New Technology in a Mature East Malaysian Field

The T Field, located offshore east Malaysia, is a mature oil field that began its development in the 1970s. Conceptual geological models generally illustrated this field as a retrogradational turbidite setting. It is commonly known that the turbidite channel has enormous geological complexity and, therefore, presents great challenges for successful horizontal-well placement. This paper describes the first job in southeast Asia in developing horizontal-well placement in a turbidite environment.

Introduction

As of 15 years ago, T Field’s remaining oil deposits were present in the relatively thin turbidite channel complex on the steep-sloping flank of the field.