60 Years of UUU Fields – Leveraging on Big Industry Technology Applications for Rejuvenating the Foremost Niger Delta Condensate Gas-Development Asset

Résumé fourni par la source

Abstract The UUU cluster is the largest condensate gas producing (peak rate - 400 MMscf/d) asset in onshore Western Niger Delta. It comprises UghE, UghW and UtoR (UUU) dual hydrocarbon production fields which were discovered in 1959, 1960 and 1964 respectively. In the last decade, field redevelopment campaign which was premised on extensive integrated sub-surface studies was initiated to rejuvenate the asset and increase production target to 0.5 Bscf/day. Gas condensate is contained in high-permeability (150 – 1,000 md) sandstone reservoirs between 8,000 and 15,000 ft subsea depth. There are a total of 14 producing gas wells with 15 producing intervals (including one dual string, dual completion). Three gas processing plants with nominal capacities of 360 MMscf/d, 150 MMscf/d and 90 MMscf/d are utilised to process the produced wet gas prior to export for domestic and West African consumption. The proximity of the producing gas fields created an excellent opportunity for integrated production operations management, surface facilities sharing and cost optimisation. In the aftermath of the 2012 western asset ownership transfer from Shell Nigeria, attention was focused on maintaining optimal production targets through the following activities: Execution of in-fill development opportunities within the cluster Recovery of production from matured "locked-in" reserves Production facilities revamp and integrity management Deployment of cost-effective processes and new technology applications for CAPEX and OPEX reduction The asset management activities included successful deployment of seismic data reprocessing and interpretation, new well drilling and workovers, integrated asset modelling and management processes, flow assurance and well integrity management activities, surface facilities debottlenecking, advanced data acquisition campaign including multi-phase flow metering, and other low-cost, well intervention retrofit applications. All these efforts have resulted in sustained natural gas production of over 300 MMscf/d with associated 5,000 bpd of condensate in the past decade. This paper describes how UUU fields condensate gas development and production performance has evolved over the past 60 years; the well, reservoir and facility management challenges encountered along with the big industry technology applications adopted for sustained production. It is expected that this paper will shed light on those elements that are critical to sustaining production in analogue brown fields.

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