Publications

The Parit Minyak field in the Kisaran Block PSC resides in the Northwestern part of the Oil Prolific Central Sumatera Basin at the Barumun sub-Basin. Administratively, it is located in the Labuhanbatu Utara regency, North Sumatera Province. It was originally discovered by Chevron in 2006 with a wild cat well named Parit Minyak-1. It was the first well proving up the presence of hydrocarbon in the rotated fault block and western margin of Barumun basin. Some oil bearing reservoirs were penetrated and tested at the Pematang formation. Then, in early 2013, Pacific Oil & Gas (Kisaran) Ltd drilled two delineation wells named Parit Minyak-2 and Parit Minyak-3 with promising outcomes. The Pematang formation has a unique characteristic because in addition to being a reservoir, it also acts as a source rock, trap & sealing rock. Pematang in Parit Minyak field has permeability of 3-34 mD and porosity of 8-15%. This paper describes some strategic approaches to develop a field with similar characteristics that could be useful for every stakeholder. Developing the field is very important for The Government of Indonesia as it could add to national oil production. However, there are some challenges to develop due to some issues such as: structural complexity, low permeability and remote area. A comprehensive interpretation of all existing subsurface data, a problem of structural complexity/subsurface uncertainty can be minimized and resolved. A successful hydraulic fracturing stimulation over low permeability reservoir is conducted by studying mechanical rock property (geomechanics & MEM). Finally, an issue of remote field operation is resolved in Pre-FEED study by determining the most feasible process to produce the crude as well as its transportation scenario. As result, although the Parit Minyak field was initially considered to be a complex, challenging due to low permeability and remote the authors believe that these strategic approaches should result in a feasible development of the field.