Ghwar

Världens största oljefält Saudiska Ghwar som upptäckes redan 1948 har matt Simmons skrivit i princip en hel bok om. Den heter "Twilight in the Dessert " och är måste läsning för alla som är intresserade av världens olje situation.
http://www.amazon.com/Twilight-Desert-Coming-Saudi-Economy/dp/047173876X

En person som nogsamt följer utecklingen av just Ghwar är signaturen "JoulesBurn" som har bloggen "Satelit o'er the Dessert" med underrubriken "A peek at Saudi oil. The unofficial web companion to Twilight in the Desert by Matt Simmons". Säger eg allt man behöver veta om denna blogg.

Här ser ni en uppdaterad bild på situationen för norra delen av fältet.

"In the left image, red and blue placemarks indicate locations of oil and water wells respectively. In the right image, green circles denote recent well locations and diamonds indicate drilling rigs.If the area with remaining oil were an island, it would be time to look for a boat. And given the number of wells involved (400+, probably each with large reservoir contact), this suggests an interesting dynamic in maintaining production at historic levels."

Sedan en liten diskussion som klargör det hele:

Q - "So if I am reading this correctly, it means the productive zone has moved to the centre of the field?If so we must be close to the point of putting our heads between our legs and kissing you know what goodbye. I am fascinated by your work, Thank you for the obviously huge amount of time you spend on this."

A - "Correct, pique oil. The injected water moves in towards the center, and the dry area (with significant oil thickness) is getting smaller and smaller. The onther thing of note is the large number of new wells which are draining oil from a smaller area."

Sedan då till frågan vad detta eg innebär. Hänvisningen till Cantarell givet den extremt aggresiva nedgången som redovisas där är kanske inte direkt lugnande:

Q - "And I assume that most of these new wells are horizontal and have lots of branches. And thus they are draining more oil and faster, so when they slow down it will be like cantarell?.If so , then it tends to make the claims of plenty of reserve capacity look very ill indeed."

http://satelliteoerthedesert.blogspot.com/2008/06/north-ghawar-updated.html