With declining trends in production and dwindling reserves for a 35-year-old offshore field, the Samarang Redevelopment Project was initiated with a vision toward implementing integrated operations as an asset-management decision-support tool. This paper describes a case study in which four reservoir models were coupled with a production-network model, with the objectives of maximizing recovery factors, identifying operational problems, and evaluating water-production effects.

To optimize the development plan of a giant carbonate reservoir offshore Abu Dhabi to extend the production plateau and improve recovery, detailed sector models were used to facilitate the large number of required simulation runs.

The world’s largest oil producer has awarded $18 billion in engineering, procurement, and construction contracts as part of its Marjan and Berri expansion projects. Schlumberger and Subsea 7 want to form a joint venture that builds on their 2-year collaboration in the subsea sector.

Integration of microgravity, resistivity, and seismic data improves the fidelity of seismic images and the depth match. The new approach joins well performance from production-system analysis and true valve performance from the VPC database to form an integrated system performance tool.

Africa (Sub-Sahara) Sound Energy identified significant gas shows at the first Tendrara well onshore Morocco. Drilled to a 2665-m measured vertical depth, the well hit a total gross pay interval of 89 m of gas. The full set of well logs are being processed before the startup of rigless mechanical reservoir stimulation operations, which will be followed by a well test. The company is the operator of the well with a 55% working interest. Office National de HydroCarbures et des Mines (25%) and (20%) are the other participants. Petroceltic reported that the AT-13 well in Algeria has penetrated a 240-ft gas- and condensate-bearing formation. The well will help establish and maintain the approved annual average wet gas plateau rate of 355 MMcf/D from the Ain Tsila field.

US sanctions appear to have prompted a change in ownership. It is unclear how the new arrangement will impact Venezuela’s diminishing ability to export crude oil. The US re-imposing sanctions on Iran has prompted Total to consider dropping its stake in a project designed to bolster output from the world’s largest gas field. With Iran re-entering the global oil market, this article looks at the state of Iran's oil industry, the condition of its fields, its use of technology, and its present and future production potential. Russian oil production has remained on a growth path despite the plunge in oil prices because producers have built their business on producing oil for less than USD 30/bbl.

Africa (Sub-Sahara) Marathon Oil has produced first gas from its Alba B3 compression platform offshore Equatorial Guinea. The startup enables the company to convert approximately 130 million BOE of proved undeveloped reserves, which more than doubles its remaining proved developed reserve base in the country. Marathon holds an operating interest of about 65% in the field, with Noble Energy holding the remaining stake. Aminex said that gas production from the Kiliwani North-1 well in Tanzania has reached 30 MMcf/D (about 5,000 BOE/D). The project's commissioning process is expected to conclude with a well test to determine the optimal production rate, which previous test data suggest will be approximately 30 MMcf/D, the company said. The operator of the Kiliwani North Development License, Aminex holds a 54.575% interest in the well.

Fields in the Upper Assam-Arakan Basin have been studied intensely to find prospective sweet spots, perforation intervals for new wells, and potential workover candidates. These forecasts, guided only by dynamic-numerical-model results, have had mixed results when implemented in the field. In this paper, an integrated work flow is proposed for brownfields where oil production is driven mainly by water injection. Produced-water salinity plays a key role, acting as a natural tracer and, thus, helping avoid additional costs for new data acquisition. Is Industry Ready for Brownfields’ Prime Time?

Africa (Sub-Sahara) Tullow Oil announced in mid-August that first oil has flowed from the Tweneboa, Enyenra, and Ntomme (TEN) fields offshore Ghana, which was on time and on budget for the project's development plan approved by the government in May 2013. The company expects oil output to ramp up gradually through the rest of the year toward a production facility capacity of 80,000 B/D. Tullow is the operator of the TEN fields with a 47.18% stake. Its joint-venture partners are Anadarko (17%), Kosmos Energy (17%), Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (15%), and PetroSA (3.82%). Asia Pacific Rosneft has made a discovery at the PLDD well in the Wild Orchid gas condensate field in Block 06.1 of the Nam Con Son Basin offshore Vietnam. The discovery is being evaluated for the volume of reserves and commercial attractiveness, and there is a potential synergy with the nearby Rosneft-operated Lan Tay production platform, the company said.

Africa (Sub-Sahara) Shell's new natural gas discoveries in Egypt are estimated in initial quantities at about 500 Bcf with more reserves possible, said Aidan Murphy, chairman and managing director of Shell Egypt. The discoveries, in a concession area of north Alam El-Shawish in the country's western desert, could yield 10% to 15% of the total production of Badr el-Din Petroleum Company, the 50/50 joint venture of Shell and Egyptian General Petroleum Corporation that is expected to manage the operations. Eni reported that the Laarich East-1 oil well in Tunisia has a delivery capacity of approximately 2,000 B/D. Spudded in June, the well discovered hydrocarbons in Silurian and Ordovician sandstones while reaching a final depth of 13,487 ft. The well has now been connected to production. The company continues to drill Tunisian exploration prospects that have been identified on 3D seismic surveys. Eni owns a 50% stake in the Makhrouga-Laarich-Debbech license, where the Laarich East-1 well is located.