Recovery of bypassed oil in the Dundee Formation using horizontal drains, Quarterly technical report, 1/1/97--3/31/97
This Class 11 field project has demonstrated that economic quantities of hydrocarbons can be produced from abandoned or nearly abandoned fields in the Dundee Formation of Central Michigan using horizontal drilling technology. The site selected for the demonstration horizontal well was Crystal Field, a nearly abandoned Dundee oil field in Montcalm County, Michigan. This field had produced over 8 million barrels of oil, mostly in the 1930`s and 1940`s. At the height of development, Crystal Field produced from 193 wells, but by 1995, only seven producing wells remained, each producing less than 10 bbls/day. A horizontal well, the TOW 1-3, drilled as a field demonstration pilot was successful, producing at rate of 100 bbls of oil per day with a zero water cut. Although the well is capable of producing at a rate of 500+ bbls/day, the production rate is being kept low deliberately to try to prevent premature water coning. Cumulative production exceeded 50,000 bbls of oil by the end of April, 1997 and lead to the permitting and licensing of several dozen Dundee wells by project end. Twelve of these permits were for continued development of Crystal Field. Two subsequent wells, the Frost 5-3 and the Happy Holidays 6-3, have not been as successful. Both are currently producing 10 BOPD with 90% water cut. Efforts are underway to determine why these wells are performing so poorly and to see if the situation can be remedied. The reasons for these poor performances of the new wells are not clear at this time. It is possible that the wells entered the Dundee too low and missed pay higher in the section. When the TOW 1-3 was drilled, a vertical probe well was also drilled and cored. That probe well penetrated the pay zone and helped guide the horizontal well. The important lesson may be that vertical probe wells are a crucial step in producing these old fields and should not be eliminated simply to save what amounts to a small incremental cost. Core and logs from the Dundee interval were recovered from a vertical borehole at the same surface location. The addition of several horizontal wells will likely add another 2 million bbls (or more) to the cumulative production of the field over the next few years. If other abandoned Dundee fields are re-developed in a similar manner, the additional oil produced could exceed 80 million barrels. Additional project work involved the characterization of 28 other Dundee fields in Michigan to aid in determining appropriate additional candidates for development through horizontal drilling. Further quantification of reservoir parameters such as importance of fracturing, fracture density, and irregularity of the dolomitized surface at the top of the reservoir will help in designing the optimal strategy for horizontal drilling. The project was a cooperative venture involving the US Department of Energy, Michigan Technological University (MTU), Western Michigan University (WMU), and Terra Energy (now Cronus Development Co.) in Traverse City, MI.
- Research Organization:
- Michigan Technological Univ., Houghton, MI (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC22-94BC14983
- OSTI ID:
- 565072
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/BC/14983-T3; ON: DE97053729
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 30 Mar 1997
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Recovery of bypassed oil in the Dundee Formation using horizontal drains. Annual report, March 1996--March 1997
Recovery of bypassed oil in the Dundee Formation using horizontal drains. Quarterly report, October 1 - December 31, 1996