[some_guy282]

I think Ghawar started producing in the late 40's or early 50's.

[Antimatter]

Petroleum Intelligence Weekly reports that state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corp. (KPC) has coped pretty well so far during the crises — boosting oil production briefly to a peak of 2.5 million barrels per day (mbd), maintaining oil exports, and just last week restoring refinery throughput to pre-war levels of around 0.9 mbd. A team from Kuwait Oil Co. has also helped put out a fire at one well in the Rumaila field in Iraq. In anticipation of possible disruptions, KPC has ramped up output from around 2.1 mbd in February to some 2.4 mbd at present. Some 0.085 mbd of production halted in March at the Ratqa and Abdali fields on the Iraqi border was made up by hiking output at the giant Burgan field. KPC restarted 17 wells at Ratqa last week. Fields in the south, including Burgan, are pumping about 1.36 mibd. There is also 0.35 mbd from western fields, and another 0.42 mbd from northern oil fields where production was not stopped. Some 0.14 mbd is coming from the offshore Neutral Zone, with about 0.12 mbd from the Khafji field and 0.018 mbd from Hout. The onshore Neutral Zone, which includes the Wafra, Umm Gudair, and South Fawaris fields, is producing 0.140 mbd, with about 0.040 mbd more coming from the shallow Eocene formation at Wafra. KPC is also working in the north to restore capacity at four fields, including Raudhatain, that were producing 0.62 mbd before an accident last year.

http://www.intertanko.com/tankernews/artikkel.asp?id=5576

Burgan seems to have been producing 1.35mb/d to 1.6mb'd or so for a while, I'm seeing a few different figures, partly because of confusion between Burgan and Greater Burgan area which includes other fields. They were looking at 2mb/d but decided on 1.7mb/d from what i can see. Kinda runs contrary to assertions of overproducing the fields in despairation.

[Flow]

Amazingly, you do a google on this and only one source is reporting it. For such a huge story you think it would be all over the place.

[GreyZone]

Amazingly, you do a google on this and only one source is reporting it. For such a huge story you think it would be all over the place.

If you read international news sources you see this happen fairly often.

Please go Google on "Myanmar nuke" and see what you get. Then go read. Then look at the dates on the news articles. Finally, ask yourself if nuclear proliferation issues involving Myanmar have ever been put forth on US mainstream media. And that's just one issue. There are many more like that.

I don't accept the political views of Pravda or China Daily or India Daily or Al Jazeera or many other sources but I do read them to see what is abuzz in the world. And on many occasions I've seen the entire rest of the world discussing an issue that the US media remain silent on. Why? Who knows but it probably has more to do with media in the US being a "profit center" and "entertainment" than a news source.

[savethehumans]

Gee. What. A. Surprise. NOT.

[Antimatter]

Burgan has aquifer support, they are choking it back to maintain the pressure. To me this is actually GOOD news because it indicates they are going for higher recovery rather than max production. Burgan could produce over 2mb/d if the taps were opened, note the spike in 1991 when the wellheads were blown off and oil spewed into the air. "Production" went from 2mb/d to somewhere between 4 and 6mb/d.



No lack of pressure there!

[GreyZone]

Agreed, Antimatter, they do appear to be trying to manage well lifespan rather than getting short term max output for a few years. But many of the future estimates to support growth appeared to rely on fields like Burgan growing significantly which is not going to occur now. The Kuwaitis appear to be trying to maximize the amount of oil they can get which is in their interest. If the rest of the world wants more oil than that, they'll have to find it somewhere else.

The greater question will be how long can Kuwait maintain this plateau of production from Burgan? Using water injection systems apparently similar to the North Sea and Prudhoe Bay would lead us to expect similar decline rates once it begins to decline. And those were serious decline rates once they started.

Interestingly, it seems Colin Campbell was asking serious questions about Kuwait's oil reserves just 2 months ago when he said that their numbers just didn't add up.

[Flow]

Amazingly, as huge of a story as this is and the potential remification of it - do a Yahoo! News search for this: Kuwait Burgan oil production

A whooping 4 articles that deal with it. Two of the articles comes from the highly accredited and most popular news site on the planet www.ameinfo.com. One story is just a cut and past of this story in the equally impressive menewsline.com. And then of course, one of the major Peak Oil websites " From the Wilderness" has picked it up (as I am sure others will do sooner or later).

A classice example of Doomers finding a story online, not doing an ounce of research on it and passing it off as fact to prove the predictions of a Thanksgiving 2005 peak.

I guess the same people that are keeing peak oil out of the mainstream media are burying this Kuwait news too (as huge of a story as Peak Oil is and as much as the media loves to scare the death out of people with West Nile, Bird Flu, etc - it should be on Fox News NON-STOP. We should never have to hear about Natalie Halloway ever again).

[GreyZone]

Amazingly, as huge of a story as this is and the potential remification of it - do a Yahoo! News search for this: Kuwait Burgan oil production

A whooping 4 articles that deal with it. Two of the articles comes from the highly accredited and most popular news site on the planet www.ameinfo.com. One story is just a cut and past of this story in the equally impressive menewsline.com. And then of course, one of the major Peak Oil websites " From the Wilderness" has picked it up (as I am sure others will do sooner or later).

A classice example of Doomers finding a story online, not doing an ounce of research on it and passing it off as fact to prove the predictions of a Thanksgiving 2005 peak.

I guess the same people that are keeing peak oil out of the mainstream media are burying this Kuwait news too (as huge of a story as Peak Oil is and as much as the media loves to scare the death out of people with West Nile, Bird Flu, etc - it should be on Fox News NON-STOP. We should never have to hear about Natalie Halloway ever again).

Buy a subscription to Bloomberg.com. It's a subscriber only story on one of the most heavily used financial news services on the planet. Just because you cannot access it doesn't mean it's not there or not important. What it really means is that you don't have decent quality data sources, a problem that you could remedy if you wanted but apparently do not wish to address.

[lowem]

EnergyBulletin has archived the story :

http://www.energybulletin.net/10878.html

[shakespear1]

Just because you cannot access it doesn't mean it's not there or not important. What it really means is that you don't have decent quality data sources, a problem that you could remedy if you wanted but apparently do not wish to address.

I agree totaly.

What this means is that this kind of info and BETTER does exist in the halls of Power. It is just that a Katrina style charade is going on. When the Hurricane arrives no guilty party will be found.

As a petroleum engineer, I can tell you that once this huge field starts to show signs of death, IT IS DEAD. Water injection will help but no miracle will happen.

I wonder if Saddam and his Band of Thieves had a chance to damage this field while they were there the last time.

[rockdoc123]

I wonder if Saddam and his Band of Thieves had a chance to damage this field while they were there the last time.

They lit up 700 wells during the first Gulf War....lost more than a billion barrels total apparently. The big worry here of course would be the decrease in reservoir pressure and the fact that it likely would not have been evenly spread across the field. My understanding is that the biggest issue the Kuwaitis have faced with Burgan is that in order to maximum returns they have been producing preferentially near the infield facilities which are spread out over the field. As a consequence the field has suffered uneven water encroachment and pressure depletion. I think there was an inverted five spot injection program started on the field along time ago...not sure if it was field wide or not.

The amount of up to date info on Burgan is appalling. I have access to pretty much everything you could imagine, WoodMac, IHS, Robertsons, etc. .....nothing is up to date....no papers other than the occassional abstract at a conference. Stikes me as funny given that Chevron has been on a technical services agreement with the Kuwaitis since the eighties....must be some stringent confidentiality agreements in place.

[Flow]

EnergyBulletin has archived the story :

http://www.energybulletin.net/10878.html

I am sorry but EnergyBulletin is just another Peak Oil website. I mean one of their main 5 links on every page is "Peak Oil Primer."

That is almost as funny as quoting LATOC.net as a reputable Peak Oil source. There are so many comments taken out of context, so many "worst case scenerio" articles presented as fact, so many links taken from other Peak Oil websites, etc... the list goes on and on.

Quoting any site who has 1/5 of their main links on every page pointing to Peak Oil is like listening to Rush Limbaugh and trying to get a good, unopinionated grasp on the policies of the Democrats.

[GreyZone]

EnergyBulletin has archived the story :

http://www.energybulletin.net/10878.html

I am sorry but EnergyBulletin is just another Peak Oil website. I mean one of their main 5 links on every page is "Peak Oil Primer."

That is almost as funny as quoting LATOC.net as a reputable Peak Oil source. There are so many comments taken out of context, so many "worst case scenerio" articles presented as fact, so many links taken from other Peak Oil websites, etc... the list goes on and on.

Quoting any site who has 1/5 of their main links on every page pointing to Peak Oil is like listening to Rush Limbaugh and trying to get a good, unopinionated grasp on the policies of the Democrats.

So, as I said, buy a subscription to Bloomberg.com if you want to see the story. Apparently it was considered important news inside financial circles, Flow.

I notice that lacking facts you are now reduced to using time honored attacks on the messenger such as guilt by association, etc. Want to make yourself look more foolish or shall we get back to the facts, including those numbers from TFU, which you have pointedly ignored? You're starting to look every bit like a troll, who has no interest in discussing data, or having a dialog, but rather is seeking to make inflammatory posts.


P.S. I notice your racism dripping through your comments, as if a business related website located in the United Arab Emirate is somehow inferior to other business websites around the world. Let's see what we can find out about ameinfo.com, shall we?

Registrant:
Lovgreen, Klaus

PO Box 502100
Dubai Media City, Phase II, Building 4
Dubai, na
AE

Domain Name: AMEINFO.COM

Administrative Contact , Technical Contact :
Lovgreen, Klaus
[email protected]
PO Box 502100
Dubai Media City, Phase II, Building 4
Dubai, na
AE
Phone: +971-4-390-2700
Fax: +971-4-390-8015

Record expires on 06-Apr-2011
Record created on 05-Apr-1996
Database last updated on 01-Jul-2004

We can note that they are located in Dubai, AE, that their business address is listed with their domain registrar (Network Solutions), that they are paid in full til 2011.

Your crude attack on the integrity of this website by inferring that somehow a business website in an Arab nation must be inferior to western news sources displays your desperation and unfortunately, it displays how low you appear willing to go to attack the idea of peak oil since the facts are refuting your position.

[lowem]

I merely pointed out that the article from bloomberg.com is available, archived and therefore accessible on energybulletin.net. What does mirroring an article have to do with being reputable or not?

And IMHO, ameinfo.com is an okay site. When I was doing some research on Dubai and UAE, found that I kept going back there for news and info. Their news is pretty current too, with particular emphasis on their region.

*shrug* Well I don't know what all the argument is about, so I'm now going to sit back and watch from half a world (22,000 km) away ..

Flame away, folks. Anyone taking bets on entry of this thread into the HoF?

[Synergist]

I don't accept the political views of Pravda or China Daily or India Daily or Al Jazeera or many other sources but I do read them to see what is abuzz in the world. And on many occasions I've seen the entire rest of the world discussing an issue that the US media remain silent on. Why? Who knows but it probably has more to do with media in the US being a "profit center" and "entertainment" than a news source.

No doubt. I would say Asia Times Online is also a very good, non-US interesting place to read articles, in English, about geopolitics and economics without state censorship. Not that they don't have an editorial bias either, but it's not a carbon clone, Michael Jackson-reporting US media outlet.

[Cynus]

Kuwait oil riches to open up
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051210/bs_ ... project_dc

Reading between the lines this means, "we can't increase production any more on our own and we need help with advanced recovery techniques."

KUWAIT (Reuters) - Years of wrangling over foreign access to Kuwait's oil wealth should come to an end in January with the passage of a new law that will fire the starting gun on an international contest to help manage four fields.

The next step in a debate that stretches back to 1998 will take place on Monday when the $8.5 billion scheme known as Project Kuwait is aired in parliament.

But the crucial stage starts on January 16 when the parliament will discuss a finance committee report and the draft law that would pave the way for multinational investment and expertise.

The aim is to boost production by around 300,000 barrels per day (bpd) to at least 900,000 bpd.

"As a minister, I believe it will pass," Kuwaiti Oil Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah told reporters on Saturday.

"It will go through in January and Project Kuwait will be on the fast track," a senior Kuwaiti oil executive told Reuters. "A lot of the groundwork has already been done."

Three consortia led by BP (BP.L), Chevron (NYSE:CVX - news) and ExxonMobil (NYSE:XOM - news) are competing for the contract to develop further the four oilfileds in northern Kuwait of Raudhatain, Ratqa, Abdali and Sabriyah.

The investment contract would allow the companies to operate the fields for a fixed period, but would not involve production-sharing, concessions or the booking of reserves.

[shakespear1]

I love that line "we need to give Burgun a rest". An oil field is not a cow!. It is not going to regenerate if some have this impression. If they have a strong aquifer than yes the pressure in the field will rise but this will not undo damage that they may have done by producing at a too high of a rate. Once oil is bypassed ( this take a bit to explain, there are also issues of viscosity, rel. perms etc ) it is not easily undone. At least not according to my understanding and those I worked with.

Those water channels that were created by aggressive pumping will flow water easier to the well once a pressure gradient is applied and will not go away. Oil will not displace water from the preferential channel. Again, this depends on density differences and viscosities.

You mess it up and you will have a mess. To find the bypassed oil is another can of worms.

[LadyRuby]

This is an older article, it's also on Energy Bulletin, dated Nov. 10th, archived Nov. 16.

http://www.energybulletin.net/10878.html

[LadyRuby]

http://www.forbes.com/markets/feeds/afx/2005/12/12/afx2386963.html

Kuwait may accept foreign oil groups as early as next year - report

HONG KONG (AFX) - Kuwait said it would not be able to meet its oil production goals without the help of international energy companies, raising the prospect that oil majors could get access by early next year, the Financial Times reported.

In it online edition, the newspaper cited Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al-Sabah, the emirate's energy minister, as saying: 'For production to meet four mln barrels a day by 2020, Project Kuwait is a must.'

Project Kuwait is a seven bln usd plan to boost the production and reserves of its northern oil fields with the help of international oil companies, the newspaper said. The UK's BP and ExxonMobil and Chevron of the US have already expressed an interest.

Kuwait has the world's fifth largest oil reserves. It needs to boost output to four mln barrels a day to meet growing world demand, according to the International Energy Agency.

The report said Kuwait will vote on the project on Jan 23. If it votes to accept overseas oil companies, Saudi Arabia will be the only country in the region to bar overseas firms from its oilfields.