Houston Bret West

Houston company coaxes oil out of a geriatric field

IRAAN — An hour and a half drive south of Midland, where dusty flatlands give way to mesas, people are scarce and strong winds keep hundreds of giant white wind turbines spinning, a Houston company is trying to coax more crude from a historic field long past its prime.

The Yates Field, among the largest ever found in the U.S., has been in continuous production for 85 years and has been exploited by a list of oil companies, some of them no longer in existence.

But scientists believe massive amounts of oil still remain stranded in the rocks - and oil prices near $100 a barrel have raised the urgency to get more of it out.

Houston pipeline giant Kinder Morgan, the field's owner since 2003, will tell you that's easier said than done.

The company had initial success reversing years of declines at Yates by injecting large quantities of carbon dioxide into the field. The technique has been used since the 1970s in mature West Texas fields to help free trapped oil. But recently production has dropped again.

"What we're trying to do now is stabilize the decline," Darrell Ricketson, vice president of Permian Basin oil and gas operations at the firm, said during a recent tour of the famed field in eastern Pecos County. That may soon include experimenting with alternate recovery methods, like injecting steam or chemicals.

Keeping old oil fields on life support may seem less exciting than exploring for crude in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico or Brazil, but the prize for such work can be big.

The U.S. has an estimated 1.1 trillion barrels of undeveloped oil resources still in the ground. About 430 billion barrels of that is recoverable using today's technology, including enhanced oil recovery techniques like carbon dioxide injection, according to the U.S. Energy Department. That's enough to meet U.S. oil needs for 60 years.

Higher crude prices have made enhanced oil recovery projects even more attractive.

Last month, for instance, Exxon Mobil Corp. began injecting carbon dioxide into the 80-year-old Means Field in Andrews County. It hopes to extract an additional 5 million barrels of oil on top of the 300 million the field has already produced.

Astros reeling at midway point « Climbing Tal's Hill | A Houston ...

Here at Climbing Tal’s Hill we generally prefer to take the “glass half-full” approach. But occasionally I have to clear my head with a realistically negative rant. At the halfway point of the season the Astros 28-53 record is by far the worst in the majors. The team has lost five in a row and 19 of their last 24. They are 13-30 at home and have lost 13 of their last 15 at MMP.

Does this year’s squad possess the moxie of recent Astros teams to turn things around and put together a winning record in the second half? Probably not. Brad Mills has no confidence in all but two of his relievers, and for good reason. A 4.72 team E.R.A. ranks 29th in the majors. Astros pitchers have allowed 97 homers. Astros hitters have only produced 45 longballs. The ratio is even more depressing at home. In fact, Lance Berkman’s five homers at Minute Maid Park this season are more than any Houston player. This team simply hasn’t been competitive, especially against American League foes.

Our latest poll here at “the hill” asks readers to grade the performance of manager Brad Mills. I have to give him an F. Although the Astros roster is shorter on talent than most teams, their .346 winning percentage is .061 points lower than their nearest competitor. Mills seems to be afraid to play certain youngsters and I just don’t understand why. Jose Valdez was passed over for relief chances early in the season while Fernando Abad continued to throw gopher balls on a regular basis. Can anyone tell me why Fernando Rodriguez spent nine days in the majors before making his first appearance out of the bullpen? Catcher Brian Esposito was called up on Saturday and sent back down today without appearing in a single game. Meanwhile, Carlos Corporan (.178/.208/.222) has started 14 of the last 16 games behind the plate. Why not give Esposito a shot? I just can’t make any sense out of it. With new ownership on the horizon I think Mills is in serious jeopardy of losing his job.

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