Mature fields
BP’s new electric gas compression platform at Shah Deniz, Azerbaijan’s largest natural gas producer, is expected to sustain exports to Europe even as the field enters decline.
ExxonMobil joins BP, Chevron, and TotalEnergies in greenlighting new investment projects in Iraq in 2025 as the government targets oil production of 6 million B/D by 2029.
![JPT_2025-09_GuestEd1_SS_382853197[4].jpg](https://assets.spe.org/dims4/default/b4eb909/2147483647/strip/true/crop/850x478+0+44/resize/320x180!/quality/90/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fspe-brightspot.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2F8a%2F95%2Fe4e82cb54fd597d497a5b1267f8a%2Fjpt-2025-09-guested1-ss-3828531974.jpg)
Intelligent completions could improve many of the world’s oil and gas wells, but not all are suited to the technology. There is another option.
-
Young Technology Showcase—Top-Down Modeling: A Shift in Building Full-Field Models for Mature FieldsData-driven, or top-down, modeling uses machine learning and data mining to develop reservoir models based on measurements, rather than solutions of governing equations. -
A closer look at the design and construction of Statoil’s subsea gas compression systems in the Åsgard and Gullfaks fields, the first of their kind in the oil and gas industry.
-
In maturing oil wells, oil production is often restricted as reservoir pressure depletes. Two case studies highlight the application of two-screw multiphase pump systems in to extend well life.
-
The Samarang oil field, offshore Sabah, Malaysia, is undergoing a redevelopment project with integrated operations. Several work flows were designed and deployed in order to achieve an early milestone of providing real-time well-performance monitoring, surveillance, and optimization.
-
The surge in unconventional completions over the last decade has created ample candidates for hydraulic refracturing, which has been demonstrated to be a viable alternative to the more expensive endeavor of drilling and completing new wells.
-
The surge in unconventional completions has created a substantial accumulation of previously hydraulically fractured wells that are candidates for hydraulic refracturing.
-
A matured field is currently producing with greater than 85% water cut (WC) and has significant levels of uncertainty with respect to oil/water contact (OWC), flank structure, depth of spill points, production allocation, and residual oil saturation.
-
One of the most promising targets for resource-rock stimulation in South America is the Vaca Muerta (VM) shale in western Argentina.
-
Mature fields still have value, and technology can help to capture that value through increased efficiency and reduced costs.
-
Europe’s largest onshore oil field, the Patos-Marinza in southern Albania, has been given a new lease on life after seeing production soar from 600 B/D just over a decade ago to more than 20,000 B/D this year.
