The Kahraman Area Fields - an Old Dog Learning New Tricks

Jay H. Hightower
Apache Corporation - Khalda Petroleum Company Joint Venture, Maadi, Egypt

The Kahraman Field Area represents a significant accumulation of hydrocarbons (24.3 MMBO cumulative production to date) from stacked reservoirs ranging in age from the Late Jurassic to the Middle Cretaceous covering a vertical section of ~6000'. The interpretation of seismic is hampered by a velocity anomaly and when properly accounted for shifts the structural high at depth about 1.7 km. Structurally, the field is characterized by a main, fault bound four-way closure and a group of en echelon three-way closures located adjacent to the northern border of the Shushan Basin deep. Productive reservoirs range from thin fluviomarine, channel complexes and stacked braided plain sequences which are difficult to resolve seismically.
Recent drilling efforts have focused on the Cenomanian Bahariya formation utilizing inverted five-spot water flood patterns increasing production by +6600 BOPD. Additional deeper drilling has also extended the area of older Cretaceous Kharita and Alam El Bueib reservoirs and tested +450 BOPD & 900 BOPD respectively. Most recently, gas-bearing Jurassic sands have been drilled and tested at a rate of 16 MMCFPD + 486 BCPD.
The Kahraman Field area provides a good example of how new data and concepts combined with an aggressive drilling program can rejuvenate and expand what was considered to be a mature oil field.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90072 © 2007 AAPG and AAPG European Region Conference, Athens, Greece