Information Circular 107


1988 AND 1989 FLORIDA PETROLEUM PRODUCTION AND EXPLORATION
 By
 Jacqueline M. Lloyd, P.G. #74


 INTRODUCTION

 There are two major oil producing areas in
Florida. One is the Sunniland trend in South
Florida, the other is in the western panhandle
area. The Sunniland trend includes 14 oil fields;
the western panhandle includes eight. Appendix
1 lists the discovery well data for these fields.
 The Sunniland trend production began with
Florida's first oil discovery at Sunniland field in
September, 1943. Of the 14 Sunniland trend oil
fields, 10 are active, one is temporarily shut-in,
and three are plugged and abandoned. These
fields are oriented along a northwest-southeast
trend through Lee, Hendry, Collier, and Dade
Counties (Figure 1). Production is principally
from rudistid reefs found in the upper one
hundred feet of the Lower Cretaceous Sunniland
Formation (Figure 2).
 Production in the western panhandle began
with the discovery of Jay field in June, 1970. The
eight panhandle oil fields are located in
Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties, Florida
(Figure 3). Seven fields are active and one is
plugged and abandoned. Production is from
Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation
carbonates and Norphlet Sandstone sands
(Figure 4).


 1988 AND 1989 PRODUCTION

 Florida oil production began to decline in 1979
 and has continued to do so since then (Figure 5).
 Total oil production for 1988 was 7,746,048
 barrels, down 6% from 1987. Production
 dropped another 6% during 1989 for a 1989 total
 of 7,289,390 barrels. Appendix 2 lists 1988,
 1989, and cumulative production statistics for
 each of Florida's oil fields including oil, gas, and
 water production data. Appendix 3 lists 1988
 and 1989 field well statistics including the


number of production, injection, shut-in, and
temporarily abandoned wells for each field.
 Jay field dominates Florida production. The
field was discovered in 1970 and reached peak
production in 1978. It accounts for about 61
percent of the 1988 oil production total, about 66
percent of the 1989 total, and about 70 percent
of the cumulative total. Figure 5 graphically
illustrates both state wide annual oil production
and Jay field annual oil production for 1970
through 1989, clearly showing Jay field's
dominance in Florida oil production trends. The
Jay field production curve is typical of oil fields
produced with tertiary recovery methods (David
Curry, Oil and Gas Section Administrator, Florida
Geological Survey, personal communication,
1990). Production has leveled off during the last
three years (1987, 1988, and 1989, Figure 5).
This generally agrees with the projections made
by Christian, et al. (1981) in their discussion of
tertiary recovery estimates for Jay field. They
predicted a production plateau of about 10,000
barrels/day for about 12 years (1984 through
1996). They estimated that tertiary recovery
would be terminated in 1996, followed by rapid
decline to depletion in about 2004. Total
production will be about 84.7 million barrels; 37.5
million would have been produced through
waterflood alone (Christian, et al., 1981).
 Figure 6 is a histogram comparing 1987, 1988,
 and 1989 oil production for all Florida oil fields
 except Jay field. Jay field data would obscure
 the information for all other fields since its
 production for 1987 was five times greater than
 that of West Felda field, the next most productive
 field in Florida during 1987. Northwest Florida
 production increased by one percent from 1987
 to 1988 and by two percent from 1988 to 1989.
 South Florida production decreased by 18
 percent from 1987 to 1988 and by 24 percent
 from 1988 to 1989.