Innovative Use of Open-Hole Wireline Formation Pressure Testing in Waterflood Optimization of an Ultra-Tight, Light Oil Reservoir, Belridge Field

Zannitto, Peter Joseph; Rahman, Mahmoodur; Allan, Malcolm

doi:10.2118/144128-ms

Cited by 3 publications

References 12 publications

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The Challenges of Full Field Implementation of Fiber-Optic DTS for Monitoring Injection Profile in Belridge Field, California

Allan¹,

Rahman²,

Reed³

2013

All Days

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The Diatomite reservoir at the giant Belridge field, California, has been undergoing water injection for pressure maintenance to mitigate reservoir compaction and improve oil recovery. Accurate placement of injection water across this 1500 feet thick reservoir is essential for balancing voidage and reducing in-situ compaction. However, monitoring injection profile using conventional Radio-Active Tracer (RAT) technology has been a challenge due to the inability to access wellbores for logging because of scale build-ups and casing deformations.Field tests with Fiber-Optic Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) confirmed that the technology had the potential to replace the RAT for continuous monitoring of injection profile. However, moving from a successful pilot to full field implementation faced numerous challenges both technical and economic.To begin with, the wellbore had to be free of any restrictions for logging, stimulation, or workover activities. This meant that the fiber needed to be deployed outside the casing and cemented in place without creating a micro-annulus. The fiber and its control line also had to be installed in a way that would permit perforation for completion without damaging the fiber. Another installation challenge was to pull the control line and fiber through the wellhead mandrel, and secure the fiber from damage during rig move-out, and installation of the well-head and injection manifold.After these technical challenges were overcome, the operational challenge was how to make the whole installation procedure simple and fast enough to be integrated into Aera's lean manufacturing style of drilling process that takes less than three days to complete a well from spud to rig release.After resolving the technical and operational issues, the remaining and bigger challenge was how to make the acquisition and interpretation of this new DTS technology for monitoring of injection profile cheap enough to be incorporated in a "low-cost" environment where a producer makes less than 20 BOPD. With the potential for hundreds of injectors to be surveyed and analyzed each year, the cost breakthrough came when Aera decided to acquire its own profile surveys and develop its own software for processing and interpreting the data.A five-well permanent installation pilot followed by a 30-well survey acquisition program, and eventual development of data processing/interpretation software were successful in meeting the technical and economic challenges. The injection profiles from over 70 injection strings with DTS fibers are now being routinely surveyed and the interpreted results are being proactively used for waterflood surveillance and optimization. A 60-well per year program is currently in progress with plans for continued expansion in future years. This paper shows how innovative ideas and persistence can overcome technical and economic hurdles that often make new technologies unfeasible for old fields. The learnings from this project have potential application in converting low-cost brown fields to the di...

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The Challenges of Full Field Implementation of Fiber-Optic DTS for Monitoring Injection Profile in Belridge Field, California

Allan¹,

Rahman²,

Reed³

2013

All Days

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A Practical Approach to History Matching Premature Water Breakthrough in Waterflood Reservoir Simulation: Method and Case Studies in South Belridge Diatomite Waterflood

Yang¹,

Urdaneta²

2016

SPE Reservoir Evaluation &Amp; Engineering

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Summary Premature water breakthrough negatively affects waterfloods in low permeability, naturally fractured reservoirs such as the South Belridge Diatomite. Premature water breakthrough reduces the effectiveness of waterflooding by partially or entirely bypassing the reservoir matrix where most of the reservoir fluids are stored. Reservoir simulation is handicapped by the inability to accurately characterize the architecture of the natural and induced fractures that yield high conductivity flow paths between injectors and producers. Generally, reservoir simulation can only represent the effective fluid flow by ignoring the ineffective water production that bypasses the matrix. Detailed production performance analysis yields a practical approach to assist reservoir simulation in history matching the waterflood process under premature water breakthrough conditions. Basic reservoir and rock–fluid characterization parameters must be tuned by history match of primary production or before water injection related effects dominate fluid flow under waterflooding. The Y-function waterflood analytical method is used to diagnose premature water breakthrough on a well-to-well basis for the timing and duration. Effective water injection and production volumes are recalculated in reservoir simulation and used to achieve a history match that honors oil production, reservoir pressure level, and injection/production volume balance. A field-scale case study is presented to demonstrate the application and procedure of the proposed approach. The long-term waterflood prediction with the history match model has been validated by comparing with analytical method forecast as well as the up-to-date continuous waterflood field data (4.5 years after history match date in the last reservoir simulation project). The proposed practical approach makes reservoir simulation a meaningful predictive tool in waterflood reservoirs when premature water breakthrough is a significant issue.

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A Case Study of Formation Testing in Antelope Shale

Lal

Tran

Singh

2017

SPE Western Regional Meeting

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In new shale development, formation testing is critical to understanding reservoir properties and producibility. However, due to low permeability, a test usually takes much longer and can easily result in cost overruns. There are many ways to conduct formation testing such as drill pipe / tubing conveyed testing and coil-tubing or wireline testing. Formation wireline testing has advantage not only for its flexibility and combinable features but also for cost and time savings as compared to other methods. In a combination way, formation wireline tool can be run either through wireline alone or through the drill pipe for safety reasons. The Antelope Shale in Monterey Formation in San Joaquin Valley is siliceous shale that is thinly laminated, has relatively high porosity, low permeability, small pore throats, and varying degree of fracturing. Siliceous shale hydrocarbon reservoirs are not very common and little is known about their production characteristics. These are much more geologically complex than the conventional shale and tight rock reservoirs and the traditional conventional formation testing methods may not be directly applied to them. Little or no literature review can be found on running formation evaluation wireline tools in the Antelope Shale. In this paper, we discuss a case study of formation testing in Antelope Shale. The test was run with dual packers and downhole fluid analyzer in a vertical appraisal well to evaluate two intervals in the Antelope Shale. The run proved the value of formation testing method in terms of data collected versus cost & time. First, the drill pipe conveyed formation testing was selected among different methods to help characterize the reservoir and to measure fracture closure pressure to evaluate technologies that can lead to the development of tight reservoirs. Second, the microfracturing data collected from the formation testing job was used for designing the completion strategy to understand individual zone production such that we may target a single zone for future development. The additional values of the formation test were to measure formation pressure and collect fluid samples for Pressure, Volume, and Temperature (PVT) analysis to minimize uncertainties in key reservoir parameters. The job proved its pivot values for formation testing. However, the experience from planning and running the tool in this new tight rock reservoir are much more important to achieving the appraisal objectives. The combinable features of the tool enabled continuous onsite monitoring, on-the-fly operational decision making in sample depths in response to formation behavior, and optimizing sample chamber opening time to collect critical oil and water samples, while successfully acquiring the fracture closure pressure. These results may be difficult to achieve with other methods in a single run.

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Innovative Use of Open-Hole Wireline Formation Pressure Testing in Waterflood Optimization of an Ultra-Tight, Light Oil Reservoir, Belridge Field

Cited by 3 publications

References 12 publications

The Challenges of Full Field Implementation of Fiber-Optic DTS for Monitoring Injection Profile in Belridge Field, California

The Challenges of Full Field Implementation of Fiber-Optic DTS for Monitoring Injection Profile in Belridge Field, California

A Practical Approach to History Matching Premature Water Breakthrough in Waterflood Reservoir Simulation: Method and Case Studies in South Belridge Diatomite Waterflood

A Case Study of Formation Testing in Antelope Shale

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