Eugene Island Block 330 Oil Field - History

History

In the outer continental shelf lease sale on December 15, 1970 240,361 hectares (593,940 acres) were offered for lease, including Eugene Island blocks. The Block 330 area was acquired by Pennzoil (now part of Royal Dutch Shell). As the Pliocene-Pleistocene sands were considered geochemically immature and wells drilled to the north of Block 330 discovered natural gas, Pennzoil expected to discover a natural gas not oil. The oil field was discovered in March 1971 while drilling the 1 OCS G-2115 well. Approximately at the same time oil was discovered by Royal Dutch Shell in the adjoining block 331.

By the end of 1971, two platforms had been installed in the field. The first development well was drilled on Block 330 by Pennzoil's "A" platform in November 1971. Production started in September 1972 in the block 331. During 1972 four more platforms were installed and later the number of platforms increased to nine.

From 1975 to 1980, the field was the largest producing field in the Federal outer continental shelf. Production peaked in 1977 by 95,290 barrels (15,150 m3) of liquids (crude oil and gas liquids) and 482,000 million cubic feet (13,600×10^6 m3) per day. Enhanced oil recovery operations started in August 1975. Water injection was used on blocks 331 and 314, and starting from December 1979 gas injection was used on block 330.

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