Use of Reservoir Performance Analysis in the Simulation of Prudhoe Bay

O’Brien, Darien G.; Brown, Marian; Lederer, M.C.

doi:10.2118/13217-ms

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 11 publications

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“…Each aspect of oil production has been studied and analysed by researchers looking for ways to improve operations (Heiberg et al, 1981;Engen and Rausand, 1982;Cron and Marsh, 1983;Venkatesh, 1986;Brown and Lea, 1985). For example, Production Availability Forecasts (PAF) were used to analyse reservoir performance as early as 1984 (O'Brien et al, 1984).The PAF technique was also used to analyse the Gas Oil Ratio (GOR) for optimum short-term reservoir management, a method applicable to accelerated oil production (Chang et al, 1986;Brouwer et al, 2004). In addition, research has considered how to distribute the economy of throughput across the operations involved in oil and gas productions to reduce the fixed costs associated with production and achieve maximum output.…”

Section: Pap: Methods For Oil and Gas Industrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Production improvement techniques in process industries for adoption in mining: a comparative study

Lanke

Ghodrati

Lundberg

2016

IJPQM

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Section: Pap: Methods For Oil and Gas Industrymentioning

confidence: 99%

Production improvement techniques in process industries for adoption in mining: a comparative study

Lanke

Ghodrati

Lundberg

2016

IJPQM

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A review of braided fluvial hydrocarbon reservoirs: the petroleum engineer’s perspective

Martin

1993

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Braided fluvial reservoirs form some of the world’s giant oilfields and are found in many petroleum provinces. At best, they have excellent characteristics, but where non-net intervals (shales and siltstones) form higher proportions, they are more difficult to appraise and develop. Geological characterization (lithological correlatability, vertical sequence and porosity/permeability variability) must be communicated effectively to the reservoir engineer, whose role is to formulate a development plan and predict the production profile for a field, and to monitor and optimise day-to-day field performance. He has at his disposal other techniques: cased hole neutron logging to monitor contact levels; well testing to determine reservoir flow capacity, boundary and layering effects; production logging to assess well inflow performance or injectivity; wireline pressure profiling, field pressure and production history analysis to define vertical permeability and to reveal reservoir compartmentalization and/or communication with aquifer or injected fluids. Computer reservoir simulation modelling, now an essential tool for management of most major fields, has provided the impetus for advances in geological reservoir characterization. The question is: how can we adequately represent braided fluvial reservoirs in such models? At one end of the spectrum, sheet sands (although laterally variable) can be adequately mapped and modelled as ‘layered’ systems based on conventional approaches. At the other are multiple low-sinuosity channel sand reservoirs which, being uncorrelatable at well spacings typical during appraisal of offshore fields, may be suitable targets for stochastic or network — type approaches. Although the behaviour of a hydrocarbon reservoir must be controlled at least in part by its sedimentological characteristics, the engineer’s view of a field may be somewhat different to that of the geologist. This is as true for braided fluvial reservoirs as for those of other environmental origin. The geologist and reservoir engineer must be fully aware of each others’ data, analytical methods and objectives in order to avoid wasted effort. In the future, despite greater computing power and better modelling software, specialist technical disciplines must not loose sight of the overall objectives of field development. Small-scale geological variability affects the viability of enhanced recovery processes such as miscible flooding. However, at the development planning stage, more generalized parameter assessments may be sufficient. Reservoir characterization at the small scale, such as geostatistical outcrop analogue studies, should be balanced by more geological involvement in the planning and interpretation of well tests, which often provide the only dynamic data available during the appraisal and development planning of offshore fields. Greater cross-disciplinary understanding of reservoir characteristics could in turn ensure that an engineer would not develop an incorrect view of a braided fluvial reservoir, perhaps by correlating shaley intervals which just happen to be present at about the same location in the section.

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An Evaluation of the Prudhoe Bay Gravity Drainage Mechanism by Complementary Techniques

Haldorsen¹,

Rego²,

Change³

et al. 1985

SPE California Regional Meeting

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SPE Members Abstract The gravity drainage mechanism in the Prudhoe Bay Field has been evaluated by means of repeat Compensated Neutron Log (CNL) data, centrifugal gas/oil displacements in small preserved cores, and by an analytical stochastic approach. From the repeat CNL data, in-situ displacement efficiencies as observed above the advancing gas-oil contact in 50 gravity drainage wells have been estimated. A Monte Carlo-type error analysis is presented to give the range of uncertainty associated presented to give the range of uncertainty associated with the results. Gas/oil centrifuge displacements in small preserved cores were performed in order to validate the CNL results, and to investigate the time dependency of recovery in gassed out zones which is otherwise beyond CNL resolution. Conventional scaling theory was subsequently used to find homologous times for the reservoir and laboratory models, thus making comparisons (between CNL and centrifuge data) possible. In addition, relative permeability to oil (to be possible. In addition, relative permeability to oil (to be used in the analytical study) was computed from the centrifuge data. Finally, an approximate analytical description of the gravity drainage process was formulated and a Monte Carlo analysis performed to cover the wide range of values the input parameters in the equations may take on. This analysis yields a statistical distribution in displacement efficiencies at each point in time. The "average" behavior may be compared to the CNL and centrifuge data. The results demonstrate that the gravity drainage mechanism in Prudhoe Bay is very time-effective and yields high quantifiable displacement efficiencies. The consistency obtained among the various evaluation techniques gives confidence in the results. Introduction The Prudhoe Bay Field is the largest, most prolific and also one of the most complex combination drive reservoirs in the U.S. (1-6) The main objective for development is to maximize economic recovery while maintaining a high and stable rate of oil production. To achieve this, reservoir engineers have had to consider all classical drive mechanisms. gas and water injection programs, and finally EOR processes to be implemented programs, and finally EOR processes to be implemented at a later stage. Efficient reservoir management is dependent upon accurate knowledge of residual oil saturations, displacement efficiencies, and the time dependency of recovery associated with the various drives. P. 567

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Use of Reservoir Performance Analysis in the Simulation of Prudhoe Bay

Abstract: Reservoir and well performance siialysis have made performance data is analyzed and organized tO a large

Cited by 6 publications

References 11 publications

Production improvement techniques in process industries for adoption in mining: a comparative study

Production improvement techniques in process industries for adoption in mining: a comparative study

A review of braided fluvial hydrocarbon reservoirs: the petroleum engineer’s perspective

An Evaluation of the Prudhoe Bay Gravity Drainage Mechanism by Complementary Techniques

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