Rumaila to ramp up production 50% by end of decade
The Rumaila Operating Organization (ROO)—a partnership of South Oil Co., BP PLC, PetroChina Co. Ltd., and Iraq’s State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO)—plans to increase production by 50% from Iraq’s giant Rumaila oil field to 2.1 million b/d by the end of the decade.
The number represents an increase of 800,000 b/d from current production and will account for 3% of global oil production, according to BP’s Energy Outlook 2035.
The agreement was made under a recently revised technical service contract signed by the partners and extended to 2034. Rumaila in September produced its 2 billionth bbl under the contract, which was initially signed in 2009.
Of the estimated 70 billion bbl of oil initially in place, 14 billion bbl have been recovered. Assuming a conservative recovery factor of 40%, the partnership estimates there are 20 billion bbl still available for recovery.
More than 165 wells have been drilled and more than 300 workovers have been completed at Rumaila. The first horizontal well was piloted in late 2013.
About 240 production wells were retrofitted with sensors and wireless communication technology in 2014 to allow the wells to be monitored from the Rumaila headquarters. All production wells, which are spread over an area of 1,600 sq km, will be monitored by yearend 2015, providing real-time data to help maximize field production.
The underlying decline rate at Rumaila is 17%/year. Once that is replaced, any addition raises the fields overall production, BP notes.
Plans for 2015
About 25 rigs are slated to drill 41 wells and complete 83 workovers in 2015. Water injection capacity is set to almost double to more than 900,000 b/d to raise reservoir pressure.
Brownfield projects will continue to develop new systems and enhance the existing facilities to support production growth, BP says. Construction on the 235-Mw power plant will commence, which will provide early power for redevelopment of the field.
Capital investment in Rumaila is expected to total $1.7 billion in 2015.
The partnership continues to discuss with the Iraqi government plans to redevelop the field following the amendments to the technical service contract. This will include drilling hundreds more wells and installing new ESPs, building a 125-Mw power plant, building integrated processing complexes, and expanding water reinjection capacity.
