Ecuador's state owned Petroecuador has tested a hefty confirmation to a 22 year old heavy oil strike in its most remote eastern jungle.
More delineation drilling is planned, but the confirmation could pave the way to simultaneous field development projects in an environmentally sensitive region of Ecuador's Oriente.
Petroecuador's latest success underscores the results of a study by France's Institut Francais du Petrole, updated late last year, that sharply boosted Ecuador's reserves estimate. IFP pegged Ecuador's remaining reserves at 4.08 billion bbl, of which about 2.982 billion bbl is proved developed and about 1.098 proved undeveloped.
Oil & Gas journal recently estimated Ecuador's proved oil reserves as of Jan. 1, 1993, at 1.6 billion.
Meantime, Ecuador's oil production is expected to jump sharply this year on the strength of development projects in the Oriente, underscoring the nation's withdrawal last year from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It is the first member to leave the group.
HEAVY OIL CONFIRMATION
Petroecuador's 1 Ishpingo confirmation well flowed 5,480 b/d of 16 gravity crude from Cretaceous Hollin in the Tiputini area near the remote village of Nuevo Rocafuerte about 30 km from the Peru-Ecuador border.
Pay depth isn't disclosed. The well was drilled to 6,190 ft. It confirms the 1 Tiputini wildcat discovery Minas y Petroleos del Ecuador tested in 1970, which flowed 569 b/d of 18 gravity crude from pay at 7,232-44 ft through a 5/8 in. choke and 311 b/d through a 1/4 in. choke.
Another 1970 discovery nearby, 1 Minas Tiputini, drilled by a group of independents led by Taylor & Associates, cut pay at 4,395-4,495 ft. No test results were disclosed, but productive capacity was pegged at at least 2,000 b/d.
Petroecuador believes the Tiputini area holds about 237 million bbl of oil reserves in four structures-Tanbo, Imuya, Sabalo, and Paujil-and could be developed with about 120 wells.
Because of Tiputini crude's low gravity, it would be developed in tandem with three light oil finds at Panacocha, to the northwest in Petroecuador acreage adjoining Occidental Petroleum Corp. Block 15. Oxy has found about 225 million bbl in several fields on Block 15.
Petroecuador would have to lay a 90 km pipeline to move 30 gravity crude from Panacocha to use as diluent for Tiputini crude to produce a blend of about 19 gravity crude. The company also would have to build a 190 km road and a 300 km pipeline from Tiputini to Ecuador's main trunk line at Lago Agrio.
Several more confirmation wells are planned for both fields before a development plan can be drawn up. Petroecuador puts a preliminary estimate of $300 million on the combined development project. Petroecuador didn't disclose a production estimate, but government sources last year estimated potential production volume at 30,000 b/d.
Low quality of the crude and remoteness of the area aren't the only development hurdles.
Tiputini reserves lie within Yasuni National Park, declared a United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization biosphere. Controversy over oil field development in the park and the adjoining Waorani native reserve at one point clouded plans for Ecuador's first major heavy oil development on Block 16 by a group led first by Conoco Inc. and later by Maxus Energy Corp., Dallas (OGJ, July 6, 1992, p. 46).
PRODUCTION OUTLOOK
Plans call for Ecuador's production to reach 373,000 b/d this year, up from an average 323,000 b/d in 1992.
The increase would come mainly from development projects under way by Oxy on Block 15 and Ste. Nationale Elf Aquitaine on Block 14, also in the Oriente.
Oxy is expected to start production from Block 15 in May at about 15,000 b/d, climbing to about 30,000 b/d in July.
Elf's Block Block 14 operations are expected to produce about 5,000 b/d in the second quarter, rising later this year to about 8,000 b/d.
When Ecuador left OPEC last year, it cited continuing economic woes and a goal of producing as much as 600,000 b/d to cope with burgeoning domestic oil demand while sustaining a healthy level of oil exports. The government said at the time OPEC quota constraints probably would hinder that effort.
Copyright 1993 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
