Boscán Field

The Boscán Field is located 40 km southwest of Maracaibo and covers an area of about 660 square kilometers. The field produces a 10.5 degree API gravity crude oil from the Eocene Misoa Formation locally called the Boscán Formation. The field was discovered in 1946 with drilling of the Zulia 7F-1 well (renamed BN-257) which tested 730 BOPD of 10.5 degree API oil. This well encountered reservoir section very close to the Boscán bounding fault at about 5900 feet MD. Production began in 1947.

The stratigraphic section at Boscán Field consists of sands and shales of Oligocene and Eocene age deposited in a fluvial deltaic depositional setting. The Oligocene sediments are commonly non-oil bearing and are dominantly shaley. The Eocene sands are part of the Misoa Formation and form the producing reservoir section locally known as the Boscán Formation.

Boscán Field has produced over 1 billion barrels of oil. There have been a total of 680 oil wells drilled in the field with 449 active wells as of January, 2002. The reservoir drive is a combination of weak aquifer drive on the south flank, solution gas expansion, and gravity drainage. As a result of the weak aquifer support, the field is pressure-depleted over large areas where there has been considerable fluid volumes extracted.