Byron sees pressure decline in one of SM 71 wells

During April, oil and gas company Byron Energy produced 92,700 bbls of oil and 67 million cubic feet of gas from the South Marsh Island Block 71 (SM 71) project in the Gulf of Mexico. However, one of the wells is experiencing a pressure decline.

Byron, through its wholly-owned subsidiary Byron Energy Inc., is the operator of SM 71, located in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, and holds a 50% working interest and a 40.625% net revenue interest in SM 71. Otto Energy holds the remaining interest in SM 71.

To remind, oil and gas production from the SM 71 F platform began in late March 2018 when the F1 and F2 wells were opened to production. In early April, the F3 well also began producing.

The F1 and F3 wells are completed in the primary D5 Sand reservoir and the F2 well is completed in the B65 Sand which was a successful exploration discovery in the F2 well.

Otto Energy said on Friday that the company’s 50 percent working interest production was 46,350 barrels of oil and 34 million cubic feet of gas.

Net production after federal royalties was 37,650 barrels of oil and 27.1 million cubic feet of gas while April WI revenue was $2.9 million, $2.4 million after federal royalties.

The company added that the F1 and F2 wells produced for a total of 23 days while F3 produced a total of 20 days during April. Downtime includes a scheduled four-day pipeline shut-in period.

The F2 well has experienced a pressure decline, indicating the well may be accessing only a portion of the total mapped B65 reservoir.

It is worth noting that since production began in March through May 16, the SM 71 F platform sales totaled over 170,000 barrels of oil and 135 million cubic feet of gas.

Based on observations of pressure build-ups during the scheduled April pipeline shut-in, flowing and bottom hole pressure data was collected in early May to further evaluate well performance and confirm optimal production rates. The analysis is expected to conclude in the coming weeks.

Otto’s managing director, Matthew Allen, said: “The performance of the F1 and F3 wells is entirely in line with our expectations. Each well continues to perform at high levels and have been very consistent on a daily basis. While the data from the F2 well is unexpected, it is not yet clear what the result will be. Pure depletion drive oil reservoirs are very rare, and we hope that the well will find a stable level and behave more like other B65 Sand producers in the area.

“Coupled with consistent production and strong oil prices, the F1 and F3 wells are providing strong cash flow for our company and will be managed properly to ensure steady income to fund our program of growth in the Gulf of Mexico.”

D5 Sand (F1 and F3 wells)

Pressure data indicates that the D5 Sand completions in the F1 and F3 wells exhibit very little pressure drawdown across the perforations. This data also shows that the D5 Sand is a high permeability reservoir, which is further evidenced by the high flow rates from each well.

Both the F1 and F3 wells are performing as expected with daily production consistently averaging 4,200 bopd from the D5 Sand which are appropriate rates for these wells based on the bottom hole pressure data.

B65 Sand (F2 well)

Bottom hole pressure data from the F2 well indicates that there is no near wellbore damage and the B65 Sand reservoir also has high permeability. However, the F2 well is experiencing reservoir pressure depletion.

The bottom hole pressure data indicates the B65 Sand has lost over 50% of its initial reservoir pressure and as the pressure has dropped, so have daily oil and gas rates.

The F2 well has never produced any completion fluids and has produced at rates exceeding 1,500 bopd at times but without stabilization. The B65 Sand will be one of many focus areas of the recently announced seismic processing project the operator is undertaking with Schlumberger’s subsidiary WesternGeco to help determine the placement of future wells.