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Reality, challenges, and perspective of secondary recovery of “Lower U” reservoir in Sacha field - Bloque 60, Ecuador.

Abstract:

This document shows the reality, challenges, and prospects for secondary recovery of the “U Inferior” (UI) reservoir in the Sacha field located on the western flank of the “Central Play” (Sacha-Shushufindi Corridor) in Eastern Ecuador. The history of production began in 1972 with the drilling of wells and years later with secondary recovery projects, achieving an increase in oil production. The UI sandstone is one of the main producing reservoirs in the field; it stands out for its high volume of 3P reserves and the present opportunity to recover it in the medium term, without this being the only producing reservoir with secondary recovery. The reality of the field shows that the interventions in the producing areas and the application of production optimization techniques such as hydraulic fracturing, commingled production, matrix stimulation, change of zones, and drilling, among others, have been limited by the low pressures in the reservoirs of the Napo formation; which are depleted and with the presence of free gas. For this reason, additional challenges are generated in different evaluated scenarios of production increases, for the handling of fluids, and traditional artificial lift systems. The challenge is to look for the development of the field under these conditions, using simulation applying the Buckley-Leveret method and implementing additional projects to recover the pressure of the UI sandstone defining injection arrangements and repowering of existing facilities (currently limited), thus managing to expose the ideal cases adjusted to reality and show the increase in the volume of accumulated production of the field under certain perspectives in favor of the interests of the country.