Reserve Growth
in Oil Fields of
Verma, Mahendra K.1, G.F.
Ulmishek2 (1) U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, CO (2) Direct
Petroleum Exploration, Inc, Denver, CO
Although reserve (or field) growth has
proven to be an important factor contributing to new reserves in mature
petroleum basins, it is still a poorly understood phenomenon. Limited studies
show that the magnitude of reserve growth is controlled by several major
factors, including (1) the reserve booking and reporting requirements in each
country, (2) improvements in reservoir characterization and simulation, (3)
application of enhanced oil recovery techniques, and (4) the discovery of new
and extensions of known pools in discovered fields. Various combinations of
these factors can affect the estimates of proven reserves in particular fields
and may dictate repeated estimations of reserves during a field's life. This
study explores the reserve growth in the 42 largest oil fields in the
AAPG Search and Discover Article #90063©2007 AAPG Annual Convention, Long Beach, California