Early Success of North San Ardo Cyclic Steaming Project, California
- Over a three-fold increase in individual well production
- Valuable information gained over first four months of project
- Refinement of cyclic steam injection process
- Planned expansion of program
Neon Energy Limited (Neon, ASX: NEN) is pleased to announce encouraging early results from the cyclic steaming production enhancement project at the Company’s 100% owned North San Ardo heavy oil field in California. Neon commenced steam injection operations at North San Ardo in September 2010, and to date has achieved a significant improvement in production rates on three wells.
The cyclic steaming process requires that producing wells cease production for a period of time while the steam is injected. In an effort to minimise lost production during the pilot phase of the project, relatively low producing wells were chosen. Sustained increases of 375%, 300% and 178% have been realised on the three most recent tests, yielding a net increase of some 65 bopd. As the field is currently producing between 350 and 400 bopd these initial results support the Company’s initiative to invest in cyclic steam injection in order to reverse the field’s natural production decline.
The forward program is to sequentially steam all wells on the central pad of the field on a regular basis. Thus far shut down periods during steaming have varied from 5 to 20 days as the steam injection parameters are optimised, however it is anticipated that subsequent steam cycle times will reduce as residual heat builds up within the reservoir. In addition to continuation of the cyclic steaming program, North San Ardo production will be augmented with new production wells and cost effective re-drilling of poor performers to more optimal locations, commencing during the first quarter of 2011.
Managing Director Ken Charsinsky said “We are very pleased with these initial results as the field wide production increase of more than 10% at an early stage has exceeded expectations. As we continue to optimise the steaming parameters, begin to steam more significant wells, and add new and better placed well bores in the near term, we expect to take advantage of strong oil prices to maximise revenue from North San Ardo”.
Download this document
