SPE-172875-MS

Development Of The Mexican Field - Samaria Neogene

Tania Flores de Dios Mosqueda, Ezequiel Arturo Isidro Torres, Marcela Arteaga Cardona,
Carlos Fernando Tapia Garcia, and Pedro Silva Lopez, PEMEX

Copyright 2014, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE International Heavy Oil Conference and Exhibition held in Mangaf, Kuwait, 8 –10 December 2014.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
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Abstract
Due to the success and experience obtained in the Samaria Neogene field pilot test, it was decided to
exploit the field by cycling steam stimulation.
The development of the field has been carried out in three phases. The first phase, 48 wells were drilled
with 400 meters spacing. The positive results of the first phase encouragement the development of the
second and third phases, they consisted in 43 and 33 infill wells, with 200 and 150 meters spacing
respectively.
In the first cycles, the injection pressure was very high, even in the wells that were produced for 6
months with Sucker Rod Pump (up to 2,400 psi in the deepest wells). In the second cycles there were no
high injection pressures since the well surroundings were depressurized by the first cycle. In the second
cycles the injection pressure drop between 50 to 400 psi, achieving a very good steam admission by the
wells in the second and third cycles.
As a result of the decrease in the well spacing, the wells close to the injection wells began to show a
heat increase in the produced fluids, for example, in two wells with less than 50 meters of spacing between
them, during the injection of one, the other rase the temperature from 60°C to 110°C. This behavior has
been very benefical for the project because reduces the viscosity not only in the injection well if not also
in some of the nearby wells, resulting in an increased production in both wells. In most cases, when one
of the neighboring wells is producing from the same sands, also there is steam channeling. If this
channeling will be controlled, it would exist the possibility of moving to a continuous steam injection.
This paper will present how the steam injection has been successful despite different conditions taken
in the pilot test.

Introduction
The Samaria Neogeno field was discovered in 1961 after the drilling of the Samaria 2 well. The Samaria
2 well was drilled to a depth of more than 800 meters; its output is 94 bbl/day of oil that ranges between
7°API and 11°API gravity. The Samaria Neogeno field is originated in a fluvial environment: four bodies
of sand, identified as A0, A1, A4 and A6, contain oils of varying API gravity between 5°API and 13°API.
The volume of original oil in place (OOIP) is estimated at 534.5 MMB. Oil viscosity ranges from 2,000
2 SPE-172875-MS

Figure 1—Samaria Negeno field location.

Figure 2—Geological column of the Samaria Negoeno field

to 43,000cP; the average reservoir pressure is 97 kg/cm2 at a temperature of 45°C. (Arteaga 2011). Fig.
1 illustrates the location of the Samaria Neogeno field.
In order to contribute with aditional production in the Samaria field it was decided to launch a pilot
testing the cycling steam stimulation. The pilot area covered an area of 4.62 km2. The pilot test (Arteaga,
2013) was developed between 2008 and 2011 and consisted in the drilling of 4 vertical wells, one deviated
well and 3 horizontal wells, a total of 8 wells were drilled in the top of the reservoir and it was designed
to test 60% of the sands of the geological column (Fig. 2). For the Pilot test the area with the best
petrophysical parameter and surface facilities was selected. (Fig. 3)
SPE-172875-MS 3

Figure 3—Structural plane of Shalow Samaria field.

Results of the CSS Pilot test

In the pilot test the cold production was from 74 to
215 days with productions between 74-317 bpd with
a cumulative production around 2,755 to 42, 978
BLS. After this cold production the wells were
injected with a volume of 2,477 to 8,730 tons.
Steam generators had a capacity of 30 MMBtu / hr,
and the injection temperature was between 292 to
332 ° C. The injected volume was 1.2 to 5.7 times
the cumulative production in cold. In all cases the Figure 4 —Drillings per year since 2009 to august 2014.
replacement factor was greater than 1, struggling to
inject in 2 wells because the pressure was very close
to the fracture pressure. The injection pressures were 1118 psi for more shallow sands to 1972 psi to the
deepest sands and the temperatures ranged from 291 ° C to 332 ° C. The volume injected in the wells was
of 48-202 tons per meter. In a period of 24 months a steam oil ratio (SOR) was between 4-5 for vertical
wells and of 1 for horizontal wells, the only deviated well unfortunately produced in a sand with high
water saturation and it was a water producer. (See Table 1, Summary of injected volume, produced rpv,
factor replacement, pressures, temperatures, set well 1, well 2, etc). All these results were a successful and
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Figure 5 and 6 —Fig. 5-Shows a typical petrophysical evaluation in the flanks of the field (Left). Fig. 6-Shows a typical petrophysical evaluation in
the high structural (Right)

meaningful contribution to the company that was decided to stop the pilot test and start the development
of the field.

The field development

In the developmental stage it was planned to drill 51 wells distributed in 3 stages: 9 wells in the first stage,
33 wells in the second stage and 9 more wells in the third stage, however the first stage was extended from
9 to 51 wells, the second stage from 33 to 47 wells and from 9 to 83 wells in the third stage, giving a total
of 189 wells if the wells of the pilot test are added. The drilling phase began in 2011 and since then it has
been drilled 142 wells and 8 more wells have been converted in extra heavy oil producers. Fig. 4
In the first stage, the spacing between wells was of 400 meters, in this stage, drilling all the wells to
the same area of the pilot test was not possible, whence it was necessary to drill in the sides of the reservoir
(Fig.5, Fig. 6). For preventing the construction of new locations almost all wells were deviated and it was
necessary to draw an “S” track for reaching the objectives.
Since the beginning of the development stage it has been taken special attention to characterize the new
zones. It has been taken three formation tester samplings and pressure testing (Perez, 2012). To monitor
the surface conditions of pressure and temperature were installed in real time sensors, the data can be
monitored from any device with internet. Similarly, the injection steam quality is continuously measured
by the method of dissolved solids and conductivity cell. For the bottom hole conditions production logs
are taken during the injection and production stage, during the injection indicate that the loss of
temperature from the surface to the bottom is no more than 5 degrees Celsius. (Fig. 7) Sometimes in the
logs it has been noted that during the injection and soak it appears that some intervals never were heated,
however in the logs taken during the production they show that were heated and are producers. (Fig. 9)
Also, a temperature and pressure log is taken in the last soaking days; these logs have indicated less than
100 Celsius degrees than the injection temperature (Fig. 8). During the production stage, until all the data
are stabilized, daily fluid samples are taken to analyze the percentage of produced fluids, water salinity
SPE-172875-MS 5

Figure 7, 8 and 9 —Fig. 7-Production log taken in the injection stage (Top). Fig. 8-Pressure-temperature log in the soak stage (Middle). Fig.
9-Production log taken in the production stage (Bottom).

and pH. When this data are stabilized, the oil gravity and viscosity is measure at different temperatures
(Fig. 10). All this monitoring is done to make a production forecast in the next cycles (Fig. 11).
Another feature presented is the presence of channeling, which is identified in one hand by a sudden
increase in temperature and production in the well channeled in the first two or three days followed by
a cut of 100% water, on the other hand the injector well is shown a decrease in pressure that corresponds
to the increase in the percentage of water in the well which shows the channeling (Fig.12, Fig. 13)
Also, at this stage the wells that produced in more than one sand, were produced with a selective
production tubing in order to enhanced the steam distribution (Sanchez, 2013), and the production of the
two zones could be at the same time, saving in the repair.
The number of volume injected in the first stage was from 50 to 350 tons per meter (Fig. 14) as a way
to continue with the same successful results of the pilot, nevertheless it was a wide range and we were
not having the same results. After a detailed analysis of the logs taken during the CSS it was noticed that
6 SPE-172875-MS

Figure 10 —Viscosities at different temperatures

Figure 11—Typical production behavior in the Samaria Neogeno basin.

Figure 12—Illustrates in one hand a drop in the injection pressure, on the other hand the temperature rasing due to the channeling.

Figure 13—Shows the tipical production behavior in a channeling.

SPE-172875-MS 7

Figure 14 —Volume injected in the first months of the development stage

Figure 15—Steam stimulations per year

Figure 16 —Historic production in the Samaria Neogeno field.

between 100 and 200 tons per meter was the best volume injected to reach higher temperatures in the
bottom and less water production (2-3 days). In the second cycle of injection a longer water production
was observed (5-20 days). So as to avoid early water saturation in the sands it was decided to do
mini-cycles, another purpose of the mini-cycles is to take advantage of the proximity between wells to
keep warmer the reservoir by decreasing the injection time in each well (Fig. 15).
Conclusions
Until August 2014, the project had a total of 150 wells, 15 wells are closed because the water production
is about 100%. The other 135 wells are producing by CSS. The number of cycles varies along the field,
because it has not been stopped drilling, wells are waiting to be injected for the first time and others are
up to four cycles. (Fig. 15) The production has increase from 2,000 to 20,000 in the last 6 years (Fig. 16),
8 SPE-172875-MS

the water production rate is less than 30 % and the cumulative oil production is about 13 million barrels.
Currently, are being conducted laboratory tests to enhanced the process.

References
Arteaga-Cardona, M., Aguilar, A. R., Czwienzek, F., Salve, J., & Aldana, J. B. (2011, January 1).
Samaria Neogeno Exploitation Plan: FEL Approach and Pilot Test Implementation. Society of
Petroleum Engineers. doi: 10.2118/150318-MS
Perez Herrera, R., Flores de Dios Mosqueda, T., Aguilar Aguilar, M. G., Garcia, G. D., Peyret, E.,
Ramirez, E., & Ayan, C. (2012, January 1). New Wireline Formation Tester Development Makes
Sampling and Pressure Testing Possible in Extra-Heavy Oils in Mexico. Society of Petroleum
Engineers. doi: 10.2118/159868-MS
Sanchez, T., H.A. 2013. Evolution of Completions in Steam Injection Wells. Paper presented at the
1st No Conventional Drilling Forum, Mexico D.F.
https://sites.google.com/site/oldshepherd1935/thegeologiccolumn