Petrozuata, a joint venture of Conoco Inc. and Petroleos de Venezuela SA (Pdvsa), has successfully completed the longest-displacement horizontal well drilled in Venezuela.
The well, in the eastern state of Anzoategui, was drilled to 7,222 ft TMD and had a total displacement of 5,743 ft. This beat the previous Venezuelan record, set last year, by 1,297 ft in both total measured depth and horizontal displacement.
The record-breaking well is part of a major drilling program. By yearend, the Petrozuata JV will complete 42 producing wells; a number of other wells will be in various stages of completion.
Petrozuata is using a batch-type drilling process to take advantage of repetitive, discrete well operations. The JV expects to finish its primary drilling program in early to mid-1999.
Over the 35-year life of the project, about 530 horizontal wells will be drilled in Venezuela's Orinoco belt.
The joint venture was one of the first operators to opt for horizontal drilling to produce extra-heavy crude from the belt because it offered economic advantages.
Previously, cyclic steam stimulation of nearly vertical wells was the preferred technology for developing extra-heavy oil deposits in the region.
Petrozuata chose horizontal wells without steam stimulation because technology advances now allow longer lateral wells to be drilled and completed effectively while minimizing longer-term maintenance problems.
The Petrozuata project aims to recover 1.5-2 billion bbl of extra-heavy crude from the belt (OGJ, Nov. 25, 1995, p. 41). The $2.4 billion project includes an upgrader to convert the diluted extra-heavy crude to a synthetic crude. The upgrader is under construction at Jose, Venezuela.
Conoco will refine most of the synthetic crude produced by the JV at its 226,000 b/d Lake Charles, La., refinery.
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