Abstract: Petroleum Technology Advances Through Applied Research by Independent Oil Producers, Four Case Studies

JOHNSON, W. I., BETTY FELBER, DEXTER SUTTERFIELD, and HERBERT B. CARROLL

The purpose of this cost sharing program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy is the advancement of petroleum technologies through applied research by independent oil producers to increase production. Twenty projects were approved for funding prior to November 1996. This paper presents results from four of these projects.

Speir Operating Company successfully remediated paraffin and sulfide scale problems, increased oil production, and lowered water injection pressure with injection of microbes into wells completed in a Cypress limestone reservoir in Posey County, Indiana.

Sipple Oil Company stimulated three wells with three different fracture stimulation techniques in the Corniferous dolomite reservoirs at approximately 1,100 ft. Production results were compared after stimulation for the best technique to use on other wells completed in these reservoirs in the Big Sinking Field, Kentucky.

EDCO Producing Company attempted to drill a short radius horizontal well in a naturally fractured Trempealeau reservoir at 2,088 ft in Morrow County, Ohio. Attempts to drill a horizontal wellbore from an existing producing well and increase production were unsuccessful.

James Engineering Company, Marietta, Ohio developed a simple software to download production forecasts from major commercial reserve analysis software and upload production information from fields or groups of wells. These data are compared to actual production with forecast values to identify production declines. There are 240 Clinton/Rose Run wells at depths from 5,000 to 7,000 ft in this project. Initial results of the software developed are promising.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90939©1997 AAPG Eastern Section and TSOP, Lexington, Kentucky