Operations

Waterfloods are an attractive asset for Enerplus because they have large accumulations of original oil in place with low geologic risk. We own 12 major waterflood properties and numerous small waterflood properties with over 1.4 billion barrels of original oil in place. This represents a considerable resource for us as modest improvements in recovery factor can result in significant increases in reserves.

In a crude oil waterflood play, water is injected into the producing reserve formation to supplement the original reservoir pressure and provide a drive mechanism to move additional oil to the producing well. Pressure maintenance and the production of oil from water injection can result in a production profile with more predictable and stable declines and higher recovery of reserve assets. We operate over 80% of our crude oil waterflood production, which is located throughout the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin.

For 2009, capital spending within our waterflood portfolio was largely focused on Freda Lake, Virden, Giltedge, Pembina, and Medicine Hat. Approximately $14 million was spent on drilling 11 net wells, including 7 horizontal wells. Maintenance projects including facility and pipeline integrity upgrades were also a significant part of activities. In total we invested $37 million in this resource play during the year.

Key Statistics:

  • 2010 expected production: 15,800 BOE/day (18% of total production)
  • 2010 development capital plan: $96 million, 38 net wells
  • 28% of proved plus probable reserves
  • Reserve life index of 16.1 years

For further information on all of our resource plays, click here.

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Last updated: June 24, 2010