Chapter 10 Table Oil Production from the Elk Point Group
Oil production from the Elk Point Group is primarily derived from pinnacle reefs in northwest Alberta and from basal sands in central Alberta. No Elk Point oil production occurs in British Columbia, and only minor production in southeast Saskatchewan.
There are eighteen Elk Point oil fields with Initial Established Recoverable Oil Reserves of over 1 x 106m3 (6 MMBbls). The ten largest Elk Point oil fields, listed in order of Initial Established Recoverable Reserves, are shown in Table 1. Cumulative production data include figures released to the end of 1990.
Table 1. Ten Largest Elk Point Oil Fields (in units of 106m3).
No. | Field | Formation | No. of Pools | Marketable Reserves | In-place Volume | Cumulative Production | Discovery Year |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Rainbow | Keg River | 134 | 116.7 | 219.7 | 86.2 | 1965 |
2 | Nipisi | Gilwood | 20 | 62.7 | 129.6 | 46.9 | 1964 |
3 | Mitsue | Gilwood | 3 | 61.4 | 123.4 | 48.6 | 1964 |
4 | Rainbow South | Keg River | 32 | 17.5 | 45.7 | 11.0 | 1965 |
5 | Zama | Keg River | 255 | 17.4 | 85.1 | 12.9 | 1966 |
6 | Utikuma Lake | Keg R. Sand | 30 | 12.3 | 32.3 | 9.4 | 1963 |
7 | Virgo | Keg River | 165 | 8.9 | 48.4 | 6.7 | 1967 |
8 | Red Earth | Granite Wash | 79 | 8.5 | 37.5 | 5.6 | 1956 |
9 | Shekilie | Keg River | 94 | 5.3 | 33.9 | 2.7 | 1969 |
10 | Evi | Granite Wash | 30 | 4.2 | 15.3 | 1.8 | 1979 |
Five of these ten largest Elk Point oil fields occur in Keg River pinnacle reefs in the Rainbow, Zama and Shekilie evaporite basins of northwest Alberta. The remaining five occur in Gilwood - Granite Wash basal sands of central Alberta. Recent Elk Point oil production has been found in the Panny-Senex area of north-central Alberta and in the Tableland area of southeastern Saskatchewan. All Elk Point oil fields contain light to medium gravity oil.
Total recoverable oil reserves in the Elk Point are estimated at 339 x 106m3 of which 240 x 106m3 have already been produced. Initial Established In-Place Volume of Elk Point oil reserves totals 898 x 106m3. Many of the total 1229 Elk Point oil pools are small, with an average 276 x 103m3 recoverable oil reserves/pool.
Table 2 lists the distribution of Elk Point oil reserves according to In-Place Pool Size.
Table 2. Size Distribution of Elk Point Oil Pools (in units of 106m3).
In-Place Pool Size Class | No. of Pools | Recoverable Reserves | Cumulative Production |
---|---|---|---|
less than 0.1 | 182 | 1.87 | 0.90 |
0.1 to 1 | 952 | 55.79 | 31.53 |
1.0 to 10 | 87 | 77.76 | 51.50 |
10.0 to 100 | 6 | 82.17 | 62.91 |
over 100 | 2 | 121.70 | 93.68 |
Total | 1229 | 339.28 x 106m3 | 240.51 x 106m3 |