Application of the coiled tubing jet pump for the monobore slim hole, onshore Thailand

Abstract

Siam Moeco Ltd. (SML), a subsidiary of Mitsui Oil Exploration Company Limited, discovered a marginal oil field in onshore Thailand. The reservoirs in this field are lower Miocene fluvial sand stones, which are thin bedded and poorly connected. To develop the field, a cost effective optimization was essential. SML continuously implemented the procedures positively to minimize the cost in both the data acquisition stages and development stages. Throughout this project, this concept was employed in the project, which is “Optimization is minimizing the cost of attaining the objectives while maintaining safety standards.” As a result, the means for development of the field resulted with a combination of a slimhole well design and coiled tubing jet pump.

The Burapa-A field was confirmed to have commercial reserves in 2010. The production wells were drilled in 2012. However, the decline of the production was remarkable in 2013, and was faster than expected. Installation of artificial lift was crucial before the production rate dropped below the economical limit. We selected the coiled tubing jet pump as the primary solution. We had tested and installed the jet pumps in all our production wells in the three years between 2013 and 2015. The production has been steady since then until today. In this paper, we introduce a case study for development of the marginal oil field.