ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND SECONDARY RECOVERY: TWO MANAGEMENT OPTIONS FOR A MATURE FIELD IN ECUADOR

Abstract

Strategies focused on solving the drawbacks of a mature field must consider production decline, which is paramount when considering future investments to maintain the field’s competitiveness and profitability. B49 is an oil field with the typical problems of a mature field, management aimed at increasing the recovery factor and the implementation of an energy efficiency model were the axes to reduce OPEX and achieve a barrel with a production cost of 5.20 USD. The main objective of waterflooding in the field is to maximize oil recovery. Formation water from the north and south zones of B49 is used in waterflooding which increased the recovery factor from 21% to 26%. In Ecuador, the associated gas is not fully exploited. For this reason, its flaring is an accepted practice; however, since 2009 the Ecuadorian State Oil Company has been implementing an ambitious Energy Efficiency program called Optimization of Electricity Generation and Energy Efficiency (OGE&EE for its acronym in Spanish), which is a comprehensive development of generation, distribution and transmission of electricity, as well as the development of facilities for the collection and transportation of associated gas. OGE&EE consists of a group of projects, covering an area of 25,000 km2, 17 oil blocks, 56 oil fields and more than 66 facilities, to date the program results are: