San Ardo: showcase for thermal recovery

At San Ardo there are 23 steam generators, including 9 operating for Mobil Oil Co. and 14 for Texaco Inc., and 9 air compressors, including 3 operating for Mobil and 6 for Texas Co. Both Mobil and Texaco, the field's two big producers, are using two principal recovery tools: steam and fire. Steam involves the injection of steam into the oil-producing zone, where it soaks until its heat has been transferred to the crude, reducing the viscosity of the oil and making it easier to recover. Fire, or underground combustion, involves the burning in place of a part of the oil in order to lower the viscosity of the remaining oil and create a drive that will sweep oil to adjacent wells through which it may be recovered. Thus, the mark of the steam project is the steam generator and the mark of the fire flood is the air compressor. At last count, there were 772 wells on production in the San Ardo Field. Production in a year's time has risen almost 20,000 bpd - from 29,000 bpd a year ago to a present 48,000 bpd. Steamflooding accounts for the bulk of the increase.