High-tech wells optimize production from the Mittelplate oil field

Since mid-2000, advanced drilling technology has also made it possible to produce additional oil from the eastern sections of the Mittelplate reservoir from the mainland. The volume produced from seven high-tech production wells amounts to around 660,000 mt of crude oil per annum. The total volume produced from these onshore wells by June 2010 amounted to approx.
10.5 million mt of crude oil. Experienced specialist crews use process control systems to supervise production from the Dieksand Land Station.

Dieksand land-based facility near Friedrichskoog at the end of the 90's 

The breakthrough that allowed the complementary onshore development of the Mittelplate oil field to become a reality was facilitated by rapid advances in extended-reach drilling technology. This specialist term in common usage internationally stands for extremely deviated extended-reach wells covering vast horizontal distances.

Planning and successful execution of the drilling operations presented a major technical challenge to both geologists and drilling engineers. Using extended-reach technology, the wells had to be drilled over distances of 8,000 and up to more than 9,000 meters – with four kilometers of this distance cutting straight through the Büsum salt diapir. The seven production wells have set new standards and are among the most widely deviated extended-reach wells in the world.

With lengths partly exceeding 9,000 meters, the limits of physical feasiblity have been reached. For geological and technical reasons, the western section of the oil field will continue to be developed from Mittelplate Island in future.