Carnarvon Petroleum (ASX: CVN) has increased oil production from a pilot well at its onshore Thailand concessions to over 200 barrels of oil per day after implementing technology designed to stabilise production from the fractured volcanic reservoirs.
After the company deployed a downhole inflow control device (ICD) into one of its existing wells, production increased by 300% or 150 barrels of oil per day.
An ICD is hardware that is deployed as part of well completions aimed at distributing the inflow of fluids evenly across horizontal well sections, especially in instances where there is permeability contrasts along the wellbore.
A non-uniform influx of fluids along the wellbore can often lead to early break-through of water or gas, resulting in a reduction in oil recovery and uneven sweep of the drainage area.
To eliminate these problems, ICDs have been increasingly used in the oil and gas industry as part of well completions to control and optimise individual wells. To date, their most common applications have been in long horizontal wells or high permeability contrast sandstone wells.
The majority of reservoirs in the L44/43 group of fields are volcanic, with the flow primarily from fractured zones within the reservoir. The production trends of these wells have consistently resulted in the early incursion of water.
Carnarvon decided to trial the ICD technology in one of these wells to determine whether it was capable of evenly distributing oil inflow along the length of the borehole.
The company now plans to run one additional ICD recompletion before the end of the year on an existing horizontal well within the Bo Rang “B” field.
The company will evaluate the results before deciding whether to making a decision on the redevelopment using ICD technology of the NSE Central, NSE South, NSE-E1, Bo Rang A and Bo Rang B fields.
Meanwhile, recent flooding in Thailand is expected to have no impact on Thailand production and drilling operations. Thailand production is currently approximately 1,000 barrels of oil per day net to Carnarvon.
The company is planning to complete four new wells and one sidetrack well, all estimated to be capable of initial production rates in excess of 500 barrels of oil per day per well gross, before the end of 2011.
Environmental approval is expected for up to 15 wells in the WBEXT "E" and "D" sandstone reservoir area at the end of December 2011, with a targeted sandstone development program to follow in January 2012.