Trends in Reservoir Management

As oil becomes harder to find and known reserves must be more

phase than the industry has ever experienced.

Twenty-five years ago, oil companies could enhance reservoir description.2 Still lacking drill these wells and is mastering how to
hope for continuing discoveries of giant the resolution to systematically pick out fine complete and stimulate them. Less clear is
fields and highly profitable exploitation sedimentological structure, it has neverthe- how horizontal wells can best benefit flood-
once oil was found. Today, the tables have less revolutionized the mapping of faults ing strategies and enhanced oil recovery
turned. More than three-quarters of current and illuminated well-to-well correlation in (EOR) schemes.4
additions to the world’s oil reserves comes complex environments where logs and Given the increasing complexity of devel-
from better management of existing reser- cores offer poor or negligible correlation. oping many of today’s discoveries, particu-
voirs. Less than one quarter comes from dis- Three-dimensional seismic techniques have larly those in deep formations and offshore,
covery of new oil. Profitability in today’s also aided fluid monitoring in certain these innovations are giving reservoir man-
harsher economic climate depends on enhanced oil recovery (EOR) schemes, but agement the edge it needs to make exploita-
increasing recovery from producing fields. If have yet to be proved capable of monitoring tion worthwhile. The basic principles of
recovery is being optimized better now than conventional water- and gasfloods.3 reservoir management, though, remain
in years past, at least four factors could The third factor is increasing computer unchanged. Every reservoir progresses
claim credit: power, which has made possible the disci- through the same phases in its producing
First is the oil companies’ clear vision that plines of geostatistics and reservoir simula- life and similar decisions must be made at
a cross-disciplinary approach must prevail. If tion. We may tire of the computer industry’s any given phase (next page ).
producing oil requires the expertise of geol- dramatic predictions of undreamed-of com- The most critical occur during the earliest
ogists, geophysicists, petrophysicists, reser- puter power, but must remember that so far phases—discovery and appraisal—when the
voir engineers and numerous other special- the predictions have come true. Computer least data are available. With scanty geo-
ists, it is best that the experts work together power has allowed geologists and reservoir logic information, with the exploration seis-
rather than separately. It sounds simple, but engineers to create a range of probabilistic mic survey, and with cores, logs and tests
entrenched management structures can models that fill space between wells where from a handful of wells, oil companies have
make this difficult to put into practice.1 measured data are lacking. The models are to rapidly assess reservoir size and pro-
Second is dramatic innovation in interwell used as input to fluid-flow simulations, ducibility, decide well locations and drive
measurements, notably three-dimensional another activity that benefits directly from mechanism, and then commission surface
(3D) seismics, and perhaps, in the future, advances in computer technology. facilities that may cost billions.
interwell seismic tomography. Developed The fourth factor is horizontal well tech- As the field is drilled—the development
initially to aid exploration and improve nology, which changes all the rules about phase—an abundance of data becomes
understanding of complex structure, 3D producing from both simple and complex available, allowing more detailed under-
seismics is being used increasingly to structures. The industry has learned how to standing of production. Simulation that was

Prepared with assistance from:

Peter Briggs, Manager of Reservoir Technology Michael Fetkovich, Sr. Principal Reservoir Engineer Tien-when Lo, Project Scientist
BP Exploration Phillips Petroleum Company Exploration and Production Technology Department
Uxbridge, England Bartlesville Oklahoma, USA Texaco Inc.
Houston, Texas, USA
Tony Corrigan, Partner
Michel Gouilloud, Executive Vice-President
Corrigan Associates
Schlumberger Ltd Björn Paulsson
Ditchling, England
Paris, France Senior Research Geophysicist
Chevron Oil Field Research Company
La Habra, California, USA

8 Oilfield Review
carefully exploited, reservoir management is entering a tougher, more challenging

At the appraisal phase, the concerns are

twofold: determining reservoir boundaries,
Production

including those of the driving mechanism,

and determining large-scale heterogeneities
that complicate the reservoir’s internal struc-
ture. This means identifying the main depo-
sitional units and the boundaries between
nPhases in a them, and identifying faults and fractures.
field’s exploitation.
Discovery Time The extremities of the reservoir and its
Appraisal faults are exclusively provided by seismic
Development data, although gross reservoir size and dis-
Plateau tances to certain boundaries can be esti-
Decline
mated from well tests.5 A system of sealing or
partially sealing faults can completely change
the way a field should be produced. Know-
previously based on a simple reservoir More or less paralleling this saga is a
In this article, Array-Sonic and Formation MicroScan-
model because of limited data can now gradual narrowing of focus for the data ner are marks of Schlumberger.
grow more sophisticated. As the field enters gatherers—a continuing quest for finer 1. Thakur GC: “Reservoir Management: A Synergistic
the so-called plateau phase, when produc- detail. At every scale, their primary quest is Approach,“ paper SPE 20138, presented at the 1990
tion reaches planned levels, there is also an to better understand reservoir heterogeneity. Permian Basin Oil and Gas Recovery Conference,
Midland, Texas, USA, March 8-9, 1990.
accumulation of production data that simu- Heterogeneity governs not only connectiv- 2. Robertson JD: “Reservoir Management Using 3D Seis-
lation can history match. The net result is ity—the degree to which the permeable mic Data,“ Journal of Petroleum Technology 41 (July
more reliable prediction of future produc- zones are interconnected and connected to 1989): 663-667.
tion. This helps prepare the way for the wells—but also horizontal and vertical 3. Greaves RJ and Fulp TJ: “Three-Dimensional Seismic
Monitoring of an Enhanced Oil Recovery Process,”
decline phase, when the oil company must sweep efficiency and residual oil saturation Geophysics 52 (September 1987): 1175-1187.
decide how to extract the most from its in swept zones. All are critical factors that 4. Horizontal well technology is described in several
dying asset. Issues range from whether to determine recovery. The ongoing challenge articles in the July 1990 issue of Oilfield Review.
infill drill—and if so, where—to modifying facing operators is learning enough about 5. Hansen T, Kingston J, Kjellesvik S, Lane G, l’Anson K,
Naylor R and Walker C: “3D Seismic Surveys,” Oil-
surface facilities, and finally perhaps to the heterogeneity that may influence the field Review 1, no. 3 (October 1989): 54-61.
planning EOR (see “A Niche for Enhanced next phase of the reservoir’s life (next page).
Oil Recovery in the 1990s,” page 55).

Nansen Saleri, Manager of Reservoir Engineering Koenraad Weber, Professor of Production Geology
Chevron Exploration and Production Services, Co. Delft Technical University, The Netherlands
Houston, Texas, USA and Consultant in Reservoir Geology
Shell Internationale Petroleum Maatschappij BV,
John Warrender, Staff Geologist
The Hague, The Netherlands
Reservoir Development
Conoco (U.K.) Limited, Aberdeen, Scotland

January 1992 9
 Reservoir heterogeneity Recovery Data
Sweep Reservoir Production Well logging Rock
efficiency pressure data / tests samples
Scale

Sidewall core
swept zones

Tracer tests
Production
distribution
3D seismic

distribution

Pulse tests

Production

Production
interaction
Horizontal

Rock/fluid

Horizontal
continuity
Reservoir

Outcrop/
Standard

reservoir
cuttings
Special
ROS in
Vertical

Vertical

history

Cores
tests

ROS
logs
Sealing fault

Semi-sealing fault
(>1000 ft)

Nonsealing fault
Giga

Fracturing
-tight

-open

Boundaries
genetic units
(100-1000 ft)
Mega

Permeability
zonation within
genetic units

Baffles within
genetic units
Macro
(in.-ft)

Lamination
cross-bedding

Microscopic
heterogeneity
(microns)
Micro

Textural types

Mineralogy

Strong effect Moderate effect

nReservoir heterogeneities versus scale and the data required to characterize them. At the beginning of a field’s life, attention
focuses on large-scale structure. As a field matures, attention shifts to finer detail. (From Weber and van Geuns, reference 22.)

10 Oilfield Review
ing the fault system, then determining if efficient drainage resulting in a continual faulted nature of their asset. By 1981, when
faults are sealing may be the most important upgrading of reserves. In tectonically active Block IV in the north of the field was drilled,
information an operator should acquire as it areas, reserves estimates tend to decline. reservoir managers had the benefit of a reli-
contemplates development. This is illus- Operators found these fields to be more able 3D survey (next page, top ). This reaf-
trated by yearly estimates of recoverable faulted than expected, and in some cases firmed the complex faulting and enabled
reserves required of operators by the UK saddled with high permeability contrasts. reservoir managers to ensure that injector-
government. These estimates show trends The industry’s solution is 3D seismics, lots producer well pairs were at least in the
that correlate with the field’s tectonic history of it. Take Shell Expro’s Cormorant field that same unit.7
and its faulting system in particular.6 lies in the highly faulted Brent province in Another 3D seismic survey was commis-
In tectonically quiescent areas with little the northern North Sea in the UK sector. sioned in 1984 to provide yet more detail,
faulting, operators tend to increase reserves The southern part of the field was devel- the previous survey having suggested that
estimates (below). Many of these North Sea oped in the 1970s before 3D seismics the average distance between faults was
fields were deposited as submarine fans, became commercial, and production started about the same as or even less than the sur-
and the sands have a more or less uniform in 1980. Reserves estimates dropped steadily vey line spacing. The more closely spaced
morphology. They have limited faulting and during the buildup to production as reser- survey showed the same big picture, but
produce with waterdrive that leads to more voir engineers gradually perceived the enough detail was different to merit fine-

350 nNorth Sea opera- 6. Corrigan T: “Factors Controlling Successful Reserve

tors’ changing esti- Prediction: A Cautionary Tale from the UK North
300 mates of their Sea,“ presented at the 2nd Conference on Reservoir
250
fields’ recoverable Management in Field Development and Production,
Forties reserves—the spots Norwegian Petroleum Society, Stavanger, Norway,
200 indicate beginning November 14-15, 1988.
of production. In 7. Gaarenstroom L: “The Value of 3D Seismic in Field
tectonically quiet, Development,” paper SPE 13049, presented at the
relatively non- 59th SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibi-
faulted fields (red), tion, Houston, Texas, USA, September 16-19, 1984.
140
estimates tend to Ruijtenberg PA, Buchanan R and Marke P: “Three-
go up because Dimensional Data Improve Reservoir Mapping,”
Piper Journal of Petroleum Technology 42 (January 1990):
original forecasts
120 22-61.
were conservative.
Grant I, Marshall JD, Dietvorst P and Hordijk:
Estimated reserves, million tonnes

In highly faulted
“Improved Reservoir Management by Integrated
fields (greens), esti- Study: Cormorant Field, Block 1,” paper SPE 20891,
100
mates go down as presented at Europec 90, The Hague, The Nether-
operators come to lands, October 22-24, 1990.
Magnus
grips with reservoir
complexity. These
80 trends show how
important it is for
Dunlin N W Hutton operators to under-
stand complex
60
structure as early
Claymore Field as possible in the
life of a field. For
Thistle typical North Sea
40
Hutton crudes, 1 tonne is
equivalent to 7.53
Maureen barrels. (From Corri-
20 gan, reference 6.)

Tartan
0
75

77

79

81

83

85

87

89
19

19

19

19

19

19

19

19

January 1992 11
 N

Platform

Oil 0 2 km
1974-1975 1981 1983-1984 1989 Water
2D Seismic 3D Seismic 3D Seismic Void block
Fault

N.Cormorant
nAn increasingly tuning the locations of wells to be drilled.
Norway platform complex view of Shell Expro’s estimates of the Cormorant
Shetland Cormorant the fault system in
Field Block IV of Shell field recoverables have rebounded and now
Isles
Expro’s North Sea remain relatively constant (below ).
Cormorant field. The newcomer in detecting large-scale
East Shetland Two 3D seismic structure is well-to-well tomography, a tech-
Basin surveys, in 1981 nique that measures the acoustic signal
and 1984 respec-
Orkney tively, progres- transmitted from a source located in one
Isles sively clarified the well to a receiver located in a neighboring
picture. By 1989, well.8 Measurements are made for multiple
data from newly combinations of receiver and source depths,
North Sea drilled wells added
UK Block IV more detail. The creating a large data set from which com-
UMC puter processing recreates an acoustic
0 100 miles most recent simu-
Aberdeen lation (far right) velocity map of the interwell terrain. The
used a curvilinear
grid to follow the
faulting. (From 30
Estimated reserves, million tonnes

Cormorant Ruijtenberg et al, ref-

Southern part
Alpha platform erence 7.)

Block IV
0 2 km
20

8. “CAT-Scanning the Subsurface,” Oilfield Review 2, 10. Lasseter T, Karakas M and Schweitzer J: “Interpreting
no. 2 (April 1990): 4-6. an RFT*-Measured Pulse Test with a Three-Dimen-
10
9. Paulsson BNP, Fairborn JW, Cogley AL, Howlett DL, sional Simulator,” SPE Formation Evaluation 3
Melton DR and Livingston N: “McKittrick Cross-Well (March 1988): 139-146.
Seismology Project: Part I. Data Acquisition and 11. Slentz LW: “Geochemistry of Reservoir Fluids as a
Tomographic Imaging,” Expanded Abstracts, 60th Unique Approach to Optimum Reservoir Manage-
Annual International Meeting and Exposition, Society ment,” paper SPE 9582, presented at the SPE Middle
of Exploration Geophysicists, San Francisco, Califor- East Oil Technical Conference, Manama, Bahrain, 0
nia, USA, September 23-27, 1990: 26-29. March 9-12, 1981. 75 77 79 81 83 85 87
Lo T-w, Inderwiesen PL, Howlett DL, Melton DR, Liv-
ingston DN, Paulsson BNP and Fairborn JW: “McKit-
Gibbons K: “Use of Variations in Strontium Isotope
Ratios for Mapping Barriers: an Example from the nEstimates of recoverable reserves in the
trick Cross-Well Seismology Project: Part II. Tomo- Troll Field, Norwegian Continental Shelf,” presented Cormorant field. Initially, only the south-
graphic Processing and Interpretation,” Expanded at the 6th European Symposium on Improved Oil ern part of the field was developed. Its
Abstracts, 60th Annual International Meeting and Recovery, Stavanger, Norway, May 21-23, 1991. complex structure caused estimates of
Exposition, Society of Exploration Geophysicists, San 12. Lachance DP and Rezk AS: “Resolution of Fault reserves to drop. Cormorant Block IV was
Francisco, California, USA, September 23-27, 1990: Block Communication Leading to an Optimal Plan developed three years later and benefited
30-33. of Depletion, Abu Gharadig Gas Field, Egypt,” paper from 3D seismic surveys mapping its com-
SPE 17993, presented at the SPE Middle East Oil plex structure. Reserves increased after
Technical Conference and Exhibition, Manama,
the addition of the new field and
Bahrain, March 11-14, 1989.
remained steady with time because the
13. Weber KJ, Mandl G, Pilaar WF, Lehner F and Pre-
operator better understood its structure.
cious RG: “The Role of Faults in Hydrocarbon
Migration and Trapping in Nigerian Growth Fault
Structures,” paper OTC 3356, presented at the 10th
Annual Offshore Technology Conference, Houston,
Texas, USA, May 8-11, 1978.
12 Oilfield Review
technique was conceived in the 1960s, but
implementation is still hampered by techni-
cal difficulties, notably the engineering of a
sufficiently powerful downhole source. In nTwo abutting
tomograms
current experiments, acoustic frequency lies revealing possi-
in the hundreds of hertz (Hz), between the ble fault structure
low frequencies of surface and borehole between wells in
seismics (10 to 100 Hz) and the high fre- the shallow
quencies of acoustic logging (20,000 Hz). McKittrick oil
field in California,
This is designed to provide both formation USA. Tomograms
penetration and spatial resolution. Most are obtained by
experiments so far have been in shallow for- transmitting
mations. Texaco Inc. and Chevron Oil Field acoustic signals
between the wells
Research recently performed a tomographic (see inset below)—
survey to clarify reservoir structure in the the technique is
shallow McKittrick oil field in California, experimental.
USA ( right ). 9 The image created by two The data were
abutting tomograms maintains a resolution obtained jointly
by Texaco and
of 40 ft [12 m], reveals details of overthrust Chevron; the
faulting and provides a substantially tomogram was
improved picture of the field’s heterogene- Well 1 Well 2 processed and
ity. However, much work remains to ensure interpreted by
Texaco Inc.
the reliability of tomographic processing. (From Lo et al, refer-
Locating faults is just half the story, S R ence 9, courtesy of
though. Also crucial is determining whether Texaco Inc. and
there is fluid communication across a fault Chevron Oil Field
R Research.)
when sand abuts sand. Several methods S
help clarify the sealing question. In interwell
testing, a flow disturbance is created in a
R
well on one side of the fault and monitored S
using pressure gauges in a well on the other
side, either at surface or downhole. Lack of
reaction to the disturbance may indicate
sealing. 10 In tracer tests, radioactive or
chemical tracers injected in one well are
monitored in neighboring producers. No
nFault sealing
through clay
tracer appearing in the producer may indi- Shale smearing, a phe-
cate sealing. Chemical analyses of forma- nomenon in which
tion water and hydrocarbons on both sides clay smears plasti-
of a fault may also give insight into connec- cally in a growing
fault creating a
tivity across it, the analyses matching if the barrier to fluid
fault is nonsealing.11 Material balance cal- flow. The likeli-
culations that indicate the volume of the hood of a sealing
connected reservoir offer another diagnos- fault due to clay
smearing can be
tic—the reservoir will appear larger if a fault estimated from the
is nonsealing.12 In a reservoir that has pro- thickness of
duced for some time, a common method is nearby clay zones
to make pressure measurements using an and the throw of
RFT (Repeat Formation Tester) tool in wells Sand the fault. (From
Weber et al, refer-
either side of the fault. Differing pressure ence 13.)
declines across the fault indicate sealing.
A nondirect method is based on the
hypothesis that faults seal because clay beds
Clay
cut by fault displacement smear plastically
into the fault, filling it and preventing com-
munication (right ). Clay smearing has been
reproduced in laboratory experiments and
also observed in situ down mines.13 Clay
smearing is more likely to seal a fault if
there is plenty of clay available—this can be
determined from logs. But it is less likely the
more the fault has been displaced—dis-

January 1992 13
placement can be estimated from seismic Preferential Detecting a natural fracture system and
data and in some cases from logs in neigh- flooding estimating its directionality is therefore
boring wells. Both factors can be worked direction mandatory, and needed as early as possible
N
into a quantitative prediction of fault com- in the development of a field. The question
munication and integrated into reservoir is how? Apart from regional stress studies,
simulation, a feat recently performed for the little can be done before wells are drilled
Cormorant Block IV field.14 and logs and cores become available. Con-
A yet more difficult task awaits the opera- W E ventional 3D seismics fails to see natural
tor when evaluating a reservoir’s natural fractures. There is hope, however, that shear
fracture system. That fractures influence General seismic surveys, both from the surface and
gross field behavior is demonstrated in a channels the borehole, may help. Shear waves vibrate
recent report surveying 80 fields from pro- trends transversely to the wave direction and can
ducing areas worldwide and covering every be split into two parts by fractures. Shear
S
production method from waterdrive to gas- Range of major surface seismic experiments made by
drive to surfactant flooding.15 The survey horizontal stress Amoco Production Co. have demonstrated
shows that preferential flooding direction this splitting as have shear borehole seismic
closely parallels the direction of maximum surveys in the Paris basin, France and Silo
horizontal stress, the same direction a natu-
nCorrelation between preferential flood- field, Wyoming, USA.16 Shear seismics is in
ing orientation and direction of maximum
ral fracture system takes (right ). The survey horizontal stress determined from well- its infancy, though, and one stumbling block
rules out the possibility that induced frac- bore breakouts, for 80 fields worldwide may prevent the technique ever maturing: it
tures may be causing flooding directional- with a variety of flooding mechanisms. is practically impossible to generate shear
ity—the correlation improves with greater This result reinforces the importance of wave energy in marine sediments because
understanding a reservoir’s natural frac-
spacing between wells, unlikely unless the ture system and its role in determining the ocean separating source from formation
fractures are natural. waterflood efficiency. (From Heffer and Lean, does not support shear propagation. All
reference 15.) experiments so far have been on land.

nConfirmation of natural fractures from cores and logs, in a Texas carbonate. Fractures are visible on the borehole televiewer and
Formation MicroScanner logs (black streaks) at 2234 and 2238 ft. They also appear as two peaks on the Stoneley fracture width log
which is derived from the Array-Sonic log (far right). (From Adams et al, reference 18.)

14 Oilfield Review
 Concrete proof of natural fractures finally
emerges when wells are drilled and frac-
tures are recognized in cores and on logs
(previous page, bottom). Cores and logs also
herald the beginning of serious depositional
study. With the help of a standard petro-
physical interpretation of conventional logs,
use of dipmeter logs17 and more recently
Formation MicroScanner logs18 can reveal
important clues about the depositional pro-
cess (right ). Skillfully interpreted, all these
logs together with core data allow a picture
of the reservoir’s internal structure to gradu-
ally emerge. Particularly crucial are perme-
ability barriers between units and high-per-
meability streaks that allow production to
bypass large regions of the reservoir. Barriers
may be suggested by depositional analysis,
but must be corroborated with pressure
measurements and well testing.
Of increasing use in clarifying deposi-
tional environment is, once again, the 3D
seismic survey. Sophisticated processing on
the amplitude data that reveals dip and
azimuth, shaliness, and even net pay is

14. Bentley MR and Barry JJ: “Representation of Fault

Sealing in a Reservoir Simulation: Cormorant Block
IV, UK North Sea,” paper SPE 22667, presented at
the 66th SPE Annual Technical Conference and
Exhibition, Dallas, Texas, USA, October 6-9, 1991.
15. Heffer KJ and Lean JC: “Earth Stress Orientation—a
Control on, and Guide to, Flooding Directionality in
a Majority of Reservoirs,” presented at the 3rd Inter-
national Reservoir Characterization Technical Con-
ference, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA, November 3-5,
1991.
16. For a review of shear seismics and its application to
identifying fractures:
“Formation Anisotropy: Reckoning with its Effects,”
Oilfield Review 2, no. 1 (January 1990): 16-23.
For surface shear seismics:
Lynn HB and Thomsen LA: “Reflection Shear-Wave
Data Along the Principal Axes of Azimuthal
Anisotropy,” Expanded Abstracts, 56th Annual Inter-
national Meeting and Exhibition, Society of Explo-
ration Geophysicists, Houston, Texas, USA (1986):
473-476.
For borehole shear seismics:
Crampin S, Lynn HB and Booth DC: “Shear-Wave
VSP’s: A Powerful New Tool for Fracture and Reser-
voir Description,” Journal of Petroleum Technology
41 (March 1989): 282-288. nDepositional interpretation from well data facilitated by the integration of petrophysi-
17. Gilreath JA: “Strategies for Dipmeter Interpretation cal logs, Formation MicroScanner logs and computer-aided interpretations. In con-
(Part 1),” The Technical Review 35, no. 3 (July structing this composite display, a geologist has reviewed the Formation MicroScanner
1987): 28-41. log—left track in “Sedimentology/Structure”—on an interactive workstation and sym-
Adams J, Bourke L and Frisinger R: “Strategies for bolically coded an interpretation that appears to the right. The “Petrophysics” and
Dipmeter Interpretation (Part 2),” The Technical “Rock Classification” tracks are computer-interpreted from conventional logs. (From Dar-
Review 35, no. 4 (October 1987): 20-31.
ling et al, reference 18.)
18. Adams J, Bourke L and Buck S: “Integrating Forma-
tion MicroScanner Images and Cores,” Oilfield
Review 2, no. 1 (January 1990): 52-65.
Darling H, Patten D, Young RA and Schwarze L:
“Single-Well Data Integration,” Oilfield Review 3,
no. 3 (July 1991): 29-35.

January 1992 15
proving that minute changes in the seismic may correlate from one well to the next, and and occurrence of depositional units and
signal may reflect real geologic events and the reservoir structure emerges quite readily. their heterogeneity, a labor often subcon-
have an important story to tell.19 A time But in complex areas, correlation may be tracted by operators to university depart-
slice from a survey in the Matagorda area of sparse or nonexistent. The only recourse is ments. The second takes place in front of a
the Gulf of Mexico reveals a meandering for the geologist to dig into a repertoire of terminal connected to a powerful computer.
stream channel (next page ).20 Amplitude typical sizes, shapes and juxtapositions for Here, a geostatistician uses the outcrop
maps from the top and base of another depositional units and fill in the blank space statistics to help create probabilistic models
channel sand from one of Shell’s offshore with as plausible a picture as possible. of the reservoir (for detail on outcrop studies
fields in Sarawak, Malaysia, obtained by For clastic reservoirs, this art has been for- and reservoir model building, see “Reservoir
automatic tracking on the 3D seismic ampli- malized by Weber and van Geuns of Shell Characterization Using Expert Knowledge,
tude data of the relevant horizons, display a (below ).22 Reservoir architecture is divided Data and Statistics,” page 25 ).23
distributary channel and crevasse splay.21 into three types—layer cakes, jigsaw puzzles A probabilistic reservoir model first hon-
Both examples are from less than 1000 m and labyrinths. Layer cakes describe reser- ors known, or deterministic, data from wells
[3200 ft], shallow enough to preserve the voirs deposited by a single depositional and then fills the empty space with sand
high seismic frequencies required to see this mechanism that show excellent correlation bodies both shaped and placed in space
kind of detail. Obtaining the same resolu- between wells. In jigsaw puzzle reservoirs, randomly. The result is called a realization,
tion at greater depths that currently attenu- different sand bodies fit together without a term coined by statisticians to describe
ate high frequencies will depend on techni- major gaps but with occasional intervening one outcome of a random process. Many
cal improvements to the acquisition low-permeability zones. Labyrinths represent realizations are required to judge variations
process. more or less random arrangements of sands, in architecture caused by the random ele-
The general problem facing the entire usually discontinuous. ment of the model building. In simple layer
reservoir management team, as eyes focus The first step is to recognize which type of cake architectures, most of the model may
on smaller-scale heterogeneity, is the blank architecture is present. The next step— be deterministic with little or no probabilis-
area between wells. 3D seismic data may which becomes harder with more complex tic content. Labyrinth architectures, on the
reliably outline the overall reservoir archi- architecture—is to draw on knowledge of other hand, have little deterministic content
tecture and the fault system with an occa- how particular sand bodies are shaped and and are mostly probabilistic.
sional clue to deposition, and well data may distributed and then create plausible scenar- Probabilistic model building comes in a
reveal the detailed depositional environ- ios for the reservoir geometry. This has variety of guises, and models can be con-
ment close to wells, but the huge space spawned two disciplines. One involves structed at all scales. Some of the finest scale
between wells is mostly unknown. True, in patient hours in the field studying outcrops clastic models are being built by Shell using
depositionally simple areas, features on logs and compiling statistics on the geometry their proprietary software package,

600 m
Layer cake

Deterministic

Jigsaw puzzle

Labyrinth
Probabilistic

50 m

nClassification of large-scale sand geometries into layer cakes, jigsaw puzzles and labyrinths. Layer
cakes are deposited in one environment, have excellent well-to-well correlations and can be modeled
deterministically. Jigsaw puzzles represent sand bodies that fit together without major gaps, but with
occasional low permeability barriers. Correlation may be difficult and modeling must have a probabilis-
tic content. Labyrinths represent discontinuous sands with poor well-to-well correlation. Modeling
requires a strong probabilistic content. (From Weber and van Geuns, reference 22.)

16 Oilfield Review
Base sand
nTwo examples of
channel sands
identified with 3D
seismic data:
Left: amplitude
maps of two hori-
zons picked from a
3D seismic data set
obtained in one of
Shell’s offshore
fields in Sarawak,
Malaysia. The hori-
zons show the top
and bottom of a
distributary chan-
nel sand. The top
horizon clearly
Top sand shows a crevasse
splay, later con-
firmed by logs.
(From Rijks and Jauf-
fred, reference 21,
courtesy of Shell Inter-
nationale Petroleum Fault
Maatschappij B.V.
and Geophysics: The
Leading Edge of
Exploration.)
Right: a time slice
from a survey con-
ducted by ARCO in Channel
the Matagorda
area of the US Gulf
Coast reveals a
meandering
stream channel,
probably gas filled.
The meander of the
stream suggests a
channel width of
Dis 15 ft [4.5 m], while
trib seismic resolution
uta
ry was estimated at
Ch only 40 ft [12 m].
an
ne The better-than-
l
expected accuracy
may be caused by
Crevasse interference or by
Splay the presence of
gas. (From Riese and
Winkleman, reference
20, courtesy of ARCO
Oil and Gas Company
0 1 2km and the American
Association of
Petroleum Geologists.)

19. Sonnelund L, Barkved O and Hagenes O: “Reservoir 22. Weber KJ: “How Heterogeneity Affects Oil Recov-
Characterization by Seismic Classification Maps,” ery,” in Lake LW and Carroll HB Jr. (eds): Reservoir
paper SPE 20544, presented at the 65th SPE Annual Characterization. Orlando, Florida, USA: Academic
Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, Press Inc. (1986): 487-544..
Louisiana, USA, September 23-26, 1990. Weber KJ and van Geuns LC: “Framework for Con-
20. Riese WC and Winkleman BE: “Shallow Overlooked structing Clastic Reservoir Simulation Models,” Jour-
Channels, Offshore Gulf of Mexico: Application of nal of Petroleum Technology 42 (October 1990):
3D Seismic Analysis to Stratigraphic Interpretation,” 1248-1253, 1296-1297.
in Bally AW (ed): Atlas of Seismic Stratigraphy, vol. 23. Haldorsen HH and Damsleth E: “Stochastic Model-
3. Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA: American Association of ing,” Journal of Petroleum Technology 42 (April
Petroleum Geologists (1989): 59-65. 1990): 404-412.
21. Rijks EJH and Jauffred JCEM: “Attribute Extraction:
an Important Application in any Detailed 3D Inter-
pretation Study,” Geophysics: The Leading Edge of
Exploration (September 1991): 11-19.

January 1992 17
 Early in life of reservoir Ten years later

Water Sand, all types

Channel-fill sand

Oil Sheet sand

Coarsening-upward
sand
Gas Sand, all types

Coal

Foreground scale 10 ft
100 m

MONARCH, which divides space into vox- Programmed to track different fluids in the nTracking fluid fronts using MONARCH,
els, the three-dimensional version of a pixel, sand bodies, MONARCH-type models can Shell’s probabilistic reservoir modeling
package. MONARCH divides space into
each measuring about 50 m × 50 m × 0.6 m also integrate production logs and pulsed millions of voxels, small volume elements
thick [164 ft × 164 ft × 2 ft]—the exact neutron logs that measure saturation behind measuring typically 50 m x 50 m x 0.6 m
dimensions can vary.24 The model honors casing. This is a major advance. Currently, thick. The models honor data measured
well data from logs, down to the 0.6-m verti- the commonest data used to monitor reser- at wells (grey vertical columns), but fill
the rest of space probabilistically.
cal resolution, uses structural information voir performance are well pressures and MONARCH models permit analysis of for-
provided by seismic and dipmeter data. It production, usually from individual wells mation connectivity and also of fluid dis-
ensures a given sand-shale ratio and distin- but sometimes from groups of wells. These tributions throughout the reservoir.
guishes between at least three different sand data track gross well performance at best, This example shows part of a North Sea
types—for example, in a fluvial environment masking the relative contributions of different reservoir early in the reservoir’s life and
after ten years of production. The models
between channels, mouth bars, and crevasse producing layers. MONARCH models can are viewed from the south and do not show
splays. Finally, it obeys the statistics on track flood advances in detail and identify an overall 8° westerly dip. Given the dif-
depositional unit width, thickness and length unswept parts of the reservoir (above ). fering vertical and horizontal scales, a true
as derived from outcrop or other studies. Tracking fluids through voxels at one par- visualization is obtained by tilting up the
right-hand edge of the figure by about 25°.
The result is a three-dimensional matrix of ticular moment in time, though, is a far cry There are three types of sand, identifi-
millions of voxels. Although this must be from reservoir simulation which builds a able by color if oil saturated. All three
reduced in size—scaled up, in simulation flow model of the reservoir from past pro- types are uniformly colored blue if water
parlance—by almost two orders of magni- duction data—the history matching saturated and green if gas saturated.
tude for simulating fluid flow, the detailed phase—and then predicts future Shales are transparent. The rightward
progress of the waterfront is clearly evi-
model provides insight into gross reservoir production.25 In flow simulation, the reser- dent. Ten years on, several pockets of oil-
connectivity by tracking flow paths through voir is divided into a large number of inter- saturated sand remain unswept. (From
the voxels. Applied to two reservoir units in connecting homogeneous tanks called grid Budding et al, reference 24, courtesy of Koninkli-
the Cano Limon field in Colombia, one unit blocks, and then multiphase fluid flow jke/Shell en Produktie Laboratorium.)
producing and the other overlying unit not through them is solved as a function of time.
yet completed, a MONARCH model showed The computation requires the largest com-
that 24 existing wells tapping the producing puters, and maximum model size is cur-
unit would also tap 60% of the overlying rently about 50,000 grid blocks, each block
unit if it was completed. This is invaluable being more than 200 times the volume of a
information for reservoir managers needing voxel. Most simulations use fewer and even
to decide if extra wells are needed to tap the larger blocks, particularly during the
overlying unit. appraisal phase when data are scarce.

18 Oilfield Review
 Opinions on the value of simulation number of model parameters that can be ular, much simpler simulations can yield
vary—from being an unproductive chore, adjusted to history match past production valuable insight into production (below ).
required for unitization or by government data greatly exceeds the quantity of produc- Single-well simulators, using a radial grid
regulation, to being the key tool in reservoir tion data being matched. This permits many system centered on the well, are invaluable
management. Nevertheless, most fields possible matches for the same data. To for studying coning, the economics of a par-
undergo some form of simulation as soon as make the history match, reservoir engineers tial completion, or for interpreting a well
the discovery well hits pay. The pessimist’s therefore adjust certain parameters and test. Sectional simulators that model flow in
view stems in part from unreasonable ignore the rest. Traditional favorites for a vertical plane are often used to study dis-
expectations about what simulation can adjustment are grid-block properties such as placement behavior between an injector
bring, which in turn depends on when sim- permeability and relative permeability. and a producer. Areal simulators that model
ulation is used in the life of the reservoir.26 Much less popular, because they are far flow in a horizontal plane may be an opera-
During discovery and appraisal phases, more trouble to adjust but maybe just as sig- tor’s first choice for analyzing production in
simple simulations with few grid blocks rep- nificant, are geologically dependent param- a single-layered homogeneous reservoir.
resenting little more than an extension of eters such as the size and placement of the The results and analyses of any of these sim-
classical reservoir engineering techniques grid blocks themselves. ulations can always serve as input to a more
can assist major decisions on production Simulations do not necessarily have to sophisticated simulation.
facilities and how the reservoir should be reproduce a reservoir in its full three-dimen- Areal simulators were the first choice for
produced. With little data to go on, such a sionality. Early in the life of a field, in partic- Saudi Aramco when planning water injec-
simulation cannot be expected to accurately
predict production. Rather, its use is to test Single Well Areal
production sensitivity to different drive
mechanisms and to variations in large-scale
structure, such as external boundaries, strati-
fication and whether faults are sealing, par-
tially sealing or open.
As the field matures and more data
become available, the simulation grows
more complex with an increasing number
of grid blocks. Prediction becomes more
reliable and helps guide all manner of reser-
voir management decisions—about infill
drilling, perhaps the drilling of horizontal
wells, evolving surface facilities to cope Full Field
Sectional
with changing production, modifying the
driving mechanism, or justifying workover Producer
(see “Drilling for Maximum Recovery,” page Injector
21). Yet, simulation remains essentially a
qualitative tool. Like weather forecasting, it
strives to predict a potentially chaotic situa-
tion from a huge number of initial condi-
tions—pressure everywhere in space for
weather forecasting and pressure and satu-
ration in every grid block for simulation.27
Both systems are what mathematicians nVarieties of reservoir simulations. Reservoir management may begin with a simple
call overdetermined. In simulation, the simulation model and then evolve to more complex representations as more data
become available.

24. Budding MC, Flint SS, Paardekam AHM and 26. Thomas GW, “The Role of Reservoir Simulation in 27. Saleri NG and Toronyi RM: “Engineering Control in
Dubrule ORF: “Three-Dimensional Reservoir Geo- Optimal Reservoir Management,” paper SPE 14129, Reservoir Simulation: Part I,” paper SPE 18305, pre-
logical Modeling of the Cano Limon Field, Colom- presented at the 1986 SPE International Meeting on sented at the 63rd SPE Annual Technical Conference
bia,” AAPG Bulletin 74, no. 5 (May 1990): 621. Petroleum Engineering, Beijing, China, March 17- and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, USA, October 2-5,
Abstract only. Full text to appear in the AAPG Bulletin. 20, 1986. 1988.
Budding MC, Paardekam AHM and van Rossem SJ: Wood ARO and Young MS: “The Role of Reservoir Saleri NG, Toronyi RM and Snyder DE: “Data and
“3-D Connectivity and Architecture in Sandstone Simulation in the Development of Some Major Data Hierarchy,” paper SPE 21369, presented at the
Reservoirs,” paper SPE 22342, to be presented at the North Sea Fields,“ paper SPE 17613, presented at SPE Middle East Oil Show, Manama, Bahrain,
SPE International Meeting on Petroleum Engineer- the 1988 SPE International Meeting on Petroleum November 16-19, 1991.
ing, Beijing, China, March 23-28, 1992. Engineering held in Tianjin, China, November 1-4,
25. For brief reviews of reservoir simulation: 1988.
Mattax CC and Dalton RL: “Reservoir Simulation,“ Wittmann M, Al-Rabah AK, Bansal PP, Breitenbach
Journal of Petroleum Technology 42 (June 1990): EA, Hallenbeck LD, Meehan DN and Saleri NG:
692-695. “Exploring the Role of Reservoir Simulation,“ Oil-
field Review 2, no. 2 (April 1990): 18-30.
Breitenbach EA: “Reservoir Simulation: State of the
Art,” Journal of Petroleum Technology 43 (Septem-
ber 1991): 1033-1036.

January 1992 19
 Reservoir I
1824 grid blocks 32,760 grid blocks

57

32 2520 grid blocks

13
60

60

42 42

Reservoirs I and II

1 I
Dense limestone
60
4 II
13
42 I

Dense limestone
60
4 II

42
Aquifer and Reservoir I

42,000 grid blocks

I
19
8

I
60

42

nEvolving simulation complexity for one of Saudi Aramco’s largest carbonate reservoirs. The development began with
areal simulations of Reservoir I, then a full-field simulation, next an investigation of the underlying Reservoir II, and finally
of the surrounding aquifer. The number of grid blocks starts at 1824 and finishes at 42,000.

20 Oilfield Review
tion in their largest, carbonate field (previ- layers, which were placed below a single Drilling for Maximum Recov-
ous page ). 28 This first simulation was areal grid simulating Reservoir I. Later, the ery
designed in 1970, 20 years after parts of the four layers were combined with the full 13-
field started producing and used a 57 × 32 layer model previously established for
Whatever drive mechanism is chosen, ultimate
grid, giving 1824 grid blocks. It was Reservoir I, giving a total of 37,800 grid
enlarged in 1978 to 60 × 42, giving 2520 blocks. This is currently being used to recovery depends on ensuring maximum connec-
grid blocks. These simulations were used to assess how to produce Reservoir II. tivity between wells and the producing formation.
plan individual well productions to sustain Yet more simulation has been required to This requires understanding the nature of the for-
an overall production rate, to forecast the study the extensive aquifer that drives Reser- mation heterogeneity and then guiding the drill
length of the production plateau and to esti- voir I’s production and also that of other bit to reach as much connected oil as possible.
mate final recovery. nearby fields. The aquifer was modeled with
In reservoirs where faults subdivide the reser-
By 1980, water encroachment had an areal grid in the middle of which Reser-
become serious enough to consider giving voir I occupies 19 × 8 grid blocks, much voir into isolated pockets, 3D seismics with its
the areal simulation a third, vertical dimen- coarser than the reservoir’s original 60 × 42 ability to map large-scale structure offers the
sion—two horizontal dimensions rule out areal simulation. During history matching, best chance to ensure that each pocket gets
the modeling of coning. Geologists identi- the aquifer and Reservoir I simulators were tapped by a well. An example is Chevron’s giant
fied 13 layers within three major producing run iteratively, with results from the finer
Bay Marchand field, offshore Gulf of Mexico.1
zones and superimposed them on the previ- gridded reservoir simulation being scaled up
ous areal grid, giving a simulation compris- to the coarser grid blocks of the aquifer sim- This field, discovered in 1949, is located around
ing 60 × 42 × 13 = 32,760 grid blocks. Con- ulation. A final step in simulating this field a huge salt dome and produces from highly
currently, reservoir engineers embarked on has been the use of locally refined gridding faulted sands. Oil production peaked at 75,000
a major program of reservoir-monitor log- that allows the integration of the fine 3D barrels of oil per day (BOPD) in the late 1960s
ging—flowmeters and pulsed neutron mea- reservoir model directly into the coarse, and declined to just 18,000 BOPD by the mid
surements mainly—to provide sufficient areal aquifer model, obviating the iterative
1980s. It looked like the end, until Chevron com-
information to history match the field’s pro- process. This raises the number of grid
duction. By 1985, the simulator was history blocks to 42,000. missioned a 3D seismic survey of the entire field.
matched and available for prediction stud- Saudi Aramco’s field was developed long With over 60 platforms and 50 multiwell sur-
ies. These have included determination of before the age of computers, so simulation face structures scattered over the offshore site,
the original oil/water contact, the problem could be applied only years after production the logistics were daunting. Once completed,
of varying depletion from different zones, commenced. In more recent fields, particu-
however, the survey clarified the salt-sediment
the possibility of also producing the reser- larly those in geologically complex and eco-
voir’s gas cap and evaluation of gas lift. In nomically harsh areas, simulation is often interface, gave improved definition to the faulting
short, the 3D simulator has proved a key used from the moment of discovery. The and provided a better understanding of the depo-
tool for most reservoir management deci- Brent field in the North Sea, jointly owned sitional environment. The result has been several
sions in the field. by Shell and Esso, provides an example. new producers in both mature and undeveloped
About 500 ft [150 m] below this huge The first simulation took place during the parts of the field, a realization that certain wells
reservoir lies a smaller reservoir of inferior appraisal phase using just 800 grid blocks.29
were not worth maintaining, and improved water-
quality with about one-tenth the individual It successfully guided basic decisions on
well productivity. By the time the first well field development and facilities planning. flood schemes. Field production now stands at
in the smaller reservoir (Reservoir II) was The next simulation built during the devel- 32,500 BOPD.
put on production in 1954—eight years opment phase used 11 layers and an areal A different strategy is required in highly strati-
after the huge reservoir (Reservoir I) had grid of 19 × 37, giving a total of 7733 grid fied reservoirs where poor connectivity is caused
started producing—Reservoir II’s pressure blocks.30 This proved adequate to confirm
by discontinuous stringers, such as in Exxon’s
had dropped by about 900 psi. This indi- the water injection program, investigate fur-
cated communication between the two ther facilities requirements and estimate the Fullerton field in Andrews County, Texas, USA.
reservoirs, which geologists attributed to a length of the plateau. As the field entered Discovered in 1942, this field was rapidly
fracture system permeating the intervening decline phase, a third simulation was con- exploited with over 550 wells. By the 1960s, the
500 feet of dense limestone. The urgent ducted with an even finer grid to take field was in decline and substantial water injec-
question was how to contain the communi- advantage of the abundant acquired data tion was required to maintain oil production at
cation, since it could cause both oil and and better track the water front. This time,
around 10,000 BOPD. Although the producing
water to migrate downward from Reservoir 21 layers and an areal grid 30 × 54 pro-
I to Reservoir II as Reservoir II’s pressure duced 34,020 grid blocks. Reservoir engi- 1. Abriel WL, Neale PS, Tissue JS and Wright RM: “Modern
declined. Juggling the options required sim- neers used the simulation to pick new well Technology in an Old Area: Bay Marchand Revisited,”
ulating both reservoirs simultaneously. The locations and optimize a gas injection pro- Geophysics: The Leading Edge of Exploration (June
first attempt divided Reservoir II into four gram.31 A comparison of production predic- 1991): 21-35.

28. Al-Dawas SM and Krishnamoorthy AM: “Evolution 29. Johnson HA: “North Sea Reservoir Simulation: Prac-
of Reservoir Simulation for a Large Carbonate Reser- tical Considerations,” paper SPE 19039, presented at
voir,” paper SPE 17938, presented at the SPE Middle the SPE Middle East Technical Conference and Exhi-
East Technical Conference and Exhibition, Manama, bition, Manama, Bahrain, March 11-14, 1989.
Bahrain, March 11-14, 1989. 30. Tollas JM and Sayers JR: “Brent Field 3-D Reservoir
Simulation,“ paper SPE 12160, presented at the 58th
SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition,
San Francisco, California, USA, October 5-8, 1983.

January 1992 21
 40-acre spacing Phase 1

Phase 2

- Producer - Injector

100 nTwo-phase sequence of infill drilling in Exxon’s Fullerton, Texas reservoir. In phase 1,
From 40-acre spacing new producers were drilled in the center line of the previous three-line drive, and other
producers were converted to injection. In phase 2, another producer was drilled in each
Continuity, %

From 20-acre spacing 80-acre rectangle. The infill program tapped reserves unconnected to previous wells
and prolonged the field’s life by at least ten years. (From Barber et al, reference 3.)

From 10-acre spacing 20 nIncrease in pro-

duction from infill
drilling in Exxon’s
Fullerton, Texas
Production, BOPD x1000

0 reservoir. The inter-

0 1000 2000 3000 Other Infills ference production
Distance between wells, ft is that lost from the
original wells to
nPercentage of reservoir formation 10
Phase 1 the new wells.
hydraulically connecting two wells versus (From Barber et al, ref-
Phase 2
distance between them, for Exxon’s Fuller- erence 3.)
ton, Texas field. The data were obtained
from wells drilled with 40-, 20-, and 10-
acre spacing. As distance between wells
increases, continuity worsens. And as
more data become available, previous
40-acre wells
Interference
estimates on continuity appear overly
optimistic. (From Barber et al, reference 3.) 0
1965 1975 1985 1995

2. Stiles LH: “Optimizing Waterflood Recovery in a Mature 4. McCoy TF, Fetkovich MJ, Needham RB and Reese DE: zone is several hundred feet thick, the pay is in
Waterflood, the Fullerton Clearfork Unit,” paper SPE “Analysis of Kansas Hugoton Infill Drilling: Part I—Total carbonate stringers that correlate very poorly
6198, presented at the 51st SPE Annual Technical Confer- Field Results,” paper SPE 20756, presented at the 65th
ence and Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, Octo- SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New
between wells.2 Exxon found during infill drilling
ber 3-6, 1976. Orleans, Louisiana, USA, September 23-26, 1990. that the correlation seemed to get worse the
3. Barber AH Jr, George CJ, Stiles LH and Thompson BB: Fetkovich MJ, Needham RB and McCoy TF, : “Analysis of closer you looked. A continuity measure was
“Infill Drilling to Increase Reserves—Actual Experience in Kansas Hugoton Infill Drilling: Part II—12-Year Perfor-
Nine Fields in Texas, Oklahoma, and Illinois,” Journal of mance History of Five Replacement Wells,” paper SPE defined as the percentage of producing carbonate
Petroleum Technology 35 (August 1983): 1530-1538. 20779, presented at the 65th SPE Annual Technical Con- that hydraulically connects between two given
ference and Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA,
September 23-26, 1990.
wells—that is, the percentage that would theoret-
Fetkovich MJ, Ebbs DJ Jr and Voelker JJ: “Development ically get produced if one well was an injector
of a Multiwell, Multilayer Model to Evaluate Infill Drilling and the other a producer. Exxon then investigated
Potential in the Oklahoma Hugoton Field,” paper SPE
20778, presented at the 65th SPE Annual Technical Con- how this continuity depended on well spacing
ference and Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, (above, far left). Initially, the information came
September 23-26, 1990.
from the original wells, which were on a 40-acre
5. Freyss HP and Burgess K: “Overcoming Lateral Reservoir
Heterogeneities Via Horizontal Wells, ” presented at the spacing.
6th European Improved Oil Recovery Symposium, Sta- It came as no surprise that continuity worsened
vanger, Norway, May 21-23, 1991.
as well spacing increased. But as the field was

22 Oilfield Review
drilled with denser spacings, data showed that 500
2nd 3rd
earlier estimates of continuity were grossly opti-
mistic.3 The only means of increasing recovery 400

Production, BOPD x 1000

was to drill progressively denser well spacings
(previous page, top). This was carried out in two
300
phases. The first took well spacing to 20 acres,
the second to 10. When the second phase was
completed, the new wells accounted for 71% of 200
the field’s production, and each well added an
estimated 97,000 barrels to recoverable reserves
100
(previous page, middle).
However tempting it may look, though, infill
drilling is not a panacea. This is the view of 0
1977 1979 1981 1983 1985 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995
Fetkovich and colleagues at Phillips Petroleum
Co. with respect to the Hugoton gas field, the nProduction forecasts from second and third simulations for Shell and Esso’s North Sea
Brent field. The second simulation, made in 1982 during field development and
largest in the lower 48 US states, spanning parts intended to investigate plateau-phase production, gave a reasonable forecast for five
of Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas. The Hugoton years. The third simulation, made in 1988 during the decline phase, gives a more
accurate picture of the field’s later life and allows planning of remedial programs. (The
comprises interspersed carbonate and layered first simulation, not shown, was made at very coarse scale during the appraisal phase
shaly units—continuity is excellent, the log sig- of the field.) (From Johnson, reference 29)
nature being consistent from one well to the next.
When the state authorities authorized infill tions from the second and third simulations these sands for a 3- by 2.5-kilometer [1.9-
shows how the finer simulation provides a by 1.6-mile] sector in the southern part of
drilling in the late 1980s, the Phillips team
more optimistic, and presumed truer, sce- the reservoir (next page, top). The sector
proved through studying production histories and nario for the field’s decline phase (above ). was chosen because it had abundant well
conducting simulations that the reservoir was What is the trend in simulation? Advances data—six oil producers, three water injec-
essentially layered with no vertical crossflow. in computer power will undoubtedly spur tors and one gas injector. The probabilistic
They concluded that while infill drilling might simulations with more grid blocks, repre- model was then sandwiched between
increase productivity, the new wells would add
senting finer reservoir detail. It is conceiv- deterministic models of the upper and
able, for example, that simulating grid lower parts of the Statfjord reservoir, and
nothing to the field’s reserves.4 Thanks to the for-
blocks the size of the MONARCH system’s finally the whole thing was run through a
mation continuity, all the gas was already con- voxels may eventually be possible. If this simulator. The results were compared with
nected to the existing wells. happens, reservoir management will a simulation of the Statfjord reservoir con-
Production from natural fractures, such as in become reliant on probabilistic modeling, structed entirely deterministically.
the Austin chalk formations in south Texas, poses since no field technique, even the most Using the MONARCH package, three real-
experimental, appears capable of measuring izations of the channel sands were con-
yet another type of heterogeneity that until
to that degree of detail between wells—all structed using 172,000 voxels, each measur-
recently sorely tested operators’ attempts to the simulations described in this article and ing 75 m × 25 m × 1.2 m thick [250 ft × 80 ft
secure economic recovery. The Pearsall field almost all described in the literature are × 4 ft]. Each realization had to be reduced to
exploited by Oryx is typical. The oil is contained deterministic. The future may lie in con- about 10,000 grid blocks before sandwich-
in successive clusters of roughly parallel subver- structing a geologically probabilistic model ing and simulation. The comparisons
tical fractures. Each cluster acts as a separate oil
from the beginning and then firming it up showed that simulations using the proba-
deterministically as data become available. bilistic realizations predicted water break-
accumulation and lacks communication with its
The latest simulation work in the Brent field through far more accurately than an entirely
neighbors. Produced through vertical wells, these represents one of the first applications of deterministic simulation. Credited with the
formations provide unsubstantial economic probabilistic modeling.32 improvement was MONARCH’s ability to
return. But connect several together with a hori- The Brent field actually comprises two create a more realistic picture of shale barri-
zontal well, and the economics improve immedi- major reservoirs, the middle Jurassic Brent ers within the channel sands. These appear
reservoir and the lower Jurassic Statfjord to influence not only water breakthrough in
ately.5 Overcoming reservoir heterogeneity was a
reservoir, that are separated by 250 m [820 the channels, but also breakthrough in the
key impetus behind the horizontal well revolution. ft] of shale. Some of the most complex overlying and underlying units that were
reservoir sediments and therefore most modeled deterministically.
troublesome during history matching are Simulation requires intense collaboration
channel sands in the middle part of the between geologists and reservoir engineers,
Statfjord unit. It was therefore decided to a cross-disciplinary challenge that operators
construct a detailed probabilistic model of face in virtually every area of reservoir man-

31. Tollas JM and McKinney A: “Brent Field 3-D Reser- 32. Keijzer JH and Kortekaas TFM: “Comparison of
voir Simulation,” paper SPE 18306, presented at the Deterministic and Probabilistic Simulation Models
63rd SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibi- of Channel Sands in the Statfjord Reservoir, Brent
tion, Houston, Texas, USA, October 2-5, 1988. Field,” paper SPE 20947, presented at Europec 90,
The Hague, The Netherlands, October 22-24,1990.

January 1992 23
 Reservoir Geological 2nd 3rd Probabilistic agement. Other options and decisions in
Unit Simulation Simulation simulation reservoir development involve expertise
1 1 from a plethora of disciplines—drilling engi-
I 2 neering, environmental engineering, facili-
2 3 ties engineering to name a few. Integrating
4 them can be hard work.
3 5 Conoco (U.K.) Limited has identified sev-
II 6
4 7 eral factors that help.33 On a team of differ-
8 ent experts, there may have to be a boss,
Brent 9
but no single expertise should be allowed to
III 5 10 dominate. As far as management is willing
11 to devolve responsibility, the team should
12 set its own goals and audit its achievements.
IV 6 13 The team should be as independent as pos-
14 sible from the parent structure, and thus
have the freedom to react and make deci-
sions rapidly—in other words, act like
Shale
entrepreneurs (below, left ). Last, there must
be persistent cross-disciplinary communica-
tion and education, not only between
1 7
15 15 experts, but also a reaching out to financial
and business colleagues in the parent group.
Conoco put this theory into practice while
16
2 8 planning a highly deviated well in their geo-
17
Probabilistic logically complex North Sea Murchison
Statfjord
field. The well was intended to tap multiple
18 targets in the main field and south flank.
3.1 9
19 19 Geoscientists made a detailed interpretation
of the south flank so the planned well hit
10 20 20 the targets; drilling engineers decided if the
3.2
more than 80-degree well was drillable and
11 21 21
designed a casing program that could han-
dle the varying depletion pressures in the
nIncreasing complexity in modeling the producing layers in the Brent and Statfjord different units; and reservoir engineers
reservoirs of Shell and Esso’s North Sea Brent field. In the most recent simulation, sev- investigated whether the casing program
eral layers in the Statfjord reservoir were modeled probabilistically and sandwiched
between deterministic layers. (The first simulation, not shown, was made at very coarse could be simplified by shutting in existing
scale during the appraisal phase of the field.) producers or injectors to adjust these pres-
sure differentials. The design process was
Before nOrganizational iterative and had to involve partners and
changes that outside specialists. Yet, it was done speedily
Aberdeen London Conoco (U.K.) Ltd because all experts worked together and
implemented to
ensure a cross-dis- were in constant communication.
Exploration
ciplinary approach In tomorrow’s world, every aspect of
when planning a reservoir management will be developed
high-angle well in and managed through synergy—by integrat-
Engineering Drilling Development their North Sea
Murchison field. ing data, by coupling compatible method-
After restructuring, ologies and by building teams. Add better
Production Operations Reservoir Geology Geophysics the key disciplines measurements for seeing between wells and
(boxed)—drilling almost unimaginable increases in computer
engineers, geolo- power, and we may see hydrocarbon
After gists, reservoir
engineers and geo- exploitation becoming as much a science as
Aberdeen an art. —HE
physicists—all
worked in one team
in the same office. 33. King W and Warrender J: “The Murchison Field: A
(From King and War- Multidisciplinary Approach to Reservoir Manage-
Engineering Reservoir development
render, reference 33.) ment,” presented at Advances in Reservoir Technol-
ogy, Edinburgh, Scotland, February 21-22, 1991.

Drilling Reservoir Geology Geophysics

24 Oilfield Review