The Department of Energy reports success in a horizontal drilling project in an aging Michigan oil field.
DOE is cosponsoring the test, headed by a university-industry combine led by Michigan Technological University, Houghton, Mich.
The group drilled a horizontal well in Crystal field in Montcalm County. It has produced at rates exceeding 100 b/d, compared with only 5 b/d from conventional wells in the field.
Cronus Development Corp., Travis City, Mich., is project operator. It spudded the well Sept. 20, taking it 3,200 ft, with the lower section veering horizontally through the 12-15 ft thick middle Devonian Dundee.
The horizontal leg is about 100 ft long and, combined with the curvature from the vertical portion of the hole, exposes the reservoir in more than 150 ft of well bore.
DOE said the well could produce as much as 200,000 bbl and result in 8-12 more horizontal wells being drilled in the field, doubling ultimate recovery from the field to 16 million bbl.
Crystal field, a 1935 discovery, has only seven wells on production out of 193 wells drilled in the field.
DOE said due largely to excessive production in the early history of the field, most of the field's wells have long been plugged. Yet the field likely contains significant volumes of remaining oil--perhaps as much as 8 million bbl.
DOE also said, "If the technology can be transferred successfully to similar Dundee fields in the region, an additional 80-100 million bbl of oil can be recovered."
Data on the project will be available from the Michigan Oil Field Consortium, a university-industry partnership. Copyright 1995 Oil & Gas Journal. All Rights Reserved.
