Sunwing Energy Ltd.-a wholly owned subsidiary of Ivanhoe Energy Inc., Calgary-and its partners have completed the first phase of a pilot oil field redevelopment program in East China.
The pilot is part of the 22,400-acre Kongnan project on the large Dagang oil production area about 200 km southeast of Beijing (OGJ, Sept. 6, 1999, p. 29). - Two frac-pumper trucks in the foreground force a fluid of gelled water and sand down Sunwing Energy Ltd.'s Nan 103 well to hydraulically fracture the oil-bearing formation and enhance oil flow. Nan 103 is the first well to be completed by Sunwing and its partners on the Kongnan project in China's Dagang oil producing area. In the background, drilling has begun on a second well, Nan 102. Photo from Sunwing parent Ivanhoe Energy Inc.
Nan 103, the first of five wells to be completed under the program, was drilled to 11,810 ft and cut a 177 ft oil-bearing formation after being spudded in November 1999. The well is being fracture-stimulated (see photo).
Production testing will continue until the end of March, Ivanhoe says. The company intends to reach production levels of 36,000 b/d by 2003 through a long-term redevelopment plan that will involve the drilling of more than 100 new wells and the reworking of about 50 of 82 existing wells on the Kongnan blocks. Workovers have been completed on four of these 50 wells, which are 51/2-in.-cased wells drilled to 8,900-11,500 ft. The work- overs have increased production from the blocks by up to 350%, Ivanhoe said, and results indicate that rates of 300-500 b/d of oil production are possible in each of the new wells to be drilled later this year.
"Part of the success of the workovers is that they confirmed the ability to achieve significantly higher production rates and higher overall oil recovery from the Kongnan block by applying Western completion, pumping, and enhanced oil recovery technologies," said Sunwing Energy Pres. Gerry Moench.
Nan 102, the next well to be completed in the area, will be drilled to TD by late March, Ivanhoe says. Ivanhoe's partner in the project is Japan's Nippon Oil Exploration Ltd., which holds a 20% interest and pays a disproportionate share of the capital cost for the pilot work. Nippon is owned by Japanese oil giant Nisseki Mitsubishi Oil Corp.
Based on data collected from more than 80 wells already drilled in the area, as well as 2D and 3D seismic data, independent petroleum consultants Gilbert Laustsen Jun Associates Ltd., Calgary, estimate that the six blocks comprising the pilot test area hold about 394 million bbl of oil in place.
