Getty's Bellevue field still going and growing

Journal Article · Wed Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1978 · Pet. Eng. Int.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6229707

Bleakley, W B

What started as a 5-spot fireflood pilot in 1963 is now a full-scale operating thermal-recovery project with 73 patterns. Producing rate in August was 2267 bpd of oil having an original in-place api gravity of 19.5. Getty Oil Company (previously Tidewater Oil Company) tackled the project alone, pioneering in a technique that was little more than a laboratory curiosity. Injectivity tests confirmed well-to-well communication and the injection well responded to heat from the electric igniter, starting the fireflood on the J.W. Elston lease at the Bellevue field, Bossier Parish, Louisiana, in September 1963. The pilot pattern started as a 1-1/4-acre 5-spot that grew through 2 expansions to 2.8 acres. Most of today's operating techniques were developed during the pilot phase but refinements have been added along the way. The percent age of oil in place actually recovered in Bellevue may not be known for years. The process is a slow one and there is no end in sight for the pattern ignited in 1963. Response to the firefront in producing wells takes about 1-1/2 years, and the combustion phase another 2 to 2-1/2 years. Based on calculated oil in place in the pilot area, recovery is right at 100%. In a pattern in the first expansion, recovery so far is approaching 120%. Crude oil is obviously migrating across pattern lines.

• OSTI ID: 6229707
• Journal Information: Pet. Eng. Int.; (United States), Journal Name: Pet. Eng. Int.; (United States) Vol. 50:12; ISSN PEEID
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FEDERAL REGION VI
IN-SITU COMBUSTION
IN-SITU PROCESSING
LOUISIANA
NORTH AMERICA
OIL WELLS
OXIDATION
PERFORMANCE
PROCESSING
PRODUCTION
RECOVERY
THERMAL RECOVERY
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
USA
WELLS