--> ABSTRACT: The Borealis Field, North Slope, Alaska: Integrated Field Development Planning in a Heterogeneous Reservoir Sand, by Cerveny, Philip F., Frank A Paskvan, Francis O Rollins, Bruce W Smith, Tina R Foster, Margaret S. Wong, Donald W. Ince; #90026 (2004)

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Cerveny, Philip F.1, Frank A Paskvan2, Francis O Rollins2, Bruce W Smith2, Tina R Foster2, Margaret S. Wong3, Donald W. Ince4
(1) BP Exploration, Alaska, Anchorage, AK
(2) BP Alaska, Anchorage, AK
(3) Alaska Interest Organization, Exxon-Mobil,
(4) Conoco-Phillips Alaska, AK

ABSTRACT: The Borealis Field, North Slope, Alaska: Integrated Field Development Planning in a Heterogeneous Reservoir Sand

The Borealis field is located within the Prudhoe Bay Unit on the north slope of Alaska. The reservoir is Lower Cretaceous Kuparuk C sands with 80 to 100 mmbo of reserves. Two new gravel pads were constructed for Borealis, the first in Prudhoe Bay in over 10 years. Development drilling commenced in July 2001 with production following in November of that year. A total of thirty-four wells, both producers and injectors, have been drilled in Borealis to date. Current oil production is 35,000 bopd with water injection of 50,000 bwpd. The Borealis reservoir is heterogeneous, characterized by rapidly changing facies truncated by unconformities and regions with pervasive mineral cements. The plan of development has been modified during the course of development drilling as a reaction to these factors. Field success can be attributed to utilization of sound log and reservoir models conditioned to whole core data, world class fracture stimulation, optimized well bore design and understanding fluid-fault interaction with regionally variable oil-water contacts. Changes in the plan of development have included switching from vertical to horizontal wells in one area of the field and revisiting the abandoned southern part of the field which has high amounts of pore-occluding siderite cement. New petrologic work and innovative use of cased hole log data resulted in a re-evaluation and potential expansion into the southern part of the Borealis field culminating in a new well to be drilled in early 2004 in order to test these reservoir concepts.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90026©2004 AAPG Annual Meeting, Dallas, Texas, April 18-21, 2004.