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IPTC 14538

Malaysia East Belumut Field: Doubling a Marginal Field's Reserves by


Understanding the Application of "Enabling" Technology
Ong Tee Suan, Newfield Exploration Company; Mark Lambert, Newfield Sarawak Malaysia Inc; Barry Goodin,
Senergy Australia Pty Ltd; Mohamad Othman, PETRONAS
Copyright 2011, International Petroleum Technology Conference
This paper was prepared for presentation at the International Petroleum Technology Conference held in Bangkok, Thailand, 79 February 2012.
This paper was selected for presentation by an IPTC Programme Committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
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Abstract
Successful application of enabling technologies in the phased development of Malaysias marginal East Belumut field
resulted in reserves doubling between Field Development approval in 2006 and post development in 2010. The field
development has multiple challenges given the thin-oil column (46 feet) entirely within the transition zone, unfavorable crude
quality, a large gas-cap and extensive bottom water, a large but low relief structure, and a shallow poorly consolidated
sandstone reservoir.
Developing such a marginal field requires extensive reservoir simulation to plan the optimal well spacing, counts, lengths,
vertical positioning of horizontal well or landing depths, and withdrawal rates. To implement the plan, drilling and
geosteering technologies must achieve extended reach wells with long (greater than 6000 feet) open-hole horizontal sections.
Completions require Stand Alone Screens (SAS) and Inflow Control Devices (ICD) to prevent sand production and to
distribute the drawdown evenly along the entire well length. The ICD designs are modeled using segmented well simulation
models with ICD configurations.
After the initial development, extensive field trials are conducted to measure well drawdown, water breakthrough timing, and
water-cut increase. Production Logging Tools (PLT) coupled with tractor and tracer technologies are applied to confirm the
entire horizontal section contributes to total fluid inflow. The field trial data is subsequently used for validating the
simulation result and optimizing the next phase of development.
At the end of 2010 the field has two and a half years of production history from two successful phases of development (14
wells drilled). A third phase of development drilling has begun in second quarter 2011 and it is expected the final well count
for the final development will be 30 to 40 horizontal producers. The oil production build-up and rate are performing better
than those envisaged in the original development plan. As a result the reserves have doubled since the initial development.
Introduction
East Belumut field is located 160 miles northeast of Terengganu, Malaysia near Vietnam and Indonesia (Figure 1). East
Belumuts primary oil reservoir is a Tertiary-aged, areally extensive, highly porous and permeable oil reservoir. East
Belumut is considered a marginal field development due to the initial low reserves. East Belumut is a particularly
challenging development due to the thin 46-feet oil column, the low-gravity (23API) high-viscosity (3cP) oil, and the
productive interval being entirely within the oil-water transition zone. Furthermore, the field has a large but low relief
structure, a shallow poorly consolidated sandstone reservoir and the thin oil column is sandwiched between an underlying
bottom aquifer and a gas cap.

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East Belumut was discovered by a major International Oil Company (IOC) in 1970 and appraised by them from 1994 to
1996. Following the appraisal program, the IOC deemed the field to be non-commercial and relinquished the field. Newfield
Peninsula Malaysia was awarded the block containing the East Belumut field in August 2005 and committed to developing
the field on a fast track development schedule. In 2008 Newfield began a phased horizontal production well drilling
program that initially addressed development uncertainties prior to the more extensive drilling in 2010-2012. The
uncertainties include structural-stratigraphic variability, pay continuity and heterogeneity, optimal parameters for drilling and
completing long horizontal wells, performance of inflow control devices, horizontal well spacing, and vertical positioning of
horizontal wells to minimize gas and water coning.
After drilling and completing 15 long horizontal wells, East Belumut is producing 25,000 barrel of oil per day (bopd). By the
end of the development drilling program the expected well count is 30 to 40 horizontal producers.
Geology
East Belumut field development focuses on a shallow broad 4500 acre three-way dip closure bounded to the west by a highangle fault complex (Figure 2). The reservoir is comprised of braided fluvial sandstones capped by lacustrine deltaic
sandstones and shales (Figure 3). Median net to gross in the fluvial and deltaic sandstones is 98 and 30 percent respectively.
A field-wide low permeability shaly siltstone 15 to 50 feet thick separates the deltaic and fluvial sandstones (Figure 3). The
fluvial sandstones are medium to coarse grained with high median porosity and permeability (30 percent and 1400 mD
respectively). The overlying deltaic sandstones are fine-grained with relatively lower porosity and permeability (median 25
percent and 180 mD).
Early appraisal wells defined the structure and stratigraphy and encountered the gas-oil contact (GOC) and oil-water contact
(OWC) (Figure 3), thus the oil resource is well established. The crude has 23API specific gravity and high viscosity (3cp at
174F), causing a high water to oil relative mobility ratio. Gas-oil-ratio (GOR) is 205 scf/stb with a Formation Volume
Factor (FVF) of 1.1 bbl/STB. The bubble point is 1623 psia, and the pour point is 5F.
Challenges
Determining the optimal development and Recovery Factor (RF) for this type of reservoir is challenging as there are no
analogues in the Malay Basin (and few analogues worldwide) for a meaningful reference. East Belumut development
challenges are as follows.
Depletion and development strategies
Reservoir pressure maintenance and gas and water contact movements from gas injection or natural water
drive.

Vertical positioning of horizontal wellbores (landing depth) to minimize gas and water coning

Lateral well spacing that maximizes RF but minimizes interference.

Optimal well count that maximizes RF.

Effective length of horizontal wells.

Reservoir Management
Optimum withdrawal rate based on GOR and water cut performance.

Optimum gas injection volumes to balance reservoir pressure decline versus contact movement

Drilling and Completion


Ability to drill long (greater than 6000 ft) horizontal wells while maintaining the horizontal and vertical
position of the drillbit within a narrow (+/- 3ft) window in a poorly consolidated sandstone reservoir.

Managing the mud weights and Equivalent Circulating Density (ECD) to prevent the horizontal sections
from collapsing but also prevent hydraulically fracturing the poorly consolidated formation.

Effective wellbore cleaning while drilling extended reach horizontal wells.

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Selection and correct installation of sand control technologies in extended reach wells. Preventing
plugging of sand screens with filter cake during initial production and ensuring sand screens do not fail
over the long term production life.

Ability to deploy sand screen completions to bottom without rotating and damaging the screens (limited
string weight is available for sliding screens due to shallow reservoir depth and extend reach of wells).

Facilities and Platform Sizing


Upfront design of platform size, well slots, production, and export facilities that is flexible enough to cater
for production uncertainties.
Solutions
Due to the inherent high risk nature of this marginal field development, significant resources were spent in pre-development
planning to quantify the possible outcome of various development scenarios. Execution of the selected scenario was carried
out in three drilling phases. An initial phase quantified the uncertainties and risks by collecting and analyzing geological and
production data. The early learnings were compared against the assumptions made in the pre-development planning and
incorporated in subsequent drilling phases with the objective of optimizing the entire development. Similarly, extensive
resources were invested in planning the drilling and completion of the long-reach horizontal wells. Key learnings were
quickly incorporated throughout the field development.
Pre-development:
Full field reservoir simulation and sector modeling were used to quantify the range of RF for different depletion strategies
under two possible geological scenarios. Prior to development it was known that low permeability shaly siltstones occur
between the overlying deltaic sandstones and the underlying fluvial sandstones (Figure 3). However, it was unclear how
laterally extensive the siltstones were and if they compartmentalized the gas-cap. Thus the two geological scenarios were (1)
a field-wide vertical barrier with a small effective gas cap and (2) several local vertical barriers with a large single gas cap.
An additional geologic uncertainty was the extent and strength of the aquifer. Field development parameters such as well
spacing, well count, horizontal well length, and well landing depth were evaluated under these two geological scenarios.
While Full Field Modeling (FFM) is useful to address the range of possible outcomes of the field development, smaller sector
models better represent the performance of single or multiple wells (Figure 6). This is because finer areal gridding and
thinner layering are imposed on the sector model to facilitate small-scale reservoir dynamics while keeping a lower overhead
than the FFM. It is necessary for flux boundaries to be preserved in the sectors extracted from the FFM. In addition to the
above, Local Grid Refinement (LGR) and Multi-Segment Well modeling (MSW) were used to further bracket and quantify
the RF.
Describing fluid dynamics in the transition oil zone is crucial for predicting RF in this thin oil column reservoir. Drill-stem
tests (DST) conducted by the previous IOC in the appraisal wells did not experience water production break-through.
However the DST perforations were near the top of the oil column, the testing duration was short and without artificial lift,
and thus the DST results may not be representative. The sector models predict the horizontal wells will produce water almost
immediately because the completion is in the transition zone with 40% water saturation. Several modeling techniques and
parameters were explored to retard the production of water without sacrificing the relative permeability function curves
derived from the special core analysis. Later, the relative permeability function curves were validated against the actual
water production performance and subsequently used for the predictions.
Horizontal well completion design was driven by reservoir simulation results from Multi-Segment Well (MSW) modeling
which mimics the performance of Inflow Control Devices (ICD) with various port sizings (Figure 6). The reservoir
simulation predicts the life-long benefits of ICD in this type of reservoir, and more importantly, quantifies the benefits based
on different design scenarios. Detailed completion modeling of the horizontal wells was carried out using nodal analysis
techniques and Netool to determine the individual ICD settings and to ensure that the completions could provide the
required capabilities.
Early Development:
Phased drilling programs permitted early learnings to be systematically applied so that the overall field development was
optimized. Early phases allowed for field testing of drilling, completion, and reservoir parameters while preserving the
flexibility for refinements in later phases. Seven wells were drilled as Phase-1 and covered the entire structure to confirm the
extent of closure, reservoir continuity and quality, and fluid contacts. As drilling, geosteering, and completion practices were

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progressively refined, the horizontal length of the wells increased up to 6900 feet. Two wells were drilled at a close spacing
for pressure interference test with the aim of assessing the well spacing effect.
A wide range of enabling technologies was selected to overcome drilling and completion challenges. For example, keeping
the drill bit within the required tight vertical window was achieved with a point-the-bit Rotary Steerable System (RSS). The
drill bit position was also optimized with specific geosteering techniques, advanced Logging-While-Drilling (LWD) tools,
and Real-Time-Operations (RTO) monitoring from the office (Figure 5). Due to inherent MWD survey error, geosteering
focused on the relative position of the bit within the transition zone using resistivity modeling. Changes in resistivity are due
to changes in water saturation or lithology. Therefore borehole cuttings and LWD data were used to distinguish fluvial from
deltaic sandstones, the later having a fine-grained texture and higher bound water which suppresses resistivity. Identifying
the lithology permits removing bound-water effects, so to focus only on relative changes in water saturation within the oil
transition zone.
A Synthetic-Based-Mud (SBM) system provided the required fluid properties for drilling these extended reach wells,
including the use of fine ground barite for rheology and filter cake flowback properties. The range in mud weights is very
narrow for stabilizing the horizontal wellbore but not hydraulically fracturing the reservoir. For hole cleaning and stability,
the required mud weight and Equivalent-Circulation-Density (ECD) were achieved through optimizing well design, bottom
hole assembly (BHA) design, and drilling parameters.
Premium Stand-Alone-Sand-Screen (SAS) systems provided the required level of sand control for long horizontal wells
(greater than 6000 ft of screen interval) while permitting filter cake to be flowed back through the screens once the well
commences production (Figure 5). To accommodate the sand screens in the open hole section, the hole diameter was
widened from 8-1/2 to 9-1/2 using Hole-Opening-While-Drilling reamers. Ultra-low friction solid body thermoplastic
centralizers assisted in deploying the screens to bottom. Multiple swell packers then compartmentalized the completion
interval to isolate zones of high and low permeabilities as well as shaly non-pay.
Inflow-Control-Devices (ICDs) were installed to control fluid inflow and pressure drop along the entire horizontal well
length (Figure 5). Managing pressure drop should balance the drawdown along the wellbore and prevent preferential flow
towards the heel.
Measuring Performance:
Production and reservoir pressure data were measured at a regular frequent basis to understand the reservoir behavior in
different quadrants of the field. Nonpermanent, wireline retrieved Downhole Pressure Gauges (DPG) were installed in five
wells to measure field-wide pressure decline during early production and record well pressure drawdown at the sand face.
Fluid withdrawal rates were progressively increased in each well while the DPG measured the water-cut response as a
function of pressure drawdown. Production Logging Tools (PLT) and chemical tracers were run in selected wells to assess
the inflow profile along the horizontal section, with special focus on toe contribution. Gas Injection volume was carefully
monitored, together with the water-cut and GOR performance, to ensure the injection and production performance was
aligned to the reservoir management requirement.
Incorporating Learnings:
The 3D static model was updated with newly acquired geological information throughout the phased drilling. The new wells
confirmed that the low permeability shaly siltstone did extend across the entire field creating a vertical barrier between the
overlying deltaic sandstones and the underlying fluvial sandstones, thus reducing the size of the effective gas cap (Figure 7).
The well data also confirmed that reservoir quality, fluid contacts, and the transitional oil zone were similar field-wide. The
targeted placement of the Phase-1 wells reduced the uncertainties related to structure, reservoir continuity and quality, and the
lateral extent of the tight siltstone barrier. As a result, there is high confidence in the resulting resource assessment.
The static model was subsequently conditioned for FFM reservoir simulation and all production performance and pressure
data were incorporated and history matched. The history matching process is important to calibrate the relative strength of
the bottom water drive and the gas-cap, and to quantify the amount of gas injection required to achieve maximum recovery.
During the process, the design of the ICD (i.e. port size and the number of open ports) was refined using updated sector
models which incorporated the PLT results and utilized the MSW module.
Numerous cases were then simulated on the updated history-matched model to optimize the remaining development program,
with particular emphasis on well spacing, landing depth, horizontal length, production rates, and determining the optimum
gas injection rate. Better well and reservoir performance to-date indicates that RF can increase further with additional
development wells hence the EUR (Figure 8).

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Results to-date
The results are very encouraging and at the time of writing the final estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) is projected to be
double what was expected in the initial Field Development Plan (FDP). The production build-up and sustained rates have
exceeded expectations even though only one third of the field has been developed. Reservoir and well performance
information, such as pressure trending, well interference, and water-cut and GOR trends, are all very positive.
Due to their positions within the transition zone the Phase-1 wells did have water breakthrough, but much later than predicted
by the reservoir simulation. The dynamic model was updated with the early production results and it predicted a further
delay in water-cut if the wellbores were shifted up 3 to 6 feet. This was tested midway through Phase-1 and indeed higher
initial production rates were realized and a further delay in water-cut break-through was seen.
The GOR performance is not as high as predicted in the early reservoir dynamic model. This is likely due to the smaller
effective gas cap created by the tight siltstone barrier that separates the deltaic sandstones from the fluvial sands. This
barrier was initially believed to be a local buffer to gas encroachment, however it is now believed to be a field-wide barrier
prohibiting gas encroachment.
DPG data confirmed low pressure drawdown ranging from 20 to 100 psi, which includes the pressure drop across the ICDs.
This equates to world class Productivity Indices (PI) for the wells in the range of 100bpd/psi to 800 bpd/psi. When
withdrawal rates were increased, the measured drawdown and water-cut did not increase linearly. Continued adjustments
helped pin point the optimum withdrawal rate, which eventually were confirmed by reservoir modeling work.
Newfield and the Regulatory Body were concerned about flow contribution from the entire length of these long-reach
horizontal wells. To address this issue, Newfield investigated the horizontal well contribution using both tracer and PLT
technologies. A non radioactive oil soluble tracer was installed inside the ICD housing and run in the last of the Phase 2
production wells. Tracers were also placed at the toe of two horizontal wells and the heel, middle, and toe of a third well.
While providing only indicative non quantifiable results, the tracer did confirm expected levels of inflow contribution from
the toe of horizontal wells greater than 6000 ft in length. In order to further understand and to quantify the inflow
contribution of the long horizontal wells, production logging was conducted in two wells using tractor conveyed PLT. To
ensure that the wells could be logged, they were first cleaned out using coil tubing. The PLT and tracer results confirmed
that the entire completed horizontal interval including the toe is contributing as designed (Figure 9). Furthermore, the
pressure drawdown derived from the PLT shows the entire wellbore has almost the same drawdown, thus minimizing the
preferential flow to the heel and further confirming the application of ICD technology and the ICD port design (Figure 10).
The initial plan was to observe the Phase-1 performance for 18 months before embarking on Phase-2. However, due to
exceptional Phase-1 results, Phase-2 was initiated 6 months later. The reservoir and well performance data collected by that
time was already sufficient to justify further development. Phase-2 consisted of 7 horizontal wells and has been on
production for the last 12 months with excellent results.
Future plans
Phase-3 consists of 10 wells approved by the Regulatory Body and scheduled to be completed by the middle of 2012. Phase1 and Phase-2 drilling and production results over the last two and a half years (14 wells drilled) have provided significant
input on how to proceed with Phase-3. Refined drilling and geosteering techniques allow for horizontal lengths exceeding
6900 feet. Completion designs guarantee contribution from the entire horizontal length, and optimized well placement and
production rates maximize oil production while managing GOR and water-cut. Overall Newfield is encouraged to increase
the well count to optimize the field RF. The understanding of the field has resulted in a more than doubling of the booked
EUR for this marginal field and is likely to double the EUR that was predicted in the original FDP. By the end of
development drilling program, it is expected the well count will be 30-40 horizontal producers.
Key learning from the East Belumut development program have already been applied to other assets with similar positive
results. The creative application of enabling technologies facilitates success in the development of marginal fields.

Figure 1: East Belumut location in South China Sea, Malaysia

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Figure 2: East Belumut broad structure and fluid contacts Pre Development

Figure 3: East Belumut type log showing depositional facies and fluid contacts

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Figure 4: Realtime Logging While Drlling to monitor the drill bits vertical positioning within 3 ft window

Figure 5: Premium Stand Alone Sand Screens (SAS) and Inflow Control Devices (ICD) used in the
completion of the horizontal section

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Figure 6: Sector modeling to quantify ICD effect. Diagram on the left indicates the ICD inclusion in the
modelled well

Figure 7: Field-wide tight shaley siltstone that seperates deltaic and fluvial sandstones and splits the
gas cap

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Figure 8: East Belumut better performance and reserves increase

Figure 9:
section

Production Logging Tool (PLT) results showing oil contribution from the entire horizontal

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Figure 10: PLT results showing almost similar pressure drawdown along the entire horizontal section

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