Prospecting for Bypassed Oil and Gas

Abstract

In recent years, il has been increasingly difficult to economicallyexplore for hydrocarbons because of geopolitical uncertainties andlow oil prices. In many countries the remaining potential prospects are in areas which are difficult to access because of climate, terrain, offshore water depth, and/or environmental constraints. Also, most of the relatively simple geologic basins have been exploited leaving to explore areas of complex geology. In addition, the probability of finding large fields in mature basins is understandably low.It is known that substantial amounts of hydrocarbo ns has been bypassed on a macroscopic and microscopic scale in known fields.This is mainly due to reservoir heterogeneities and complex lithologywhich result in poor reservoir characterisation. Innovative reservoirmanagement options can reduce the amount of bypassed hydrocarbons.Emerging tecehnologies such as 3-D seismic and horizontal wells facilitate the location of oil and gas which has been bypassed at near virgin saturation. Sufficiently large amounts of such hydrocarbons could be economically produced in the near term by infill drilling. Innovative improved oil recovery methods can revive reservoirs which were considered depleted by conventional standards. These emerging technologies and methods have the potential of adding bypassed oil to the reserves category at a coet per barrel much lower than the cost of new discoveries.