KUWAIT - Profiles of the Producing fields in Kuwait and in the Divided Zone (see also Gas Market Trends).

Ahmadi: Discovered in 1952, Ahmadi went on stream in 1953 as a small field but part of the Greater Burgan structure. It has produced from the Middle Cretaceous Wara and Nahr Umr sandstones, mostly 31.7 deg. API oil, through 11 production wells at a depth of 4,800 feet. Ahmadi's capacity in July 1990 was 50,000 b/d and was to expand to 80,000 b/d by 2000. It was one of the first fields to be rehabilitated after the liberation of Kuwait in 1991. Its partial rehabilitation in July 1991 helped supply crude oil to the nearby oil refinery at Mina Ahmadi (see Downstream Trends of this week).

Burgan & Magwa: The first oil discovery in Kuwait, in 1938, Burgan is a high pressure field and one of the biggest in the world. It proved more prolific during the well fires in March-July 1991 than KOC experts had thought as the amount of oil that came out at times was more than 3m b/d (i.e., double the field's pre-invasion capacity). As its well-fires were being extinguished, the field's pressure proved to be higher than before the Iraqi invasion. One of the US fire-fighters, Joe Dean Thompson, was quoted as saying of this field on Nov. 6, 1991: "Considering the amount of oil lost, it's remarkable...these formations are amazingly prolific".

Development of Burgan was delayed by World War II. It went on stream in 1946. Before Iraq's invasion, Burgan, excluding Ahmadi and Magwa fields, had a total of about 395 wells (393 in 1988), of which more than 210 were producers. Most of these wells have a depth of 4,800 feet. To extinguish the fires, Red Adair and other US firms had to drill into the side of each major wellhead and then pump concrete, or mud, into the bottom of the well. The first owners of KOC that found Burgan, BP and Gulf Oil, had since the 1950s established that the structure extended to Magwa and Ahmadi, further north. Burgan is structurally a subsurface dome with oil-impregnated Miocene surface sandstones. Production comes from the Middle Cretaceous Wara sandstone, Mauddud limestone, and Burgan B and D sandstones. Burgan also has a Lower Cretaceous Oolite formation (Fm), of the Minagish/Ratawi type. Its oil gravity, combining crudes from these layers, has a range of 28.5-36 deg. API.

The Marrat, a Lower Jurassic Fm of 37-38 deg. API oil with 1.6% sulphur, is beneath Burgan, Magwa, Minagish and Umm Gudair. The reservoir was found by KOC in the western desert in the 1980s. It first went into production in March 1990. The current capacity to produce this crude is 200,000 b/d. Its output is mixed with heavier crudes to produce a lighter export blend of 31.5 deg. API. Capacity was doubled in 1998 from 100,000 b/d. BP and Chevron are working on the Greater Burgan area under contracts with KOC. By end-January 1995, their Burgan reservoir studies had raised proven oil reserves by 250m barrels. The two majors are helping KOC in re-exploration and development of the deep Najma and Sarjelu Fms, said to be rich in 37-40 deg. API oils with a high gas ratio as in the case of Marrat. By March 1996, Greater Burgan had three additional oil GCs rehabilitated: GC-5 (200,000 b/d), GC-12 (250,000 b/d) and GC-14 (200,000 b/d). They allow KOC more flexibility, with Greater Burgan's sustainable capacity now kept stable at 1.58m b/d. But this zone can easily produce 2.5m b/d for short periods. Its sustainable capacity will reach 3m b/d by 2020.

In April 1995 KOC received a detailed study of Burgan Fms from the US consultants Scientific Software Intercomp. This was part of KOC's effort to re-assess the country's petroleum reserves and the potentials of deeper Fms. KOC had in early 1993 commissioned a series of reservoir simulation studies of Burgan, Magwa, Ahmadi, Minagish, Raudhatain and Sabriya. These were mostly completed before end-1994, with the rest made ready in 1995. In early 1994 it launched a plan to evaluate a number of deep structures in Kuwait, with Chevron and BP helping in this.

Western Geophysical and Geco-Prakla were contracted in 1995 to do seismic work, including 7,500 km of 2-D and 2,225 km of 3-D surveys, and 1,200 km of 2-D transition zone studies. Later it tendered an order for the supply of two 16,000 ft drilling rigs in addition to one used by Santa Fe. The objective was to develop the deep reservoirs with light/sweet oil to the maximum, in order to improve Kuwait's mix of crude oils for export. Now KOC has technical alliances with Schlumberger, Halliburton and Microsoft. A fire broke out at Burgan on Nov. 24, 2002 and four people were injured. This was caused by a leak in an oil feeder line for GC 3. The fire was put out in a few hours.

Among several projects for the Greater Burgan area is a KD61.9m ($207m) EPC contract won in 2003 by Daelim of South Korea to supply and install two water plants and related facilities at Burgan and Magwa within 22 months. The consultant was Parsons which did the FEED work.

Magwa is a culmination of the same Burgan structure. It lies north-west of Burgan and is in part separated from Burgan by a graben. Production of 31-33 deg. API oils comes mainly from Wara and Burgan sands. It has a deeper Minagish Oolite accumulation producing very heavy oil, and a Lower Jurassic Marrat Fm with considerable reserves of light oil. The field went on stream in 1953. Magwa was found in 1951. Before the Iraqi invasion, Magwa had more than 115 wells, of which almost 75 were producing in July 1990. Like Ahmadi and Burgan, most of its wells have a depth of 4,800 feet, with the Marrat wells having a depth of up to 16,000 feet. After KOC became fully owned by the state in late 1975, it drilled a big number of development wells in the Greater Burgan area, including Magwa. In 1984, KOC found South Magwa in a Middle Cretaceous Fm producing 36-40 deg. API oil. In 1987 KOC said its discoveries up to early 1985 helped boost Kuwait's proven oil reserves by 25 bn barrels to 92.7 bn barrels. Another find by KOC in 1986, at Abdali near the Iraqi border, raised its reserves estimates.

Minagish was found in 1959 by KOC (BP/Gulf Oil) in western Kuwait. This is a Fm of high sulphur oil of 20 deg. API, coming from the Mishrif, Mauddud, Wara and Burgan. Production of 35 deg. API oil with some toxic gas is coming from the Lower Cretaceous Minagish Oolite, Yamama-Ratawi, Fms. It went on stream in 1961 and recoverable oil reserves were estimated at 2.1 bn barrels. In the 1980s the Marrat was found beneath Minagish and Umm Gudair as well as under the rest of the Greater Burgan area. The field has had 21 wells, mostly at a depth of 10,000 ft, and can produce up to 220,000 b/d but for a short period. This excludes Marrat production which is calculated as part of Greater Burgan's output. Minagish's oil gathering systems are linked to those of Umm Gudair.

Umm Gudair, found in 1962, lies to the south of Minagish. The structural trend extends south across the boundary of the DZ. Production comes from the Lower Cretaceous Minagish Oolite formation with 25 deg. API oil and 3.8% sulphur. It went on stream in 1962. Oil reserves were estimated at 4 bn barrels. But the recovery factor is low. The field had a total of 33 wells in July 1990. With the wells of Minagish having an average depth of 10,000 feet, those of Umm Gudair have a depth of 9,000 feet.

During the previous Gulf war, retreating Iraqi troops in February 1991 set the Minagish wells and some of Umm Gudair's ablaze, and toxic hydrogen sulphide released into the air made fire-fighting and repair work at the two fields extremely difficult. Technip Geoproduction had started development work on Minagish and Umm Gudair before Iraq's invasion. Work included construction of oil and gas gathering facilities and a pipeline network at the two fields. Four of the GCs for Minagish and Umm Gudair were to be rebuilt totally according to Technip designs. After Kuwait's liberation, KOC and its contractors rehabilitated the field and had some of its installations rebuilt totally as in the case of Minagish. Umm Gudair can produce up to 190,000 b/d of heavy 22-26 deg. API oils but for a short period.

One of the repaired GCs, GC-18, went into operation at these two fields in August 1994 with a capacity of 50,000 b/d. The four new GCs, to cost more than $600m, should boost the two fields' capacity to 530,000 b/d eventually.

The contract for two GCs - GC-27 and 28 - were originally due to be awarded in July 1994. But the award, delayed because of budget cuts by the government, was on Dec. 30, 1995 given to China Petroleum Engineering & Construction Corp. (CPECC). The Supreme Petroleum Council (SPC) chose the Chinese firm for political reasons and KOC got CPECC to lower its price to $390m, because Mitsubishi Heavy Industries had bid $391m. The completion date was set for November 1998. But CPECC turned out to be far less efficient than thought. Its work was way behind schedule. Parsons, in charge of KOC's projects, was opposed to the choice of CPECC but Kuwait had to please Beijing in view of their bilateral defence pact.

Minagish and Umm Gudair are to be developed by a foreign consortium under an IBBC. Their target capacity of 530,000 b/d should become sustainable for up to 20-25 years, the duration of the IBBC. The foreign group should raise the recovery rate of the two fields' reserves, with KOC having estimated proven reserves at 3.3 bn barrels in Minagish and 3.2 bn barrels in Umm Gudair.