Hidden jewels in that old flood

When was the last time you tuned up your flood? If you are like many operators, you could be losing significant flood reserves due to flood depreciation.

Without AppIntel how would you find out others' field tune up projects. AppIntel lets you search for flood maintenance in your area and shows the thinking behind their field changes.

One operator had a mature Mannville flood that he decided to improve. He talked to the regulator about conforming injection patterns -- he gave it a tune-up. His application documents state this tune-up will add 20% recovery.

You can see his analysis, his efforts, and his results. You can also check out the offset drilling opportunity on his mapping. Help yourself to his application documents through our secure checkout below.

Tune-up your flood

Anyone can start a car, but very few are capable of keeping it running perfectly.

Keeping a high performance vehicle running in tip-top shape requires more than keeping the gas tank full. One must maintain the engine, transmission, steering , suspension, tires, and cooling system. Only then does a car run a long time, with little cost, and minimal breakdowns.

Anyone can start a flood, but very few seem to be capable of keeping it running in good form. Very serious flood operators assign a single reservoir engineer to each flood to optimize and improve it.

Floods depreciate quickly when you don't review it at least yearly. Water cuts increase, production falls, reserves are stagnant or written down.

I know one flood engineer that has added over $500 million in reserve value while working on just one flood for 6 years. He added reserves every single year.

More than injectant

The most profitable floods have less to do with the specialized injectant and much more to do with regular flood maintenance. Even floods with exotic injectants can perform very poorly.

Patient, persistent flood maintenance can reap very big dividends.

Why aquire?

Why acquire as oil prices are rising? Why not tune up your own flood for very little capital and reap the benefits of increased production?

We've seen many out-of-balance floods sold three times to different operators without being balanced. Of the 1000 active floods in Alberta, we estimate that only 50 have been balanced in the last three years.

On the other hand, if you have a chance to buy a flood that hasn't been tuned up for many years, you may be able to add significant value after you buy it. Just make sure it's not too far gone.

In fact, the pool that is subject of the application above is currently for sale.

Don't forget due dilligence

Before you finalize an acquisition for a pool, check out the regulatory applications for it. You may find pleasant (and avoid excruciating) surprises.

You might find unrealized opportunities. For example, this operator's application shows some very juicy offsetting land that hasn't been exploited yet.

But you might find nightmare-ish compliance problems. Avoiding these can make your life much simpler and less costly.

Tags: Flood, Exploration, Compliance, Acquisitions

Granger Low   2 Mar 2017

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