|
Conoco applies for Rendezvous pool rules
Production, expected by the end of the year, will be from new pad, MT7, in Greater Moose’s Tooth unit in NPR-A, southwest of MT6
Kristen Nelson Petroleum News
ConocoPhillips Alaska has applied to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for pool rules and an area injection order for the Rendezvous oil pool in the Greater Moose’s Tooth unit, a regulatory step in the company’s plan to have the second pad in the unit, MT7, online by the end of the year.
Production began from Greater Moose’s Tooth in 2018, when the Lookout oil pool came online from the MT6 pad.
The Greater Moose’s Tooth unit was formed in 2008, the company said in its April 12 application, and a 2018 record of decision on a supplemental environmental impact statement authorized development of the Rendezvous oil pool, ROP.
This project is also known as Greater Moose’s Tooth 2, GMT2, ConocoPhillips said, and was sanctioned in 2018.
The Alpine C and Alpine D intervals are proposed for inclusion in the ROP, from a measured depth of 8,229 feet to 8,393 feet, based on a type log from the Rendezvous 2 well.
ConocoPhillips said the proposed Rendezvous pool boundary “extends approximately one full quarter section beyond the largest estimate of Alpine sand presence,” an extent proposed to ensure appropriate coverage of the reservoir held by the GMT working interest owners, with the pool boundary terminating “in the south and southeast at the GMTU boundary” and excluding sections not currently held by the unit WIO.
ConocoPhillips is the 100% working interest owner in GMTU and 100% WIO of producing intervals in the Colville River unit.
Discovery The ROP was assessed and delineated from 2000 to 2004 by the Rendezvous A, Rendezvous 2, Spark 1A, Moose’s Tooth C, Altamura 1, Spark 4 and Carbon 1 wells.
“Rendezvous 2 and Altamura 1 encountered liquid hydrocarbons, while Rendezvous A, Spark 1A, Spark 4, and Carbon 1 encountered a full gas column with liquid hydrocarbons present in the well tests,” ConocoPhillips said.
Based on data from these wells, a gas oil contact is estimated to lie somewhere between the Rendezvous A and Rendezvous 2 wells.
The gas oil contact, GOC, is north of the ROP, the company said, but has not been intersected in a wellbore.
“The main intent of the GMT2 project is to avoid drilling into or producing from the gas cap as commercial production from the gas cap is not intended and high GOR wells will not be competitive with ACF gas handling constraints,” ConocoPhillips said.
With that in mind, the first northern injector will target the gas cap to confirm the depth of the GOC contact.
The southern wells are not expected to encounter the GOC.
“A voidage replacement ratio of 1.0 is targeted to avoid production from the gas cap,” the company said.
Development ConocoPhillips said a standalone processing facility would not be economically feasible for Rendezvous and that oil from the ROP oil column will be routed to the Alpine Central Facility for processing. Because of gas handling limitations at the ACP, which would “result in significant production backout of existing pool,” gas development from the area is not feasible, although the company said it continues to analyze development options for natural gas found in the area.
GMT2 includes a new drill site, MT7, and associated facilities some 8 miles southwest of GMT1’s MT6 drill site. A permanent road connects the two. There are four new cross-country pipelines for produced fluid, water injection, gas injection and dry gas supply. Thirty-six horizontal wells are planned, 18 producers and 18 injectors, with a planned injection program of water alternating with enriched gas injection to optimize recovery from the ROP.
AOGCC data shows the company filed a drilling permit for the first well at ROP, GMTU MT7-04, a service well, on April 8.
The company said ROP is like the Lookout oil pool “in that it does not have Alpine A sand present, does not include Kuparuk sands, and is light oil” and has a higher solution gas-oil ratio than Colville River unit Alpine sand. It said ROP will be operated similar to upper Jurassic oil pools at Lookout and the Colville River unit. ROP oil has an API gravity of 37.2 degrees.
Recovery ConocoPhillips said successful secondary and tertiary recovery in the Alpine C sand at the Colville River unit “provides an analog for the expected performance in the ROP,” with favorable rock properties and waterflood mobility expected to yield ultimate recovery in the 35-60% range of original oil in place.
Primary recovery alone is expected to yield a 20% recovery, the company said. “The remaining ultimate recovery is expected through secondary and tertiary mechanisms with EWAG injection,” enriched water alternating gas.
The company said the initial 36 wells will “yield additional data that will provide a better understanding of the sand distribution in the Rendezvous reservoir.” The MT7 pad is designed to accommodate 12 additional wells considered extended reach drilling.
The company said it “continues to also analyze future development options for Spark.”
For waterflood EOR, ConocoPhillips said seawater will be provided to ROP and in the future, produced water from the ACT may be used.
ROP production is expected to be “fully compatible” with production from the Lookout oil pool and other Colville River unit pools, the company said. “The ROP is a very close analog to the AOP because both pools share a similar geologic history with the same oil charge source (Lower Kingak) and comparable structural and depositional schemes.”
Hearing scheduled AOGCC has scheduled a hearing on the application at its Anchorage offices on May 25 at 10 a.m., with telephonic access available by calling 1-800-315-6338 (meeting code is 14331). The commission said lines for the hearing will be available beginning at 9:45 a.m.
| 