Subsidence and Old Data Present Unique Challenges in Aging Turbidite Oil Fields - Examples of Successful Technological Solutions from the Wilmington Oil Field California USA

The Wilmington oil field of Los Angeles County California, the third largest in the United States, was discovered in 1932 and has been on continuous production ever since. Cumulative oil production has exceeded 2.5 billion barrels. Production is from Pliocene and Miocene Age basinal turbidite sands. There are seven productive zones that have generally been subdivided into 52 subzones. Locally the subzones have undergone detailed reservoir characterization in an attempt to better define the actual hydrologic units. The asymmetrical anticline is highly faulted and development proceeded from west to east through each of the ten fault blocks. In the areas with the longer production history (60years+) water cuts exceed 96% and the reservoirs are near the economic limit. Several new technologies have been applied to specific areas to improve the production efficiencies and thus prolong the field life.