Texaco Exploration & Producing Inc. has moved to improve the efficiency of a mature waterflood with the first onshore horizontal injection well in Texas.
Texaco completed its 70-2 New Hope Shallow Unit horizontal injection well late last December in New Hope field in Jackson County, Southeast Texas. The company is injecting water through the well's entire 1,500 ft horizontal section into the lower Cretaceous Pittsburgh reservoir at about 8,100 ft true vertical depth (TVD).
The well was spudded in November after Texaco completed its 66-3 New Hope Shallow Unit horizontal production well at about 8,000 ft TVD in New Hope shallow unit.
Texaco said the project is the first true line drive waterflood.
Production from the 66-3 New Hope Shallow Unit well averages about 400 b/d, the highest rate attained by a
New Hope shallow unit well. The best vertical wells in the field produce about 100 b/d.
A water injection program has been operating since 1945 in New Hope shallow unit, where cumulative production is about 15 million bbl. Combined production from the field's horizontal well and nine vertical wells is about 630 b/d.
TWO, NOT SIX
Texaco's evaluation of New Hope field showed two horizontal wells could take the place of six vertical wells, allowing higher production and injection rates and boosting oil recovery. Development costs with the two horizontal wells are $2-3/bbl of incremental reserves added, about half the cost of enhancement with six vertical wells.
Delta Drilling Co., Tyler, Tex., was the drilling contractor on both horizontal wells. Eastman Christensen Co., Salt Lake City, provided horizontal drilling equipment for the project, including downhole tools and steering instrumentation.
Productive life of New Hope shallow unit was extended an estimated 10-15 years by the enhancement, Texaco said.
Depending on production performance, Texaco could drill another horizontal well this year in the New Hope Shallow Unit. Another option involves converting vertical wells to horizontal wells.
Although horizontal drilling has been applied to only a handful of sandstone reservoirs, Texaco said the effectiveness of the New Hope enhancement should encourage the use of horizontal technology in other types of fractured reservoirs.
Horizontal drilling techniques have seen their greatest use in the Cretaceous Austin chalk of South Texas.
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