Courtesy of salympetroleum.com

Salym Petroleum Development (SPD) has successfully started up two horizontal wells on the West Salym oilfield which were constructed on the Achimov formation using the multi-stage hydraulic fracturing (frac) technology. Within the cell for pilot development of Achimov deposits SPD has also formed a water management (WM) system of one water source and four injection wells.

“Development of Achimov deposits is a key area of the company’s strategy, alongside with application of ASP-based enhanced oil recovery technology and upgrading of oilfield infrastructure of the Salym group of fields. Medium-term growth of our company’s production rate largely depends on the Achimov project success,” Alexey Govzich, SPD CEO, noted.

“Uniqueness of SPD’s Achimov deposits development is in the integrated approach to this issue. We do not only apply state-of-the-art well construction technologies which make it possible to ensure maximum initial well flow rates but also pay thorough attention to organizing the water management system which in its optimal configuration will make it possible to maintain high production level for a fairly long period of time,” Yakov Volokitin, Petroleum Engineering Manager, stressed.

Both production wells have horizontal completion of 700m long borehole. On one well, SPD performed a five-stage longitudinal frac with injection of 55t of proppant per stage; on the second one, a four-stage transverse frac with 150t of proppant per stage. The current well operation parameters conform to planned values. Daily flow rate is about 40t of oil at 70% watercut.

SPD has been executing the Achimov deposits development project since 2007, initially by way of directional wells construction. By now, SPD has designed and has drilled horizontal wells. Detailed development of all construction phases made it possible to execute the project safely and with budget savings. SPD is currently starting execution of a research program on these wells. Its purpose is to find an optimum system for Achimov formations development by way of enhancing efficiency of the WM system and reducing the well flow rate decline rate.

Achimov deposits located at the depth of 2,750-2,790m fall into the conventional (hard to recover) reserves category. They are characterized by complex geological structure: low formation permeability and high initial watercut.

Source: salympetroleum.com