minutes to fly from Anchorage to the slope onboard a Boeing 737. The field has more than 800 active producing wells and five satellite fields including Aurora, Borealis, Midnight Sun, Polaris and Orion. Because the miscible project was started early in field history, a primary-waterflood base production curve was not established to provide an estimate of incremental recovery because of miscible injection. In the lateral MIST process, horizontal wells are placed in the bottom of the overridden portion of the oil column to distribute injectant laterally (Fig. Presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana, 25–28 September. SPE-54615-MS. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/54615-MS, Cockin, A.P., Malcolm, L.T., McGuire, P.L. 3 shows the production history of one producer in a lateral MIST pattern. The USGS state the nation’s best opportunity for discovery of a Prudhoe Bay-sized new oilfield is in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, Texas, 8-11 October 1989. The 1,287km-long and 48in-diametre Trans-Alaska Pipeline was built over a period of three years from 1974 to 1977. It is the largest oil field in both the United States and in North America, covering 86,418 ha and originally containing approximately 25 billion barrels (4.0_109 m3) of oil. Prudhoe Bay oil and gas field details Oil Production After Breakthrough as Influenced by Mobility Ratio. SPE-68051-PA. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/68051-PA, Use this section to provide links to relevant material on websites other than PetroWiki and OnePetro, Immiscible gas injection in oil reservoirs. and Uldrich, D.O. and Stalkup, F.I. There are distinctly recognizable production increases because of miscible injection. A Full-Field Forecasting Tool for the Combined Water/Miscible Gas Flood at Prudhoe Bay. The Portland modules were constructed. General view showing the curtain wall with the keep beyond, seen from the west. The method for optimizing the WAG ratio has shifted with time. [5] have studied the efficiency of the Prudhoe Bay gravity drainage mechanism by means of laboratory experiments and field cased-hole log evaluations. The oil field produced 270,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil in 2018.The field’s oil output is transported through the 1,287km-long Trans-Alaska pipeline to Valdez port in south-central Alaska, while the gas output is proposed to be commercialised through the Alaska LNG project. and Elliot, R.A. 1991. An enriched-hydrocarbon miscible (methane with propane and butane added) water-alternating-gas (WAG) injection project was initiated in 1983 with the Flowstation 3 Injection Project. The 1,287km-long Trans-Alaska pipeline transports crude oil from Prudhoe Bay fields to the Valdez port in Prince William Sound. Simon, A.D. and Petersen, E.J. and Redman, R.S. SPE-28632-MS. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/28632-MS, Dawson, A.G., Jackson, D.D., and Buskirk, D.L. Presented at the International Arctic Technology Conference, Anchorage, Alaska, 29-31 May 1991. Unconventional Miscible EOR Experience at Prudhoe Bay: A Project Summary. The initial spacing of 320 acres per well was quickly reduced to 160 acres per well and then further reduced to 80 acres per well to sustain production levels and contact more of the reservoir. During the first decade of operations, the original gas cap had expanded to drape over much of the oil column area, but the producing GOR was kept low by perforating the production wells as far as possible, both vertically and laterally, from the gas cap. While the oil field proper is closed to the public, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System is a popular tourist destination, and many visitors to Alaska make a point to visit the Pipeline on their vacations. The £4.6bn ($5.6bn) transaction involving the transfer of BP’s entire Alaska assets is expected to be completed in 2020, after which Hilcorp will become the operator of the Prudhoe Bay field. Permeability averages 500 md and ranges from <100 md in the western area and the deeper deltaic sands up to several darcies in some of the open-framework conglomerate deposits. A worker at the Prudhoe Bay oil field has tested positive for COVID-19, state and industry officials said. As shown on the right, only a small portion of the reservoir is contacted in clean sand intervals typical of much of the miscible flood area. 1989. Due to the immense size, satellite fields are established … SPE-13651-MS. Dyes, A.B., Caudle, B.H., and Erickson, R.A. 1954. Discovered in 1969, production at Kuparuk began in 1981, increasing to a record rate of 322,000 barrels per day in 1992. Also, both tracer and log-inject-log tests have been conducted, and specialized core data have been obtained to measure and improve the effectiveness of the WAG miscible project. This was expanded to additional areas of the field in 1987. When production started at the Prudhoe Bay field, the recovery factor for the 25 billion barrels of oil in place was expected to reach 40 percent. The amount of recoverable oil in the field is more than double that of the next largest field in the United States, the East Texas oil field. Performance Evaluation of a Mature Miscible Gasflood at Prudhoe Bay. The modules, the heaviest totaling 2,800 tons, will be sealifted to Prudhoe Bay for ARCO's Lisburne Oil Field along with other modules constructed at the Oregon ports of Coos Bay and Astoria. Prudhoe Bay is the largest oil and gas field in North America with more than 20 billion bbl of original oil in place (OOIP) and an overlying 30 Tscf gas cap. Both the operating areas were merged to form the giant Prudhoe Bay field with BP as the operator in 2000. 1993. The miscible contribution is based on saturation changes measured by logs run in observation wells and simulations that match actual performance. Prudhoe Bay field is 52 km long by 19 km wide (32 mi by 12 mi). Hilcorp took over as operator at Prudhoe Bay on July 1, bringing a corporate culture of entrepreneurship and ownership to the state’s largest field where it acquired a 26% interest - the biggest chunk of its acquisition of BP’s Alaska assets. All patterns are ranked in order of efficiency (production per volume of returned MI, or RMI), and solvent is allocated on a WAG ratio of 1 based on a pattern’s throughput until available MI is assigned. The Prudhoe Bay production facility comprises six oil separation units, three on the western side and three on the eastern side, with a total processing capacity of 1.8 million barrels of raw crude a day. Reservoir Management of the Prudhoe Bay Field. Immiscible gas/oil displacement has been the production mechanism at work over much of the Prudhoe Bay oil column (Fig. Source water was obtained from the Beaufort Sea. In the early 1980s, the unit operating agreement required that a final equity determination be undertaken. Simulations showed that the vaporization mechanism would contribute recovery of an additional 4 to 6 STB/MMcf of additional gas produced. 1994. The objective is to ensure better vertical and areal distribution of the injectant. For the regulated oil production rate of 1.2 × 106 BOPD, this was sufficient for more than the first decade of field operations. Estimated ultimate recovery in the main part of the field is more than 60% OOIP and 80% original condensate in place. Gas samples are routinely collected from production wells to measure RMI as part of the MI allocation process. We use them to give you the best experience. Fig. As would be anticipated in a high-quality sand with good vertical permeability, the miscible recovery process has been dominated by gravity forces. An Approach to Gas-Coning Correlations for a Large Grid Cell Reservoir Simulator. It reported that these gas-shutoff gel squeeze treatments cost 75% of comparable Portland cement gas-shutoff squeeze treatments in this field and afforded a higher success rate. A large slug of solvent is injected, followed by a small slug of chase water. 3). The original estimated … 1981. The field contains > 20 × 109 bbl of oil overlain by a 35 Tcf gas cap. The oil pumped from the wells is processed to remove water and gas before being fed into the Trans-Alaska pipeline system. [1] During the past 15 years, the average API gravity of the marketed Prudhoe Bay hydrocarbon liquids has increased by > 5°API. This page was last edited on 16 July 2015, at 15:46. It’s the first case of the novel coronavirus illness to strike the Arctic oil fields on Alaska’s North Slope. The onshore field spans 214,000 acres. Sanders, Chambers, and Lane[7] reported on 37 chromium(III)-carboxylate/acrylamide-polymer (CC/AP) gel gas-shutoff treatments that were applied to 31 production wells in the 190 to 220°F reservoir of Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay field. This has been accomplished by massive expansions of the gas handling facilities and extraction of the maximum volume of blendable NGLs from the produced gas stream. Prudhoe Bay, AK Utilize basic math skills to make quick calculation in the field. The reservoir is a structural stratigraphic trap consisting of a faulted, south- and southwestward-dipping, 1 to 2° homocline. Pump Station 1, the beginning of the Trans Alaska Pipeline, is located with in the perimeter of the Prudhoe Bay field. Two major projects were undertaken. It is located approximately 400km north of the Arctic Circle and approximately 1,046km away from Anchorage. The pipeline is used to transport crude oil from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez port in Prince William Sound, where oil is loaded in to tankers. As shown on the left, shale lenses tend to mitigate gravity override, resulting in more of the reservoir being contacted. Tenneco Oil And Sohio Will Use Canmar Rig For Arctic Drilling Maritime Reporter, Sep 1985 #8 ; operations. Finally, the Prudhoe Bay Oil Field has become a major tourist attraction in Alaska. The castle stands on the south... Part of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System is seen on September 17, 2019 in Fairbanks, Alaska. Haldorsen, H.H., Rego, C.A., Change, D.M. Prudhoe Bay: Development History and Future Potential. On Alaska's North Slope, ConocoPhillips operates the Kuparuk River Unit (Kuparuk), North America’s second largest oil field, 40 miles west of Prudhoe Bay. Erickson, J.W. BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. (26.7%) recently became the single operator of the entire field. It is located in northern Alaska on the coast of the Arctic Ocean. An Evaluation of the Prudhoe Bay Gravity Drainage Mechanism by Complementary Techniques. SPE-28502-MS. McGuire, P.L., Spence, A.P., and Redman, R.S. Sandstones are porous and allow the fields’ fluids to flow through them. First, a central gas facility was constructed to strip the produced gas of many of the hydrocarbon components for sale as blendable NGLs and for use as miscible injectant. McGuire, P.L. SPE-22398-PA. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/22398-PA, Wingard, J.S. More information. 1 – Prudhoe Bay field: different natural depletion producing mechanisms in various areas of the Sadlerochit reservoir.[1]. Patterns with the best performance have recovered in excess of 70% of the OOIP, while the poorer patterns have recovered less than 50% OOIP. 2. SPE Res Eval & Eng 3 (6): 544-551. 2003. The reservoir is bounded on the north by major faults and on the east by a major lower Cretaceous truncation. The 10-02 coastal plain is but 2 miles from current production of the Point Thomson oil and gas field. We have recently upgraded our technology platform. Get the latest energy news delivered to your inbox. Prudhoe Bay oil is a key factor in American energy independence and the oil field remains one of the largest sources of oil and gas in the U.S. Prudhoe Bay’s impact on the Alaskan economy and tourist industry cannot be overstated, and its development has helped cement Alaska’s importance to … The productive area is 225 square miles. While the official population is 25, the town boasts a non-permanent population of 2,000-3,000 employees of the various oil operations. Prudhoe Bay Oil Field is a large oil field on Alaska's North Slope. Simon, A.D. and Petersen, E.J. Both vertical and lateral miscible injectant stimulation treatment (MIST) processes[8] are being implemented to improve volumetric sweep. This project also increased the field gas handling capacity to 3.3 Bcf/D. The first response was injection in MIST injector 9-31C, where production doubled above the base rate. Petroleum News. BP agreed to sell its stake in the field as well as the Trans-Alaska pipeline to Hilcorp, a Houston-based private oil firm in August 2019. If you continue using our website, we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on this website. By the mid-1980s the engineers determined that maintaining the oil production rate depended on expanding the field’s gas-handling capacity. It is located approximately 400km north of the Arctic Circle and approximately 1,046km away from Anchorage. 1995. Optimizing Solvent Allocation in the Prudhoe Bay Miscible Gas Project. Due to this change if you are seeing this message for the first time please make sure you reset your password using the Forgot your password Link. Rapid gravity segregation of MI away from the injection well prevents the MI from contacting a significant portion of the target waterflood residual oil, as illustrated in Fig. Presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, Texas, 5-8 October 1997. It is 1200 miles from the North Pole and 250 miles north of the Arctic Circle.