Heavy Oil Development in Albania

SPE logo Lloydminster Section

2005 Schola

The Re-Development of the Patos Marinza Heavy Oilfield, Albania

Richard Wadsworth, P.Eng,
Project Director, Anglo-Albanian Petroleum

Abstract:

The Patos-Marinza field is one of the largest onshore heavy oil fields in Europe located in southern Albania. It has an Original-Oil-In-Place (OOIP) of 2,000 MMbbl. The field was originally discovered back in 1932 and has over 2500 wells. Cumulative recovery to date is les than 7%. There are two primary production horizons, the Driza (7-18 API) and Marinza (13-35 API) at depths of around 1650 m and net pays in excess of 100m. Wells have been historically produced utilizing conventional pump jacks with some of the lighter Marinza zones having a partial water flood scheme. The average production of existing wells is less than 5 boepd.

In 1994, Premier Oil signed a license Agreement with the Albanian State Oil Company (Albpetrol) and has subsequently farmed out equity to Preussag Energie and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). These parties (Albpetrol, Premier Oil, Preussag Energie, and IFC) have since formed a joint venture company called Anglo-Albanian Petroleum (AAP). AAP is the Operator of the Patos-Marinza oilfield.

After several years of studies and pilot tests, including thermal “huff and puff”, a technique called “CHOP” (Cold Heavy Oil Production) using progressive cavity (PCP) screw pumps has been tested to produce the cold ”foamy-oil” at well rates of 100 – 200 bopd. The current development to remove uncertainties with production, reservoir, and cost involves drilling 20 wells from two-pad location and re-activating 8 wells.

To date AAP has drilled 14 wells and place one pad on production as well as 6 re-activations. Much of the technology and equipment for this project has been sourced from Alberta. The success to date has been accomplished in less than ten months from approval. Drilling is expected to be completed in mid-April with peak production of 3500 boepd expected by September 2003.

A Plan of Development is also in place to produce 30,000 boepd including the drilling of over 200+ wells and construction of treating, pipeline and export facilities. New wells are required due to the condition and casing damage of existing wells.

The Plan of Development is envisaged to commence in 2004 once the current phase has been evaluated.

Bio:

Richard Wadsworth is currently employed by Premier Oil plc, a mid sized British Oil & Gas Exploration Company, and seconded to Anglo-Albanian Petroleum (AAP) the operating joint venture partnership for Premier Oil plc, Preussag Energie, International Finance Corporation and the nation Albanian company, Albpetrol. Richard has been involved with this project for the past 20 months. Over this period he has been responsible for the projects Front End Engineering and Design performed in Calgary with MacDonald Engineering Group, then as the Technical & Operations Director for AAP in Albania and currently as the Project Director responsible for the project and over 120 AAP employees and a project budget of US$32 MM.

Richard graduated from the University of Calgary in 1992 with a Chemical Engineering degree. Prior to joining Premier and AAP, he was with Koch Petroleum for almost ten years with most of his experience being focused on primary heavy oil and shallow gas developments ranging from operations to project management. Richard was the project team leader for Koch’s Soars Lake, Elk Point, Frog Lake, and Wabasca developments.