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Ghawar Field

April 11, 2024

Ghawar (Arabic: الغوار) is an oil field located in Al-Ahsa Governorate, Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. Measuring 280 by 30 km (170 by 19 mi) (some 8,400 square kilometres (3,200 sq mi)), it is by far the largest conventional oil field in the world,[1] and accounts for roughly a third of the cumulative oil production of Saudi Arabia as of 2018.[2][3]

Ghawar Field
Location of Ghawar Field
CountrySaudi Arabia
RegionEastern Province
LocationAl-Ahsa
Offshore/onshoreOnshore
Coordinates25°26′N 49°37′E / 25.43°N 49.62°E / 25.43; 49.62
(Centre approximation: 25°12′N 49°19′E / 25.20°N 49.31°E / 25.20; 49.31)
OperatorSaudi Aramco
Field history
Discovery1948
Start of production1951
Peak year2005 (Contested)
Production
Current production of oil3,800,000 barrels per day (~1.9×10^8 t/a)
Year of current production of oil2019
Current production of gas2,000×10^6 cu ft/d (57×10^6 m3/d)
Estimated oil in place48,250 million barrels (~6.583×10^9 t)
Estimated gas in place110,000×10^9 cu ft (3,100×10^9 m3)
Producing formationsUpper/Middle Jurassic, Upper/Lower Permian, Lower Devonian
External images
Ghawar Field map and regional setting
Total Wells at Ghawar. Blue wells are waterflood injectors, red are production wells.
Map of the approximate size, shape, and location of the Ghawar Oil Field.

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 3.8 million barrels (600,000 m3) per day—well below the more than 5 million barrels (790,000 m3) per day that had become conventional wisdom in the market.[4][3]

Geology edit

Ghawar occupies an anticline above a basement fault block dating to Carboniferous time, about 320 million 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 280 feet (85 m) thick and occurs 6,000 to 7,000 feet (1,800 to 2,100 m) 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.[5]

History edit

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.[6]

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.[1][7] Some sources claim that Ghawar peaked in 2005, though this is denied by the field operators.[8][9]

Saudi Aramco reported in mid-2008 that Ghawar had produced 48% of its proven reserves.[10]

Extraction of crude oil edit

Approximately 60–65% of all Saudi oil produced between 1948 and 2000, came from Ghawar. Cumulative extraction of petroleum through early 2010, has exceeded 65 billion barrels (1.03×1010 m3).[2] In 2009, it was estimated that Ghawar produced about 5 million barrels (790,000 m3) of oil a day (6.25% of global production),[11] a figure which was later shown to be substantially overestimated.[4]

As of 31 December 2018, total reserves of 58.32 billion barrels (9.272×109 m3) of oil equivalent including 48.25 billion barrels (7.671×109 m3) barrels of liquid reserves have been confirmed by Saudi Aramco. Average daily extraction was 3.8 million barrels (600,000 m3) per day.[3]

Ghawar also produces approximately 2 billion cubic feet (57,000,000 m3) of natural gas per day.[12]

The operators stimulate production by waterflooding, using seawater at a rate said to be around 7 million barrels (1,100,000 m3) 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 edit

Taking the 1.9×108 tonnes (1.9×108 long tons; 2.1×108 short tons) production figure per year and the conventional energy density of crude oil (per the definition of the ton of oil equivalent) of 41.868 megajoules per kilogram (5.2753 kWh/lb)) the total thermal energy equivalent produced yearly by the oil field is roughly 7.955 exajoules (2.210×1012 kWh), or 2,210,000 gigawatt-hours of thermal energy equivalent.

For comparison,

  • North Antelope Rochelle Mine, the largest coal mine in the world, produced 85.3 megatonnes (84,000,000 long tons; 94,000,000 short tons) of coal (down from over 100 megatonnes (98,000,000 long tons; 110,000,000 short tons) in 2015) at 8,800 British thermal units per pound (20,000 kJ/kg) or 1.746 exajoules (4.85×1011 kWh) of thermal energy equivalent.
  • McArthur River uranium mine, the largest uranium mine in the world, produced 16.1×106 pounds (7.3×106 kg) of yellowcake in fiscal 2017, equivalent to roughly 6.2 kilotonnes (6,100 long tons; 6,800 short tons) of uranium metal or 4.46 exajoules (1.24×1012 kWh) of thermal energy at a burnup of 200MWh/kg achievable in CANDU-type reactors, but much less in more widespread reactor designs.
  • The largest solar farm in the world, Bhadla solar park in India, covering 57 square kilometres (22 sq mi) and boasting a nameplate capacity of 2255 MW would produce 71.11 petajoules (1.975×1010 kWh) of electricity at a capacity factor of 100% (i.e. if the sun were shining at peak intensity at all times), but given a more realistic capacity factor of 25%, it would produce 17.778 petajoules (4.938×109 kWh) of electricity per year.
  • The largest wind farm as of 2021, Gansu Wind Farm in China has a nameplate capacity approaching 8 GW with plans to ramp up to 20 GW.[19] A 20 gigawatt power plant at 100% capacity factor could deliver 630.7 petajoules (1.752×1011 kWh) of electric output per year. However, once again due to the weather-dependency and intermittency of wind power, capacity factors for onshore wind installations like Gansu are typically much lower, ranging at 15-35% depending on local factors. Per[20] 250000 standard tons of coal will be replaced per year at full deployment, which is equivalent to 7.327 petajoules (2.035×109 kWh).

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

Reserves edit

In April 2010, Saad al-Tureiki, Vice-President for Operations at Aramco, stated, in a news conference reported in Saudi media, that over 65 billion barrels (10.3 km3) have been produced from the field since 1951. Tureiki further stated that the total reserves of the field had originally exceeded 100 billion barrels (16 km3).[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 170 billion barrels (27 km3) of original oil in place (OOIP), with about 60 billion barrels (9.5 km3) 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 edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Louise Durham (January 2005). "The Elephant of All Elephants". AAPG Explorer. from the original on March 2, 2006.
  2. ^ a b "The Ghawar Oil Field, Saudi Arabia". Gregcroft.com. Retrieved 2013-04-15.
  3. ^ a b c "Saudi Arabian Oil Company - Global Medium Term Note Programme" (PDF). Saudi Arabian Oil Company. April 1, 2019. Retrieved April 4, 2019.
  4. ^ a b "The Biggest Saudi Oil Field Is Fading Faster Than Anyone Guessed". Bloomberg.com. 2 April 2019.
  5. ^ Rasoul Sorkhab (June 2011). "Finding Ghawar: Elephant Hid in Desert". AAPG Explorer.
  6. ^ Ali Al-Naimi (2016). Out of the Desert. Great Britain: Portfolio Penguin. p. 20. ISBN 9780241279250.
  7. ^ Glenn Morton (24 July 2004). . Energy Bulletin. Archived from the original on 3 October 2016.
  8. ^ Donald Coxe (31 March 2005). . Archived from the original on 1 March 2017.
  9. ^ Adam Porter (April 12, 2005). "Bank says Saudi's top field in decline". English Al-Jazeera. from the original on 2006-08-13.
  10. ^ . Energy Information Agency. US Department of Energy. 2008-08-01. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008.
  11. ^ a b Rasoul Sorkhab (2010). . GeoExPro. Vol. 7, no. 4. Archived from the original on 2020-08-16.
  12. ^ . Oil Patch Asia. 3 October 2013. Archived from the original on 2 January 2014.
  13. ^ . Global Resources News. Archived from the original on 11 December 2014.
  14. ^ "Ghawar Oil Field - Hydrocarbons Technology". www.hydrocarbons-technology.com. Retrieved 2023-06-05.
  15. ^ Justin Williams (19 February 2013). . Energy and Capital. Archived from the original on 31 March 2016.
  16. ^ A.M. Afifi, 2004 AAPG Distinguished Lecture, chart reproduced in Rasoul Sorkhab (2010).
  17. ^ Brad Plumer (13 April 2013). "Peak oil isn't dead: An interview with Chris Nelder". Washington Post.
  18. ^ "Tech Talk - Current Oil Production and the Future of Ghawar". The Oil Drum. 18 June 2012.
  19. ^ "Top 10 Largest Wind Farms in the World - Earth and Human". 13 September 2021.
  20. ^ "Top 10 Largest Wind Farms in the World - Earth and Human". 13 September 2021.
  21. ^ [Aramco: "Ghawar" is still strong with "100" billion barrels] (in Arabic). 2010. Archived from the original on 2020-10-04. Retrieved 2010-04-10.
  22. ^ a b Matthew Simmons (2005). Twilight in the Desert - The coming Saudi oil shock and the world economy. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-471-73876-X.

Further reading edit

  • Arabian American Oil Company Staff (February 1959). "Ghawar Oil Field, Saudi Arabia". Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. 43 (2): 434–454. doi:10.1306/0BDA5CB1-16BD-11D7-8645000102C1865D. Still the basic public reference for Ghawar geology.

External links edit

  • Articles on Ghawar and analysis on its reserves from The Oil Drum
  • Terrorists and Ghawar
  • Saudi Aramco official website (source of most data in this article).
  • World-beater Ghawar a field apart 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, 2008 article in Saudi Aramco Dimensions magazine
  • Map of oil and gas infrastructure in Saudi Arabia

April 11, 2024
ghawar, field, ghawar, arabic, الغوار, field, located, ahsa, governorate, eastern, province, saudi, arabia, measuring, some, square, kilometres, largest, conventional, field, world, accounts, roughly, third, cumulative, production, saudi, arabia, 2018, locatio. Ghawar Arabic الغوار is an oil field located in Al Ahsa Governorate Eastern Province Saudi Arabia Measuring 280 by 30 km 170 by 19 mi some 8 400 square kilometres 3 200 sq mi it is by far the largest conventional oil field in the world 1 and accounts for roughly a third of the cumulative oil production of Saudi Arabia as of 2018 2 3 Ghawar FieldLocation of Ghawar FieldCountrySaudi ArabiaRegionEastern ProvinceLocationAl AhsaOffshore onshoreOnshoreCoordinates25 26 N 49 37 E 25 43 N 49 62 E 25 43 49 62 Centre approximation 25 12 N 49 19 E 25 20 N 49 31 E 25 20 49 31 OperatorSaudi AramcoField historyDiscovery1948Start of production1951Peak year2005 Contested ProductionCurrent production of oil3 800 000 barrels per day 1 9 10 8 t a Year of current production of oil2019Current production of gas2 000 10 6 cu ft d 57 10 6 m3 d Estimated oil in place48 250 million barrels 6 583 10 9 t Estimated gas in place110 000 10 9 cu ft 3 100 10 9 m3 Producing formationsUpper Middle Jurassic Upper Lower Permian Lower DevonianExternal imagesGhawar Field map and regional settingRegional cross section through GhawarTotal Wells at Ghawar Blue wells are waterflood injectors red are production wells Map of the approximate size shape and location of the Ghawar Oil Field 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 8 million barrels 600 000 m3 per day well below the more than 5 million barrels 790 000 m3 per day that had become conventional wisdom in the market 4 3 Contents 1 Geology 2 History 3 Extraction of crude oil 4 Energy content 5 Reserves 6 See also 7 References 8 Further reading 9 External linksGeology editGhawar occupies an anticline above a basement fault block dating to Carboniferous time about 320 million 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 280 feet 85 m thick and occurs 6 000 to 7 000 feet 1 800 to 2 100 m 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 5 History editIn 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 6 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 1 7 Some sources claim that Ghawar peaked in 2005 though this is denied by the field operators 8 9 Saudi Aramco reported in mid 2008 that Ghawar had produced 48 of its proven reserves 10 Extraction of crude oil editApproximately 60 65 of all Saudi oil produced between 1948 and 2000 came from Ghawar Cumulative extraction of petroleum through early 2010 has exceeded 65 billion barrels 1 03 1010 m3 2 In 2009 it was estimated that Ghawar produced about 5 million barrels 790 000 m3 of oil a day 6 25 of global production 11 a figure which was later shown to be substantially overestimated 4 As of 31 December 2018 total reserves of 58 32 billion barrels 9 272 109 m3 of oil equivalent including 48 25 billion barrels 7 671 109 m3 barrels of liquid reserves have been confirmed by Saudi Aramco Average daily extraction was 3 8 million barrels 600 000 m3 per day 3 Ghawar also produces approximately 2 billion cubic feet 57 000 000 m3 of natural gas per day 12 The operators stimulate production by waterflooding using seawater at a rate said to be around 7 million barrels 1 100 000 m3 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 editTaking the 1 9 108 tonnes 1 9 108 long tons 2 1 108 short tons production figure per year and the conventional energy density of crude oil per the definition of the ton of oil equivalent of 41 868 megajoules per kilogram 5 2753 kWh lb the total thermal energy equivalent produced yearly by the oil field is roughly 7 955 exajoules 2 210 1012 kWh or 2 210 000 gigawatt hours of thermal energy equivalent For comparison North Antelope Rochelle Mine the largest coal mine in the world produced 85 3 megatonnes 84 000 000 long tons 94 000 000 short tons of coal down from over 100 megatonnes 98 000 000 long tons 110 000 000 short tons in 2015 at 8 800 British thermal units per pound 20 000 kJ kg or 1 746 exajoules 4 85 1011 kWh of thermal energy equivalent McArthur River uranium mine the largest uranium mine in the world produced 16 1 106 pounds 7 3 106 kg of yellowcake in fiscal 2017 equivalent to roughly 6 2 kilotonnes 6 100 long tons 6 800 short tons of uranium metal or 4 46 exajoules 1 24 1012 kWh of thermal energy at a burnup of 200MWh kg achievable in CANDU type reactors but much less in more widespread reactor designs The largest solar farm in the world Bhadla solar park in India covering 57 square kilometres 22 sq mi and boasting a nameplate capacity of 2255 MW would produce 71 11 petajoules 1 975 1010 kWh of electricity at a capacity factor of 100 i e if the sun were shining at peak intensity at all times but given a more realistic capacity factor of 25 it would produce 17 778 petajoules 4 938 109 kWh of electricity per year The largest wind farm as of 2021 Gansu Wind Farm in China has a nameplate capacity approaching 8 GW with plans to ramp up to 20 GW 19 A 20 gigawatt power plant at 100 capacity factor could deliver 630 7 petajoules 1 752 1011 kWh of electric output per year However once again due to the weather dependency and intermittency of wind power capacity factors for onshore wind installations like Gansu are typically much lower ranging at 15 35 depending on local factors Per 20 250000 standard tons of coal will be replaced per year at full deployment which is equivalent to 7 327 petajoules 2 035 109 kWh The Ghawar oil field is thus the largest single supplier of primary energy on Earth Reserves editIn April 2010 Saad al Tureiki Vice President for Operations at Aramco stated in a news conference reported in Saudi media that over 65 billion barrels 10 3 km3 have been produced from the field since 1951 Tureiki further stated that the total reserves of the field had originally exceeded 100 billion barrels 16 km3 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 170 billion barrels 27 km3 of original oil in place OOIP with about 60 billion barrels 9 5 km3 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 edit nbsp Saudi Arabia portal nbsp Energy portalUdhailiyah residential compound built atop the central part of Ghawar Khurais oil field List of oil fields Peak oil Swing producerReferences edit a b Louise Durham January 2005 The Elephant of All Elephants AAPG Explorer Archived from the original on March 2 2006 a b The Ghawar Oil Field Saudi Arabia Gregcroft com Retrieved 2013 04 15 a b c Saudi Arabian Oil Company Global Medium Term Note Programme PDF Saudi Arabian Oil Company April 1 2019 Retrieved April 4 2019 a b The Biggest Saudi Oil Field Is Fading Faster Than Anyone Guessed Bloomberg com 2 April 2019 Rasoul Sorkhab June 2011 Finding Ghawar Elephant Hid in Desert AAPG Explorer Ali Al Naimi 2016 Out of the Desert Great Britain Portfolio Penguin p 20 ISBN 9780241279250 Glenn Morton 24 July 2004 Trouble in the World s Largest Oil Field Ghawar Energy Bulletin Archived from the original on 3 October 2016 Donald Coxe 31 March 2005 Has Ghawar truly peaked Archived from the original on 1 March 2017 Adam Porter April 12 2005 Bank says Saudi s top field in decline English Al Jazeera Archived from the original on 2006 08 13 Saudi Arabia Energy Data Statistics and Analysis Oil Gas Electricity Coal Energy Information Agency US Department of Energy 2008 08 01 Archived from the original on 13 September 2008 a b Rasoul Sorkhab 2010 The King of Giant Fields GeoExPro Vol 7 no 4 Archived from the original on 2020 08 16 Top Ten Highest Producing Oil Fields Oil Patch Asia 3 October 2013 Archived from the original on 2 January 2014 Saudi Arabia s Giant Ghawar Oil Field Global Resources News Archived from the original on 11 December 2014 Ghawar Oil Field Hydrocarbons Technology www hydrocarbons technology com Retrieved 2023 06 05 Justin Williams 19 February 2013 Ghawar Oil Field Saudi Arabia s Oil Future Energy and Capital Archived from the original on 31 March 2016 A M Afifi 2004 AAPG Distinguished Lecture chart reproduced in Rasoul Sorkhab 2010 Brad Plumer 13 April 2013 Peak oil isn t dead An interview with Chris Nelder Washington Post Tech Talk Current Oil Production and the Future of Ghawar The Oil Drum 18 June 2012 Top 10 Largest Wind Farms in the World Earth and Human 13 September 2021 Top 10 Largest Wind Farms in the World Earth and Human 13 September 2021 أرامكو الغوار ما زال قويا بـ 100 مليار برميل Aramco Ghawar is still strong with 100 billion barrels in Arabic 2010 Archived from the original on 2020 10 04 Retrieved 2010 04 10 a b Matthew Simmons 2005 Twilight in the Desert The coming Saudi oil shock and the world economy Hoboken NJ John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 0 471 73876 X Further reading editArabian American Oil Company Staff February 1959 Ghawar Oil Field Saudi Arabia Bulletin of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists 43 2 434 454 doi 10 1306 0BDA5CB1 16BD 11D7 8645000102C1865D Still the basic public reference for Ghawar geology External links editArticles on Ghawar and analysis on its reserves from The Oil Drum Terrorists and Ghawar Saudi Aramco official website source of most data in this article World beater Ghawar a field apart Archived 2016 03 04 at the Wayback Machine 2008 article in Saudi Aramco Dimensions magazineMap of oil and gas infrastructure in Saudi Arabia Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Ghawar Field amp oldid 1214614892, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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