SPE 132705

Rejuvenation of Trinidad’s Onshore Oropuche Field

B. Sinanan, MORE Consulting Ltd, H. Jagdeo, API Pipeline Construction Company Limited

Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the Trinidad and Tobago Energy Resources Conference held in Port of Spain, Trinidad, 27–30 June 2010.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been reviewed
by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or
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Abstract

Over the last decade mature field management has been of paramount importance for economic sustainability and
survival for many oil field operators. In Trinidad and Tobago, mature blocks are occasionally leased or farmed out to private
operators by the state when the fields are no longer considered to be feasible investments according to state’s economic
benchmarks and or operational capabilities.
The Oropuche farmout is one such field situated onshore, south Trinidad in close proximity to the western coastline. In
2007, API Pipeline Construction Company Limited acquired the acreage in 2007 with the production of approximately 60 bopd
from 22 wells. This privately owned company was challenged to increase production from existing producers and increase reserves
using modern reservoir management practices. Since then the operator had increased production to approximately 300 bopd,
planned an eight well infill drilling program and proposed enhanced oil recovery projects. Significant cost has been incurred thus
far and more expenditure is expected as projects are phased in. The operator conducted a geotechnical study as required at
inception but has continued to study the field and develop new opportunities.
This paper describes the local processes and techniques used in field optimization, creation of a functional organizational
structure, development of new opportunities and formulating a practical, reservoir development plan. This work details the work
plan that is being adopted by the operator. The successful approach used at the Oropuche field and proposed in this document can
assist many operators whoexperience various challenges associated with developing mature acreage and encouraging sustainable
operations.

1
Introduction

The Oropuche field is located in the south western region of Trinidad and lies on the coastline of the Gulf of Paria. It
covers 8450 acres of land which encompasses mangrove areas, old sugar cane fields, existing public roads and small villages. The
field comprised of 127 wells when handed over to the farmout operator in 2007. Historically the first set of ten wells was drilled by
British Controlled Oilfields (BCO) from 1923 to 1926 and also ten wells drilled by Trinidad Petroleum Development Company
(TPD) within the 1921 to 1924 period. The Antillies Petroleum Company Limited started developing the Oropuche field in 1954.
Trinidad Leaseholds Limited (TLL) which subsequently becameTextrin, acquired Antillies and continued development of
the field until the 1960’s. Trinidad Tesoro who inherited BCO (retained acreage via BP) and drilled 3 successful wells in one block
during the 1970’s. Petrotrin acquired Trintoc and Ttrintopec in 1993 and operated the Oropuche field, until it was farmed out to
API Pipeline Construction Company Limited in 2007. The cumulative crude production for the field at this point was
approximately 8.2 MM bbls which may represent 13 % to 15 % recovery.
API hired on a geotechnical consulting outfit to map all sands and produce a short term development plan. The structural
setting was found to be dominated by a fold and thrust belt, formed in the mid-miocene and is characterized by ENE-WSW
trending thrust faults that generated similarly oriented anticlines and imbricated half anticlines which provided the major structural
hydrocarbon trapping mechanism. The stratigrahic sequence consists of the Cipero formation with the Retrench sands of the mid-
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miocene age. These sands were interpreted to be deep water turbidite associated with deepwater marls and permeability ranging
from 20 md to 200 md and porosity ranging from 13 % to 28 %. The reservoirs drive mechanism is predominantly solution gas
drive. The study also identified reactivation, recompletion and infill drilling candidates. A reservoir map1 indicating demarcated
areas of producing sands at different depths can be seen in figure 1.

Results and Discussion

In the business world of a small operator the modern art of reservoir management integrates the science of
recovery and the practice of thrift within the boundaries set by a contractual agreement. Leases and farmouts are offered for
specific periods of time and are not guaranteed to be renewed. As such, the operator must be very diligent in fulfilling the work
obligations set out by the state oil company and other regulatory bodies and also remain economically profitable. The first
operational order of business included but was not limited to on-site, infrastructure and equipment repair and preparation. Access
roads, bridges, flowlines and intra-field pump lines were in poor condition and needed considerable effort and funding to become
operational. This was done in conjunction with, where physically possible, well re-activations which were considered as “quick
oil” gain activity that generated initial revenue. After this phase, shallower re-completion opportunities were executed, based on a
revised study, and would continue throughout the field life as deeper zones become uneconomic.
In early 2010, an eight well drilling campaign was commenced targeting different units of the retrench sands. Also final
approvals for an enhanced oil recovery project involving nitrogen injection are pending, following which, injection equipment will
be procured and installed. A study of free gas reserves was conducted in 2009. Simulation suggested a production rate of
1.5mmscf/d – 2.0mmscf/d is possible over a ten year period. Another study was conducted to target the potential of shallow sands
between 150 ft to 350 ft deep. Recompletion production from these shallow sands was approx 15-20 bopd from some wells.
Challenges of fully quantifying this shallow reserve are led by sparse log data for the shallow sections of the borehole. Currently,
proposals have been made to consider logging behind casing in strategic wells to assist in the efforts to further quantify reserves
and fully exploiting through downdip water injection.
Seismic re-evaluation of the field was a stipulated work obligation on field acquisition. The state owned oil company has
embarked on seismic data acquisition across areas of the onshore southern basin and the operator has used this activity as an
opportunity to retain the services of the same contractor. Processing and interpretation of this modern data set will to be used to
update a reservoir characterization model, which will be used to develop new prospects and opportunities of this field. This effort
will add to the sustainability of the field life which would impact positively on the energy and job sector of the island.
The challenges of data availability and data integrity have always plagued mature field operators. Lost, misplaced and
poor data record management spanning the 1930’s through to 1987 has made history matching and performance prediction very
difficult. Various correlations, sparse fluid/rock properties, historical production data and current pressure data were used as best
as possible in dynamic model construction. Many lease and farmout operators have recognized that economic success in mature
fields relies heavily on implementing astute business strategies. In the past, the national oil company was plagued with issues of
controlling expenditure, field equipment security, maintaining field offices, approval bureaucracy, rig scheduling and a burdened
organizational structure that could no longer sustain, support and further optimize this field and many other low producing fields
(< 100 bbls oil). Bearing this in mind, an organizational structure (Figure 2) was built for the oilfield arm of the current operator to
work as a small efficient business unit with multi-tasking personnel, shorter approval chains and efficient service contract
arrangements. These plans and practices would assist in achieving a 12% incremental recovery over the remaining life of the field.

Re-activations: During the reactivation stage fifteen (15) wells were reactivated and twenty five (25) wells were put to
pump. Within the year, daily production rates rose from 60 bopd to over 300 bopd. The operator experienced no significant
problems with this phase of the operations, although considerable funds was required for infrastructure repair and procurement of
sub-surface / surface equipment, construction of measurement and fiscalisation facility and refurbishment of well servicing and
swabbing rigs. Figure 3 shows reactivation period production profile.

Recompletions: All operators with leases or farmouts follow a procedure set by the state to have recompletion proposals
approved for execution. This would entail justifying the plugging or isolating an “uneconomic” zone before moving to another.
Forms that require reservoir engineering justification, geological justification, historical surrounding well data, basic poposed well
program, production forecasting and authorization for expenditure need to be submitted to the national oil company who reviews
and forwards it to the ministry for final approval. In late 2009 the operator performed recompletions on twelve wells which added
over 3,000 bbls of incremental oil to monthly production shown in figure 3.
Many factors were examined to prioritise the sequence of recompleting well candidates. These included well location,
well bore accessibility and condition, reserves, initial production rates and of course economic feasibility. Whilst the operator had
various challenges with all of these, the factor with the most uncertainty was reserves. Reserves estimation depended heaviliy on
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geological interpretation and mapping which determined that following the direction of the sand trends gave best results. Deviating
perpendicular to the channel sand direction shows sharp decreases in permeability and porosity. If these decreases in permeability
moved in the direction of a water-oil contact then high water cuts were experienced very quickly. This challenge is framed in the
context that all the reservoirs units has dips between 10 – 30 degrees, very limited core data, poor core measurement practices and
very limited neutron and density logs. This fact also dictated the positioning of new well objective coordinates.

Drilling: Historically the initial production of many wells across the field achieved over 150 bopd with quick to moderate
declines. Reviewing well file and drill file data indicated that the poor practice of completing wells in muds have damaged much
of the existing reservoirs. The new operator intends to use all best practices to mitigate formation damage in their current program.
A forward drilling program was scheduled ti commence in 2010. Eight (8) bottom-hole locations were chosen to further test and
exploit different blocks spanning the entire field. From these results further study would be done in ascertaining the need for
follow-up wells. The well tractectories (all less than 4500 ft) were planned to achieve well spacing outside the drainage radius of
existing wells, stay within the best permeability and porosity regions, stay away from water contacts and gas contacts, contact as
much secondary objectives as possible, achieve the least amount directional runs as possible, dodge historical geomechanical
issues and use existing surface locations for spudding. The drilling location scheduling was prioritized by economic benchmarks
such as payout time, discounted rate of return and net present value, all of which relied heavily upon well depths and initial
production rates.

Enhanced Oil Recovery2: A geotechnical study identified horizons for secondary and or tertiary type injection projects.
Two sands which are most prevalent across the field are the AO43 and AO 8 sand. The AO43 was first screened and identified for
analysis as remaining reserves, depth, well availability and a number of reservoir and geologic parameters made it a good reservoir
management choice for EOR exploitation. Other horizons above the AO43 sand are also being considered for enhanced oil
recovery techniques but will be staged when a further study is conducted. The AO8 sand is also a good candidate for EOR study
and will be commenced soon.
The AO43 sand holds crude of API gravity 35deg and a dip of 25-30 deg. The permeability ranges from 30md to 200md
and total porosities from 18-28 %. One requirement by the MOEEI and Petrotrin for EOR project approval is performance of
numerical 3d simulation.The importance for this particular case hinged on immiscible displacement of oil in the presence of
gravity, capillarity and reservoir heterogeneity. Two adjoining blocks were chosen for reasons of well availability and reserves,
with room for expansion.
• The 1st option was pattern configuration. Due to the high dip, pattern configuration was deemed not to be feasible but was
still simulated to test known reservoir engineering theory. Pattern configuration failed with enormous amounts of water
production, no pressure maintenance and low oil production.
• The 2nd option was downdip water injection. Downdip water injection was simulated but with extremely long response
time (approx 2 yrs) with an appreciable amount of water production mid structure and no production up-structure. Oil was
being pushed to areas where no offtakes existed and development cost would triple or quadruple to access the mobilized
oil.
• The 3rd option was injecting water downdip and injecting water updip. This option did show a vast improvement in oil
production but also showed a combination of the problem of very high water production across the offtakes and oil being
mobilized in area where no off-takes existed. This option was retained to compare with the following 4th option.
• The 4th option involved downdip water injection and updip Nitrogen injection. This option exceeded expectations with
respect to oil mobilization, oil production, displacement efficiency and displacement symmetry. Figure 4 shows a
comparison of forecasted results of water injection only and Nitrogen plus water injection. Contingency was also done for
Nitrogen only injection if water injectivity is found to be challenging. This contingency proved to be also attractive at
increased N2 injection rates.
This is the first time that N2 injection / facility construction is being planned in Trinidad but invites the question: Why not CO2
injection? The answers for this question are:

Availability and Security: For this project to be economical, a constant supply with respect to volume and rates must be
established. Relying on supply from an external source can be very risky due to factors not controlled by the operator. There is no
current pipeline system within or external to the Oropuche farmout to move CO2 to injector wells. External pipe line into the
acreage can be very costly and can pose threats of line theft, social, environment and health issues within the nearby communities.
The operator wishes to control injected gas into the reservoirs with respect to supply consistency with the least security and public
impact as possible.
4 SPE 132705

Cost, Time and Flexibility: The cost of the N2 plant installed within the field was deemed economic with respect to returns from
oil gains forecasted. The time it would take to establish CO2 connection, agreements and supply is projected to be 3-4 times longer
than N2 plant procurement and installation. Cost uncertainty coupled with supply uncertainty equals decline in production that may
not be worth the government credits assigned from CO2 use. The operator envisions a nitrogen plant as strategically flexible,
which implies that the company can not only attain marketable expertise in the plant operations but relocate plants to different
leases as a separate business model when necessary.

Well Integrity and Environment: Breach of injected gas to surface is always a concern due to deteriorated wellbore cement
integrity for wells greater than 25 years. Uncertainty of cement coverage in older wells is difficult to determine even with cement
evaluation type tools type tools. In this regard, the operator is unwilling to risk the advent of breakouts especially in a mangrove
environment that they continue to protect and preserve. Nitrogen is an inert gas that poses no risk to environment. Carbon dioxide
injection ideally incorporates a full geological study that details seal capacity of overburden and wellbore integrity which would
take costly data acquisition and considerable time.

Economic Outlook

The reservoir management approach adopted by the operator translated into prudent phased expenditure although initial
capital cost for infrastructure repair, procurement of surface and sub-surface equipment, construction of a measurement facility and
refurbishment of five well servicing/swabbing rigs totaled well over $ 4.5MM US. Further investments into drilling, seismic and
tertiary recovery projects are projected to be over $ 9.0MM US. Due to the volatile oil prices, existing roylaties and tax regime,
controlling the operating expenditure under $ 8US / bbl is essential to remaining profitable.

Conclusions

• The reservoir management approach used by the operator of the oropuche field has been proven to be a very successful
model for new lease or farmout type operators to follow.
• The field has achieved over 600 % increase in production rates in less than two years
• A drilling campaign and an EOR project can potentially move daily oil rates to over 1200 bopd.
• Outsourcing geological expertise, subsurface engineering, drilling services and miscellaneous utilities services has
provided practical, technical and economic value to mature field operators.
• Enhanced oil recovery screening criteria must reach beyond technical parameter guidelines into what is practical, secure
and economic.
• Historical data availability and integrity poses a significant challenge in quantifying reserves and conducting new project
performance prediction.

Recommendations
• The operator should continue to collect new data through the drilling process and seismic acquistion for purposes of
updating and validating current models of the field.
• Conduct downdip water injection feasibility and simulation study for very shallow reserves.

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the management of API Pipeline Construction Company Limited for permission to publish this paper.

References

1. M.L Geotechnical Consultants, Geotechnical study of the Oropuche field, 2007.

2. MORE Consulting Ltd, Enhanced Oil Recovery Simulation of the Oropuche AO43 sand, 2009.
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Figure 1: Reservoir map

Figure 2: Organization chart

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Figure 3: Historical Production Profile

Figure 4: Forecasted Enhanced Oil Recovery Scenarios

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Figure 5: Reservoir management approach

Roads, lines, pumps, Production

tanks, LACT, HSE etc Optimization

Surface & Sub-Surface Screening &

equipment refurbishment/ Implementation of low Reactivations & Heavy
construction/installation CAPEX opportunities Workovers

Mature Field
Reservoir
Management
Organisation

Seismic Technology

Reservoir
Drilling Infill and Characterisation and
Outstep Modelling
Opportunities Recompletions

Secondary or Tertiary
Opportunities