--> ABSTRACT: Stranded Oil - Re-discovering Forgotten Oil in Petroleum Development Oman, by Woodward, Myles; Amthor, Joachim; Khayrutdinov, Fanis; Zijlstra, Ellen; Burckhart, Thibaut; #90141 (2012)

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Stranded Oil - Re-discovering Forgotten Oil in Petroleum Development Oman

Woodward, Myles *1; Amthor, Joachim 1; Khayrutdinov, Fanis 1; Zijlstra, Ellen 1; Burckhart, Thibaut 1
(1) Petroleum Development Oman, Muscat, Oman.

Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) has been exploring in Oman for over 50 years and during this time the understanding of the petroleum systems in Oman has increased dramatically. PDO now develops a wide variety of fields including heavy oil and thin pay and is applying a number of EOR mechanisms in field re-developments. This has been made possible not just by our increased understanding, but also by technological advances and the infrastructure that has been built up over the years.

Although PDO now develops a wide range of field types, this has not always been the case and there are a number of past discoveries that were not matured into commercial discovered Scope for Recovery (dSFR) at the time of discovery and which are termed “Stranded”. Due to the timeframe during which PDO has been exploring in Block 6, the number of Stranded opportunities is perceived to be significant and many have been forgotten with the passage of time. Exploration in PDO has had a number of successes in recent years “re-discovering” some of these opportunities and they have formed a significant proportion of PDO’s volume additions. The successes that have been had with these opportunities has led PDO to want to better understand its Stranded Oil portfolio.

This paper outlines the approach that was taken to generate the portfolio of Stranded Oil opportunities in PDO and the work that is being done to identify the potential size of the portfolio, the themes within the portfolio and the strategy and technology required to mature the portfolio.

Almost 500 stranded oil reservoirs were screened resulting in 164 opportunities. These opportunities were categorised according to their attractiveness and maturity, and then further refined into ten development themes. A subset of the more mature opportunities were identified whilst another subset were selected for further study. This study will also have an immediate impact on PDO’s exploration programme as it is planned to drill six stranded oil opportunities from the portfolio in 2012.

 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90141©2012, GEO-2012, 10th Middle East Geosciences Conference and Exhibition, 4-7 March 2012, Manama, Bahrain