Sound planning = successful flood

Careful engineering went into original planning for Pan American Petroleum Corp. in its operation of Sholem Alechem Fault Block ''A'' Unit, Stephens County, Okla. Continued use of good engineering practice is keeping the project performing at peak efficiency. The waterflooding program was initiated, and recovery from the fault block is now expected to be about 2-1/3 times that by primary methods. There are 67 injection wells in the field, and 40 of these are dually completed to separate injection in the C-1 and C-2 zones. A packer is used between the 2-in. tubing and the casing in these wells, and water injected into the annulus goes to the upper zone; that in the tubing goes to the lower one. Of the 177 wells capable of production in Sholem Alechem Fault Block ''A'' Unit, only 116 are being produced. The remaining 61 are shut-in because of high water-oil ratio, or to prevent bypassing of oil in the reservoir. About half of the producing wells are equipped with subsurface hydraulic pumps. High-volume pumping is possible with hydraulic units, and that is what is needed to produce the field's allowable. Produced crude is gathered at 7 satellite stations conveniently located in the field.more » These in turn discharge pipeline oil to the central battery. The central battery consists of a LACT unit, working tank, bad-oil tank, and treater.« less