Episodic Production of Fractured Reservoirs: The Phelps Anticline Oil Field

WILKERSON, GREGG, Bureau of Land Management, Bakersfield, CA

The Phelps anticline is a fault-bounded structure on the distal west flank of the Midway-Sunset oil field. Production is from the McDonald fractured shale. Histories for this field indicate that oil is recovered most effectively through episodic production. Breathing fractures are the cause of this reservoir behavior and suggest a new approach to hydrocarbon recovery from low-grade oil fields.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91009©1991 AAPG-SEPM-SEG-SPWLA Pacific Section Annual Meeting, Bakersfield, California, March 6-8, 1991 (2009)