Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Haradh Well Count

In a rare treat today, JoulesBurn has a new post up at Satellite o'er the Desert in which he makes a pretty persuasive case that Saudi Aramco has drilled an additional 20 or so wells over the total they originally planned in Haradh III (the southernmost tip of Ghawar, the world's largest oilfield).  This suggests they might have been having some production challenges there which had to be addressed with additional drilling.

Not a huge issue in the grand scheme of things, but Joule's pieces are always delightful treats of careful detective work.
at

4 comments:

  1. ManoloMarch 4, 2010 at 4:46 AM

    At the end of the post:
    "Finally, I will note that the latest grand achievement by Saudi Aramco, the Khurais field redevelopment, also suffers from well inflation."
    had all my attention again. The Saudis are struggling, clearly. Their "spare capacity" is highly questionable, specially with all that maximum security in communicating.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Stuart StanifordMarch 4, 2010 at 6:37 AM

    Manolo:

    I doubt they are struggling to maintain their current production level (which was sharply cut to maintain prices), I would guess this is just about maintaining the ability to keep that GOSP fully utilized.

    ReplyDelete
  3. ManoloMarch 4, 2010 at 8:32 AM

    Well, Stuart, sure thing, it's certainly a balancing act, but as you know as anybody else, the more efficient they are with that, the harder the fall at the end of the straw...
    By the way, there is a lot going on regarding CO2 injecting as well. My take: they dance on the last toe of the last leg.
    Ok, the field are big, so it will still take some time on the way down, "surge" production is certainly a possibility, but sustained 12Mbd ? Come on ! I do not buy it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ManoloMarch 7, 2010 at 6:30 AM

    I know, it's already old hat, but just for the record, the discussion section of Joule's post on TOD is plenty of worthwhile reading..

    http://www.theoildrum.com/node/6248

    ReplyDelete