Posted on 04/10/2008 9:21:20 AM PDT by george76
It has been 31 years since the Prudhoe Bay oil field began producing on the North Slope, and though the crude oil flowing from the big field today is less than a third of what it was during the peak years, Prudhoe is still the linchpin of North Slope production: Today it provides more than half the oil moving down the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System.
Most of the new oil will have to come from the Prudhoe field and a second large field, Kuparuk, which is also showing its age. New oil could be found through exploration as well, but not enough in the near term to stem the production decline on the North Slope, which is running at 6 percent or more yearly.
Utsler says more than 12 billion barrels have been produced from Prudhoe so far, 3 billion barrels more than geologists first thought the field would produce when it was discovered in 1969.
A steady pace of investment in drilling, enhanced oil recovery and an array of new technologies, some of which were developed and initially applied on the Slope, produced those added barrels.
Oil producers never recover all the oil they seek - too much of it clings to the underground rock - but those billions of barrels still down in the reservoir are a tempting prize.
“If we can do things that get even 1 percent more out of Prudhoe, that's 250 million barrels. It's like a major new oil field,” ...
BP is investing just under $1 billion this year in projects to boost that recovery percentage, and is spending just over $1 billion in oilfield operations and maintenance.
(Excerpt) Read more at alaskajournal.com ...
60 percent of the estimated 25 billion barrels of oil in the reservoir rock at Prudhoe will be recovered.
Find stuff about the Alaska Gas Pipeline project Denali. Prudhoe oil is so over.
horizontal and multilateral wells, as well as designer wells
Waterflood is considered a secondary recovery process with water extracted from the Beaufort Sea. Seawater was treated and then injected.
Carbon dioxide is used now with EOR projects in the Lower 48 and could be effective on the North Slope in unlocking difficult-to-produce viscous and heavy oil, Utsler said.
Finally Al Gore has a market to deliver all those CO2 credits he’s been selling.
Ya have to wonder wht the reporter did to get an assignment to watch oil age and distinguish between old and new oil!
/sarc
No, the Oil Company's have another income generator since they will be taking the CO2 and injecting it. They should be able to sell the credits for removing CO2 from the atmosphere.
What's all doing to remove CO2, gives him the credits to sell? Seems he just keeps breathing and talking.....
What's Albore doing to remove....
OOps
Al Gore got a sweetheart deal as he left office to purchase from the Navy, part of the Prudhoe Bay strategic oil reserver.
The Alaska North Slope in many of the existing field including Prudhoe will still have producing wells 50 years from now. (in my opinion)
Only if you have a significant source of CO2. CO2 from some of the gas fields might be used if they Alaskan Gas Pipeline ever gets built. See above post for other options.
Thanks.
It is good to see new ideas working to extend the productive life of these fields.
Likely, even newer ideas are in the works ?
quite likely
TAPS carried 2 million barrels a day at the start. That is velocity. What they are getting now is somewhat more than a crawl. Not cheap oil either.
Not at the start but at the peak. (1988)
Average flowrates and volumes available at:
http://www.alyeska-pipe.com/PipelineFacts/Throughput.html
I haven’t heard that name in a while. LOL
Welcome back.
How was the island ?
Great! How you been?
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