Lukoil #343 (November-December 2018)

LUKOILMid-East Ltd. has been implementing a new technology for maintaining reservoir pressure at its West Qurna-2 oilfield since October 2018 called oil well water injection. THE MAGIC OF WATER: MAINTAINING RESERVOIR PRESSURE О il production at West Qurna-2 began in 2014 and has now reached a daily level of 400 thousand barrels. Water injection is a priority because it prevents reservoir pressure from dropping prematurely, thereby maintaining planned production levels in the long term. The oilfield’s location allows LUKOIL to use water from the adjacent Dammam reservoir, which is located 1060–1130 meters underground. West Qurna-2’s Mishrif hydrocarbon-bearing formation is located 2600–2800 meters underground. Supply deals a ‘major win’ for Kingdom, which will ship 1.67 million bpd to Asian powerhouse. China imports an average of 8.4million bpd, followed by the United States at 7.9 million bpd and India with 4.93millionbpd. Thenewsupplycontracts make it very likely that Saudi Aramconext year will become China’s largest supplier, Saudi Aramco closes China’s biggest oil purchase a position it also held from 2006 until 2016. Aramco also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) for an optional100,000barrelsperdayinadditional supply,bringingthetotalsignedvolumewith CNOOC to 723,000 bpd. Gulf News Anton Gusev, Field Planning & Programming Engineer (Integrated Operations Center): “This technology has been already been studied well, but it hasn’t been applied in Iraq yet. The key is controlling the processes going on at the reservoir and quickly reacting to changes in the technological parameters.” Two-packer assemly for the DF well Dammam Formation Mishrif Formation Perforate Pup Join BlackCat Packer BlackCat Packer Wereline Entry Guide Casing Landing Nipple Liner A secondary opening of the Dammam reservoir will allow water to flow into the oil well due to natural pressure caused by the difference in depth. This technology will save the company money by avoiding the unnecessary drilling and maintenance costs of additional water wells. The technology has only been implemented at one well so far – WQ2-113. Another three are planned for 2019. The technology has been approved by the Basra Oil Company and the coming year should provide a better estimate of its economic value. 6 Technology