MEDIA / Hibernia - Oil Production Continues Without A Hitch 11/21/97
St. Johns Evening Telegram
Hibernia oil continued to flow at a rate greater than anticipated Thursday, reaching about 24,000 barrels per day after the third section of the well was perforated. It adds up to just less than $1
million worth of oil every two days.
Hibernia management had conservatively predicted the first well would flow at about 20,000 barrels per day after all 10 perforations had been made. A perforation involves blasting a series of small projectiles through the well casing into the oil-bearing sandstone.
The pipe the oil flows through is a relatively wide seven inches in diameter, said Hibernia's production performance team leader Alan Brown.
"We decided we would take the investment risk of putting in seven-inch tubing," Brown said. "It's nice to see risk-taking paying off."
The conservative approach would have been to install less expensive 5.5-inch pipe, which is more common in the offshore, Brown said, but obviously doesn't permit as high a flow-rate.
Brown flew to the platform 315 kilometres east of St. John's Tuesday to congratulate the production team on first oil, and take a look at sweet crude oil that has taken about 18 years and $6 billion to produce.
As predicted, Hibernia oil is low in sulphur and is slightly higher quality than Brent, or Norwegian North Sea oil, and valued slightly below West Texas intermediate, which sells for about $19.80 (U.S.) per barrel.
Although the number of employees on the platform has been reduced from about 340 to 260 with
oil on board, as regulations require, several new projects are under way, Brown said.
The production team is setting up the system that will divert natural gas from the platform's flare to two massive generators that provide all the power on the platform. Once that is completed, in 10 to 12 days, Hibernia will save tens of thousands of dollars per day by reducing diesel consumption, Brown said.
By the middle of next year, Hibernia will be reinjecting much of the gas back in the reservoir.
Hibernia's drill team has also started on a new project: preparing to drill the third production well. The drilling unit has already been skidded, or moved into position, Brown said.
The second well is two to four weeks from producing oil, he said. The platform is capable of handling 64 production and injection wells at one time.
The first few days of oil production have gone without a hitch, Brown said.
"People feel a real sense of achievement and as you'd expect professionals to do, they're now moving forward (on other aspects of oil production)," he said. "We've demonstrated the credibility of the Hibernia organization and we've added a big tick is we've scored for the whole province.' |
