Abstract

The petroleum industry in Oklahoma continues to be focused on natural gas, which today accounts for about 80% of both drilling activity and BOE production. Although there was a modest uptick in 2006, the first since 1984, record prices for the last several years have had little impact on oil's long-term decline. Today the industry and the State are precariously dependent on natural gas; the price of which tends to reset each year based on the severity of winter weather.

This study shows that an under-exploited opportunity exists in Oklahoma that is centered on improving oil recovery in existing fields. The State's original oil in-place (OOIP) volume is over 84 BBO, and long-term decline projections show an estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) volume of about 16 BBO. This 19% aggregate recovery factor, which is the result of complex reservoir geometries and poor reservoir management, equates to 68 BBO being left in the ground at abandonment. If the studies that were analyzed here are representative of the State as a whole, there are many opportunities, using simple techniques, to economically recover additional oil in fields throughout the State.

The major technical obstacle to a systematic search for these opportunities is scattered, inaccessible, and incomplete well and production data. This issue is now being addressed through an initiative, called Energy Libraries Online, of the Oklahoma City Geological Society and The Oklahoma Well Log Library, but this will require financial support to see it through. If operators are provided the tools necessary to identify this huge, untapped potential, a resurgence in oil activity and production is assured, with all of the financial benefits that these will bring to the industry and the State.