Hydrocarbon-Gas Cycling
Improves Recovery in the Arun Gas Field
L ean-gas injection has been used
as an alternative method in gas
fields to maintain reservoir pressure,
field is approximately 80 MMcf/D with
2,400 bbl of condensate/day.
Fluid expansion and gas injection are
to 18 Tcf, excluding impurities, or equiva-
lent to 22 Tcf in total. With a current total
cumulative gas production of 20 Tcf, the
minimize condensate banking near determined to be the two main drive latter estimation is more reasonable. An-
the wellbore, and mitigate oversupply mechanisms on the basis of material- other method used is a plot of cumulative
operations during low-market balance analysis. Hydrocarbon pro- produced gas vs. wellhead pressure to
periods. In this paper, past gas- duction uses four clusters with approx- estimate recoverable gas after an instal-
cycling operations were examined imately 21 wells in each cluster. Each lation of a booster compressor for low-
to identify subsurface implications cluster is equipped with the same typi- ering the wellhead pressure. This results
and effects on operability aspects cal surface facilities. All produced fluid in a calculation of approximately 23 Tcf
for the Arun giant gas field offshore is pooled at Point A before being piped with 50-psi wellhead pressure. Because
Indonesia in the North Sumatra to gas-processing facilities. Initially, of the scale used, slight changes in ex-
Basin. Production and pressure data the produced gas was delivered to the trapolation will result in huge volume
show that gas cycling contributes Arun liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant differences. At the moment, the recov-
significantly to the improvement of for liquefaction but, in late 2014, the ery factor is approximately 95%. Such
field-recovery factors. plant was shut down because of con- high recovery is attributed to a com-
tract termination. In the second quar- bination of gas cycling, intensive infill
Reservoir and Fluid Description ter of 2015, the facilities were reactivat- drilling, and a pressure-lowering pro-
The Arun gas field was discovered in ed for an LNG regasification terminal, gram. The produced gas contains meth-
1971. The formation is carbonate reef, Perta Arun Gas (PAG). Currently, the ane (68.60%), ethane (5%), propane
created during the Miocene age. It lies produced gas is transported to PAG (2.5%), butane (4.41%), other heavi-
between two thick shale layers, Bampo for separation and dehydration before er components (5.2%), and carbon
on the bottom and Baong on the top. The downstream processing. dioxide (14.29%).
Bampo formation is identified as source The northern part of the field con-
rock, with Baong shale as caprock. The tains fair porosity; the middle part is Gas Cycling
field trends north to south, with a width dominated by good and fair porosity, Gas cycling is the process of reinjecting
of 18.5 km and a length of 5 km. Gas/ while the southern part has a greater in- some portion, or all, of the produced hy-
water contact, to the south and west, cidence of poor porosity. Clusters II and drocarbon gas into the reservoir. The in-
was tilted toward the southern part III, which are located at the middle part, tention is to produce more condensate
of the field. contribute more cumulative gas pro- while maintaining the reservoir pres-
A gas-condensate reservoir at a depth duction and condensate compared with sure above the dewpoint. Initial hydro-
of 10,000 ft was found to have an av- Clusters I and IV. Thus, better reservoir carbon-gas reinjection officially started
erage thickness of 503 ft and an area properties and parameters are contrib- in the field in 1978. Fourteen gas down-
of 21,450 acres, with 7,100-psig initial uting to better production. dip producers were converted into injec-
pressure and a temperature of 352°F. OGIP was first calculated using the tors. Most of them were drilled originally
Initial condensate/gas ratio (CGR) was ratio of reservoir pressure to gas- as producers before being converted into
50 bbl/MMcf. The reservoir has 16.2% deviation factor vs. cumulative produced injectors. Total injection rate ranges from
average porosity and 17% initial water gas. This results in a calculation of 17 Tcf, 40 MMcf/D to a peak of 0.9 Bcf/D.
saturation. Volumetric original gas in excluding impurities, or equivalent to The injectors were periodically
place (OGIP) is calculated to be 17 scf. 20.73 Tcf in total. If the early trend is checked for corrosion evaluation, fall-
The current production rate from the used, then calculations of OGIP may rise off tests, multirate tests, pressure sur-
veys, and acidizing programs. Total in-
jected gas over 20 years is 5.2 Tcf. Of
This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of this total, the southern part of the res-
paper SPE 186280, “Review of 20 Years of Hydrocarbon-Gas Cycling in the Arun Gas ervoir (Clusters III and IV) accounted
Field,” by Suhendro, SPE, Pertamina Hulu Energi, prepared for the 2017 SPE/IATMI for 4 Tcf, while the northern part (Clus-
Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Bali, Indonesia, 17–19 October. ters I and II) accounted for 1.2 Tcf. The
The paper has not been peer reviewed. peak gas-injection period came from
For a limited time, the complete paper is free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.
JPT • NOVEMBER 2018 89
10,000,000 10000
Gas Rate (MMcf/D), Oil Rate (BCPD), Water Rate (BWPD),
1,000,000 1000
Gas Injection (MMcf/D)
100,000 100
Pressure (psia)
10,000 10
1,000 1
100 0.1
Oil Rate Gas Rate Water Rate Gas Injection Pressure
10 0.01
01/03/77
01/03/78
01/03/79
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01/03/11
Fig. 1—Arun production and injection history.
1990 to 1996. The water-rate plot imi- Clusters II and III, which are located in prevent condensate dropout in the res-
tates the gas-rate plot, which indicates the relatively higher position, experi- ervoir, and delay the increase of WGR.
that produced water mainly comes from enced higher CGR and, therefore, bene- Increasing water production is associat-
the condensed water, not from the aqui- fitted more from gas injection. Conden- ed with more water vapor being carried
fer (Fig. 1). No significant aquifer in- sate yield decreased after gas injection by the gas after it loses condensate. CGR
flux is seen from the drive-mechanism was ceased. decline and WGR increase are signifi-
plot. During injection, condensate pro- cant when the reservoir pressure is less
duction was maintained with a peak of Gas-Cycling Facilities than the dewpoint pressure. Gas cycling
145,000 B/D in 1989. The maximum The gas-cycling facilities consist of gas- should be started at an early stage when
total replacement ratio was 0.7, which cooling systems, separators, and com- the reservoir pressure is still greater
then stabilized at 0.4 before decreasing pressors. Three four-stage compres- than the dewpoint pressure.
to 0.3. This indicates that all injected sors were used to increase pressure Gas-injection wells can be con-
gases derived from the same field. from 1,100 to 7,100 psi. Two compres- verted from producers in the down-
The main result of gas cycling can be sors were installed in Cluster III and dip area instead of drilling a dedicat-
observed both from condensate yield one compressor in Cluster II. In 1984, ed injector. The placement of injectors
and water-to-gas ratio (WGR). During the injection pressure was reduced to also can be exercised and optimized in
gas cycling, condensate yield is kept 6,100 psi and some modifications were the development plan. The Arun field
between 50 and 65 bbl/MMcf of pro- made to improve the gas-injection rate is a good example of successful gas-
duced gas in Clusters II and III. WGR was from 170 to 255 MMcf/D/compressor. cycling applications. The size, thick-
kept as low as 20 bbl/MMcf. Converse- The condensate and water were ex- ness, good properties, and lack of sig-
ly, when gas cycling was stopped, WGR tracted immediately before gas was nificant aquifer movement are some
jumped to 100 bbl/MMcf. The indica- compressed and injected. Gas-cooling factors that contribute to the high re-
tion of increasing WGR can be traced measures were added to the system to covery of hydrocarbons in the Arun
back to the point at which reservoir maximize condensate yield and improve field. In addition, effective reservoir
pressure is below dewpoint pressure. compressor efficiency. management through gas cycling, in-
Thus, it can be concluded that gas cy- tensive infill drilling, and lowering of
cling indeed improves condensate yields Conclusion the wellhead pressure are factors that
and delays producing water in the gas Gas injection/cycling provides addition- improve ultimate gas recovery in the
reservoir. It can be observed as well that al energy to delay the decline of CGR, Arun field. JPT
90 JPT • NOVEMBER 2018
