Field Report

Field name: Wytch Farm

Whytch Farm Oil Field

Introduction
The oilfield initially was found near the farm called Wytch, in Dorset, south UK in December
1973, thats why it carries the name Wytch Farm. Its the largest onshore oilfield in the
Europe [Ref 1]. The operator of the field was British Gas Corporation, in 1980s it was sold to
BP, in 2011 to Perenco.
Exploration and appraisal
Wytch Farm consists of three reservoirs, which are Frome Formation (800 m), Bridport Sands
(900 m), and Sherwood Sandstone (1585 m).
The Source Rock of the reservoir is Liasic Mudstone, which is located at 2250 meters below
the surface. The Frome Formation is not oil bearing zone comparing with other two
reservoirs. At the initial stage of the development only Bridport Sand reservoir was under
production, later when the Sherwood Sandstone was discovered, it became not significant
reservoir. Bridport reservoir contains Lower Jurassic carbonate-cemented sandstone with the
thickness of about 45-73 meters and porosity of 26% [Ref 1]. The Sherwood reservoir of
Triassic age with a 150 meter thickness, most of the part (more than half) is located offshore
in Poole Bay [Ref 1]. The reservoir subdivided into three effective zones (Zone 30, Zone 50,
and Zone 70), the seal rock is the Mercia Mudstone. However, comparing with upper
reservoir (Bridport) Sherwood Sandstone contains more reserves of oil, i.e. 416 million
barrels [Ref 1], salty water. Thats why in 1993 there was drilled Extended Reach Drilling
(ERD) well.
In 1973 after the conclusion based on BPs survey that Bridport Sands contains commercial
hydrocarbon reserves, the No1 Well was drilled, and the first light oil was found. Following
surveys proved the migration of hydrocarbon to Sherwood Sandstone, and in 1977 there is
found another light oil from deeper reservoir. In 1981 there were 3 delineation wells, six
production wells, and five water injection wells at Bridport Sands [Ref 1].
To gain more information about the reservoirs at the beginning there were drilled three
appraisal wells and two producing wells [Ref 3].
Depth (m)
1585
STOIIP (MMstb)
795
RF (%)
40
Pressure (bar)
165
Temperature (0C)
66
3
Oil density (g/cm )
0.74
Viscosity (cP)
1.03
Table 1. Rock and Fluid characteristics of the Wytch Farm oilfield [Ref 3].

Figure 1. Map of the Sherwood Sandstone reservoir and Appraisal wells.

The data was gain by exploration wells, laboratory analyses and computer modelling.
Therere shown basic rock and fluid properties in the table to give a general imagination.
Development strategy
As the main reserves are located offshore, initially its planned to drill a well from artificial
island, but assuming the cost, time that would be spent for that, and the effect of the
construction to the sensitive environment of the region (its popular among tourists), the plan
changed and Extended Reach Drilling (ERD) well was decided to drill from the peninsula. It
helped to cut the time and the drilling began three years earlier 1 comparing with the previous
plan. Due to the two main reservoirs (Bridport and Sherwood), the development plan
consisted of three stages, first when Sherwood Sandstone reservoir was poor studied, the only
Bridport Sands with 6000 barrels of oil per day were under production. After the discovery of
oil rich Sherwood reservoir the second development stage (1988 to 1990) began and the
production increased ten times. Additionally, the drilling of ERD well (10.5 km length) in
1993, which is third stage, increased the reserves from 30 million barrels to 500 million
barrels2.
The ERD well was drilled with a steering of borehole bits and Electrical Submersible Pump,
whereas in Bridport reservoir therere used conventional beam pumps.
The location of wells around water, made it efficient to inject water as artificial method for
pressure support and production increase. The water produced from wells is not enough to
maintain the pressure, additional seawater from Poole Harbour is pumped through the
pipeline. In 2002 there were total 21 injector wells 1. The water injected directly to the oilbearing zones despite the initial plans, where its planned to inject at the edges of the zones1.

Production history
The top of the production reached at 101000 barrels per day in 1996 1. In 2014 the annual
production reached 6.4 million barrels/year4.

Wytch Farm Oil Production

40000000
30000000
Oil, bbl

20000000
10000000
0
1975

1980

1985

1990

1995

2000

2005

2010

2015

Years

Figure 2. Oil production of Wytch Farm from 1979 to 20144.

Figure 3. Oil production of Sherwood Sandstone from 1979 to 20091.

Comparing with the Sherwood Sandstone production profile the total (both Sherwood and
Bridport reservoirs) production profile has the same behavior, because Sherwood itself
produces about 85% of total oil of Wytch field 1. Thats why theres no significant changes.
Now the water cut is increasing. Since 1998 the production started to decrease. The increase

of the production since 1993 can be explained by the introduction of ERD wells in Sherwood
Reservoir.
Summary
The Wytch Farm oilfield is the largest onshore oilfield in the Europe and was as experimental
arena for the testing of many new drilling techniques. Additionally, unlike other oilfields in
the Europe Wytch Farm became environmentally friendly oilfield because of the invisible
(hidden in forests) for the public facilities and Extended Reach Drilling wells, which are
located deep below the surface. Its one of the well developed fields, now the production is
decreasing.

References:
1.
http://www.southampton.ac.uk/~imw/Oil-South-Bibliography.htm#Legg
2.
http://www.geoexpro.com/articles/2014/02/wytch-farm-ploughs-ahead
3. Mohammed Alshawaf, Lanray Hammed Bakare, Francisco J. Barroso Viseras,
Aristeidis Karamessinis, Ha Nguyen, Shi Su, 2012, Wytch Farm Field development
project. Pages 1, 16, 18
4. UK government oil portal. Full production. 29th of October, 2015.
https://itportal.decc.gov.uk/pprs/full_production.htm