Abstract

In various oil provinces throughout the world, producers encounter substantial deposits of viscous crude oil which, despite its often shallow depth, nature hangs onto tenaciously.

One such accumulation is P.T. Caltex Pacific Indonesia's Duri Field in Central Sumatra. Without assisted recovery of some type, production from this field would be less than 10% of the original oil in place.

Of the many methods tried by industry to increase recovery in similar circumstances, P.T. C.P.I. has been very successful with the Huff-Puff steam stimulation technique at Duri. This technique is also often referred to as Push Pull or steam soak process.

Generally, the procedure adopted by P.T. C.P.I. consists of injecting a predetermined volume of steam into the producing horizon of the well. After "soaking" for about five days, the well is blown down and then returned to production.

Major problems attributable to resultant high temperatures and pressures are casing failures and increased sand production. A standardized completion procedure has been adopted to reduce these problems and work is continuing to attain further improvement.

This paper will discuss completion procedures, steaming practices – including problems – and summarize Huff-Puff performance which shows the success achieved using steam stimulation in the Duri Field.