Challenges of developing very sour oil? 1

[RCameron]

What challenges does producing exceptionally sour oil/gas present? (between 2-20% H2S ... and I'm not exaggerating the 20%)

Is there a reasonably defined point at which, despite good pressure, high volume, convenient location, etc, that sulfide concentrations alone will make oil uneconomical to produce?

What solutions exist to the various challenges that drilling wells with high sulfides present?

 

[blacksmith37]

At some point you have a sulfur well instead of a hydrocarbon well : It depends on the price of S and the price of oil and various production costs.

 

[YEngineer]

We inherited a highly sour gas well (~22% H2S, 8%CO2). The previous operator attempted several times to put this well on production with limited success. The problems were corrosion and sulphur plugging. They produced this well for several years with some very costly interventions (the well was ~3200m deep) and then they recompleted the well and try to put in production by injecting dimethyldisulfide as inhibitor. The sulphur plugging continued and the well was abandoned. When dealing with such wells the vicinity to urban areas is another risk factor to be considered.