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In the pink
Remote well monitoring helps to maximise production in Venezuela
Operations at Lake Maracaibo produce 55,000 bbl/d of oil from three highly faulted reservoirs thousands of metres below the lake. Each reservoir has different characteristics and contains crude oils ranging from 12 to 30 API. Production is from about 50 wells located at individual wellhead platforms dispersed over 1,500 km³. Well and field management are also faced with the potential presence of hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide that may be produced with the oil.
Many of the wells require artificial lift, including gas lift, jet pumps and electrical submersible pumps. The various oil streams have a high level of interdependency. The light oil is used to lift the heavy oil, and produced gas is needed both for gas lift and to generate electricity for the electrical submersible pumps.