A Streamline Based Reservoir Management Workflow to Maximize Oil Recovery

A Streamline Based Reservoir Management Workflow to Maximize Oil Recovery Ronald M. Giordano; Ronald M. Giordano PetroTel Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Shekhar Jayanti; Shekhar Jayanti PetroTel Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Anil Kumar Chopra; Anil Kumar Chopra PetroTel Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Hua Yuan; Hua Yuan PetroTel Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Kazuhiro Asakawa; Kazuhiro Asakawa Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Ali Ahmed Al-Suleimani; Ali Ahmed Al-Suleimani Petroleum Development Oman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Ali Gheithy; Ali Gheithy Petroleum Development Oman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Clement Edwards Clement Edwards Petroleum Development Oman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paper presented at the SPE/EAGE Reservoir Characterization and Simulation Conference, Abu Dhabi, UAE, October 2007. Paper Number: SPE-111143-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/111143-MS Published: October 28 2007 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Get Permissions Search Site Citation Giordano, Ronald M., Jayanti, Shekhar, Chopra, Anil Kumar, Yuan, Hua, Asakawa, Kazuhiro, Al-Suleimani, Ali Ahmed, Gheithy, Ali, and Clement Edwards. "A Streamline Based Reservoir Management Workflow to Maximize Oil Recovery." Paper presented at the SPE/EAGE Reservoir Characterization and Simulation Conference, Abu Dhabi, UAE, October 2007. doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/111143-MS Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAll ProceedingsSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)SPE Reservoir Characterisation and Simulation Conference and Exhibition Search Advanced Search AbstractThis paper presents a novel approach to integrated reservoir management in a mature carbonate field. The Lekhwair field (Oman) has been on production since 1976. It has a complex development history, with periods of primary recovery, shut-in, 5-spot, inverted 9-spot, and line drive waterflooding. The challenge is to develop two reservoirs, separated by a shale barrier, using a combination of commingled vertical and horizontal wells.This paper presents a robust and proven reservoir management workflow that can be used to evaluate short to medium term development scenarios proposed by production technologists. Traditionally, reservoir engineers make medium to long term field development decisions based on complex reservoir models, while production technologists make short term well level decisions based on operational data. As a result, the reservoir engineers and production technologists frequently work independent of each other. This paper provides the workflow and techniques that enable reservoir engineers and production technologists to work in an integrated manner and thereby increase production and recovery in a mature field.An integrated reservoir management workflow was developed that can help not only the reservoir engineer to understand the reservoir dynamics, but also the production technologist to evaluate everyday production opportunities. This evaluation is brought about by integrating streamlines from finite-difference simulations, well performance data, and novel performance diagnostic plots. This approach was successful in developing a dynamic model for the Lekhwair field. The proposed workflow and applications provide efficient ways to maximize oil recovery in a seamless workflow between reservoir engineers and production technologists.This paper presents a combination of conventional and innovative techniques that provide a novel workflow for reservoir engineers and production technologists to quickly evaluate various reservoir development scenarios.IntroductionThe field in North Oman has been on production since 1976. Fig. 1 shows an areal view of the field. There are two producing formations in the field - Lower Shuaiba and Kharaib, which are separated by the Hawar shale. The reservoirs are low permeability chalky limestones with permeabilities ranging from 1 to 20 md. The oil is light with 38 °API and a viscosity of 0.8 cp. The field has a complex development history, with periods of primary recovery, shut-in, 5-spot, inverted 9-spot, and direct line-drive waterflood. The field is currently undergoing a line-drive waterflood. Primary depletion lasted until 1981. From 1981–1985, most of the wells were shut-in. A pilot waterflood using a five-spot pattern was undertaken from 1985 to 1991. The waterflood pattern was switched to an inverted nine-spot in 1991. The drilling pattern was changed to a direct line drive in 1996.Many injectors in Lekhwair experienced sharp injectivity declines. Since the reservoir management plan for Lekhwair required a voidage replacement ratio of 1.0, the lost injection could be restored by either fixing broken injectors or drilling new ones. The alternative was to cut back production; however, this approach was not advised because the full impact on oil rate and reserves was not understood.The focus of this study is a region of the field (Area C), which has had more than 60% hydrocarbon pore volume of water injected and an oil recovery of 31. Within this area, injector L-390 was identified as a key injector based on its location and historical performance. This well had recently experienced a significant drop in injectivity and required repair. This study shows a detailed streamline based analysis of the impact of restoring injector L-390. Fig. 2 shows the location of the well in the field.MethodologyA dynamic model of Area C was history matched and simulations were run though the end of historical data, ending in May 2006. Keywords: Upstream Oil & Gas, streamline, restoration, injector, waterflooding, water saturation, Technologist, enhanced recovery, lower shuaiba, sm 3 Subjects: Improved and Enhanced Recovery, Waterflooding This content is only available via PDF. 2007. Society of Petroleum Engineers You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.