The Bunker Hunt-British Petroleum's Sarir oil field of Libya appears to be truly one of the 10 or 12 supergiants of the world. Credited with approximately 12 to 15 billion bbl of in-place oil, it is a water-drive field that could and probably will eventually recover nearly 50 percent of the total oil present. There is a maximum 300-ft oil column and an area of surface closure of 155 sq mi. The field was discovered in November 1961 on a seismograph-defined structure. Development drilling was steady throughout the next 4 yr, and culminated with pipeline, loading terminal, and first actual production in late 1966. The oil reservoir is a Cretaceous sandstone on basement, the oil source being the several hundred feet of overlying marine Cretaceous shale. Structurally, the fiel is a combination anticline and high fault-block complex within a broad structural low.

There appears to be a good fluid communication throughout the reservoir. Average porosity values are about 18-19 percent and permeability values average several hundred millidarcys, with some 2-3 d streaks. All production is water-free. It is a sweet, sulfur-free oil, though of high paraffin content.

More than 100 wells have been drilled. About 70 are on production; 12 to 14 are waiting on gathering lines; and most of the remainder are observation wells for pressure or fluid control. There has been some decline of reservoir pressure during the first year of production; however, in most of the field a sustained water drive is developing. Individual well-producing capacities range from a few thousand barrels daily up to estimates of 28,000 to 30,000 bbl daily in the best wells. The field went on production at 100,000 bbls daily. This figure rose to 300,000 bbls within the first year. Additional field facilities will permit even greater increases in the future.

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