Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 5 /Trend, A.Yusifzade /
Most of the new phases defined in the South pars gas field are located by the gas reservoir in two upper layers of K1 and K2; where the main gas layers (Layers K3 and K4 which are situated in deeper depths of the well) do not exist, the Manager of the Drilling Department of PetroPars Company Mahmoud Javadian said.
He also added that only 30 to 40 percent of gas exists in Layers K1 and K2, whereas the main volume of the gas in the field exists in the lower layers of K4. Thus, according to the estimates, over 50 percent of the gas exists in the Lowest layer (K4) which is also thicker.
"By normal drilling method, there is the possibility of producing less than 20 million cubic feet of gas by; while the normal wells, having four layers, have the capacity to produce 100 to 140 million cubic feet of gas," Javadian said regarding the method of designing of the wells situated by the side of the South Pars Shared Field (layers K1 and K2).
Javadian said that to solve the above-mentioned problem, a horizontal well is being drilled in phase 12 in K1 and K2 layers for the first time. This is one of the ways to use a single economic method in order to produce gases of side of the field.
In order to produce 100 million cubic feet of gas from a well that produces only ten to twenty million cubic feet of gas under normal conditions, five wells must be drilled. However, we can obtain very good results by drilling a horizontal well dug in the side wells in Layers K1 and K2, he said.
Regarding the use of horizontal drilling in phase 12 of the South Pars, the Manager of the Drilling Department of PetroPars said: ''The first well of this phase is now dug horizontally which has a better advantage compared with the normal wells. We hope that by developing this method in all the side wells of the field consisting of Phases 12, 22, 24, 14, 13 and phases 17 and 18, the rate of gas production increases remarkably."
The South Pars field is a natural gas condensate field located in the Persian Gulf. It is the world's largest gas field, shared between Iran and Qatar. According to the International Energy Agency, the field holds an estimated 50.97 trillion cubic meters (1800 trillion cubic feet) of in-situ gas and some 50 billion barrels of condensates.
This gas field covers an area of 9700 square kilometers, of which 3700 square kilometers (South Pars) is in Iranian territorial waters and 6000 square kilometers (North Dome) is in Qatari territorial waters.
The field consists of two independent gas-bearing formations, Kangan (Triassic) and Upper Dalan (Permian). Each formation is divided into two different reservoir layers, separated by impermeable barriers. The field consists of four independent reservoir layers K1, K2, K3, and K4.