CLARKE, DONALD D.
City of Long Beach Department of Oil Properties, Long Beach, CA

Abstract: At 68 Wilmington Still Has Life: New Technology Revitalizes The Old Field

The Wilmington oil field of Los Angeles County California, the third largest in the United States, has been on production since 1932. Cumulative oil production has exceeded 2.5 billion barrels from Pliocene and Miocene Age basin turbidite sands. There are seven productive zones that have been subdivided into 52 subzones. The subzones have undergone detailed reservoir characterization to better define the actual hydrologic units.

The asymmetrical anticline is highly faulted and development proceeded from west to east through each of the ten fault blocks. In the western fault blocks water cuts exceed 96% and the reservoirs are near the economic limit. Several new technologies have been applied to specific areas to improve the production efficiencies and thus prolong the field life.

Tertiary and secondary recovery techniques utilizing steam have proven successful in the heavy oil reservoirs. One project involves detailed reservoir characterization and optimization of a steam flood in the Tar Zone, Fault Block 11. Lessons learned were successfully applied in the Tar Zone, Fault Block V (4000 meters to the East). A second project focuses on 3D reservoir property and geological modeling to define and exploit bypassed oil.

Steam is used to fuse the unconsolidated sands to allow selective perforated completions to optimize water flood recoveries.

3-D seismic has been applied to resolve some of the many remaining geological questions. The seismic studies also permit new exploration within the confines of the old field. New technology and creative thinking will lengthen the productive life of this aging oil field.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90920©1999 AAPG Pacific Section Meeting, Monterey, California