Publications

After an operator discovered a new Baturaja reservoir, we were asked to help with a reservoir development plan including the estimation of the primary, secondary, and enhanced oil recovery potential. In addition, we were asked to develop a reservoir-monitoring program to ensure the success of the development project. Because of many uncertainties with the new discovery, we reviewed the historical results of other Baturaja reservoirs to help guide our plan. This paper should be of interest to petroleum engineers and geologists involved in waterflood development and operations for Baturaja and other carbonate reservoirs.The primary objectives of this paper is to summarize the lessons learned from the major Baturaja waterfloods conducted in Indonesia in the last thirty years. At present, 5 major waterfloods have been conducted with 3 of them still ongoing. These projects are located in South Sumatra and Offshore Java. Based upon published results, the expected recoveries from waterflooding range from 19 to 43 %OOIP, and unfortunately, 40% of the previous projects have had poor results. Consulting companies and other service providers have had the unique opportunity of working on various aspects in all of the fields. As such, they are able to evaluate best practices while comparing and contrasting the lessons learned. Another aspect of this paper is a suggestion to the industry to do more to document its successes and failures so that the industry as a whole benefits. More published information will help reduce risks on any future Baturaja reservoir developments and help set the stage for other enhanced oil recovery projects, which will be increasingly important in Indonesia's mature oil fields.