Ghawar Field Explained

Ghawar Field
Location Map:Saudi Arabia
Coordinates:25.43°N 49.62°W
Coordinates Ref:(Centre approximation: 25.2°N 49.31°W)
Relief:yes
Country:Saudi Arabia
Region:Eastern Province
Location:Al-Ahsa
Offonshore:Onshore
Operator:Saudi Aramco
Discovery:1948
Start Production:1951
Peak Year:2005 (Contested)
Oil Production Bbl/D:3800000
Production Year Oil:2019
Production Gas Mmcuft/D:2000
Est Oil Bbl:48250
Est Gas Bft:110000
Formations:Upper/Middle Jurassic, Upper/Lower Permian, Lower Devonian

Ghawar (Arabic: الغوار) is an oil field located in Al-Ahsa Governorate, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Measuring 280by (some), it is by far the largest conventional oil field in the world, and accounts for roughly a third of the cumulative oil production of Saudi Arabia as of 2018.[1]

Ghawar is entirely owned and operated by Saudi Aramco, the state-run Saudi oil company. In April 2019, the company first published its profit figures since its nationalization nearly 40 years ago in the context of issuing a bond to international markets. The bond prospectus revealed that Ghawar is able to pump a maximum of 3.8Moilbbl per day—well below the more than 5Moilbbl per day that had become conventional wisdom in the market.[2]

Geology

Ghawar occupies an anticline above a basement fault block dating to Carboniferous time, about 320million years ago; Cretaceous tectonic activity, as the northeast margin of Africa began to impinge on southwest Asia, enhanced the structure. Reservoir rocks are Jurassic Arab-D limestones with exceptional porosity (as much as 35% of the rock in places), which is about 280feet thick and occurs 6000feetto7000feetft (toft) beneath the surface. Source rock is the Jurassic Hanifa formation, a marine shelf deposit of mud and lime with as much as 5% organic material, it is estimated that 1% to 7% is considered good oil source rock. The seal is an evaporitic package of rocks including impermeable anhydrite.[3]

History

In the early 1940s, Max Steineke, Thomas Barger and Ernie Berg noted a bend in the Wadi Al-Sahbah dry riverbed. Measurements confirmed that the area had undergone geologic uplift, an indication that an oil reservoir may be trapped underneath. Oil was indeed found, in what turned out to be the southern reaches of Ghawar.[4]

Historically, Ghawar has been subdivided into five production areas, from north to south: 'Ain Dar and Shedgum, 'Uthmaniyah, Hawiyah and Haradh. The major oasis of Al-Ahsa and the city of Al-Hofuf are located on Ghawar's east flank, corresponding to the 'Uthmaniyah production area. Ghawar was discovered in 1948 and put on stream in 1951.[5] [6] Some sources claim that Ghawar peaked in 2005, though this is denied by the field operators.[7] [8]

Saudi Aramco reported in mid-2008 that Ghawar had produced 48% of its proven reserves.[9]

Extraction of crude oil

Approximately 60–65% of all Saudi oil produced between 1948 and 2000, came from Ghawar. Cumulative extraction of petroleum through early 2010, has exceeded 65Goilbbl.[10] In 2009, it was estimated that Ghawar produced about 5Moilbbl of oil a day (6.25% of global production),[11] a figure which was later shown to be substantially overestimated.

As of 31 December 2018, total reserves of 58.32Goilbbl of oil equivalent including 48.25Goilbbl barrels of liquid reserves have been confirmed by Saudi Aramco. Average daily extraction was 3.8Moilbbl per day.

Ghawar also produces approximately 2Gcuft of natural gas per day.[12]

The operators stimulate production by waterflooding, using seawater at a rate said to be around 7Moilbbl per day .[13] [14] Water flooding is said to have begun in 1965.[15] The water cut was about 32% in 2003, and ranged from about 27% to 38% from 1993 to 2003.[16] By 2006, North Uthmaniyah's water cut was about 46%.[17] [18]

Energy content

Taking the production figure per year and the conventional energy density of crude oil (per the definition of the ton of oil equivalent) of) the total thermal energy equivalent produced yearly by the oil field is roughly, or 2,210,000 gigawatt-hours of thermal energy equivalent.

For comparison,

The Ghawar oil field is thus the largest single supplier of primary energy on Earth.

Reserves

In April 2010, Saad al-Tureiki, Vice-President for Operations at Aramco, stated, in a news conference reported in Saudi media, that over 65Goilbbl have been produced from the field since 1951. Tureiki further stated that the total reserves of the field had originally exceeded 100Goilbbl.[21]

The International Energy Agency in its 2008 World Energy Outlook stated that the oil production from Ghawar reached 66 Bbo in 2007, and that the remaining reserves are 74 Bbo.[11]

Matthew Simmons, in his 2005 book Twilight in the Desert, suggested that production from the Ghawar field and Saudi Arabia may soon peak.[22]

When appraised in the 1970s, the field was assessed to have 170Goilbbl of original oil in place (OOIP), with about 60Goilbbl recoverable (1975 Aramco estimate quoted by Matt Simmons). The second figure, at least, was understated since that production figure has already been exceeded.[22]

See also

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Saudi Arabian Oil Company - Global Medium Term Note Programme. April 1, 2019. Saudi Arabian Oil Company. April 4, 2019.
  2. Web site: 2 April 2019 . The Biggest Saudi Oil Field Is Fading Faster Than Anyone Guessed . Bloomberg.com.
  3. Web site: Finding Ghawar: Elephant Hid in Desert . Rasoul Sorkhab . AAPG Explorer . June 2011.
  4. Book: Ali Al-Naimi . Out of the Desert . 2016 . Portfolio Penguin . Great Britain . 9780241279250 . 20.
  5. Web site: The Elephant of All Elephants . AAPG Explorer . January 2005 . Louise Durham . live. https://web.archive.org/web/20060302145331/http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2005/01jan/ghawar.cfm . March 2, 2006 .
  6. News: Trouble in the World's Largest Oil Field-Ghawar . Energy Bulletin . 24 July 2004 . Glenn Morton . https://web.archive.org/web/20161003010442/http://www.resilience.org/stories/2004-07-29/trouble-worlds-largest-oil-field-ghawar . 3 October 2016.
  7. News: Has Ghawar truly peaked? . 31 March 2005 . Donald Coxe . 1 March 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20170301190142/http://www.resilience.org/stories/2005-04-01/has-ghawar-truly-peaked/.
  8. News: Bank says Saudi's top field in decline . Adam Porter . English Al-Jazeera . April 12, 2005 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20060813190446/http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/08B97BCF-7BE6-4F1D-A846-7ACB9B0F8894.htm . 2006-08-13 .
  9. Web site: Saudi Arabia Energy Data, Statistics and Analysis - Oil, Gas, Electricity, Coal . 2008-08-01 . Energy Information Agency . US Department of Energy . https://web.archive.org/web/20080913234543/http://www.eia.doe.gov:80/emeu/cabs/Saudi_Arabia/Oil.html . 13 September 2008.
  10. Web site: The Ghawar Oil Field, Saudi Arabia . Gregcroft.com . 2013-04-15 . 2016-03-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304202330/http://www.gregcroft.com/ghawar.ivnu . dead .
  11. The King of Giant Fields . https://web.archive.org/web/20200816221552/https://www.geoexpro.com/articles/2010/04/the-king-of-giant-fields . 2020-08-16 . Rasoul Sorkhab . GeoExPro . 4 . 7 . 2010.
  12. Web site: Top Ten Highest Producing Oil Fields . Oil Patch Asia . 3 October 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140102203244/http://oilpatchasia.com/2013/10/top-ten-highest-producing-oil-fields/ . 2 January 2014.
  13. Web site: Saudi Arabia's Giant Ghawar Oil Field . Global Resources News . https://web.archive.org/web/20141211060419/http://globalresourcesnews.com/channel-Ghawar . 11 December 2014.
  14. Web site: Ghawar Oil Field - Hydrocarbons Technology . 2023-06-05 . www.hydrocarbons-technology.com.
  15. Web site: Ghawar Oil Field: Saudi Arabia's Oil Future . Energy and Capital . Justin Williams . 19 February 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160331234435/http://www.energyandcapital.com/articles/ghawar-oil-field/3101 . 31 March 2016.
  16. A.M. Afifi, 2004 AAPG Distinguished Lecture, chart reproduced in .
  17. News: Peak oil isn't dead: An interview with Chris Nelder . Brad Plumer . Washington Post . 13 April 2013.
  18. Web site: Tech Talk - Current Oil Production and the Future of Ghawar . The Oil Drum . 18 June 2012.
  19. Web site: Top 10 Largest Wind Farms in the World - Earth and Human . 13 September 2021 .
  20. Web site: Top 10 Largest Wind Farms in the World - Earth and Human . 13 September 2021 .
  21. News: أرامكو: "الغوار" ما زال قويا بـ"100" مليار برميل . Aramco: "Ghawar" is still strong with "100" billion barrels . ar . 2010 . 2010-04-10 . 2020-10-04 . https://web.archive.org/web/20201004085807/https://www.alyaum.com/issue/article.php?IN=13447&I=750340 . dead .
  22. Book: Matthew Simmons . Matthew Simmons . Twilight in the Desert - The coming Saudi oil shock and the world economy. . 2005 . John Wiley & Sons . Hoboken, NJ . 0-471-73876-X . registration .

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