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BP’s Badami field in production again with aggressive gas injection February shut-in due to cold temperatures, possibility low volumes of crude could plug pipeline; present plan is reservoir testing Kristen Nelson PNA News Editor
BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. started bringing wells back on line May 1 at its Badami field east of Prudhoe Bay. The first pipeline throughput was May 2, BP Exploration (Alaska) spokesman Paul Laird told PNA May 3.
Laird said the field was currently producing at 4,000-7,000 barrels of oil per day. Production is expected to average 3,000-4,000 barrels per day over the longer term for reservoir testing.
Laird reported that Octavio Pastrana, BP’s eastern North Slope business unit leader, said the primary reason production was resumed was to learn more about the reservoir and that production was secondary.
Natural gas is imported from Endicott for Badami production and Laird said the company was using much more aggressive gas injection. When gas injection began last year injection was at 1,800 pounds per square inch pressure; currently gas is being injected into the reservoir at 5,300 pounds per square inch.
We hope, Laird said, that the more aggressive gas injection will establish connectivity among the channels in the turbidite accumulation. Initially, he said, the channels weren’t communicating as BP had anticipated and hoped that they would. Weather a factor Weather is a factor in bringing the wells back on line, Laird said: “The warmer temperatures enable us to sustain production at low throughput rates without risking plugging the pipeline.”
Production began from Badami in August. The field was shut in early in February. Four wells are currently in production, Laird said, with five anticipated to be in production at peak. The fifth well is being brought on, he said. Seven wells have been drilled at the field and an eighth is being drilled currently.
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