U.S. FIRMS BOOSTING U.S. PRODUCTION, RESERVES

Bucking the trend of declining U.S. oil and gas production and reserves, some major U.S. petroleum companies are reaping big production gains from investment in U.S. exploration and development. Mobil Corp.'s U.S. exploration and production unit has increased natural gas production more than 600% through use of advanced technology in a mature field in the Gulf of Mexico. And Exxon Corp. said it has dedicated or begun start-up on five projects this year that will add about 500 million bbl of

Nov. 8, 1993

4 min read

Bucking the trend of declining U.S. oil and gas production and reserves, some major U.S. petroleum companies are reaping big production gains from investment in U.S. exploration and development.

Mobil Corp.'s U.S. exploration and production unit has increased natural gas production more than 600% through use of advanced technology in a mature field in the Gulf of Mexico.

And Exxon Corp. said it has dedicated or begun start-up on five projects this year that will add about 500 million bbl of oil and 2 tcf of gas to its U.S. reserves.

Meantime, Apache Corp. is on track to drill more wells and add more reserves through drilling than in any prior year.

The company participated in 184 new wells through third quarter 1993, of which 141 are productive.

The company's natural gas production in third quarter was 317 MMcfd vs. 245 MMcfd in third quarter last year, and oil production increased 7% in third quarter this year to 35,715 b/d.

Apache said a big contribution to reserve growth has been in the form of acquisitions totaling $285 million in 61 transactions that have closed or are under contract so far this year.

MOBIL GAINS

Mobil Exploration & Producing U.S. Inc. is producing about 100 MMcfd of gas from 21 year old East Cameron Block 286 field off Louisiana, up from 15 MMcfd last summer and peak production of 25 MMcfd 3 years ago.

Mobil said increased production is the result of a three well development drilling program the company started after 3D seismic surveys and other advanced technologies showed new gas targets below existing production.

The wells were drilled in June and July this year and tested at a combined rate of 123 MMcfd. One of the wells, the 286 B-7, flowed at a rate of 73 MMcfd of gas, the highest flow test of any Mobil gas well in the Gulf (OGJ, June 21, p. 32).

Mobil and Chevron Corp. each hold 50% interest in the block, which was acquired in 1970.

Production from the A platform started in 1973, and the B platform was installed in 1990.

Mobil said after facilities upgrading, including installation of an added flowline from the B to the A platform, the three wells began full production at a combined rate of 95 MMcfd of gas and 600 b/d of condensate, bringing total production from the seven wells in the field to about 100 MMcfd.

EXXON PROJECTS

Five projects to increase production and reserves that were dedicated or started this year by Exxon represent investments totaling $3.7 billion.

Late last month Exxon dedicated a $2 billion expansion of its Offshore California Santa Ynez Unit.
The company has installed two additional platforms and soon will start up a new onshore oil and gas processing plant.
When those facilities are operational, the company expects production to more than quadruple to 90,000 b/d from 20,000 b/d. Total reserves are estimated at 500 million bbl of oil and 1 tcf of gas.
Exxon's $1 billion Mobile Bay project in Alabama and adjacent federal waters is in the initial start-up phase, and the three fields are expected to be producing 300 MMcfd of gas by early 1994.
The project includes three production platforms, an onshore gas treating plant, and 11 initial development wells. Exxon estimates project reserves at 1 tcf.
Production began in mid-October from Point McIntyre field on Alaska's North Slope, where Exxon and co-owners ARCO Alaska Inc. and BP Exploration (Alaska) Inc. have spent about $300 million to explore and develop the field. Production is to start up at 80,000 b/d and climb to more than 100,000 bid next year (OGJ, Oct. 25, p. 100).
Exxon and partners have started a gas handling capacity expansion project at Prudhoe Bay field on the North Slope to ease production declines and increase recovery. Start-up of first phase of the $1.2 billion project began in September and is to increase gas handling capacity to 7.5 bcfd, making it the largest gas processing plant in the world.
The project will add incremental production of about 120,000 b/d of crude, condensate, and natural gas liquids, and remaining reserves will increase by as much as 300 million bbl, or about 8%.
Zinc field, about 50 miles off Louisiana in 1,300 ft of water, recently began producing to Exxon's Alabaster platform 6 miles away through the industry's largest Gulf of Mexico subsea multiwell system (OGJ, Dec. 14, 1992, p. 23). Production capacity at Zinc is about 45 MMcfd of gas. Combined production from Alabaster and Zinc fields is expected to hit 150 MMcfd next year.

Reserves are estimated at more than 400 bcf. Exxon said investment for the Zinc development is about $135 million.