Oilfield Review

Autumn 2001

Characterizing Permeability Improving Fluid Sampling Global Warming Selective Stimulation

The Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary

Do you know what the Udden-Wentworth scale is? Or what a blowout preventer does? Its easy to find the answer on the Schlumberger Web site. The Schlumberger Oilfield Glossary is a unique, multidisciplinary reference that defines hydrocarbon exploration, development and production terms for the technical generalist and expert alike. Technical experts review all definitions, from abnormal events to Zoeppritz equations. High-quality, full-color photographs and illustrations clarify many definitions. Winner of an Award of Excellence from the Business Marketing Association, the glossary currently contains more than 3600 terms, and eventually will comprise more than 7000 definitions. Join the virtual crowd and learn more about oilfield technology!

SMP-6096

Advancing Our Understanding of Permeability

With commercial production dating back to the 1870s, the hydrocarbon-producing industry has been in business longer than nearly any other. The fact that we are a mature industry does not mean we are stagnating. As articles in this issue of Oilfield Review show, we have continually advanced in technology, practice and understanding. One thing remains the same, however. The goal is still to produce hydrocarbon as fast as possible, as long as possible, and with minimal long-term consequences to environment and people. The collection of technologies amassed to do this is impressive, but their success depends on how well we understand the character of the reservoir that contains the hydrocarbons. The maturity of the industry, wherein many reservoirs worldwide have become depleted, has drawn attention to the importance of the variability and distribution of the properties within reservoirs. We have, in fact, been in a socalled reservoir-characterization phase of industry maturity for more than 10 years. And no reservoir property seems to benefit more from good characterization than permeability. Permeability is the property of a reservoir that describes how fluid flows through it, and we know quite a bit about it. We know that permeability is determined by the number and size of the pores within the reservoir. The pore size, in turn, depends on the size of the particles forming the medium, the amount of loading on the medium, and the amount of cements added after deposition. These complex dependences can defy efforts to correlate permeability with other properties such as porosity. We also know that while permeability can be measured in the laboratory, ways to measure it in the field are not as reliable. Pressure-transient analysis, a mature and often successful technology, can lead to measurements that are easily confounded by other effects, one of which is uncertainty about the volume of investigation. Permeability also seems to be the most variable of petrophysical properties within a reservoir. Ranges of 1000 or more from minimum to maximum are common. All reservoirs appear to show significant permeability heterogeneity, although regions within a reservoir can be fairly homogeneous. We have learned a great deal about the distribution of permeability during this reservoir-characterization period, much of it from cores and outcrop study. We know that sandstone heterogeneity appears to be set by the deposition of the solid material; carbonate heterogeneity, by what happened to it after deposition. Sandstone heterogeneity appears to be strongly correlated locally. This degree of correlation is directionally dependent; permeability is much more correlated horizontally (lateral or parallel to geologic beds) than vertically (perpendicular to beds). Heterogeneity in carbonate media is substantially greater than in sandstones. It is far less correlated locally than in sandstones, and the differences in correlation direction (vertical versus horizontal) are less than in sandstones. Both carbonates and sandstones lend themselves to layerlike descriptions. Sandstones are layer-like because of the strong horizontal correlation in their original deposition. Though post-deposition alterations tend to wipe out much of the local correlation in carbonates, the low-frequency portion that remains is strongly correlated and continues to bear the imprint of the deposition. These comments apply mainly to horizontal permeabilities. Much less is known about vertical permeabilities. These decrease with averaging scale but beyond that, we lack knowledge, primarily because of the difficulty of measuring this quantity at a scale that is meaningful for subsequent use. It is fairly obvious that the success of a horizontal well depends directly on having a large vertical permeability. What is less obvious is that vertical permeability seems to play a significant role in all recovery predictions. The article Characterizing Permeability with Formation Testers, page 2, looks into some of the issues associated with measuring vertical permeability. Several questions about permeability heterogeneity remain. For example, we do not understand why post-deposition effects should randomize permeability in carbonate reservoirs. Nor do we understand the distinction between fracture-dominated and stratigraphic-dominated production behavior. Work needs to be done to understand the averaging of horizontal and vertical permeability at progressively larger scales of measurement. Horizontal averages tend to increase with scale; vertical averages tend to decrease with scale. This issue is undoubtedly linked to the subject of permeability distribution, which still requires more understanding.

Larry W. Lake
Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering The University of Texas Austin, Texas, USA Larry W. Lake is a professor in the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas (UT) at Austin. He holds BSE and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from Arizona State University in Tempe, and Rice University in Houston, Texas, respectively. A prolific author, he has been teaching at UT for 22 years. Before this, he worked for the Shell Development Company in Houston. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) as well as on several of its committees, and has also been an SPE distinguished lecturer.

Advisory Panel Terry Adams Azerbaijan International Operating Co., Baku Antongiulio Alborghetti Agip S.p.A Milan, Italy Abdulla I. Al-Daalouj Saudi Aramco Udhailiyah, Saudi Arabia Syed A. Ali Chevron Petroleum Technology Co. Houston, Texas, USA Executive Editor Denny OBrien Advisory Editor Lisa Stewart Senior Editor Mark E. Teel Editors Gretchen M. Gillis Mark A. Andersen Matt Garber Contributing Editors Rana Rottenberg Malcolm Brown Julian Singer

Svend Aage Andersen Maersk Oil Kazakhstan GmBH Almaty, Republic of Kazakhstan George King BP Houston, Texas David Patrick Murphy Shell E&P Company Houston, Texas Richard Woodhouse Independent consultant Surrey, England Distribution David E. Bergt Design/Production Herring Design Mike Messinger Steve Freeman Illustration Tom McNeff Mike Messinger George Stewart Printing Wetmore Printing Company Curtis Weeks

Oilfield Review is pleased to announce the addition of Abdulla I. Al-Daalouj to its editorial advisory panel. Mr. Al-Daalouj graduated from King Fahd University for Petroleum and Minerals in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, with a degree in Petroleum Engineering. He joined Saudi Aramco in 1982 and has spent his career working in the upstream sector, predominately in petroleum engineering, producing and oil operations. He is currently ManagerSouthern Area Producing Engineering Department.

Oilfield Review is published quarterly by Schlumberger to communicate technical advances in finding and producing hydrocarbons to oilfield professionals. Oilfield Review is distributed by Schlumberger to its employees and clients. Oilfield Review is printed in the USA. Contributors listed with only geographic location are employees of Schlumberger or its affiliates. 2001 Schlumberger. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher. Address editorial correspondence to: Oilfield Review 225 Schlumberger Drive Sugar Land, Texas 77478 USA (1) 281-285-8424 Fax: (1) 281-285-8519 E-mail: obrien@sugar-land.oilfield.slb.com Address distribution inquiries to: David E. Bergt (1) 281-285-8330 Fax: (1) 281-285-8519 E-mail: dbergt@sugar-land.oilfield.slb.com Oilfield Review subscriptions are available from: Oilfield Review Services Barbour Square, High Street Tattenhall, Chester CH3 9RF England (44) 1829-770569 Fax: (44) 1829-771354 E-mail: orservices@t-e-s.co.uk Annual subscriptions, including postage, are 160.00 US dollars, subject to exchange rate fluctuations.

Schlumberger

Oilfield Review
2 Characterizing Permeability with Formation Testers Permeability controls reservoir performance but is difficult to determine, often changing dramatically with scale and direction. Modern wireline formation testers, equipped with packers and multiple probes, provide cost-effective permeability data not reliably available with other techniques. Case studies show how wireline-tester data, interpreted with new models, can now quantify the effects of small but crucial baffles and super-permeability streaks, as well as determine vertical and horizontal permeability at a length scale between those of cores and drillstem tests.

Autumn 2001 Volume 13 Number 3

24 Quantifying Contamination Using Color of Crude and Condensate Oil-base and synthetic-base mud filtrates contaminate openhole reservoirfluid samples, distorting fluid properties measured in a laboratory. These fluid properties influence development and production decisions with significant economic consequences. Now, monitoring hydrocarbon color allows a quantitative measure of contamination, improving the probability of collecting a valid fluid sample. In addition, a new, direct detection of methane downhole makes contamination measurement possible in gascondensate zones.

44 Global Warming and the E&P Industry The controversy surrounding global warming continues without a clear-cut consensus as to its extent or implications. We examine the evidence and the arguments, both pro and con, the advances being made in computer simulation of global climate systems and the proactive steps being taken by oil and gas companies and service suppliers to reduce the impact of oilfield operations on climate change.

Observed behavior Comparison and validation Climate-system model Computer simulation Predicted behavior

Update and refine model

60 Isolate and Stimulate Individual Pay Zones With coiled tubing as a conduit for proppant-laden fracturing fluids, single or multiple zones can be stimulated consecutively during a single mobilization. New tools selectively isolate target pay zones without conventional rigs or wireline intervention to set mechanical plugs. Individual zones are treated separately to achieve optimal fracture length and conductivity. Case studies demonstrate the expanding scope and economic benefits of this technique.

78 Contributors 82 New Books and Coming in Oilfield Review

Characterizing Permeability with Formation Testers

We never seem to know enough about permeability. We measure it at small scales through laboratory tests on cores. We infer it at large scales from well tests and production data. But to manage the development of a reservoir, we also need to quantify features at intermediate scales. This is where the versatility of wireline formation testers comes into play.
Cosan Ayan Aberdeen, Scotland Hafez Hafez Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Operations (ADCO) Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) Sharon Hurst Phillips Petroleum Beijing, China Fikri Kuchuk Dubai, UAE Aubrey OCallaghan Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela John Peffer Anadarko Hassi Messaoud, Algeria Julian Pop Sugar Land, Texas, USA Murat Zeybek Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Mahmood Akbar, Abu Dhabi, UAE. AIT (Array Induction Imager Tool), CQG (Crystal Quartz Gauge), FMI (Fullbore Formation MicroImager), MDT (Modular Formation Dynamics Tester), OFA (Optical Fluid Analyzer) and RFT (Repeat Formation Tester) are marks of Schlumberger. RDT (Reservoir Description Tool) is a mark of Halliburton. 1. In direct measurements of uid ow in rocks, the quantity measured is the mobility (permeability/viscosity). According to Darcys law, all uid effects are accounted for by the viscosity term, and permeability is independent of uid. In practice, this is not exactly true, even without chemical interactions between rock and uid. Absolute permeability is also known as intrinsic permeability. 2. The term radial permeability, kr, describes radial ow into a wellbore. In vertical wells, radial permeability is the same as horizontal permeability. Vertical permeability is written both as kv and kz. Spherical permeability is written as ks.

Oileld Review

Grid square

Modern wireline formation testers bring special knowledge about reservoir dynamics that no other tool can acquire. Through multiple pressure-transient tests, they can evaluate vertical as well as horizontal permeability. By measuring at a length scale between cores and well tests, they can quantify the effect of thin layers that are not seen by other techniques. These layers play a vital role in reservoir drainage, controlling gasand waterflood performance, and leading to unwanted gas and water entries. Modern wireline formation testers can also be a cost-effective, environmentally friendly alternative to regular drillstem and pressure-transient tests. This article shows how permeability measurements derived from wireline formation testers are contributing to reservoir understanding and making an impact on reservoir development. Which Permeability? Permeability determines reservoir and well performance, but the term can refer to many types of measurements. For example, permeability can be absolute or effective, horizontal or vertical. Permeability is dened as a formation property, independent of the uid. When a single uid ows through the formation, we can measure an absolute permeability that is more or less independent of the uid.1 However, when two or more uids are present, each reduces the ability of the other to ow. The effective permeability is the permeability of each uid in the presence of the others, and the relative permeability is the ratio of effective to absolute permeability. In a producing reservoir, we are most interested in effective permeability, initially of oil or gas in the presence of irreducible water, and later of oil, gas and water at different saturations. To further complicate matters, effective and absolute permeabilities can be signicantly different (see Conventional Permeability Measurements, page 6). Formations are usually anisotropic, meaning their properties depend on the direction in which they are measured. For uid-ow properties, we usually consider transversely isotropic formations, meaning formations in which the two horizontal permeabilities are the same and equal to kh, while the vertical permeability, kv, is different. Although more complicated formations exist, there are typically not enough measurements to quantify more than these two quantities. Permeability anisotropy can be dened as kv/kh, kh/kv, or the ratio of the highest to the lowest permeability. In this article we will use kh/kv, a quantity that is most often greater than 1.2

100

Depth, ft

200

300

400

500

100

200

300

400 500 600 Horizontal distance, ft

700

800

900

1000

> A cross section of an idealized reservoir that exhibits large-scale anisotropy caused by local heterogeneity. A sandstone reservoir (yellow) contains randomly distributed shales (gray). The vertical permeability for the whole reservoir is about 104 times less than the horizontal permeabilitya very large anisotropy. However, the small areas A and B are in isotropic sand and shale, respectively. The grid square, which might represent a reservoir-simulation block, has intermediate permeability anisotropy. Vertical permeability is close to the harmonic average of sand and shale permeabilities, while the horizontal permeability is the arithmetic average. [Adapted from Lake LW: The Origins of Anisotropy, Journal of Petroleum Technology 40, no. 4 (April 1988): 395396.]

The next complication is related to spatial distribution. Reservoir management would be much simpler if permeability were distributed uniformly, but, in practice, formations are complex and heterogeneousthat is, they have a range of values about two or more local averages. The number of measurements needed for a full description of a heterogeneous rock is impossibly high; moreover, the result of each measurement depends on its scale. For example, for an idealized reservoir comprising isotropic sand with randomly distributed isotropic shales, there are three scales to considermegascopic (the overall reservoir), macroscopic (the grid squares used in reservoir simulation), and mesoscopic (individual facies) (above). The megascopic anisotropy is very highbetween 103 and 105. However, areas A and B are isotropic, while the grid squares are intermediate, showing that the large-scale anisotropy is in fact caused by local heterogeneity. Measurements at different scales and in different locations will nd different values for both kh and kv and hence different anisotropy.

Which permeability to choose? In a singlephase, homogeneous reservoir, the question is irrelevantbut such reservoirs do not exist. Almost all reservoirs, and particularly carbonates, are highly stratied. For some formations, ow properties also vary laterally. For instance, in deltaic sandstone deposits, the worlds most prolic reservoirs, ow properties vary laterally because of the sorting of sediments according to size and weight during transport and deposition. Whether in sandstone or carbonate, as heterogeneity increases, the distribution of permeability becomes as important as its average value. Early in the life of a reservoir, the main concern is the average horizontal effective permeability to oil or gas, since this controls the productivity and completion design of individual wells. Later on, vertical permeability becomes important because of its effect on gas and water coning, as well as the productivity of horizontal and multilateral wells. The distribution of both horizontal and vertical permeability strongly affects reservoir performance and the amount of hydrocarbon recovery, while also determining the viability of secondaryand tertiary-recovery processes.

Autumn 2001

Baffles

Conduits

Sealing fault

Nonsealing fault

Healed fractures Mega and Macro

Open fractures

Low-permeability genetic units

High-permeability genetic units

Low-permeability stylolite

High-permeability stylolite

Tight laminations

Small fractures

Shale lenses

Vugs

Low-permeability recrystallization feature

High-permeability solution channel

> Permeability bafes and conduits at different length scales. In each case, reservoir management can be improved by quantifying the effects of these features.

The magnitude of permeability contrast becomes increasingly important with prolonged production. Thin layers, faults and fractures can have a dramatic effect on the movement of a gas cap, aquifer, and injected gas and water. For example, a low-permeability layer, or bafe, will impede the movement of gas downwards. A high-permeability layer, or conduit, will quickly bring unwanted water to a production well. Both can signicantly affect the sweep efciency and require a change in completion practices. Sound reservoir management depends on knowing not only the average horizontal permeability but also the permeability distribution laterally and vertically, and the conductivity of bafes and conduits (left). As has been known for a long time, reservoir heterogeneity is one of the major reasons why enhanced oil recovery is so difficult. Permeability heterogeneity, unexpected bafes and insufciently detailed reservoir evaluation are often the reasons that these projects fail to be economical.3 In normal reservoir-engineering practice, the main sources of average effective permeability are pressure-transient well testing and production tests. These are usually good indicators of overall well performance. Cores and logs are used, but often after some matching, or scaling up, to well-test results. Once a reservoir has been on production, conventional history matching gives information on average permeability, but cannot resolve its distribution. The presence of high- or low-permeability streaks and their distributions are inferred from cores and logs, but this information is qualitative rather than quantitative. Wireline formation testers (WFTs) have stepped into this gap, providing various measurements of permeability from simple drawdowns with a single probe to multilayer analyses with multiple probes. The latter were originally used mainly to determine anisotropy.4 With recently developed analytical techniques and further experience, multilayer analyses now provide quantitative information about permeability distribution. Wireline Formation Testers Early wireline formation testers were designed primarily to collect uid samples. Pressures were recorded, so that the pressure buildups at the end of sampling could be analyzed to determine permeability and formation pressure. In spite of the limited gauge resolution and the few data points available, the results were often an important input to formation evaluation. Now, buildups acquired after sampling are still analyzed to obtain an estimate of permeability at little extra cost. The Schlumberger RFT Repeat Formation Tester tool introduced the pretest, a short test

Meso

Giga

3. Weber AG and Simpson RE: Gaseld Development Reservoir and Production Operations Planning, Journal of Petroleum Technology 38, no. 2 (February 1986): 217-226. 4. Ayan C, Colley N, Cowan G, Ezekwe E, Wannel M, Goode P, Halford F, Joseph J, Mongini A, Obondoko G and Pop J: Measuring Permeability Anisotropy: The Latest Approach, Oileld Review 6, no. 4 (October 1994): 24-35. 5. The so-called drawdown permeability is calculated as kd = C q /pss in units of mD, where q is the ow rate in cm3/s, is the uid viscocity in cp, and pss is the measured drawdown pressure in psi (and therefore includes any pressure drop due to mechanical skin). C, the owshape factor, depends on the effective radius of the probe, and equals 5660 for the standard RFT and MDT Modular Formation Dynamics Tester probes and the units given.

6. Dussan EB and Sharma Y: Analysis of the Pressure Response of a Single-Probe Formation Tester, SPE Formation Evaluation 7, no. 2 (June 1992): 151-156. 7. Jensen CL and Mayson HJ: Evaluation of Permeabilities Determined from Repeat Formation Tester Measurements Made in the Prudhoe Bay Field, paper SPE 14400, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, September 22-25, 1985. 8. Goode PA and Thambynayagam RKM: Inuence of an Invaded Zone on a Multiple Probe Formation Tester, paper SPE 23030, presented at the SPE Asia Pacic Conference, Perth, Western Australia, Australia, November 4-7, 1991. We might expect the buildup permeability to be higher than kd since, by reading farther into the formation, it should read closer to the effective permeability of the formation to oil or gas. However, in general experience, the buildup permeability reads lower.

Oileld Review

initially designed to determine whether a point was worth sampling. To the surprise of many, pretest pressure turned out to be representative of reservoir pressure. As a result, pressure measurements became the main WFT application. Permeability could be estimated from both the drawdown and the buildup during a pretest. Since a reliable pressure gradient required pretests at several depths, much more permeability data became available. With tens of test points in a single well, it became easier to establish a permeability prole and compare results with core and other sources. Pretests continue to be an important feature of modern tools, although the reliability of the permeability estimate varies. Since pretests sample a small volume, typically 5 to 20 cm3 [0.3 to 1.2 in.3], the drawdown permeability, kd, can be overly inuenced by formation damage and other near-wellbore features.5 Detailed analysis shows that kd is closest to kh, although it is inuenced by kv.6 The volume of investigation is signicantly larger than that of a core plug, but of the same order of magnitude. However, kd is typically the effective permeability to mud ltrate in the invaded zone rather than the absolute permeability as obtained from core. Although some good correlations between the two have been found, kd is generally considered to be the minimum likely permeability.7 Nevertheless, it can be computed automatically at the wellsite, and is still used regularly as a qualitative indicator of productivity. Pretest buildups investigate farther into the formation than drawdowns, several feet if the

gauge resolution is sufciently high and the buildup is recorded long enough. Except in lowpermeability formations, buildup time is short, so that the tool may be measuring the permeability of either the invaded zone, the noninvaded zone, or some combination of the two.8 As in the interpretation of any pressure-transient data, ow regimes are identied by looking for characteristic gradients in the rate of change of pressure with time. For pretest buildups in which the ow regimes are spherical and occasionally radial, consistent gradients often prove hard to nd, and even then may be affected by small changes in

the pretest sampling volume. For reliable results, each pretest must be analyzeda time-consuming process. Today, the analysis of short pretest buildups for permeability is rare, mainly because there are much better ways to obtain permeability with modern tools. Modular Wireline Formation Testers The third-generation WFT is the modular tester. This tool can be congured with different modules to satisfy different applications, or to handle varying conditions of well and formation (below).

6.6 ft 8 ft ~3 ft 2.3 ft Input port

A Usually Sometimes ks kh

B kh,kv

C kh,kv

D kh,kv,Ct

E kh,kv,Ct

F ks and/or kh

G kh,kv

H kh,kv

Ct

Ct

> Typical MDT tool congurations for permeability measurements: single probe with sample chamber and ow-control module (A); a sink, normally the bottom probe, with one (B) or two (C) vertical observation probes; dual-probe module with one (D) or two (E) vertical probes; mini-DST conguration with dual-packer and pumpout module (F); dual-packer module with one (G) or two (H) vertical probes. The ow-control module, sample chamber and pumpout module can be added to any conguration. When only one pressure transient is recorded, as in (A) and (F), permeability determination depends on identifying particular ow regimes, type-curve matching or parameter estimation using a forward model. With one or more vertical probes, as in the other congurations, it is possible to perform a local interference test, also known as an interval pressure-transient test (IPTT). With these tests, interpreters can determine kv and kh for a limited number of layers near the tool. Storativity, Ct, can be determined with the dual-probe module, and sometimes when three vertical transients are available, as in (C) and (H). With other congurations, it must be determined from other data. Pretest drawdown and buildup permeabilities can be determined with the dual-packer module and each probe in all congurations.

Autumn 2001

Conventional Permeability Measurements

Pressure-transient analysis, production tests, history data, cores and logs are all used to estimate permeability. Each measurement has different characteristics, advantages and disadvantages. Core dataRoutine core measurements give absolute, or intrinsic, permeability. In shaly reservoirs with high water saturation or in oilwet reservoirs, the effective permeability can be signicantly lower than the absolute permeability (right). Core data are taken on samples that have been moved to surface and cleaned, so that measurement conditions are not the same as those made in situ. Some of these conditions, such as downhole stress, can be simulated on surface. Others, such as clay alteration and stress-relief cracks, may not be reversible. To be useful for reservoir characterization, there should be enough core samples to capture sufciently the reservoir heterogeneityvarious statistical rules exist to determine how many samples are required. But it is not always possible to capture a statistically valid range of samples even in one well. Highly porous samples may fall out of the core barrel, while cutting plugs from very tight intervals is difcult. Some analysts prefer permeameter measurements because more samples can be taken.1 Averaging, or scaling up, is another tricky issue. For layered ow, the arithmetic average, kav =[ki hi/ hi], is the most appropriate for the horizontal permeability. For random two-dimensional ow, it is the geometric average, kav =[ ki hi / hi], while for the vertical permeability, the harmonic average, kav =[ki-1 hi/ hi]-1, is important.2 Log dataLogs measure porosity and other quantities that are related to pore size, for example irreducible water saturation and nuclear magnetic resonance parameters.3 Permeability can be estimated from these measurements using a suitable empirical relationship. This relationship normally must be calibrated for each reservoir or area to more direct measurements, usually cores, but sometimes, after scaling up, to pressure-transient results. The main use of log-derived permeability is to provide continuous estimates in all wells. On the economic side, cores and logs have many applications, so that the extra cost of obtaining permeability from them is relatively small.

Water-wet
1.0 0.8

Relative permeability

kro
0.6 0.4

krw
0.2 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Oil-wet
1.0 0.8

Sw

Relative permeability

kro
0.6

krw
0.4 0.2 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Sw

> Typical relative-permeability curves for oil and water in a water-wet

reservoir (top) and an oil-wet reservoir (bottom). Effective permeabilities are relative permeabilities multiplied by the absolute permeability. Points A and A represent the typical situation for a wireline formation tester drawdown measurement in water-base mud. In a water-wet reservoir, the ltrate ows in the presence of 20% residual oil and has a relative permeability of 0.3. Points B and B represent the typical situation for pressuretransient analysis in an oil reservoir. In a water-wet reservoir, the oil ows in the presence of 20% irreducible water and has a relative permeability of 0.9. Points A, A, B and B are also known as endpoint permeabilities. Some engineers refer relative permeabilities to the effective permeability to oil rather than the absolute permeability, as shown here.

Well testsPressure-transient analysis of well tests measures the average in-situ, effective permeability of the reservoir. However, the results have to be interpreted from the change of pressure with time. Interpreters use several techniques, including the analysis of specic ow regimes, and matching the transient to type curves or a formation model. In conventional tests, the well is produced long enough to sample up to the reservoir boundaries. Impulse tests produce for a short time and are useful for wells that do not ow to surface. In both cases, but especially for impulse tests, there is not necessarily any unique solution for permeability.

In most conventional tests, the goal is to measure the transmissivity (khh/) during radial ow. The reservoir thickness, h, can be estimated at the borehole, but is it the same tens and hundreds of feet into the reservoir where the pressure changes are taking place? In practice, other informationgeological models and seismic datahelps improve results. With conventional well tests, the degree of heterogeneity can be detected, but the permeability distribution cannot be determined and there is no vertical resolution.

Oileld Review

Economically, well tests are expensive from the point of view of both equipment and rig time. Well tests are also undertaken to obtain a uid sample so that the incremental cost of determining permeability may be small. However, obtaining high-quality permeability data often requires long shut-in times and extra equipment such as downhole valves, gauges and owmeters.4 Production tests and production history An average effective permeability can be obtained from the ow rate and pressure during steady-state production, preferably from specic tests at different ow rates. Skin and other near-wellbore effects have to be known or assumed. An average permeability can also be determined from production-history data by adjusting the permeability until the correct history of production is obtained. However, in both cases, the permeability distribution cannot be obtained reliably. In the presence of layering or heterogeneity, this is a highly nonlinear inverse problem, for which there can be more than one solution. In the absence of other data, permeability is often related to porosity. In theory, the relation is weakthere are porous media that have been leached to give high porosity with zero permeability, and others that have been fractured to give the opposite. However, in practice, there do exist well-sorted sandstone reservoirs with a consistent porosity-permeability relation. Other reservoirs are less simple. For carbonate rocks in particular, microporosity and fractures make it almost impossible to relate porosity and lithofacies to permeability.
1. Zheng S-Y, Corbett PWM, Ryseth A and Stewart G: Uncertainty in Well Test and Core Permeabilty Analysis: A Case Study in Fluvial Channel Reservoirs, Northern North Sea, Norway, AAPG Bulletin 84, no. 12 (December 2000): 19291954. 2. Pickup GE, Ringrose PS, Corbett PWM, Jensen JL and Sorbie KS: Geology, Geometry, and Effective Flow, paper SPE 28374, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, September 25-28, 1994. 3. Herron MM, Johnson DL and Schwartz LM: A Robust Permeability Estimator for Siliclastics, paper SPE 49301, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, September 2730, 1998. 4. Modern Reservoir Testing. SMP-7055, Houston, Texas, USA: Schlumberger Wireline & Testing, 1994.

Some of these modules are particularly relevant for permeability measurements. The descriptions of the modules below refer to the Schlumberger MDT Modular Formation Dynamics Tester tool, unless otherwise specied. The single-probe moduleThis module provides communication between the reservoir and the tool. It consists of the probe assembly, pretest chamber, strain and quartz pressure gauges, and resistivity and temperature sensors. The probe assembly has a small packer, which contains the actual probe. When a tool is set, telescoping backup pistons press the packer assembly against the borehole wall. The probe is pressed farther through the mudcake into contact with the formation. Special probe-assembly designs are available for difcult conditions.9 Communication is established with the formation by a short pretest, after which the module can withdraw uids for sampling or act as a passive monitor of pressure changes. The dual-probe moduleThis module consists of two probe assemblies mounted in xed positions on the same mandrel. In the Halliburton RDT Reservoir Description Tool, the probes are mounted above one another, separated by a few inches and facing the same way.10 One probe, known as the sink probe, withdraws uids, while the other monitors the pressure transient. In the MDT tool, the two probe assemblies are mounted diametrically opposite each other on the mandrel.11 One probe is a sink while the other, known as the horizontal probe, is solely a monitor with no sampling capability. The main purpose of the dual-probe module is to combine with a vertical probe to determine kh, kv and storativity (Ct) through a local interference test or, to use a more specic name, the interval pressuretransient test (IPTT).12 By withdrawing fluid through the sink, three pressure transients can be recorded at three different locations along the wellbore, two of which are from monitor probes and are not contaminated by the effects of tool storage, skin and cleanup.13 The dual-packer moduleThis module has two packer elements that are inated to isolate a borehole interval of about 1 m [3.3 ft]. Once these are inated, uid is withdrawn, rst from the isolated interval, and then from the formation. Since a large section of the borehole wall is now open to the formation, the uid-ow area is several thousand times larger than that of conventional probes. This offers important advantages in both low- and high-permeability formations, and in other situations.

Probes are sometimes ineffective when set in laminated, shaly, fractured, vuggy, unconsolidated or low-permeability formations. The dual packer allows pressure measurements and sampling in these conditions. Used alone, the dual packer makes a small version of a standard drillstem test (DST) that is known as a mini-drillstem test, or mini-DST. Since the mini-DST opens up only 1 meter of formation, it acts as a limited-entry test from which both kv and kh may be determined under favorable conditions. Used in combination with one or more vertical probes, the dual packer can record an IPTT. The pressure drop during drawdown is typically much smaller than that obtained with a probe. Thus, it is easier to ensure that oil is produced above its bubblepoint, and that unconsolidated sands do not collapse. Also, with a smaller pressure drop, uids can be pumped at a higher rate, so that for the same time period, a larger volume of formation uid can be withdrawn and a deeper-reading pressure pulse created.
9. For the MDT tool these include: large-area packers for tight formations; large-diameter probes for unconsolidated as well as tight formations; long-nosed probes for unconsolidated formations and thick mudcakes; and gravel-pack probes and a large-area lter similar to an automobile oil lter for extremely unconsolidated sands (the Martineau probe). 10. Proett MA, Wilson CC and Batakrishna M: Advanced Permeability and Anisotropy Measurements While Testing and Sampling in Real-Time Using a Dual Probe Formation Tester, paper SPE 62919, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, Texas, USA, October 1-4, 2000. 11. Zimmerman T, MacInnes J, Hoppe J, Pop J and Long T: Applications of Emerging Wireline Formation Testing Technologies, paper OSEA 90105, presented at the 8th Offshore Southeast Asia Conference, Singapore, December 4-7, 1990. 12. The term vertical interference test (VIT) is also used for vertical wells. The terms local interference test and interval pressure-transient test are appropriate for deviated or horizontal wells. Storativity is the product of porosity, , and total rock compressibility, Ct, which is the sum of the solid compressibility, Cr, and the uid compressibility, Cf . When not measured by an IPTT, Cf must be estimated from uid properties and Cr from knowledge of the solid framework based on acoustic logs, porosity and other data. If there is more than one uid, the saturation of each uid is estimated from logs or sample volumes. 13. Skin is dened as the extra pressure drop caused by near-wellbore damage (mechanical skin), ow convergence in a partially penetrated bed, and viscoinertial ow effects (usually ignored). The ow-convergence factor can be calculated from knowledge of bed thickness and test interval. Tool storage is due to the compressibility of the uid in the tool, and causes the measured ow rate to be different from the actual ow rate at the formation surface, or sandface. Cleanup refers to the increase in ow rate as the ow of uids removes formation damage near the borehole.

Autumn 2001

The pumpout moduleThis module pumps uid from the formation into the mud column, and from one part of the tool to another. Pumping into the mud column allows much larger volumes of uid to be withdrawn than when sampling into xed-volume sample chambers. The module can also pump uid from one part of the tool to another; from the mud column into the tool, for example to inate the packer elements; or into the interval between the packers to initiate a small hydraulic fracture. For permeability measurements, the pumpout module is capable of sustaining a constant, measured ow rate during drawdown, thereby simplifying considerably the interpretation of pressure transients. The ow rate though the pump depends on the pressure differential, increasing at low differential to a maximum of 45 cm3/s [0.7 gal/min]. At very high differential, such as in a tight rock, the pump may not be able to maintain a constant rate. The ow-control moduleThis module withdraws up to 1000 cm3 [0.26 gal] of uid from the formation while controlling and measuring the ow rate. The uid withdrawn is either sent to a sample chamber or pumped into the borehole. The module works in various modes such as constant flow rate, constant pressure and ramped pressure, and can also draw repeated pulses of uid from the formation. The time for pulses to arrive at a vertical probe is an important input in the determination of kv. Since the ow-control module can control ow rate precisely, it can regulate the withdrawal of sensitive formation uids into small-volume pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) sample bottles. This is important for the sampling of condensate reservoirs. (For more on sampling, see Quantifying Contamination Using Color of Crude and Condensate, page 24). All these features provide many ways to measure permeability, ranging from simple pretest drawdown to multiple probes and dual packers (right). For the most reliable in-situ determination of permeability and anisotropy, experience has shown that interference tests should be performed with multiple pressure transients. Results from other methods will always be more ambiguous, but can still be useful, and even good, estimates in the right conditions. One such technique is the mini-DST.

Flow Source Probe

Advantages Simplest method of establishing communication with formation Multiple probes can be added in one tool string Easier to test fractured, vuggy and tight formations At same flow rate as probe, less drawdown helps avoid gas and sanding For same time period as probe, more fluid is withdrawn, creating deeper pulse

Limitations Difficult to get good tests in fractured, vuggy and tight formations (difficult to withdraw fluids, seal failures) High drawdowns in low k/ formations may release gas, complicating analysis Fear (usually unjustified) of sticking or of releasing gas slug into borehole Low drawdown may give insignificant signals at vertical probes in high k/ formations

Dual packer

Probe Pretest Drawdown Automatic computation, available during acquisition Many (tens) of pretests often recorded for pressure, allowing qualitative comparisons Deeper radius of investigation than drawdown Many (tens) of pretests often recorded for pressure, allowing qualitative comparisons Small volume of investigation (inches) Measures effective permeabiliby to mud filtrate Small sampling volume, cleanup and tool storage can make analysis difficult Measures effective permeability to mud filtrate, formation fluid or a mixture of the two

Buildup

Single-Transient Analysis Dual-packer mini-DST or extended drawdown and buildup with probe Data available while sampling Gives ks and/or kh and can avoid costly DST Need a particular combination of formation properties and thickness to get both kv and kh Need to know Ct to get ks, and need to know h to get kh Tool storage, skin, free gas and continuous cleanup can complicate analysis (especially with probe)

Dual-Transient IPTT Dual packer + probe or tandem probes Gives kh and kv The simplest configuration for an IPTT Need to have a good idea of Ct Sink drawdown and early buildup affected by tool storage, skin, free gas and cleanup

Multiple-Transient IPTT Three probe (sink, horizontal and vertical) Second vertical probe Analysis can be done without sink drawdown Gives Ct as well as kh and kv Best configuration for layered reservoirs, faults and fractures Analysis can be done without sink drawdown Smaller vertical investigation than other IPTT configurations (sometimes an advantage) Longer tool

> Features of the ow sources and methods used to derive permeability from the MDT tool.

Oileld Review

Mini-DSTs In a standard DST, drillers isolate an interval of the borehole and induce formation uids to ow to surface, where they measure ow volumes before burning or sending the uids to a disposal tank. For safety reasons, many DSTs require the well to be cased, cemented and perforated beforehand. The MDT tool, in particular the dualpacker module, provides similar functions to a DST but on wireline and at a smaller scale. The advantages of the mini-DST are less cost and no uids to surface. Cost benets come from cheaper downhole equipment, shorter operating time and the avoidance of any surface-handling equipment. On offshore appraisal wells, cost savings can be more than $5 million. With no uids owing to surface, there are no problems of uid disposal, no surface safety issues and no problems with local environmental regulations. MiniDSTs are much easier to plan and can test multiple stations on the same tripusually a sufcient number to sample the entire reservoir interval. The mini-DST has disadvantages: it investigates a smaller volume of formation due to the smaller packed-off interval (3 ft versus tens of feet), and withdraws a smaller amount of uid at a lower ow rate. In theory, we may be able to extend the tests and withdraw large amounts of uid, but in practice, there may be a limit to how long the tool can safely be left in the hole.14 The actual depth of investigation of a wireline tester depends on formation permeability and other factors, but is of the order of tens of feet, rather than the hundreds of feet seen by a normal DST. The smaller volume of investigation is not necessarily a disadvantage. A full DST reveals the average reservoir characteristics and assesses the initial producibility of a well. Permeability variations will be averaged, and although they contribute to the average, they are neither located nor quantied. With the help of logs, the smaller volume mini-DST can evaluate key intervals. The procedure for interpreting pressure transients from mini-DSTs is the same as for full DSTs and the same software can be used for both. TotalFinaElf used mini-DSTs in the Arab reservoir of an aging Middle East eld to look for zones with moveable oil and to calibrate the permeability anisotropy used in a simulation model.15 Since the packed-off interval rarely covers the whole reservoir, a mini-DST is a limited-entry, or partially penetrating, well test. To determine formation parameters, interpreters need to identify ow regimes in the buildup. In a homogeneous layer, there are three ow regimes: early radial ow around the packed-off interval, pseudospherical ow until the pressure pulse reaches a boundary,

and nally total radial ow between upper and lower no-ow boundaries. Rarely are all three seen because tool storage effects can mask the early radial ow, while the distance to the nearest barrier determines whether or not the other regimes are developed during the test period.16 However, it has been common to observe a pseudospherical ow regime, and occasionally total radial ow in buildup tests (below). On a log-log plot of the pressure derivative versus a particular function of time, spherical ow is identied by a slope of 0.5, and radial ow by a stabilized horizontal line. 2 k ) can be Spherical permeability, ks= 3(kh v estimated from a pressure-derivative plot during spherical ow or from a separate specialized

plot.17 Horizontal permeability, kh, can be estimated from a pressure-derivative plot during radial ow, or from a specialized plot of pressure versus Horner time, provided the thickness of the interval is known.18 In this case, the thickness was obtained from openhole logs, particularly images from the Schlumberger FMI Fullbore Formation MicroImager tool. When both spherical- and radial-ow regimes occurred, the interpreters could estimate vertical permeability, kv, from kh and ks. These initial estimates were combined with the geological data to build a model of formation properties. Different analytical techniques, such as type-curve matching, were then used to match the full pressure transient and improve the permeability estimates.

1000

Measured pressure difference Measured derivative Model pressure difference Model derivative

Pressure difference, psia, and derivative

100

10

Spherical flow
0.1

Radial flow

0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000

Time since end of drawdown, sec

Type-curve parameters: kh = 39 mD kv = 24 mD = 1 cp Thickness of zone = 8 m Mechanical skin = 1.3

> Pressure difference and the derivative of pressure with respect to a function of time for the buildup at the end of a typical mini-DST. The pressure difference is between the measured pressure and a reference taken near the end of the drawdown period. The derivative is calculated from dp/dln[(tp+t)/t] where tp is the producing time and t is the time since the end of the drawdown. We identify spherical ow by the slope of 0.5 on the log-log derivative, and radial ow by the slope of 0 (horizontal). The solid lines are the results of a type curve, or model, computed with the parameters in the table.
14. In one recent job, the pumpout module was run continuously for 36 hours. In another job, the dual-packer module was in the hole for 11 days. 15. Ayan C and Nicolle G: Reservoir Fluid Identication and Testing with a Modular Formation Tester in an Aging Field, paper SPE 49528, presented at the 8th Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, Abu Dhabi, UAE, October 11-14, 1998. 16. Tool storage includes the compressibility of the uid between the packers. A common model is to relate the sandface ow rate, qsf, to the measured ow rate, q, and the rate of change of pressure by a constant, C: qsf = q+24Cdp/dt. The very early part of a buildup is dominated by wellbore storage, also called afterow. C can be estimated from the rate of change of pressure at this time. 17. On a specialized spherical plot, the slope, msp during spherical ow is given by: msp = 2453q(Ct)/ks3/2 in oileld units, where is usually taken from logs, and q, the ow rate, is measured or estimated. The viscocity, , is determined from the PVT properties of the mobile uids. If there is more than one mobile uid, their saturations are estimated from logs or sample volumes. 18. Horner time is [(tp+t)/t] where tp is the drawdown time, and t is the time since the end of the drawdown. The slope, mr , during radial ow is given by mr = 162q/khh, where h is the thickness of the formation interval, and the other terms are dened in reference 17.

Autumn 2001

TotalFinaElf recorded ten tests in two wells, one of which was cored. Both kv and kh were subsequently measured on core plugs sampled every 0.25 or 0.5 m [9.8 or 19.6 in.], and compared with the mini-DST results (below). Care was taken to scale up the core data to the mini-DST interval and to convert from absolute to effective permeability. For some of the tests, pressure-transient data were also available from two probes in the MDT tool string, making it possible to compare mini-DST results with results from a full IPTT as

well as from core samples. The IPTTs measure larger volumes of formation, yet the results generally agree with the mini-DST, especially for the near probe. The fact that the different measurements agree suggests that the formations may be relatively homogeneous, or that the scaling up of the core data was appropriate. While this good agreement validates the use of a mini-DST in these conditions, it is inadvisable to assume the same degree of homogeneity in other formations.

Horizontal Permeability
600

500

Permeability, mD

400

Mini-DST Core IPTT (V1) IPTT (V2)

300

200

100

Vertical permeability
0 1 2 3 4 5

Test number
Vertical Permeability
35 30 25

Permeability, mD

20 15 10 5 0 1 0 2 3

Mini-DST Core IPTT (V1) IPTT (V2)

Test number

> Comparison of the horizontal (top) and vertical (bottom) permeabilities measured by mini-DSTs, cores and IPTTs. The core data were averaged over each mini-DST test interval and converted to effective permeability using relative-permeability curves. Arithmetic averaging was used for horizontal permeabilities, and harmonic averaging for vertical permeabilities. The IPTT data are from the same tests as the mini-DSTs, but using two probes: V1 at 2 m [6.6 ft] and V2 at 4.45 m [14.6 ft] above the packer interval. The intervals tested are therefore different. In this case, the agreement between the different measurements is generally good.

Cased-Hole Mini-DSTs Phillips Petroleum, operating in the Peng Lai eld offshore China, found that cased-hole mini-DSTs were a valuable complement to full DSTs and openhole WFTs in evaluating their reservoir.19 Like many operators, they initially ran mini-DSTs to obtain high-quality PVT samples, but then found that the pressure-transient data contained valuable information. Peng Lai eld consists of a series of stacked, unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs with heavy oil11 to 21 APIof low gas/oil ratio (GOR), whose properties vary widely with depth. Testing each reservoir in each well with full DSTs was proving expensive, and was not always successful. Among other factors, the handling of the heavy oil at surface caused each DST to last between ve and seven days. Large drawdowns, which were sometimes needed to lift the oil to surface, caused the formation to collapse and the near-wellbore pressure to drop below the bubblepoint. As a result, mini-DSTs were an attractive alternative for all but the largest zones. With a probe, the drawdowns were too high, while unstable boreholes and high pressure differentials made openhole wireline testing with a dual-packer module risky. Phillips answer was to run the dual packer in cased holes. By the end of 2000, they had performed 27 cased-hole miniDSTs in seven wells. In one typical test, they identied a 3-ft low-resistivity zone that was isolated from the main reservoir at the well by thin shales above and below (next page, left). After cement isolation was checked, a 1-ft [30-cm] interval was perforated, and the MDT dual packers were set across it. Communication was established, and the formation uid was pumped into the borehole until the oil fraction stabilized (next page, top right). Two oil samples were taken, and after an additional drawdown, a pressure buildup was recorded over 2 hours. The total testing time of 16 hours would normally be considered excessive and risky in openhole conditions, but presented no problem in cased hole. The pressure derivative during buildup shows a short period of probable spherical ow followed by a period of radial ow (next page, bottom right). With initial values of ks and kh from ow-regime identication, the buildup data were matched with a limited-entry model, assuming a formation thickness of 3 ft with no outer boundaries. The match is excellent. The high horizontal permeability (2390 mD) and the low vertical permeability (6 mD) were not surprising for this zone. Overall, a zone that looked doubtful on logs proved not only to be oil-bearing but also to have excellent producibility.

10

Oileld Review

Depth, ft

SP
-100 mV 0

Gamma Ray
0 API 150 1

Resistivity
ohm-m 1000 45

Porosity
p.u. 0 1800

X00

Initial buildup Sampling Buildup

X10

Pressure, psia

1700

Oil breakthrough

X20

X30

1600

Pump rate, rpm

Perforations
X40

600 300 0 0 1 2 3 4 5

300-rpm constant pump rate

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

X50

Time, hr
X60

> Gamma ray, resistivity and porosity logs across a low-resistivity reservoir in the Peng Lai eld, offshore China. The mini-DST was performed in a thin 3-ft zone that is isolated above and below by thin shale beds (gray) within a larger reservoir. Any oil found in this zone was expected to be about 13 API with high viscosity.

> Pressure and pump rate during the cased-hole mini-DST from Peng Lai eld. After communication was established with the formation, the pump withdrew invasion uids until oil broke through. Once the oil fraction had stabilized (as measured by the OFA Optical Fluid Analyzer tool, not shown), two samples were taken. After one additional drawdown, a 2-hr buildup was recorded. Minimum drawdown pressure was 164 psi [1130 kPa], at or above the expected bubblepoint pressure, thereby avoiding free gas. The solid pressure line is the result predicted by the limited-entry model.

Mini-DST Limitations In spite of these good results, the permeability measurements have some limitations. The lack of an observation probe means that the only pressure transient comes from the pressure sink, which is affected by skin and tool storage. Both skin and storage inuence the early part of the buildup and make identication of ow regimes and interpretation more difcult. Later in the buildup there needs to be the right combination of formation properties and bed thickness for signicant periods of both spherical and radial ow to be observed. The radial-ow interpretation depends directly on identifying bed boundaries, while spherical-ow interpretation depends on knowing the storativity. Thus, it is difcult to determine both kv and kh simultaneously. Finally, several factors can make a single transient hard to interpret. These include gas evolution near the wellbore, pressure and owrate variations due to continuous cleanup, and noisy drawdown pressures from pump strokes. Pressure measurements at observation probes are not usually affected by these phenomena. Since these probes are higher up the string, they also increase the volume investigated.
19. Hurst SM, McCoy TF and Hows MP: Using the Cased Hole Formation Tester for Pressure Transient Analysis, paper SPE 63078, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, Texas, USA, October 1-4, 2000.

1000

Pressure difference, psia, and derivative

Model parameters: kh = 2390 mD kv = 6 mD = 300 cp Thickness of zone = 3 ft Skin = + 5.5 Depth of investigation = 80 ft

Pressure difference

100

10

Pressure derivative

Spherical flow
1 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1

Radial flow

10

Time since end of drawdown, hr

> Pressure difference and derivative for the buildup at the end of the Peng Lai test. Spherical ow is identied by the slope of 0.5 on the derivative and radial ow by the slope of zero. The solid lines are the predictions of a limited-entry model using the parameters in the table.

Autumn 2001

11

UAE Carbonate Permeability kh (Core)

0.1 mD 1000

kv (Layered Model)
0.1 mD

1000 Permeability

No Core

UAE Carbonate Porosity

X100 0.1 X110

kh (Layered Model)
mD 1000

Layer No.

IPTTs have proved to be an effective means for determining permeability distribution near the wellbore; in fact, they are the preferred method for layered systems. Mini-DSTs are usually run when the main objective is to recover a uid sample, or to measure reservoir pressure, particularly in tight or heterogeneous formations. Permeability is an additional parameter with which to judge the producibility of the interval. Interval Pressure-Transient Test An IPTT run in a carbonate reservoir in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) illustrates the sequence of operations and methods employed in a full analysis.20 This reservoir has distinct, contrasting layers that appear to extend over large areas. Reservoir management and the design of secondary-recovery schemes depend strongly on knowing the vertical and horizontal permeabilities and the communication between layers. In particular, the implementation of an injection scheme depends on the permeability of several low-porosity, stylolitic intervals. Will the stylolites act as bafes to injected uid and severely affect sweep efciency? The stylolitic intervals may be thinner than 1 ft, but can be observed on logs and cores (left). However, their effectiveness as barriers is not clear. They can be correlated between wells, but their lateral continuity and permeability are uncertain. Cores could not be recovered from
20. Kuchuk FJ, Halford F, Hafez H and Zeybek M: "The Use of Vertical Interference Testing to Improve Reservoir Characterization," paper ADIPEC 0903, presented at the 9th Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Conference and Exhibition, Abu Dhabi, UAE, October 15-18, 2000.

1 2 3 4

X120

X130

5
X140

6
X150

87 9 10 11

X160

X170

12 13 14 15 16

X180

X190

Depth, ft

X200

17 18

X210

19 20

X220

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

X230

X240

X250

28 29
X260

X270

30

X280

31
X290

< Log porosity in a layered carbonate (left). The low-porosity streaks are stylolites. The positions of the packer and the probes at each test location were chosen to straddle the stylolites. The right track shows the layered model used to interpret the IPTTs, with kv and kh from the model and kh from core. Core permeability is generally too high and is either absent from the stylolites or fails to reect the large contrasts seen by the IPTT. The FMI image (left) shows two low-porosity streaks (white) separated by a dark interval. The top streak is particularly patchy. The layered model used to match the IPTT showed that the top streak had higher kv than kh, while the center interval had very high permeability.

X300

05

10

15

20

25

30

35

Porosity, p.u.

12

Oileld Review

4200

20

Flow rate Packer pressure, psi

4000

Tool retraction Pressure

15

10 3800

Tool setting

Pretest

Drawdown

Buildup
5

3600 0 0 1000 2000 3000 4000

Time, sec
4200 3930

3920

Packer pressure, psi

4000

Packer Probe 1

3910

3800

3900

Probe 2
3600

3890

3880 0 1000 2000 3000 4000

Time, sec

> The sequence of events in a typical IPTT, as shown by the pressure and the ow rate recorded in the dual-packer interval (top). After tool setting, the pretest establishes communication with the reservoir by withdrawing up to 1000 cm3 [60 in.3] through the packer and 20 cm3 [1.2 in.3] through each probe. During drawdown, the ow rate is constant since it is controlled by the pumpout module. During the buildup period, the pressure is recorded for a sufciently long time, approximately the same as the drawdown period, to ensure good pressuretransient data. At the end of the buildup period, the probes and packer are retracted. Packer and probe pressures were recorded with CQG Crystal Quartz Gauge pressure gauges during the IPTT (bottom). Note the much more sensitive scale for the probe pressures. Their nal buildup pressure is lower because they are higher in the well. Note also the distinct delay in the start of the buildup on Probe 2, due to the low vertical permeability. The delay on Probe 1 cannot be seen at this time scale. The packer pressure is slightly noisy due to pump movement.

many of these intervals, and, in any case, give a very local value of the permeability. The operator decided to investigate the stylolites with a series of IPTTs in a new well. These could be recorded on a single trip in the hole, allowing the complete reservoir section to be tested efciently. An IPTT needs a minimum of one vertical observation probe and a sink, either a dual-probe or a dual-packer module. In this case, in order to sample more layers, the MDT tool was equipped with two vertical observation probes at 6.4 ft and 14.4 ft [1.95 and 4.4 m] above the center of the

packer interval. The dual-packer module was chosen so as to generate a sufciently large pressure change at the far probe. The pumpout module was used to withdraw formation uids from each tested interval. Pressures were measured by quartz-crystal and strain gauges at both probes and packer. Sequence of operationsUsing openhole logs, the operator selected six test locations, with the depths chosen so that the stylolites lay between the dual packer and near probe. At each test location, the operator followed the same sequence of events: set the packers and probes,

pretest probes and packer interval, drawdown, buildup, and retract packers and probes (above). The pretests measured formation pressure and established communication with the formation. Once communication was established, formation uids were withdrawn through the packer interval at an almost constant rate for between 30 and 60 minutes. The rate was slightly different for each test, but remained between 15 and 21 B/D [2.4 and 3.3 m3/d]. After each drawdown, the interval was shut in for another 30 to 60 minutes.

Autumn 2001

Probe pressure, psi

Flow rate, B/D

13

31-Layer Model Layer Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Thickness ft 7 2 6 7 10 8 2 0.5 0.5 4 12 8 9 2 5 7 2 7 6 8 3 2 8 4 1 6 5 7 1 22 14 Core kh mD 97 _ _ 78 33 61 46 19 _ _ 81 30 8-60 2.7 16 18 9.3 13 9.4 12.3 12.1 _ _ 8.6 19.1 16 10 11 _ 11.3 1.4 kh mD 98 0.1 610 68 26 67 53 32 0.9 1350 75 24 46 9.9 15.6 11.3 1.4 6.7 6 7.4 3.3 1.3 3.2 7.9 19.8 5.4 11.4 6.8 0.1 4.2 0.9 kv mD 65 0.021 610 35 16 48 39 28 11.1 725 31 14 26 33.8 5.4 12.9 1.3 2.3 3.5 7.8 3.5 1.1 3.2 6.4 3.8 2.3 4.6 3.1 0.89 1 0.45 Porosity 0.21 0.15 0.27 0.26 0.28 0.28 0.18 0.15 0.14 0.27 0.28 0.26 0.26 0.2 0.29 0.3 0.11 0.29 0.28 0.3 0.25 0.19 0.2 0.28 0.2 0.28 0.29 0.28 0.19 0.28 0.1 Confidence low moderate high moderate low low low low moderate high moderate low low low high high high high high high high high high high high high high high high high high dense zone dense zone patchy stylolite dense zone dense zone patchy stylolite patchy stylolite superpermeability dense zone high permeability Comments

> Model with 31 layers used for interpreting pressure transients. Each layer is assigned a thickness, vertical and horizontal permeability, porosity, and level of condence.

In this test, packer pressure dropped sharply by approximately 300 psi [2070 kPa], while nearprobe pressure dropped more slowly by 10 psi [69 kPa] and far probe by 2 psi [14 kPa]. These responses give a rst idea of permeability. The fact that there is a response at the vertical probes showed that there was communication across the stylolite. AnalysisInterpretation starts with a look at each test independently. As with mini-DSTs, the rst step is to analyze ow regimes. Buildups are preferred to drawdowns because they are less

affected by near-wellbore factors, such as cleanup and pressure uctuations caused by the pumpout piston. The interpreter examined each of the three pressure transients from the six tests, and established some initial estimates of permeability. Because of the highly stratied nature of this carbonate formation, these estimates were rough averages of the permeability near each station. The heart of the interpretation is a realistic model, layered in this case, with permeabilities, porosities and thicknesses for 31 layers (above). Initial layer boundaries and thicknesses are determined from the logs, actually from high-res-

olution images since layers as thin as 0.5 ft [15 cm] may play an important role. Porosity and rock-framework compressibility are based on log data; uid compressibility and viscosity come from uid saturations and PVT analysis. Initial horizontal and vertical permeabilities are taken from the ow-regime analyses and other available sourcescores, logs and pretests. Initial estimates are also needed for tool storage and skin around the packer.21 Finally, the ow rate during drawdown is an important input; in this case, it was measured and was taken to be essentially constant during most tests.

14

Oileld Review

Computed data
Probe

Measured data
Probe

MDT-measured data Probe Probe P P,P t Pressure transient Flow rate Packer Packer P P,P t Pretest analysis Formation pressures Drawdown permeabilities logt Multilayer model logt Flow-regime identification and analysis Packer Probe Single-layer model

kh kv Ct Packer Packer

Model definition

Skin, storage constants, formation pressures, flow rates

kh kv Ct kh kv Ct kh kv Ct

Compute transients from model

Probe

Adjust model to minimize difference between computed and measured data

Probe

Packer

Packer

Initial average ks, if spherical flow kh, if radial flow kv,kh, if both

Other data

Openhole Openhole logs, Fluid analysis: logs: ,Sw,Cr images: layers ,Cf

> A typical workow for the interpretation of an IPTT, with dual packer and one vertical probe. Each job is different, and the actual path taken depends on a trade-off between speed, complexity of problem and accuracy of results. Quickest, but least accurate results come from analyzing individual transients. Next may be analysis of all transients from one test with a single-layer model, then with a multilayer model. Adjusting the model to best match all the available data may require several iterations.

With these initial estimates, the expected pressure transients at the packer and the two probes are computed and compared with the measured transients during drawdown and buildup (above). An automatic optimization procedure adjusts the model parameters to minimize the differences over all transients. The main goal is to obtain the best kv and kh for the layers near the station. Bed boundaries are changed manually if necessary, while, in this case, Ct was

known well enough to be xed. Permeabilities of layers away from the station may affect results to some extent but are not allowed to change significantly. Flow rate is held closely to the measured rate, but is still computed so as to allow for tool storage and the effect of small ow-rate changes on the transients. When the results are not satisfactory, the geological model is reexamined with the geologist, redening some layers and changing some initial estimates. Different weights can be applied to

different time periods and different transients. For example, the packer drawdown period might receive less weight because, unlike observationprobe pressures, it is affected by the noise associated with production and variable cleanup. The interpreter applied the model to each test in turn. However, this was not the end, since some tests were conducted close enough to each other that changing the parameters in the vicinity of one may have altered the results from another.
21. Since the ow rate into the probe is negligible, the skin and tool storage at the probe can be ignored.

Autumn 2001

15

Probe 2

Measured Computed

0 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Time, sec
12

Probe 1
10

Measured Computed

Probe 2 (for reference)

0 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Time, sec

400 350 300

Packer

Measured Computed

Pressure difference, psi

Therefore, the optimized model was reapplied to each test so as to achieve a good match between all measured and computed transients (left). Some layers were better dened than others because there were more pressure transients in their vicinity. For this reason, the condence factor for the bottom 15 layers, for which there were four tests, was higher than for the top 15, in which there were only two tests. ResultsOverall, the interpreter performed a type of history matching in which the reservoir model was iteratively adjusted to match 18 pressure transients distributed along the wellbore. The estimated permeabilities differed considerably from core permeability, being generally lower and varying by several orders of magnitude, from almost 0.02 mD to 1350 mD. No core-derived permeability measurements were available from intervals having these extreme values. On the other hand, the porosity varied little, except within stylolitic zones. As for most carbonate formations throughout the Middle East, porosity is not a good indicator of permeability. Of the six low-porosity intervals on the logs, only two had permeabilities below 1 mD. Two others were patchy with signicant permeability, one with kv > kh at X151 ft. In this particular test, the small pressure response at the probes (less than 0.5 psi [3.5 kPa]) could be explained only by a superpermeability layer between packer and probe. This surprising result was supported by an FMI image of the stylolite, which showed a conductive layer between two dense streaks, one of which had gaps in it (gure, page 12). None of this was apparent from the core data.

Pressure difference, psi

Pressure difference, psi

250 200 150 100 50 0 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500

Time, sec

> A comparison between the measured pressure-transient response at the packer (bottom) and the two probes (top and middle), and the response computed from the layered model after nonlinear optimization of the parameters. The good agreement validates the parameters in the model. Other solutions may be possible, but were ruled out on the basis of other data.

16

Oileld Review

8100

8150

0.34 psi/ft Depth, ft

8200

8250

The nal model suggested that the layers should communicate over time. Pressure communication was conrmed by the formation pressure gradient from MDT pretests (left). The relatively uniform gradient showed that the stylolites did not act as pressure barriers. However, good pressure communication does not necessarily mean that uids will ow uniformly through the reservoir. As the model showed, at least two highpermeability layers can act as conduits for injected water. This information has been used in the full-field reservoir simulator, and to examine unexpected water breakthroughs in production wells. Mapping Stylolites Carbonate rocks typically form in shallow, tropical marine environments. In some cases, a formation can extend for hundreds of miles. Carbonate sediments contain significant amounts of the metastable minerals aragonite and magnesium calcite; calcite itself is readily dissolved and reprecipitated by percolating pore uids. Carbonate rocks are, therefore, likely to

8300 3840 3860 3880 3900 3920

Pressure, psi

> Pressure prole from MDT pretests across the reservoir. The pretests were taken at the packer and probes as part of each IPTT. The reservoir has been on production for nearly 20 years. After this much production, any barriers to pressure communication should cause the pressure gradient to be much less uniform. However, the lack of pressure barriers does not necessarily mean that uids will ow vertically with ease.

undergo dissolution, mineralogical replacement and recrystallization. These effects vary according to temperature, pore-uid chemistry and pressure. Carbonate diagenesis commonly begins with marine cementation and boring by organisms at the sediment-water interface prior to burial. It continues through shallow burial with cementation, dissolution and recrystallization, and then deeper burial where dissolution processes, known as pressure solution, may form such features as stylolites and vugs (below). The resulting diagenetically altered zones, whether of lower or higher permeability than the surrounding formation, are frequently extensive and affect large sections of a potential reservoir. For this reason, such features detected by borehole measurements often can be extrapolated some distance from the well. The rst IPTT example showed how the permeability of stylolites could be determined in a single well. The next question is how far the layers extend across the eld. The depth of investigation of an IPTT depends on transmissivity (khh/) and storativity, and varies with each test.

> Large dissolution cavity. Although carbonates can have large dissolution cavities, they are not always as large as this.

Autumn 2001

17

In the previous example, the depth of investigation ranged from about 20 to 30 feet [6 to 9 m]. The next example, from another eld in the UAE, examines the lateral extent of barriers by running IPTTs in several adjacent wells (right).22 The lowporosity, dense stylolites can be correlated easily between wells, but their actual density varies, so it is quite possible that their permeability also varies. The size and number of stylolites are observed to increase towards the anks and toward one side of the eld. A total of 23 IPTTs was recorded in seven wells in two areas in which pilot gas-injection schemes were to be implemented. The main objective was to determine the vertical permeability of four stylolitesY2, Y2A, Y3 and Y4. In this case, the MDT tool was congured with four probes (next page, top). A sink probe S creates the transient, which is measured by a horizontal observation probe H at the same depth but diametrically opposite the sink, and two observation probes V1 and V2 vertically displaced from the sink by 2.3 ft and 14.3 ft, [0.7 and 4.4 m]. With this conguration, the storativity, Ct, need not be assumed in the permeability analysis, since it can be determined directly from the transients. An FMI image, recorded after the tests, clearly showed the imprint left by the probe assemblies on the borehole wall. The tool can be seen straddling two stylolites. In some tests, the ow-control module was used to give a constant ow rate. In others, formation uids were withdrawn using the pumpout module for a longer test. Thus, as in the last example, a measured ow rate was generally available for each test. In some tests, the sink probe could not withdraw uids as it was set against a highly localized tight spot. In these cases, the operation was changed to withdraw uids from the V1 probe, using S and V2 as the observation probes. More recently, interval tests in carbonates have been performed with the dual packer because its production interval is several thousand times that of a sink probe. Fluid withdrawal is then possible even with a high degree of heterogeneity and in relatively low permeabilities.
22. Badaam H, Al-Matroushi S, Young N, Ayan C, Mihcakan M and Kuchuk FJ: Estimation of Formation Properties Using Multiprobe Formation Tester in Layered Reservoirs, paper SPE 49141, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, September 27-30, 1998.

C D F E South pattern G B

North pattern

Y1
XI Y2 XII XIIIA XIIIB XIV Y5 XV XVI

Stylolites analyzed

Y2A Y3 Y4

> Field with two pilot gas-injection schemes planned, one in the north, and the other in the south. The design depended heavily on the properties of the stylolites, Y1 through Y5. These zones could be easily identied on density logs and could also be correlated fairly easily across the reservoir. However, their properties varied, and it was not clear how effective they were as barriers to ow. IPTTs were recorded in seven wells (A through G) to quantify and map their properties correctly.

A Y2 Stylolite Y2A Y3 Y4

Well D

Permeability, mD

0 - 0.3

0.3 -1

1- 3

3 - 10

> 10

Not tested

> Vertical permeability of the four main stylolitic intervals as found by 23 IPTTs run in seven wells.

18

Oileld Review

Unmoved Oil Moved Oil Water Clay Dolomite Depth, ft Limestone Anhydrite Volume, %
100 p. u. 0

V2

Discontinuous stylolite

Stylolite
X125

Porous limestone

X150

Stylolite

The interpretation began, as before, by owregime identication and analysis. Because of the large volume of data, each test was initially interpreted assuming a single homogeneous but anisotropic layer. This interpretation is quicker and gives an average kh and kh/kv over some interval of reservoir rock containing the stylolite. Later, a more complete study was undertaken using a multilayer model as in the previous example. The results showed considerable variation between the wells (previous page, bottom). In general, the stylolites were not absolute barriers to ow. For example, the Y2 stylolite was found to be a barrier in the south of the area, in Wells F and G, but very conductive in Well E. The Y2A stylolite was also very conductive in Well E. FMI images showed that the stylolite and its adjacent layers had a signicant number of vugs, a feature not captured by the cores. Cores generally found a higher kh than did the IPTT but missed the vuggy intervals entirely (below). The IPTT quantied the degree of hydraulic communication and allowed better planning of the pilot gasood scheme.

X175

V1

< Volumetric analysis (left) and the four-probe MDT tool (middle) set across the Y3 stylolitic interval in Well F. The FMI image (right) was run after the tests and shows clearly the imprint (circled in green) of the four probe assemblies at two different tool locations.

X200

MDT layer permeability, mD

> Comparison of kh from core plugs with kh from the corresponding layers of the IPTT interpretation. The core values were obtained by arithmetic averaging of the samples within the IPTT interval and by converting from absolute to effective permeability. In a perfect match, points would lie on the dotted line. Core-derived kh is generally higher. The core data do not capture effectively the vuggy layers of Well E.

100

10

Well E - Y2 Well D - Y2 Well E - Y2A Well G - Y2A Well E - Y4

Layers with vugs in Well E

0.1 0 1 10 100

Core-plug permeability, mD

Autumn 2001

19

ALGERIA TUNISIA Hassi Berkine South

LIBYA

ALGERIA

0 0

km

50

miles 30

> The Hassi Berkine South eld in Algeria operated by Anadarko.

Anisotropy in Sandstones Sandstones also pose questions about vertical permeability and barriers to flow. Anadarko Algerias plans for the development of Hassi Berkine South eld called for injection of both miscible gas/water and possibly water-alternating-gas (WAG) in the future (left). They needed to know the permeability anisotropy in the eld to improve condence in the vertical sweep efciency, and in the recovery values being predicted from numerical models. This information was required early in the appraisal-drilling program as it affected decisions on facilities and infrastructure. The reservoir is in the Triassic Argilo-Grseux Inferior (TAGI) sandstone.23 The TAGI is uvial in origin, with sands that are 5 to 15 m [15 to 50 ft] thick. The area of interest has two major rock types: a ne- to very ne-grained sand with interspersed shale laminae, and a neto medium-grained braided-stream deposit with discrete claystone layers (next page). Upon reinjection, gas and water will be taken mainly by the high-permeability layers. It was important to determine the degree of gravity segregation expected in the TAGI, and the corresponding influence on vertical sweep, oil recovery and future production performance.

2200

Probe

2200.00

Probe

2200.00

Probe

Pressure, psi

Pressure, psi

kh/kv = 100 kh/kv = 10 kh/kv = 1 kh = 10

0 500 1000 2198.95 0

2193

kh = 100
500 1000

Pressure, psi
2199.85 0

kh = 1000
500 1000

Time, sec
2200

Time, sec
2200

Time, sec
2200

Packer

Packer

Packer

Pressure, psi

Pressure, psi

kh/kv = 100 kh/kv = 10 kh/kv = 1 kh = 10

0 500 1000 2184 0

2040

kh = 100
500 1000

Pressure, psi
2198 0

kh = 1000
500 1000

Time, sec

Time, sec

Time, sec

> The pressure response at a dual packer and a vertical probe 6.6 ft [2 m] higher during a drawdown followed by a buildup modeled for different horizontal permeabilities and anisotropies, but the same ow rate. Note the expanding pressure scale for each plot from low kh on the left to high kh on the right. Higher kh reduces the signal (causes a smaller pressure drop) at both packer and probe. Higher kh/kv reduces the signal at the probe but increases it at the packer. The response is complex and sometimes paradoxical. For example, at the end of a very long ow period, the pressure drop at the vertical probe depends only on kh, while the drop at the dual packer depends on both kh and anisotropy. Also, no signal at the vertical probe can mean that there is a layer of either zero or innite permeability between it and the dual packer. These paradoxes partly explain why simple analytical solutions are not reliable.

20

Oileld Review

Horizontal Mobility from IPTT, mD/cp

1 3000

Water Oil Anisotropy kh /kv

1

Sandstone Bound Water Clay Volumetric Analysis

vol/vol 1

Gamma Ray Depth, m

0 API 140 1

Drawdown Mobility
mD/cp 3000

Core MDT

100 100 0

Caliper
4 in.

Probe Pressure (Quartz)

20 5110 psi 5150 1

AIT Resistivity
ohm-m 3000 1

Layer 1
XX30

0.1 mm

Layer 2

XX40

0.1 mm

XX50

> The two layers of the15-m TAGI sandstone. Layer 1 is ne-grained with shale laminations; Layer 2 is a medium-grained massive sandstone with thin claystone beds. The two IPTTs in Layer 1 both give horizontal mobilities below 100 mD/cp and moderate anisotropy. In Layer 2, both tests show high horizontal mobility, but the top test has low anisotropy, while the bottom test has high anisotropy, most likely due to the thin clay (green highlight in Track 4) at XX40.2 m between packer and probe. The average core anisotropy is similar, but slightly higher.

For the reservoir engineers simulating the gas injection, the most critical parameter was the anisotropy, kh/kv. They were not condent in the anisotropy from cores, around 10, as this value was unexpectedly low for such a depositional environment. The claystone layers were a particular worry since they seemed to extend across the eld. An IPTT offered an attractive solution. It would test the anisotropy on a much larger scale than cores, and would provide permeability values at nearly the same vertical scale as the grid blocks used in the numerical simulation. Four stations were plannedtwo in the negrained, lower resistivity layer; two in the medium-grained layer, one of which was designed to straddle a thin claystone.

Permeabilities are high, so as part of the pretest planning it was important to check that sufcient pressure changes would be seen at the monitor probe. Using expected values for permeability and other parameters, simulations showed that if the ow-control and pumpout modules were used as ow-rate sources, the resulting pressure pulse at the monitor probe would be barely measurable (previous page, bottom). A higher ow rate, and hence a larger pressure response, could be obtained by owing directly to a sample chamber. This is clearly desirable unless it draws gas out of solution or causes sanding. After further modeling and checking experience elsewhere, the operator ran tests with the dual packer connected directly to the sample chamber.

The interpreters analyzed each test with a single-layer model, treating the entire 15-m sandstone as one layer. With no ow-rate measurement available, a special approach to the analysis had to be taken. In this approach, the probe pressure transient is used to estimate kv and kh, while the packer transient is used to estimate the ow rate and packer-interval skin. Since the estimates are interdependent, it is necessary to iterate between the formation parameters at the probe and the ow rate and skin at the packer until the results converge.
23. Peffer J, OCallaghan A and Pop J: In-Situ Determination of Permeability Anisotropy and its Vertical Distribution A Case Study, paper SPE 38942, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, Texas, USA, October 5-8, 1997.

Autumn 2001

21

Well trajectory Porosity 1 Pretest (k k ) /2

6800

Interval test (kh kv) /2 Pressure

h v

0.4

4200

6820 0.3 10 4150

Permeability, mD

0.2

Porosity

6840

4100

6860

1 6880

Fracture test

0.1

4050

6900 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000

0 7000

4000

Horizontal displacement, ft

> Reservoir pressure and permeability from the MDT tool in a horizontal well. Permeability is measured by both pretest drawdowns and interval pressure-transient tests, the latter being generally an order of magnitude higher. The pretest permeability may be low due to formation damage or because it is measuring the effective permeability to ltrate in a water-wet reservoir. Porosity is from openhole logs. Between 1765 and 5266 ft horizontal displacement, the pressure is signicantly lower than elsewhere, indicating higher depletion and poorer pressure support from water injection in the reservoir.

The resulting permeabilities reected the average properties of the formation near each station. The results near the top two stations were similar, with horizontal mobility (permeability/viscosity) near 50 mD/cp and anisotropy near 10. The bottom two stations lay in the medium-grained layer. They both showed high horizontal mobility, but while the third station was nearly isotropic, the fourth station showed a much higher kh/kv. Assuming that the third station denes the properties of the clean sandstone, it seems likely that the fourth station is affected by the thin clay at XX40.2 m, which lies between probe and packer. Assuming also that the clay acts as an impermeable disk lying around the wellbore, we can estimate its radius as 2 m [6.6 ft].24 By this estimate, it is quite limited in extent. The entire TAGI interval in this well was cored, with horizontal permeability measurements made on plugs every 15 to 30 cm [6 to 12 in.], and vertical permeabilities about every meter. When the core permeabilities were averaged over the 2-m interval of each MDT station, they compared well with MDT results, both indicating anisotropy less than 100.25 When shale laminae or claystone beds are absent, the anisotropy is less than 10. These results were

further supported by ve whole-core samples from other wells in the eld. The MDT data were analyzed further with a two-layer model, the only multilayer model available at the time. The results were similar. Ideally, a model with at least ve layers is needed to simulate the whole formation. However, in this case of relatively homogeneous formations, the operator obtained answers that were sufciently t for the purpose with the simpler single-layer model. The MDT results increased condence in the anisotropy values that reservoir engineers were using for numerical modeling, and thus also in the predicted performance of the planned injection scheme. In fact, the MDT-measured values were used directly in the simulator. The eld has been on production since early 1998, producing in excess of 70,000,000 barrels [11,123,000 m3]. The MDT-derived anisotropy values continue to be used in the simulator, since the history match between actual eld performance and predictions from the simulator have been excellent. Although in this case the core anisotropy data proved to be broadly correct, the conrmation on a much larger scale was a key piece of information gathered during the appraisal of the eld.

Horizontal Wells Operators rarely acquire permeability data in horizontal wells for reservoir description. However, horizontal wells often fail to live up to expectation. Some of the many causes are related to reservoir heterogeneities. In one horizontal well, 6 IPTTs and 19 pretests were run to investigate why neighboring wells had performed below par (above).26 Two major features were observed that could cause poor productionthe variation in reservoir pressure, dropping by as much as 100 psi [689 kPa] in the middle of the well; and the variation in permeability from 5 to 50 mD for fairly constant porosity. Clearly, the middle interval has been more depleted and received less support from water injection into the reservoir. Upon completion, the middle interval is predicted to clean up less easily, while injection water will probably break through rst at the toe, or end, of the well. For these reasons, it was recommended to complete the well with a casing. IPTTs are particularly useful for evaluating the conductivity of faults and fractures in horizontal wells. Interpreting conventional well tests is difcult due to strong crossow from pressure and permeability variations. Borehole images can determine the location of faults and fractures,

22

Reservoir pressure, psi

TVD, ft

Oileld Review

and whether or not they are mineralized. In this well in a carbonate reservoir, images showed many vertical fractures but could not determine their hydraulic conductivities. Pressure differences indicated that while some were closed, others may have been open. Open fractures could harm production by quickly drawing water up into the well. To test the fractures, the MDT tool was set with a dual-packer module straddling a set of fractures seen at 2983 ft (below). The logarithmic derivative with respect to Horner time for the buildup test at the packer location indicates a tool storage-dominated period that ends with a short slope of 1.0 at 0.015 hr. Following the storage period, the derivative exhibits a 0.5 slope spherical-ow regime until 0.15 hr, after which the derivative goes downward, indicating a higher permeability region. The probe buildup derivative also exhibits a short spherical-ow regime, though its value is lower than that of the packer test. The fact that the probe derivative is lower but ends at the same time at both packer

and probe indicates a conductive fracture to the left of the probe. The fracture or fractures must either be short or have a nite conductivity because the derivative decreases only gradually. In addition, the best match to the transients was achieved with a positive skinanother indication that the fractures opposite the packer were not open. All the major fracture intervals were analyzed in this manner. The combination of fracture analysis, permeability and pressure data is of great use not just for predicting the performance of a particular well, but also for analyzing how the reservoir is responding to water injection and deciding whether to drill horizontal or vertical wells. Conclusion Operators are expanding their use of modern wireline formation testers to determine permeability and help make important well-completion and reservoir-management decisions. Compared with conventional cores and well tests, these testers provide cost-effective information at a

Probe

Dual-packer module

100

scale intermediate between the two. This information is critical for evaluating the effect of reservoir heterogeneities, bafes and conduits. Wireline formation testers measure permeability in different ways, depending on the hardware conguration. The mini-DST is particularly useful for evaluating small intervals at a fraction of the cost of a full well test. The interval pressure-transient test provides the most reliable and extensive permeability information from these tools. With recent developments in software and interpretation techniques, interval tests can now evaluate highly layered formations, horizontal wells, and even gas reservoirs.27 The latter have often been considered too challenging because of the high compressibility and mobility of the uid. In addition, the risk of sticking the tool the fear of many operatorshas been reduced through the use of risk-assessment software.28 Currently, engineers are seeking to improve results in formations with high mobilities, heavy oil or unconcolidated sandsall difcult but not impossible cases. Work continues on the perennial problem of scaling up from cores to tests, and of integrating interval-test results with other data. Attempts are being made to measure in situ the variation of effective permeability with water saturation, using the uid fractions measured while sampling in combination with openhole logs and interval-test data. As long as reservoirs continue to be heterogeneous and permeability distribution remains an issueboth virtual certaintieswireline formation testers will be needed to evaluate them, and improvements will continue to be made. JS/LS
24. Goode PA, Pop JJ and Murphy WF III: Multiple-Probe Formation Testing and Vertical Reservoir Continuity, paper SPE 22738, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, Texas, USA, October 6-9, 1991. 25. A thickness-weighted arithmetic average was used for the horizontal permeability, and a thickness-weighted harmonic average for the vertical permeability. 26. Kuchuk FJ: Interval Pressure Transient Testing with MDT Packer-Probe Module in Horizontal Wells, paper SPE 39523, presented at the SPE India Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, New Delhi, India, February 17-19, 1998. 27. Ayan C, Donovan M and Pitts AS: Permeability and Anisotropy Determination in a Retrograde Gas Field to Assess Horizontal Well Performance, paper SPE 71811, presented at the Offshore Europe Conference, Aberdeen, Scotland, September 4-7, 2001. 28. Underhill WB, Moore L and Meeten GH: Model-Based Sticking Risk Assessment for Wireline Formation Testing Tools in the U.S. Gulf Coast, paper SPE 48963, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, September 27-30, 1998.

Packer Slope = 1
10

Pressure derivative

Slope = 1/2
1

Slope = 1/2

Probe
0.1 0.001 0.01 0.1 1

Time since end of drawdown, hr

> Pressure derivatives from probe and packer transients (bottom) for the analysis of fractures in a horizontal well. The engineer set the dual-packer (top) astride a set of fractures that had been interpreted on FMI images (at 2983 ft, see gure previous page), and performed an IPTT. The probe derivative is less than the packer derivative, but spherical ow ends at the same time on both transients. These observations along with the positive skin are best explained if the fractures between the packers are not hydraulically conductive, and if there is a conductive fracture to the left of the probe.

Autumn 2001

23

Quantifying Contamination Using Color of Crude and Condensate

Establishing the level of oil-base and synthetic mud-ltrate contamination in uid samples is critical for obtaining meaningful data on uid properties. New tools and techniques now allow real-time, quantitative measurement of contamination in gascondensate and oil reservoirs.

R. John Andrews Hibernia Management and Development Company Ltd. St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada Gary Beck BP Houston, Texas, USA Kees Castelijns London, England Andy Chen Calgary, Alberta, Canada Myrt E. Cribbs ChevronTexaco Bellaire, Texas Finn H. Fadnes Jamie Irvine-Fortescue Stephen Williams Norsk Hydro, ASA Bergen, Norway Mohamed Hashem Shell New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

A. (Jamal) Jamaluddin Houston, Texas Andrew Kurkjian Bill Sass Sugar Land, Texas Oliver C. Mullins Ridgeeld, Connecticut, USA Erik Rylander Belle Chase, Louisiana Alexandra Van Dusen Harvard University Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Victor Bolze, Reinhart Ciglenec, Hani Elshahawi, Troy Fields, Gus Melbourne, Julian Pop and Rod Siebert, Sugar Land, Texas; Peter Kelley, ChevronTexaco, Houston, Texas; and Toru Terabayashi, Fuchinobe, Japan. AIT (Array Induction Imager Tool), CHDT (Cased Hole Dynamics Tester), CMR (Combinable Magnetic Resonance), FFA (Field Fingerprint Analyser), LFA (Live Fluid Analyzer), MDT (Modular Formation Dynamics Tester), OCM (Oil-Base Contamination Monitor), OFA (Optical Fluid Analyzer), Platform Express and TLC (Tough Logging Conditions) are marks of Schlumberger. RCI (Reservoir Characterization Instrument) is a mark of Baker Atlas. RDT (Reservoir Description Tool) is a mark of Halliburton. 1. Joshi NB, Mullins OC, Jamaluddin A, Creek J and McFadden J: Asphaltene Precipitation from Live Crude Oil, Energy and Fuels 15, no. 4 (2001): 979-986.

In deepwater areas, an oil or gas company may spend tens of millions of dollars drilling a well to prove the presence of hydrocarbons, and then plug and abandon the well almost immediately. The operator may take years designing and building facilities before drilling another well in the eld. Exploration wells provide a narrow window of opportunity for collecting hydrocarbon samples to make development decisions; therefore, obtaining high-quality samples is imperative whether the prospect is in deep water or on the continental shelf, in China, Canada, the Caspian, or elsewhere. Testing well production is a good way to obtain uid samples, but that is not always feasible for economic or environmental reasons. Downhole samples dene uid properties that are used throughout field development. Estimates of hydrocarbon volume, bubblepoint pressure and gas/oil ratio (GOR), simulation of reservoir ow and placement of wells all depend on formation-uid properties. Hydrate, asphaltene and wax formation must be controlled or treated. Presence of corrosive gases affects the choice of materials for owlines and surface facilities. These examples illustrate the wide impact that hydrocarbon composition and behavior have on planning a new eld.1

24

Oileld Review

Openhole-wireline or drillstring-conveyed formation testers analyze selected uid properties downhole and acquire small volumes of reservoir uid for later testing in a laboratory. However, mud ltrate invades the formation during drilling, so these uid samples usually are contaminated. During the past few years, real-time methods have been developed as part of the openholelogging suite of services to analyze sample contamination. These methods ensure that representative fluid samples are collected and minimize tool-sticking risks by introducing efciencies in sample collection. Until recently, these sampling methods were unreliable in holes drilled with oil-base and synthetic muds or in formations with high GOR. This article reviews the requirements and challenges in sampling reservoirs and reports on advances in evaluating sample contamination. Except where explicitly stated to be contamination from water-base mud, this article discusses oil-base or synthetic-base mud-ltrate contamination. We describe a technique for determining

the time required to collect an acceptable uid sample at a given sampling station and show how proven sample-contamination measurements can be extended to high-GOR uids and condensates. Quantitative contamination measurement is illustrated with case histories from offshore Newfoundland, Canada, the Gulf of Mexico and the Norwegian North Sea. Obtaining Downhole Fluid Samples Formation uid samples provide important data to optimize operator investment in both upstream and downstream facilities. Laboratory measurements establish standard uid properties such as pressure-volume-temperature (PVT) behavior, viscosity, composition and GOR. In elds destined for subsea development, ow assurance is a major concern, so tests are performed to evaluate gas and solids content. Hydrogen sulde [H2S] and carbon dioxide [CO2] in oil require special handling and materials. Temperature and pressure changes in pipelines can lead to asphaltene and wax precipitation and deposition, and low seaoor temperatures can induce hydrate

Pumpout module

Sample-chamber modules

Multisample modules

LFA Live Fluid Analyzer module Hydraulic-power module

> The MDT Modular Formation Dynamics Tester tool congured for uid-sample collection.

Single-probe module

Autumn 2001

25

OFA module Color channels Gas refractometer Water channels Oil channel Gas flag Water flag Oil flag

Precipitated solids in the separator

Solids in subsea flowlines

LFA module Color channels Methane channel Methane flag Gas refractometer Gas flag Water channels Water flag Oil channel Oil flag

OCM module Contamination measurement

Subsea wellhead

> Components of MDT optical analysis modules.

Buildup of solids in the wellbore

Asphaltene deposition in the near-wellbore region

> Transport hazards from reservoir-uid constituents while owing to surface. Asphaltenes, waxes and hydrates can form during uid transport to surface. Depositing such solids clogs tubulars or blocks pores in the formation. Solids also precipitate in separators under certain conditions. In addition, commingling uids at wellheads can generate unstable conditions leading to precipitation of solids.

formation. Commingling different crude oils through satellite tiebacks can dramatically alter uid properties (above). The data-acquisition process must include uid characterization to get the most out of every prospect. Taking uid samples early in the life of a well ensures that uid composition and properties are available for timely input to eld planning decisions. If uid properties will affect facilities or transport, accurate uid analysis gives an operator the opportunity to mitigate or eliminate problems through changes in production design, or to manage them through ongoing treatments such as heating pipelinesa choice between upfront capital expenditures and ongoing operating expenses. In some elds, uid samples can be obtained during a drillstem test (DST) or, after a well is owing, a production test. In some cases, a well must be completed before a ow test, which can cost tens of millions of dollars in deepwater Gulf of Mexico wells. In areas such as the Grand Banks, offshore Newfoundland, Canada, operators want to minimize operation times to avoid risks such as harsh seas and iceberg hazards. Environmental concerns restricting aring and removing uids from the rig also restrict use

of DSTs and production tests. The cost and risk of DSTs lead operators to use wireline tools for uid-sample acquisition. A major problem in downhole uid-sample collection is contamination from drilling-mud ltrate entering a tool with reservoir fluids. Contamination from water-base mud (WBM) can be discriminated easily from reservoir oil. In many of todays high-risk wells, oil-base muds (OBMs) and synthetic oil-base muds (SBMs) are used to ensure compatibility with shales, improve wellbore stability and increase drilling speed. OBM and SBM ltrates mix with reservoir crude, making quantication of contamination much more difcult than when using WBM. Fluid properties are often extrapolated to an uncontaminated condition by mathematically removing the contaminant from the distribution of constituents. However, extrapolation from high levels of contamination is riskymost companies avoid liquid-phase contamination greater than 10% on a volume-to-volume basis. Several commercially available tools have fluid-sampling capabilities, including the Schlumberger MDT Modular Formation Dynamics Tester tool, the Baker Atlas RCI Reservoir Characterization Instrument tool, and the Halliburton RDT Reservoir Description Tool

sonde. Most wireline formation testers press a probe against the borehole wall at a specied depth, pump down the formation and draw in uid for evaluation, and then collect samples when desired uid characteristics are reached.2 With a probe securely pressed against the borehole wall, a short, rapid pressure drop breaks the mudcake seal. Normally, the rst uid drawn into the tool will be highly contaminated with mud ltrate (next page, top). As the tool continues to withdraw uid from the formation, the area near the probe cleans up, and reservoir uid becomes the dominant constituent. The time required for cleanup depends on many parameters, including formation permeability, uid viscosity, the pressure difference between borehole and formation, and the duration of the pressure difference during and after drilling. Increasing pump rate can shorten the cleanup time, but the rate must be controlled carefully to preserve the reservoir-uid condition. Because many factors affecting cleanup time have unknown values, determining the contamination level during a logging job is crucial to obtaining good samples. The versatile Schlumberger MDT system performs a variety of functions, depending on which modules are joined together. The tools primary purposes are to obtain formation-uid samples, to measure formation pressures at given points in the reservoir and to estimate permeability in situ. For a description of use of the tool for permeability measurement and description of other tool modules, see Characterizing Permeability with Formation Testers, page 2. The OFA Optical Fluid Analyzer system in the MDT tool has provided a qualitative measure of contamination since its introduction in 1993. Schlumberger has developed the OCM Oil-Base Contamination Monitor technique to predict the time needed to achieve an acceptably low level of contamination at a given sampling station. This reliable new technique monitors sample contamination quantitatively, adding condence to these crucial contamination measurements.

26

Oileld Review

The new LFA Live Fluid Analyzer module adds a methane detector that provides a more denitive measure of gas content in the oil phase and allows calculation of GOR. This module can be used to ensure that the uid remains in single phase during sampling; dropping pressure below the bubblepoint would make the uid unrepresentative. The quantitative OCM contamination measurement can be used with either an LFA or OFA module (previous page, right). Modular reservoir sample chambers (MRSCs) are available to collect large samples (below). Multiple 6-gallon [22,712-cm3] chambers can be run at the bottom of the tool string to act as dump chambers. Samples for PVT analysis are more commonly collected in smaller chambers. A multisample module (MRMS) allows collection of six easily removable sample bottles (MPSR) that are certied for transport by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) and by Transport Canada. The 450-cm3 [0.12-gal] MPSR bottle is reduced to 418 cm3 [0.11 gal] when an agitator is added to improve uid mixing in the laboratory. The Schlumberger Oilphase single-phase multisample chamber (SPMC) can be used in the MRMS when keeping a reservoir uid sample in
2. For more on use of the MDT tool for downhole uid sample analysis: Crombie A, Halford F, Hashem M, McNeil R, Thomas EC, Melbourne G and Mullins OC: Innovations in Wireline Fluid Sampling, Oileld Review 10, no. 3 (Autumn 1998): 26-41. Badry R, Fincher D, Mullins O, Schroeder B and Smits T: Downhole Optical Analysis of Formation Fluids, Oileld Review 6, no. 1 (January 1994): 21-28.

Oil Filtrate Oil cone t1 Filtrate t3 t2

Oil cone

OD

t1 t2 t3 Time Filtrate

> Drawing in ltrate. The MDT probe pressed against a borehole wall is the source of a pressure drawdown, pulling uids into the tool. Filtrate near the probe enters rst, but as the pressure sink expands, a higher proportion of uid is reservoir uid. The optical density (OD) increases as darker crude oil replaces the more transparent mud ltrate.

MRSC H 2S Maximum hydrostatic pressure Sample pressure Downhole temperature Surface heating allowed Volume Transportable 5 Pressure compensated 6
1 2 3 4 5 6

MRMS Non-H2S MPSR 10 kpsi [69 MPa] 10 kpsi 204C Not allowed 6 gal [22,712 cm3] 3 No No 20- and 25-kpsi options 1 20 kpsi 204C 100C [212F] 450 cm3 [0.12 gal] 4 Yes No SPMC 20- and 25-kpsi options 1 20 kpsi 204C 204C 250 cm3 [0.07 gal] No Yes

20- and 25-kpsi [138and 172-MPa] options 1 20 kpsi 204C [400F] 77C [170F]
2

14 kpsi [97 MPa] 14 kpsi 204C 54C [130F] 1- and 2.75-gal options No No

1- and 2.75-gal [3785and 10,410-cm3] options No No

The 25-kpsi limit is for special high-pressure modules, and the sampling must be done in low-shock modethe bottle is compensated to hydrostatic pressure behind the piston. Only Schlumberger Oilphase is allowed to heat chambers above 54C [130F]. Six-gallon bottles must be run on the bottom of the string. Several bottles can be combined in one string. Addition of an agitator reduces this volume to 418 cm3 [0.11 gal]. Transportable indicates US Department of Transportation Exemption and Transport Canada Permit for Equivalent Safety. Compressed nitrogen is used to compensate the sample pressure so it does not decrease as much upon cooling when brought to surface.

> Sample bottles available for the MDT tool.

Autumn 2001

27

Optical density

single phase from the downhole collection point to the PVT laboratory is necessary. After the MDT pumpout module lls a SPMC chamber at formation pressure, a preset nitrogen charge is released. Acting through a piston oating on a synthetic oil buffer, the nitrogen adds sufcient overpressure to keep the uid in single phase during retrieval to surface. Black Oil Isnt Always Black Oils have colorblack, brown, red, tan and even green crude oils have been seen. The hue and intensity of light transmitted or reected from crude oil or gas condensate depend on the lights interaction with molecules and molecular bonds in the uid. Measurements of this interaction can be used to distinguish oils of different compositions. The unit of light absorption or optical density (OD) is the logarithm of the ratio of incident-light to transmitted-light intensity. Therefore, darker uids have higher OD, and a one-unit increase in OD represents a factor of ten decrease in transmittance. An OD of zero indicates all light is transmitted, while an OD of two represents 1% transmission. A uids OD varies with the wavelength of incident light. Reduction of transmitted-light intensity can be caused by one of two physical processes. Some light is scattered by particles in the uid; scattering outside the optical path to the detector decreases intensity. Light also can be absorbed by molecules in the uid. The MDT optics relies on differences in absorption in visible and nearinfrared portions of the electromagnetic spectrum to discriminate uids in the owline. Pure, light hydrocarbons such as pentane are essentially colorless; they do not absorb light in the visible spectrum. Condensates may be clear or lightly shaded reddish-yellow to tan, because they absorb more from the blue end of the spectrum than from the red end. Heavier crude oils, which contain more complex molecules, absorb light strongly throughout the visible region, making them dark brown or black. Light with a wavelength in the visible or nearinfrared spectra, referred to as the color region, interacts with a molecules electronic energy bands. Compared to less complex molecules, larger and more complex aromatic hydrocarbon molecules, such as asphaltenes and resins, absorb light having longer wavelengths.3 Because heavier oils contain more aromatic compounds, they tend to have darker coloring than less dense oils and condensates (above). Waxes are colorless, but if the molecules are long enough, they will scatter light and appear white.

3.0

2.5 Condensates Black oils 1.5 Asphalts

2.0

1.0

0.5

0 500 1000 1500 Wavelength, nm 2000 2500

> Optical density of various oils. The OD spectrum of hydrocarbons is related to the amount of aromatics, which also relates to API gravity. Gas condensates have little or no color absorption beyond about 500 nanometers (nm). The range of oils grades through increasingly dense black oils having higher color absorption out to asphalts, which absorb strongly even into the nearinfrared region. All oils and condensates absorb near 1725 nm. The hydrocarbon peak from 2300 to 2500 nm is beyond the region covered by the MDT channels.

Despite the differences in optical absorption of various reservoir oils caused by composition, there is a common behavior. Electronic absorption generally decreases as wavelength increases. The OD decay in the visible and near-infrared region can be characterized by a single parameter, which can be thought of as the color of the oil. To understand how OD measurements can be used to quantify contamination, it is important to distinguish between absorption in the color region by two kinds of hydrocarbons: complex aromatics and saturated aliphatics. Complex aromatics contain carbon rings with both single and double carbon-carbon bonds, which are excited by visible and near-infrared light. Aliphatic compounds are open chains of carbon atoms. If all the carbon-carbon connections are single bonds and other bonds are with hydrogen, the aliphatic molecule is termed saturated. Only high-energy ultraviolet light can excite saturated aliphatic molecules, so they have a low OD in the color region of the spectrum. Black oils contain many complex aromatic compounds, whereas natural OBMs comprise mostly saturated compounds; SBMs are made only from saturated aliphatics. The difference in chemical composition between reservoir-crude oil and drilling-mud ltrate makes OD a good measure of ltrate contamination in crude oil.

Exciting Molecules Water can be distinguished from oil easily, because it is highly absorbing at near-infrared wavelengths around 1445 and 1930 nanometers (nm), where oil is relatively transparent (next page, top). Oil has a strong absorption peak around 1725 nm, where water does not. These peaks come from the interaction of light with vibrational energy bands in carbon-hydrogen bonds for oil and oxygen-hydrogen bonds for water. Molecules containing such a bond absorb photons of the proper wavelength, and the photon energy is converted into molecular vibration. Monitoring absorption at these three wavelengths differentiates between water and oil. Hydrocarbon compounds comprise linked chains, branches or rings of carbon atoms, each having hydrogen atoms attached. Typically, a carbon atom will bond with two other carbon atoms and two hydrogen atoms. Carbon atoms at the end of a molecule will have three hydrogen atoms attached, while those at a branch, connecting with three other carbon molecules, will have only one hydrogen bond. Methane is a single carbon molecule with four hydrogen atoms attached. The oil peak in Channel 8 of the OFA module measures molecular absorption of light by carbon atoms having two hydrogen atoms attached, which are the primary constituents of reservoir

28

Oileld Review

4 Water peak Color or electronic absorption region Vibrational absorption region

3 Water peak

Optical density

M or

e co
m pl
Oil peak Methane peak H H C H H H-C-H vibrational peak H H H C C C H H H

es cul ole ex m

0 Channel number

0 500

4 1000

6 1500

0'

9 2000

Wavelength, nm

> Absorption spectrum. The MDT tool monitors light absorption starting in visible wavelengths and extending into the near-infrared. The ten channels of the OFA module, numbered 0 through 9, are shown. In the color region on the left, crude oils have a rapidly decaying absorption, caused by interaction of light with electrons in the molecules. More complex aromatic molecules (green shapes) absorb at longer wavelengths. Channels 6 and 9 are tuned in the middle of molecular vibrational peaks for water; Channel 8 is in the molecular vibration peak for the CH2 bond in hydrocarbons. Channel 0, which replaces Channel 0 in the LFA module, is tuned to the methane peak.

oils. A high-resolution optical spectrometer reveals this oil peak in much greater detail, showing several absorption peaks in hydrocarbon uids (right). Although methane has some absorption at the oil peak, there is no absorption by hydrocarbons with more than one carbon atom at the methane peak. This provides an ideal discriminator for methane content in live crude oilsutilized by a new MDT tool, the LFA Live Fluid Analyzer module.4 The detection channel tuned to that wavelength replaces the OFA modules shortest wavelength color band in Channel 0.
3. Mullins OC: Optical Interrogation of Aromatic Moieties in Crude Oils and Asphaltenes, in Mullins OC and Sheu EY: Structures and Dynamics of Asphaltenes. New York, New York, USA: Plenum Press, 1998. 4. A live crude oil evolves signicant quantities of gas when its pressure and temperature are lowered. A dead oil does not evolve gas at atmospheric pressure and room temperature. Stock-tank oil, the liquid emerging from the nal surface separator, contains little gas.

0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 OD 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 Wavelength, nm Methane peak Oil peak Methane n-Heptane Methane-heptane mix

> High-resolution vibrational absorption spectrum of heptane, methane and a mix of the two. Heptane (green) does not absorb light at the CH4 methane peak. Methane absorption (red) at the CH2 oil peak is low. Absorption of a mixture of the two (black) is the sum of the individual absorptions, according to the Beer-Lambert law. The LFA module has a channel set at the methane peak.

Autumn 2001

29

Light-emitting diode

Gas refractometer

Lamp

Water Fluid flow Oil Gas Fluid flow Oil

Optical density detectors

> Optical detectors. Light passes through a sapphire window and reects off the surface in contact with the uid owline into the gas refractometer. The reection angle is set so gas reects much more strongly than oil or water. Another light path passes through a owline into a series of lters to detect absorption, or optical density, in the visible and near-infrared spectra.

0.40

0.36 Channel 4 OD 0.32

0.28

Channel 4 minus Channel 6

0.24 200 400 600 800 1000 Pumping time, sec 1200 1400

> Removal of scattering. To remove scattering from the OD signal, a nearby channel at longer wavelength, which has less color absorption but the same amount of wavelength-independent scattering, is subtracted. In this case, the signal from Channel 6 (not shown) is subtracted from Channel 4 (yellow) resulting in a data curve (red) that is t to the OCM prediction (black).

The Key to Quantifying Contamination The MDT tool includes an optical module with two devices designed to monitor contamination in OBM systems. A gas refractometer uses light from a diode reected off a sapphire window to qualitatively identify the uid phase in a owline (left). At the selected angle of incidence, the reection coefcient is much larger when gas is in contact with the window than when oil or water contacts it.5 The second detector in the OFA module uses transmitted light to evaluate absorption characteristics of a uid. A high-temperature tungsten halogen lamp provides a broadband source of light that passes along optical guides and through a 2-mm thick optical chamber in the owline. The distribution of transmitted light is recorded at 10 wavelengths in the visible and near-infrared spectra. Two of these channels detect the strong water-absorption peaks, indicating water content in the uid when compared with the strong hydrocarbon-absorption peak. Discriminating gas and water from oil is simpler than distinguishing between crude oil and OBM or SBM ltrate, because crude, OBM and SBM all absorb strongly at the oil peak near 1725 nm. Fortunately, oils have different color according to the quantity of large, complex aromatic compounds they contain. This affects absorption in the MDT spectrometer in the shorter wavelength channels constituting the color region. Since SBM and OBM contain simple aliphatic compounds, their absorption in these channels is small. In most cases, when the MDT tool rst begins drawing uid from a formation, the OD is high due to light scattering off mudcake solids in the uid. After a few seconds, the OD falls to a low value, and then increases slowly as the mud ltrate drains from the formation near the probe and is replaced by darker crude oil. Particles of mudcake or other solid material generate noise in the absorption channels. Scattering caused by these particles is wavelength-independent, so the effect can be removed by subtracting a nearby channel. In the color region, absorption decreases quickly enough that skipping a channel and subtracting from the next one down removes noise due to scattering without signicantly affecting the signal (left). The result is a smoothly varying contamination curve.6 The change in OD as reservoir crude replaces mud ltrate in the owline follows the BeerLambert law, which states that a mixture of two

30

Oileld Review

Sample 1 2 3 4 5

Pumping time 695 sec (12 min) 940 sec (16 min) 1264 sec (21 min) 1681 sec (28 min) 2250 sec (37 min)

OFA contamination 17% 13% 12% 9% 8%

Laboratory contamination 22% 17% 13% 11% 10%

3.0

50 Contamination Optical density 40

3.0

2.6

2.5

Contamination, percent

30

2.2

OD

2.0 Data and OCM fit 1.5

20

1.8

10

Acceptable contamination level

1.4

1.0 500 1000 1500 Pumping time, sec 2000 2500

0 Pumping time, sec

1.0

> Quantitative prediction of contamination. Fluid samples were taken at ve times during cleanup. Color channel data from the OFA module are t using the OCM model (left) to determine contamination cleanup (right). The OCM prediction of contamination levels agrees well with laboratory contamination measurement (table).

oils has an OD that is a linear, volumetrically weighted combination of the two individual ODs, evaluated at each wavelength. A change in OD is directly related to a change in composition (right). Because most OBMs and SBMs mainly contain simple aliphatic compounds, their OD is effectively zero except in the lowest MDT channels. With one endpoint determined, quantitative evaluation of contamination through OD requires a method for nding the other endpointthe OD of uncontaminated crude. This comes from understanding the way fluids move during cleanup. Fluid withdrawal through the probe creates an expanding pressure sink around the wellbore.7 The OCM analysis ts the cleanup data with a curvehaving a specic shape based on the physics of the tool and wellboreto determine the remaining amount of ltrate contamination. In one well, ve samples were captured in the MDT tool at different times during cleanup. The laboratory results show contamination results consistent with the OCM model (above).8

100% OBM filtrate OD5

Optical density

100% crude oil

OD5 OD4 OD3 OD2 OD1

OD at specific wavelength 0
% OBM contamination

OD4 OD3 OD2 OD1 Wavelength

0 Pumping time

100

> Beer-Lambert mixing. Light absorption for crude oil (brown) is greater than for OBM ltrate (yellow) (left). The Beer-Lambert law says that the optical density (OD) of mixtures of the two (shades from yellow to brown) is related to the relative proportion of the two uids. As the uid cleans up, the OD increases from the OBM value OD1 asymptotically to the crude-oil value OD5 (right).
5. Badry et al, reference 2. 6. Mullins OC, Schroer J and Beck GF: Real-time Quantication of OBM Filtrate Contamination During Openhole Wireline Sampling by Optical Spectroscopy, Transactions of the SPWLA 41st Annual Logging Symposium, Dallas, Texas, USA, June 4-7, 2000, paper SS. 7. Hashem MN, Thomas EC, McNeil RI and Mullins O: Determination of Producible Hydrocarbon Type and Oil Quality in Wells Drilled With Synthetic Oil-Based Muds, SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering 2, no. 2 (April 1999): 125-133. 8. Mullins OC and Schroer J: Real-time Determination of Filtrate Contamination During Openhole Wireline Sampling by Optical Spectroscopy, paper SPE 63071, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, Texas, USA, October 1-4, 2000.

Autumn 2001

31

OD

1.25 Color channel 1.20 0.26

0.25

Color OD

0.24

1.10

Methane channel

0.23

1.05

0.22

1.00 500

1000

1500

2000

3500

3000

0.21 3500

Pumping time, sec

> Contamination prediction in a Gulf of Mexico well. After noise is removed from an LFA color channel (red) and the methane channel (blue), each data set is t to the OCM prediction (smooth curves). For this sample, the color data predict 4.9% contamination and the methane data predict 6.2%. The 5.5% average agrees with 4.3% contamination from a GC in the laboratory.

100 2.00 90 1.75 Optical density 5 80 4 3 2 1 1.00 0 70

1.50

50

1
0.75

0.50

C3 h4 a n 5 n e 6 l n u 7 m b
Start fit

0 100 0 30
40 00

40

e 8 r
9

0.00 0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 Pumping time, sec

End fit

0.25

m u P

00 c se , 00 e m ti g in

20

30

20

10

> Avoiding long cleanup times. After the MDT tool had pumped from the formation for about an hour, the OCM software indicated about 18% contamination (blue curve), and an additional 412 hours to achieve less than 10% contamination. The inset shows the OD measurement for Channels 0 through 9 (shaded green). Channel 4, which has the greatest change in OD during cleanup, was used for the t after subtracting Channel 6 to remove scattering from large particles (red curve). The vertical dashed lines at the left and right of the plot indicate the range over which the OCM method t the data.

32

Contamination, %

1.25 Color OD

60

Methane OD

1.15

Like the other optical-detection bands, the methane channel of the LFA module displays a high OD as mud solids pass through a tools owline after pumping begins. Since drilling muds do not contain methane naturally, the initial high concentration of ltrate drawn into the MDT tool during cleanup results in a substantial drop in the OD recorded in the methane channel. As reservoir uid replaces ltrate in the line, the signal OD increases in proportion to the oils methane content, generating the same curve shape as cleanup with the OFA tool (left). Time for complete cleanup cannot be predicted before the logging run, because there are too many unknown reservoir variables. For example, there is not a direct relationship between formation permeability and cleanup time. Although uid can be pumped quickly from a high-permeability formation, which would imply a short cleanup time, that high permeability may have allowed mud ltrate to penetrate deeply into the formation before the wireline run. In that case, cleanup time could be long. Collecting uids close to a shale stringer can shorten cleanup time, since the shale provides a ow barrier, allowing collection of less contaminated reservoir uid farther away from the wellbore. The ability of the OFA and LFA modules to quantify contamination levels while pumping allows sampling decisions to be made in real time. The OD for all channels is transmitted to surface at high rate, and the OCM software updates its analysis every 20 seconds. Once sufcient data have been acquired, the software selects the color channel that will provide the best t to the expected trend and shows the degree of contamination and the time required to achieve an acceptably low level of contamination. In a Gulf of Mexico well, the MDT probe was set within a massive sand, and the tool measured a mobility of 87 millidarcies per centipoise (mD/cp). After pumping for 71 minutes, the OCM software predicted an additional 412 hours pumping time to achieve an acceptable level of 10% contamination (left). Rather than wait or waste a sample bottle on highly contaminated uid, the operator chose to move to another level within the same formation. The tool was moved 44 ft [13 m] lower in the formation. The mobility was higher, 256 mD/cp. Contamination dropped to 9% within 132 minutes, and samples taken at this location were acceptable for PVT analysis (next page, bottom).

Oileld Review

0.7
Color OD

2 1 0 0
2
100
20 00

0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2

50

Comparing Contamination at Surface Samples are collected to determine properties of reservoir uids such as PVT behavior. Mud ltrate mixed in the sample must be accounted for to arrive at reasonable estimates of reservoir-uid properties. The OFA and LFA modules measure
9. Mullins O, Beck GF, Cribbs M, Terabayashi T and Kegasawa K: Downhole Determination of GOR on Single-Phase Fluids by Optical Spectroscopy, Transactions of the SPWLA 42nd Annual Logging Symposium, Houston, Texas, USA, June 17-20, 2001, paper M.

40

C 3 h 4 a n 5 n e 6 l n u 7 m b e 8 r
Start fit

75

00

End fit

0.1 0.0 0

in

ti

se

30

20

10

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 Pumping time, sec

> Obtaining acceptable samples. After about two hours of pumping, contamination had dropped to about 9% (blue curve). OD for all channels is shown in the inset (shaded green). The OCM model was t to data of Channel 4 minus Channel 6 (red curve) between the start- and end-t lines (green dashed lines). The increases in OD past the end-t line occurred during sample collection.

Autumn 2001

Contamination, %

Scattering Light Scattering from particles smaller than the incidentlight wavelengthseveral hundred nanometers diameterdepends on the wavelength of incident light. The intensity of this scattering increases with decreasing wavelength. This effect, called Rayleigh scattering, gives the sky its blue color. Wavelength-independent scattering is removed by channel subtraction, but this leaves some wavelength-dependent Rayleigh scattering. For the OCM-color procedure, a longerwavelength channel is subtracted, but for the OCM-methane procedure, the subtracted channel is at a shorter wavelength. Since one procedure slightly overcorrects for wavelength-dependent scattering and the other slightly undercorrects, averaging OCM-color and OCM-methane contamination values from the LFA tool tends to remove some of that scattering effect (right). Discrepancies between the contamination determinations indicate the need to look more closely at other channels to identify the cause before collecting a uid sample. Methane detection has been shown to be valid for uids with GOR as low as 700 scf/bbl [126 m3/m3].9 However, in reservoirs containing oil with low methane content, color channels may provide better information on contamination than the methane channel does. For gas-condensate uids, methane detection using the LFA module is essential, because even in the shortest wavelength color channels, OD remains low and the progression of cleanup using the OCM-color procedure is difcult to assess. In some cases, a drilling-mud ltrate may be darker than the condensate, and the OCM-color procedure may not be able to discriminate contamination from reservoir uid. The OCM-methane detection in the new LFA module works well in such cases.

0.90 0.24 0.85 Methane channel 0.22 0.80

0.20

0.75

0.18

0.70 Color channel 0.65

0.16 500 1000 2000 2500 1500 Pumping time, sec 3000 0.60 3500

> Wavelength-dependent scattering. The optical absorption response in the pumping period between 1000 and 1500 seconds indicates some scattering remains even after subtracting a baseline channel. This wavelengthdependent response is stronger in the color channel (purple) than in the methane channel (blue). The noise in the data after 2500 seconds occurred during sample collection. The OCM method was still able to t the data, predicting 7% contamination based on the average of color and methane data of 7.9% and 6.0%, respectively.

1.2 1.1 1.0 0.9

Optical density

100

90 5 4 70 3 60

80

0.8

Methane OD

Color OD

33

100.0

Concentration, mole %

10.0 Trend for Oil 1 3.1% contamination

Oil 1 Oil 2

1.0

0.1 C2 C4 C6 C8 C10 C12 C14 C16 C18 C20 C22 C24 C26 C28 C30+ Component

> Removing contamination. GC results indicated Oil 1 (blue) and Oil 2 (red) from neighboring wells had similar proles except for the contamination of C16 and C18 from synthetic drilling mud. Contamination can be removed by developing the trend line for Oil 1 and decreasing the concentrations of C16 and C18 to the trend level. This analysis conrms that the oils came from the same source rock.

contamination in real time before collecting samples. At the rig oor or in a laboratory, sample contamination can be analyzed further using a gas chromatograph (GC), a gel-permeation chromatograph (GPC), tracer analysis or, less commonly and not discussed here, a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer. In a GC, a small quantity of sample uid is injected into a carrier gas such as high-purity helium. Light gaseous components are separated using a molecular sieve and heavier components are separated using a packed chromatographic column. A molecular sieve relies on particle size for separation, with smaller molecules staying in the sieve longer. In a packed column, the gas ows past particles coated with a uid, termed the stationary layer in a GC because the gas does not mobilize it. The relative solubility of components in the stationary layer separates them as the carrier gas moves a sample through the column. Chromatographs are calibrated for sample components. The process is similar for a GPC except the inert carrier is a liquid, and constituents do not separate as well at the detector. Component peaks from a GC are typically distinct, but those from a GPC can be smeared together. The Oilphase FFA Field Fingerprint Analyser rigsite device incorporates a GPC. At the end of the column, the carrier gas or liquid containing the sample enters a detector. For hydrocarbons, this is usually a thermalconductivity detector or a flame-ionization detector. Some detection methods respond to mass and others to the number of carbon atoms in the molecule. The distribution of crude-oil constituents normally declines smoothly with increasing carbon

number beyond eight.10 OBM and SBM ltrate contamination causes this distribution to deviate from the expected shape. SBMs use a narrow range of molecular weights, so contamination can be discerned with both a GC and a GPC as a sharp increase in the frequency of molecules between carbon numbers of C14 to C18 (above). OBMs with a mineral-oil base include a broader range of compounds, perhaps ranging from C8 to C20, and are difcult to distinguish using a GPC. Often, these muds can be separated from the crude-oil signature when using a GC. Drilling muds that include produced reservoir oil cannot be distinguished from formation oil using either form of chromatography, unless a tracer is added to the mud. An OBM or SBM ltrate response also can be removed from the GC result by separately measuring the response of the ltrate, normalizing the two signals and subtracting.11 Drilling-mud composition must be maintained while drilling an openhole section before sampling because variations in mud composition add error to the analysis. Sometimes, contamination is measured using tracers, by tagging drilling mud with an isotope or a molecule that is not present in high concentration in reservoir oils. For isotopic tagging of hydrocarbons, 13C replaces 12C, or deuterium replaces hydrogen. Mass spectroscopy measures the concentration of an isotope in a reservoirfluid sample to determine contamination. Detected isotope concentrations must be higher than those found naturally for this procedure to work. Chemical tagging may use linear alpha olens, detected using a GC. Tagging is an expensive procedure that must be planned in advance. The isotope or chemical tag must be in the mud in a constant concentration before drilling into the zone of interest and

must remain in the mud until samples are taken, since all drilling mud that lters into the formation must be tagged to have a meaningful result. Chemical tagging has an added problem: the selected molecules may not behave like reservoir crude. For example, linear alpha olens are less stable at high temperature than the corresponding alkanes, and may not travel through porous media at the same rate. Results of several contamination-measurement techniques have been performed at Hebron eld offshore Newfoundland, Canada, and in Gulf of Mexico wells.12,13 At Hebron eld, the synthetic drilling mud was tagged with deuterium. Fluid samples from ve different zones were collected using the OFA module. The OCM-color procedure evaluated contamination while uid was pumped from the formation. The Oilphase FFA device determined contamination using a GPC at the rigsite. Isotope tag concentration was determined using mass spectroscopy, and a laboratory GC determined the constituents of the uid. The LFA module including the OCM analysis was compared with laboratory GC analysis on live oils from several Gulf of Mexico wells. In both this study and the Hebron eld study, the real-time LFA or OFA measurements generally agree with the isotope, GC and FFA results (next page, top). Some discrepancy between methods is expected, as all methods have potential errors. The FFA device can overestimate contamination if the mud is not synthetic; even with SBM, both the FFA results and GC methods assume a distribution of hydrocarbon constituents to determine contamination. Tagging is expensive and in principle can be accurate, but in practice, it may not obtain reliable results. It is difcult to ensure that all the drilling mud has a uniform concentration of the chemical or isotopic tag and that the tagged molecules have the same physical and transport properties as the rest of the ltrate. The OCMcolor method has problems when the mud ltrate has signicant color or the reservoir oil is colorless, because the method requires a contrast between the two. However, the LFA-OCMmethane method provides a solution for such cases, since it is based on methane concentration. Even if contamination-detection methods always were correct, many errors can occur in collecting samples. The uid can go through a phase transition as it is drawn into the tool, leaving components behind in the formation, or phases can separate in the tool. Valves can fail, either not opening properly downhole and capturing insufcient uid or not closing completely and losing pressure and uid after sample collection. At surface, every time the uid is transferred

34

Oileld Review

or a sample bottle is handled, there is potential for damaging the sample. Bottles should be heated and agitated for about ve days before performing laboratory analyses, but not all laboratories follow this recommended procedure. Collecting the right base oil of the drilling mud used to compare with spectra of contaminated reservoir oilis difcult because mud composition often changes during a job as components are added to control various drilling problems. Collection and analysis of uid samples are important; operators must control sources of error to obtain the best possible data. The OFA and LFA procedures measure properties downhole in real time before sample collection, a distinct advantage. The few sample bottles available on the tool are not wasted storing bad samples. Since OCM measurements are made before any possible transport and handling problems, they provide a check for the quality of later measurements. When sufcient information is available from the reservoir, measured values of uid properties can be used as an additional check on sample quality. Norsk Hydro conducted a detailed study of oil samples taken from several North Sea elds.14 In a reservoir with a gas cap, both chemical tags and the FFA device indicated a high level of sample contamination, ranging from 8.9% to 25.8%. The OFA-OCM method and GC analysis indicated lower contamination levels of 2.6% to 6.8%. The difference in these two ranges of contamination measurement led Norsk Hydro to investigate further. Reservoir saturation pressure, Psat, at the sampling depth was estimated from reservoir pressure and density gradients starting at the gas-oil contact (right). The reservoir saturation pressure of the sample, based on PVT
10. Gozalpour F, Danesh A, Tehrani DH, Todd AC and Tohidi B: Predicting Reservoir Fluid Phase and Volumetric Behaviour from Samples Contaminated with Oil-Based Mud, paper SPE 56747, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, USA, October 3-6, 1999. 11. MacMillan DJ, Ginley GM and Dembicki H: How to Obtain Reservoir Fluid Properties from an Oil Sample Contaminated with Synthetic Drilling Mud, paper SPE 38852, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, Texas, USA, October 5-8, 1997. Gozalpour et al, reference 10. 12. Connon D: Chevron et al. Hebron M-04 Contamination Prediction Method Comparison, Released Project Report available at Canada-Newfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board, St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada, May 1, 2001. 13. Mullins et al, reference 9. 14. Fadnes FH, Irvine-Fortescue J, Williams S, Mullins OC and Van Dusen A: Optimization of Wireline Sample Quality by Real-Time Analysis of Oil-Based Mud ContaminationExamples from North Sea Operations, paper SPE 71736, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, September 30-October 3, 2001.

1a 1b 1c 2a 2b

160

157 155 150 045 025

Sample number

3b 3c 4a 4b 5a 5b 5c 0 20 40 60 Contamination, % 80 100 Gas chromatograph OFA measurement FFA analysis Isotopic tag determination

Sample number

3a

13 12 11 0 20

Gas chromatograph LFA-color measurement LFA-methane measurement

40 60 Contamination, %

80

100

> Comparing different methods of evaluating contamination. Contamination measurements of uid samples from Hebron eld (left) and Gulf of Mexico wells (right) indicate agreement among different methods for most samples.

2700

Sat ur ess -pr tion nt ura gradie

2725

True vertical depth, m

Gas-oil contact 2750 Sample gas-loss correction

Pres sure

2775

Contaminated sample

Removal of 3% contamination

Removal of 9% contamination

grad ient

2800 270

275

280

285

290

295

300

305

Pressure, bar absolute

> Using reservoir properties to evaluate contamination measurements. The known gas-oil contact, pressure gradient (blue line) and saturation-pressure, or bubblepoint, gradient (green line) intersect at the gas-oil contact for a North Sea well. The contaminated sample had a bubblepoint pressure of about 272 bar [27.2 MPa or 3950 psi] (dark brown). PVT modeling allowed prediction of bubblepoint pressure of uncontaminated oil by mathematically removing measured contamination from the sample. Removing 9% contamination, measured using isotopic tagging and the FFA procedure, produced an unphysical result above the reservoir values (purple). Removing only 3% contamination (dark blue), based on the OFA-OCM result, did not raise the bubblepoint enough. Assuming the sample bottle dead volume of 2.5% was all lost gas provides another factor to adjust the PVT properties of the contaminated sample (light brown). Combining the 3% contamination correction with the gas-loss correction brings the prediction of bubblepoint (light blue) close to the saturation-pressure gradient.

Autumn 2001

35

properties determined with contaminants in the uid, was about 20 bar [2 MPa or 290 psi] below the saturation-pressure gradient at the sampling depth. These PVT properties can be mathematically corrected to remove the effect of contaminants and then compared with the reservoirgradient calculation. When using the FFA contamination value of 9%, the resulting calculated Psat was greater than the reservoir pressure, which is an unphysical result. When using the OFA-OCM value of contamination, Psat was about 10 bar [1 MPa or 145 psi] below the expected value. This indicates the sample may have lost gas before PVT properties were evaluated. Gas could separate from liquid in the formation due to near-well pressure drawdown, but the downhole conditions were not known well enough to evaluate this effect. The investigation focused on what happened to the sample coming out of the hole.

The sample bottle did not allow for downhole pressure compensation. The uid could enter the two-phase region due to cooling from the reservoir temperature of 107C [225F] during transport to surface. The sample had probably cooled below 102C [217F]the temperature at which pressure in the enclosed chamber decreased below the bubblepointand was in two phases by the time it reached the surface. The 450-cm3 bottle has a dead volume of 2.5% between the isolating valve on the bottle and the valve on the downhole owline, which could have been lled with gas that was lost when the valves were opened at the surface. The PVT properties of the contaminated samples can be corrected for this gas loss, increasing the contaminatedsample bubblepoint pressure by 10 bar. When the gas-loss correction is combined with removal of the contamination, as measured by the OCMcolor method, Psat increased to within 4 bar

[0.4 MPa or 58 psi] of the expected reservoir value, which is reasonable agreement. This analysis could not have been performed without the downhole OCM-contamination measurement. Monitoring Gas Directly Gas-condensate elds engender additional difculties for uid sampling when OBM and SBM are used. Although they contain single-phase uids in the reservoir, gas condensates separate into a gas phase and a liquid phase when conditions drop below the dewpoint. The liquid derived from gas condensates is a more valuable commodity than the gas. Surface-separator conditions are tuned to optimize the volume and value of liquid obtained from condensates. The separator designs often are based on uid properties from wireline samples, so determining the level of contamination and correcting the PVT properties are essential. OBM and SBM ltrate may mix only partially with condensate in a reservoir, leaving mud ltrate in a liquid-hydrocarbon phase and a gas phase with some of the more volatile components of the ltrate. A wireline sampling probe draws both hydrocarbon phases into the device, and samples collected contain both reservoir uid and ltrate contamination. When the uid pressure is lowered during laboratory testing, the phases separate. All mud ltrate is concentrated in the liquid phase; presence of contamination strongly affects a samples dewpoint pressure. To calculate a correct GOR and other reservoir-uid properties, the volume of the oil phase must be adjusted to remove contamination. That liquid-phase contamination must be kept low to avoid excessive correction factors, just as with a black oil. However, to compensate for the concentration of SBM and OBM contaminants in the liquid phase, many companies set the acceptable level of contamination in a gas condensate below that for a black oil. The LFA tool provides signicant new information for gas-condensate reservoirs, improving data quality used for designing production facilities.15 A gas-condensate prospect in the Norwegian North Sea offered one of the rst tests for the LFA tool, used in this case without the OCM module.16 A mobile C36+ GC, capable of measuring individual constituents up to C36 at the rigsite, indicated contamination of 32% to 60% in the low-pressure liquid phase. This was comparable to results from subsequent FFA analysis onshore. The LFA timesequence data were later analyzed using the

0.4 Start fit End fit 100 75 Contamination, % 50 25 0 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000 9000 10,000 Pumping time, sec

Color OD Methane OD

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.75

0.50

0.25

0.00 0 1000 2000 3000

> Cleanup curve for gas condensate. This North Sea gas condensate was transparent. Even the OD of the shortest wavelength channel (top) showed insufcient contrast to reliably determine OD buildup using the OCM-color method (red). Cleanup was more reliable in the methane channel (bottom) (pink), giving a more quantiable OCM-methane t to the OD data (black). Calculated values of contamination are shown in the lower plot, with an OCM-color curve (green), an OCM-methane curve (purple) and the average of the two (blue). In this case, the large discrepancy is caused by the light color of the condensate.

36

Oileld Review

Gas Oil Fluid Color Flag Flag

OD Channels

Methane Channel

0.5

1512 1494 1476 1458

0.4 Ratio of methane peak to oil peak

1440 1422 1404 1386

0.3

1368 1350 1332 1314

0.2

1296 1278 1260 1242

0.1

Live oils Binary mix*0.85 Dead oil from GOR run 0 1000 2000 3000 GOR, scf/bbl 4000 5000 6000

1224 1206 1188 1170

1152 1134 1116 1098

> GOR measurement derived from molecular vibration peaks. In laboratory tests, the ratio of absorption at the methane peak to the oil peak ts well with GOR for both methane-heptane mixtures (red squares) and live oils (blue circles). The multiplicative factor applied to the methane-heptane mixtures accounts for the absence of other gases normally present in live oils. The dead crude oil (orange triangle) was evaluated after gas was removed in the laboratory.

1080 1062

Time, sec

1044 1026 1008 990 972 954 936 918 900

OCM method. Mud ltrate and the reservoir uid were indistinguishable in the color channels. The OCM-methane analysis provided a quantitative contamination measurement, about 8% of the live oil (previous page). The operator had little experience with the new tool and sought to understand the difference. A subsequent well test proved a gas-condensate nd. Surface-separator samples collected during the owing well test and analyzed using a C36+ GC indicated stock-tank oil contamination of 23%. A full PVT analysis provided the GOR, allowing correction of contamination to singlephase, downhole conditions. The result indicated 6 to 7% contamination, which agreed well with the OCM-methane measurement on the live uid. During determination of uid properties for a gas-condensate reservoir drilled with OBM, the buildup of methane measured with the LFA module is essential to obtain accurate, real-time condensate-contamination measurement. The alternatives are to conduct a DST or complete a well with water-base mud to avoid oil contamination altogether. Moreover, using the LFA device also provides a simultaneous measurement of GOR. The gas refractometer on both the OFA and LFA tools indicates gas only when it is in contact with the detector window. Gas bubbles may not be detected if they are in the center of the

owstream, or on the opposite side. The refractometer detects all gases, regardless of composition, so CO2 and H2S are agged. The LFA module also provides a complementary gas-detection system using measurement of OD in the methane channel. Although insensitive to other gases, this detector monitors all methane passing through the owline. If live oil is owing, the volume percentage of methane will be low. However, if the pressure drops below the bubblepoint, gas evolves and methane absorption will be high when a bubble passes the light beam anywhere within the owline. The combination of the gas refractometer and methane detector makes a robust LFA gas-detection method (right). The ratio of the methane peak to the oil peak in the LFA module correlates with GOR both for mixtures of pure components and for live crude oils (above). A multiplying factor applied to the methane-heptane mixtures compensates for other hydrocarbon components in the gas phase of reservoir oils. The tool does not measure CO2 or H2S, so the LFA-GOR measurement may be incorrect for uids from reservoirs containing signicant quantities of these nonhydrocarbon gases.
15. Mullins et al, reference 9. 16. Fadnes et al, reference 14.

882 864 846 828 810 792 774 756 738 720 702 684 666 648 630 612 594 576 558 540 522 504

> LFA gas-detection combination. After an initial cleanup period, the color Channels 1 through 5 in Track 4 show little absorption, conrming a gas condensate. Channels 6 and 9 also have low OD, which means no water is present. The oil peak in Channel 8 is transformed into an oil ag in Track 2 (green), indicating periods when no oil ows, particularly from 1116 to 1188 seconds and 1422 to 1458 seconds. The gas refractometer in Track 1 (red) measures all gases, but only when they contact the sapphire window of the refractometer. It misses some periods of gas ow. The LFA methane response from Channel 0, expanded in Track 5, is sensitive to all methane in the owline, but not to other gases. The combination of the two gas detectors is more robust than either alone.

Autumn 2001

37

Real-Time Fluid Typing The combination of the MDT system and the CMR Combinable Magnetic Resonance tool revealed new insights about a reservoir operated by Shell in the Gulf of Mexico. The Yellow sand unit had been depleted for two years. The new drilling target was an underlying sandstone formation, called the Blue sand, separated from the overlying reservoir by a thick shale. A logging-while-drilling (LWD) resistivity log revealed a 10-ft [3-m] water layer on top of the Blue sand oil, which is not a gravitationally stable situation. A thin hydrocarbon layer sat atop the water, just below the thick shale (below). The operator wanted to know whether water from above had broken through. The LWD gamma ray log and standard CMR processing did not explain how this water could be above the oil (right). Pressures collected with an MDT tool indicated that the water zone was not in pressure communication with either the Yellow sand above or the Blue sand below. Reservoir pressure in the water zone was about 800 psi [5.5 MPa] higher than the Blue sand, and was slightly less than original reservoir pressure for the Yellow sand.

LWD

CMR Standard-Resolution Porosity

NMR T2

CMR High-Resolution Permeability

MDT Pressure

MDT-OFA Fluid Typing

Gamma Ray Resistivity Permeability

Pumpout at X482 40 API gravity

Yellow sand Shale

Pumpout at X597 40 API gravity

Blue sand

Pumpout at X616 35 API gravity

Pumpout at X640 35 API gravity

Depleted condensate in Yellow sand

> Water above oil investigated by MDT-OFA uid typing. There is a water zone over the oil-saturated Blue sand, located at the blue arrow pointing to the low resistivity in Track 2. The responses in the gamma ray and standard-resolution CMR logs do not explain how this water zone can sit atop oil. A reprocessed high-resolution CMR permeability log (Track 6) shows a thin permeability barrier, indicated by the green arrow. MDT logging shows three pressure compartments: the depleted Yellow sand above the shale, the Blue sand below the barrier and the region between the shale and the thin barrier at high pressure. The MDT color channels, evaluated at the depths indicated by the black arrows, were used to type the reservoir uids. The oil atop the water above the barrier has the same characteristics as the oil in the Yellow sand. This caused the operator to reevaluate the boundary between the Yellow and Blue sands in this well as being at the thin barrier rather than the thick shale.

Shale

Splinter of Yellow sand

Target oil in Blue sand

> Section of Yellow sand below shale. The Yellow sand above the shale is saturated with a condensate. The oil-saturated Blue sand did not extend to the shale, but stopped at a thin barrier (thick black line). The splinter of the Yellow sand unit below the thick shale had a water leg (blue) below a thin layer of condensate.

The depleted Yellow sand placed a limit on the mud weight that could be used in the borehole. This created concerns about the wellbore; the well was not stable enough to leave the MDT tool in place long enough for formation uid to clean up. The MDT tool was used instead for uid typing with the gargling technique developed by Shell Deepwater Services.17 In this technique, reservoir uids from the formation were pumped for a short period of time through the OFA module and out to the wellbore, without collecting samples in bottles. An OD spectrum from the OFA module allowed analysis of these small quantities of reservoir oil. Since oil color relates to API gravity and GOR, the color pattern from the 10 OFA channels enabled discrimination between the oils. In this case, the Yellow sand was a gas condensate with an API gravity of about 40 and

a GOR of 6000 scf/bbl [1080 m3/m3], while the Blue sand held a 35 API gravity oil with a GOR of 2000 scf/bbl [360 m3/m3]. Surprisingly, the color spectrum of the hydrocarbon sitting on top of the water had the same signature as the Yellow sand above the thick shale. The CMR log data were reprocessed to improve resolution from 18 in. [46 cm] to about 8 in. [20 cm], revealing a thin permeability barrier at the base of water, thought to be about 6-in. [15-cm] thick. This led to a rethinking of the distinction between the top and bottom units. In other wells, the Yellow sand remained above the large shale, but in this well, a splinter member of the Yellow sand cut below the shale. The true boundary between the zones was the thin barrier, which appeared to be sand on sand, undifferentiated on conventional logs.

38

Oileld Review

100 km 62 miles
CA

NA

DA

NEWFOUNDLAND

St Johns Hibernia field Rift-basin outlines

Atlantic Ocean Water depth 200 m 2000 m

> Hibernia eld, offshore Newfoundland, Canada.

Had this been an exploration well, facilities planning would have relied on results from uid sampling. Depending on where the samples were collected, the GOR could have been too high or too low, leading to an inefcient design. If the sample GOR measured were lower than the actual production, the facilities would have an undercapacity for gas production, and insufcient compression and transmission capabilities, resulting in lost or delayed revenues. Signicant error in GOR in the opposite direction could have the opposite probleman expensive overdesign with too much capacity. MDT uid typing is a valuable means for detecting such situations. In a well in the North Sea, Norsk Hydro drilled a pilot hole through three horizons prior to drilling a horizontal section.18 The typical log response in this eld made distinguishing the uid type in each formation difcult. Precise denition of uid compositions was not required, but rapid differentiation of gas, oil and water was imperative because the rig was idle while the operator awaited this uid identication. The operator wanted to drill a horizontal wellbore into the deepest oil-bearing zone. The MDT sonde was chosen to identify the uids in real time.

Pumping uid into the tool progressed until the OFA-OCM method indicated contamination had dropped below 8% in the middle zone and to 1% in the upper zone. The MDT tool indicated that the lower zone was water-lled. The low contamination values in the other zones gave the operator condence in the tool response, which showed that the reservoir uid was oil. A 3%olen tracer placed in the OBM mud before drilling the section allowed rapid conrmation of these contamination values using a GC at the rig. The surface contamination measurements 5% in the middle zone and 4% in the upper provided reasonable agreement with the OFAOCM measurement. Although additional uid samples had been collected for testing onshore, the real-time results using the OFA-OCM analysis coupled with a rigsite GC conrmation provided answers that were conclusive enough to cancel the onshore testing program. The horizontal section was drilled into the middle horizon immediately after completing the MDT run, resulting in a successful well. Norsk Hydro no longer uses olen tracers to tag drilling mud. Recent wells have relied successfully on the combination of the OCM method and a C36+ GC.

Fluid Compartments in Hibernia Field The Hibernia eld, discovered in 1979 and operated by Hibernia Management and Development Company, Ltd. (HMDC), was the rst signicant oil discovery in the Jeanne dArc basin on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland, Canada. Oil production commenced on November 17, 1997, from an ice-resistant, gravity-based platform in 80 m [262 ft] of water, 315 km [196 miles] east-southeast of St. Johns, Newfoundland (above). The structure is a highly faulted, south-plunging anticline containing approximately 3 billion barrels [475 million m3] of oil-in-place, with an estimated 750 million recoverable barrels [120 million m3]. Most of these resources are in two Lower Cretaceous reservoirs, the Hibernia, and the combined Ben Nevis and Avalon sandstones. The Hibernia reservoir will be depleted
17. Hashem et al, reference 7. 18. Fadnes et al, reference 14.

Autumn 2001

39

Bonavista platform

0 0

1 1

3 2

5 km 3 miles N

Na

uti

lus

ult

fau

> Hibernia water- and gasoods. The 3D image indicates some of the oil-production (green), water-injection (blue) and gas-injection (red) wells in the highly faulted reservoir (left). The structure map shows distinct fault blocks in the Hibernia formation (right). Part of the eld is under waterood (blue) and part under gasood (red). The section line (black) indicates the location of the cross section shown on page 42.

Mur

re fa

lt

3550 B-16 5 MDT 2 B-16 5 MDT 3 3600 B-16 6 MDT 3 3650 B-16 2 BHS B-16 6 MDT 1 B-16 3 MDT 4

3700

3750

B-16 3 BHS B-16 3 MDT 3 B-16 3 BHS B-16 1 BHS B-16 3 BHS B-16 1 BHS B-16 1 BHS B-16 9 MDT 6 C-96 DST 4 BHS

3800

C-96 DST 3 BHS B-16 9 MDT 3

3850

B-16 7 MDT 3 C-96 DST 1 BHS

3900 B-16 11 MDT 6 B-16 7 MDT 2 3950

using both waterood and gasood processes (above). Delineation drilling of the Ben Nevis and Avalon formations continues; these reservoirs will be produced under waterood. HMDC encountered operational problems while drilling the rst four wells using WBM. Shifting to OBM resulted in improved borehole conditions, few seal losses while running the logs and decreased logging-acquisition time. Extensive faulting makes reservoir continuity uncertain. Early in eld development, HMDC initiated a comprehensive data-acquisition plan to determine uid compositional variation between fault blocks and within the vertically extensive fluid column. Obtaining high-quality samples with the MDT tool is an integral part of the program for determining reservoir-uid properties. MDT pressure measurements establish pressure gradients and locate gas-oil and wateroil contacts. Fluid samples were collected in three ways MDT samples, bottomhole samples and separator samples. The MDT string typically was congured to obtain approximately 30 pressure points across selected reservoir intervals and included six MPSR sample bottles. Several wells were sampled using 12 sample cylinders: six

Depth, m
4000 125

175

225

275

325

375

GOR, m3/m3

> Hibernia GOR. Fluid samples from the MDT tool and from bottomhole samples (BHS) from DSTs indicate the trend of GOR with depth. Separator samples from Hibernia are not associated with a specic depth and are not shown here. (225 m3/m3 = 1249 scf/bbl.)

40

Oileld Review

Gasflood Wells

Waterflood Wells

Ben Nevis and Avalon Wells

14-3 14-2 12-6 12-5 12-4 12-3 12-2 Sample number Sample number 12-1 11-6 11-5 8-5 8-3 8-1 5-6 5-5 5-4 5-3 5-2 0 20 40 60 80 Oil-base mud contamination, % 100 OFA-OCM measurement Gas chromatograph

17-6 17-5 17-4 17-3 17-2 17-1 16-6 16-5 Sample number 16-4 16-2 16-1 9-5 9-3 9-1 7-3 7-2 6-6 6-5 6-4 6-3 6-1 0 20 40 60 80 Oil-base mud contamination, % 100 OFA-OCM measurement Gas chromatograph

20-6 20-5 20-4 20-3 20-2 20-1 OFA-OCM measurement Gas chromatograph

19-1.11 19-1.10 19-1.09 19-1.08 0 20 40 60 80 Oil-base mud contamination, % 100

> Comparison of contamination measurements. The OFA-OCM measurement at the wellsite agrees well with laboratory GC measurements for the gasood (left) and waterood (middle) zones of the Hibernia formation and Ben Nevis and Avalon formations (right).

MPSR cylinders and six pressure-compensated SPMC cylinders. The variation of PVT properties in the MDT samples helped dene depth and areal trends, which were further rened by geochemical ngerprinting of the samples. MDT detection of OBM contamination was important for the program. Use of OCM real-time monitoring allowed collection of high-quality gascondensate samples. Initially, bottomhole samples from the entire perforated interval were collected during production testing to obtain representative PVT properties. Single-phase flow conditions were maintained downhole during sampling. Fluid samples collected from test separators were less expensive, allowing continued monthly sampling to monitor compositional changes. Samples from the three sources have shown excellent agreement in PVT studies and determination of OBMcontamination levels (previous page, bottom).

The operator uses PVT data from these sources for well-test analysis, reserves determination, material balances, reservoir simulation, production allocation, production monitoring and uid-metering factors, process simulation and regulatory reporting. The initial pressure in the Hibernia reservoir was approximately 40 MPa [5800 psi]. Because the bubblepoint varies across the field, the company avoided sampling below bubblepoint pressure. The MDT tool monitored pressure during sampling, allowing minimal drawdown and accurate bubblepoint determination from recovered samples. The OFA module detected sample contamination levels to estimate pumping time to achieve cleanup. About halfway through the sample-collection program, the OCM option became available, providing a quantitative measure of

contamination in real time. The OFA results from the previous logging runs were analyzed later using the OCM-color methodology to determine contamination levels (above). The MDT sampling tool is an effective means of collecting representative uid samples to evaluate variations through long uid columns. The Hibernia group has successfully run the tool on wireline, but because of wellbore deviations up to 80, the tool typically was run as part of a TLC Tough Logging Conditions superstring. The TLC tool usually includes the Platform Express integrated tool, including the AIT Array Induction Imager Tool sonde, a caliper and gamma ray tool, and the MDT modules. Logs collected on a rst pass were transmitted in real time to the company ofce in St. Johns where engineers picked points for MDT pressure determination and a sample-collection pass. With uid columns in excess of 400 m [1300 ft] thick in areas of the

Autumn 2001

41

3400

NW

C block

B block

SE

GOC 3600 B-08 B-16 15z

Depth subsea, m

B-16 10z

3800

WOC 4000 B-16 11

0 0 0.5

1 1

2 km 1.5 miles B-16 14

5:1 vertical exaggeration 4200

> Cross section spanning Blocks B and C in the Hibernia eld gasood area. The Hibernia formation dips steeply, plunging into the Murre fault in the northwest. The gas-oil contact (GOC) is shown at the crest. The water-oil contact (WOC) is unknown in the southeast; in the northwest it lies between the two marked depths. This section line is indicated on the map on page 40.

n-C16 n-C10 n-C12 n-C14

700

n-C17 Pr n-C18 Ph n-C20

600

n-C22

Detector response

n-C15

400

Base oil

n-C20

300

Hibernia oil sample

n-C25

200 Pr Ph 100

0 0 10 20 30 40 Time, min 50 60 70 80

> Gas chromatograms of reservoir and drilling-mud base oils. The sharp peaks on the curves are specic carbon compounds, such as normal-alkane C30 [n-C30]. Pristane (Pr) and phytane (Ph) are geomarkers found in reservoir uids. A scaling factor is applied to the base-oil spectrum before subtracting it from the reservoir-oil spectrum. The scaling factor is related to the degree of contamination.

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n-C30

n-C30

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Bonavista platform

0 0

1 1

3 2

5 km 3 miles

Na

uti

lus

fau

lt

> Fluid regions in Hibernia eld. Seven distinct regions are dened for Hibernia uids, based on constituents and physical properties determined from DST and MDT uid samples.

eld, using MDT pressures and uid-type determination to establish gas-oil and water-oil contacts was important (previous page, top). A significant benefit of the MDT logging program is real-time decision-making on sample collection points. MDT uid-sample composition was determined in a PVT laboratory by the GC method. The chromatogram of the base oil of the mud was subtracted from the sample GC spectrum (previous page, bottom). The resulting peakheight spectra from different blocks, coupled with other PVT data such as the bubblepoint pressure, GOR and formation volume factor, provided evidence to correlate oil from different fault blocks, indicating seven distinct fluid regions across the eld (above). With this information, gasooding and waterooding can be implemented more efciently. Formation pressures from openhole MDT runs also indicated whether offset production had drawn down formation pressure in the new locations. Other measurements made on the reservoir uids, including wax content, sulfur content, acid number, pour point, cloud point and saturates-aromaticsresins-asphaltenes content, also indicated variations by fault block, impacting the production and completion strategies.19
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re fa

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A Downhole Chemistry Laboratory Distinguishing uid phases may seem like some of the simplest chemistry that can be performed. Doing it from miles away, in a harsh environment, is the signicant new accomplishment of the MDT tool. The channels of absorption information in the OFA tool have allowed correlation with many more attributes of the uid: oil-shrinkage factor, bubblepoint pressure, oil compressibility, oil density and average molecular weight.20 Minimizing contamination in collected samples and controlling phase separation during collection to enhance the value of in-situ uid properties measurements is an ongoing challenge. The additional capabilities in the new LFA module provide direct measurement of methane content, allowing estimation of GOR and a more robust gas ag to avoid taking the uid into the two-phase region. In addition, obtaining fluid samples from behind casing is signicantly easier now. The CHDT Cased Hole Dynamics Tester tool can drill up to six holes through casing in one trip and, in combination with other MDT modules, obtain samples and monitor contamination in real time. It then seals the hole through the casing with a

corrosion-resistant plug rated to 10,000-psi [69-MPa] differential pressure. Already, signicant decisions are made based on real-time downhole fluid measurements. Continuing development will improve the range and reliability of these measurements. MAA
19. The pour point is the lowest temperature at which an oil will begin to ow under standard test conditions. The cloud point is the temperature at which parafn molecules rst start to crystallize from oil, as observed visually. 20. Van Dusen A, Williams S, Fadnes FH and IrvineFortescue J: Determination of Hydrocarbon Properties by Optical Analysis During Wireline Fluid Sampling, paper SPE 63252, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Dallas, Texas, USA, October 1-4, 2000.

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Global Warming and the E&P Industry

The question as to what extent man-made emissions of greenhouse gases may be causing climate change has stirred intense debate around the world. Continued shifts in the Earths temperatures, predicted by many scientists, could dramatically affect the way we live and do business. This article examines the evidence and the arguments, and describes some of the mitigating actions being taken by the exploration and production (E&P) industry.

Melvin Cannell Centre for Ecology and Hydrology Edinburgh, Scotland Jim Filas Rosharon, Texas, USA John Harries Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine London, England Geoff Jenkins Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research Berkshire, England Martin Parry University of East Anglia Norwich, England Paul Rutter BP Sunbury on Thames, England Lars Sonneland Stavanger, Norway Jeremy Walker Houston, Texas

Scientists use language cautiously. They tend to err on the side of understatement. During the mid-1990s, in the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), leading scientists from around the world expressed a consensus view that the balance of evidence suggests a discernible human inuence on global climate. In July 2001, for the IPCC Third Assessment Report, experts took this conclusion a step further. Considering new evidence, and taking into account remaining uncertainties, the panel stated most of the observed warming over the last 50 years is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse-gas concentrations.1 The word likely is dened by the IPCC as a 66 to 90% probability that the claim is true. An important and inuential segment of the global scientic community rmly believes that human activity has contributed to a rise in the Earths average surface temperature and a resulting worldwide climate change. They contend that such activity may be enhancing the so-called greenhouse effect. Other distinguished scientists disagree, some dismissing the IPCC view as simplistic.
For help in preparation of this article, thanks to David Harrison, Houston, Texas, USA; Dwight Peters, Sugar Land, Texas; and Thomas Wilson, Caracas, Venezuela. Special thanks to the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research for supplying graphics that were used as a basis for some of the gures appearing in this article.

The Greenhouse and Enhanced Greenhouse Effects The greenhouse effect is the name given to the insulating mechanism by which the atmosphere keeps the Earths surface substantially warmer than it would otherwise be. The effect can be illustrated by comparing the effects of solar radiation on the earth and the moon. Both are roughly equidistant from the sun, which supplies the radiation that warms them, and both receive about the same amount of heat energy per square meter of their surfaces. Yet, the earth is much warmera global average temperature of 15C [59F] compared with that of the moon, -18C [-0.4F]. The difference is largely due to the fact that the moon has almost no atmosphere while the Earths dense atmosphere effectively traps heat that would otherwise escape into space. Climatologists use a physical greenhouse analogy to explain how warming occurs. Energy from the sun, transmitted as visible light, passes through the glass of a greenhouse without hindrance, is rst absorbed by the oor and contents, and then reemitted as infrared radiation.
1. Climate Change 2001: The Scientic Basis: The Contribution of Working Group I to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. New York, New York, USA: Cambridge University Press (2000): 10.

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Because infrared radiation cannot pass through the glass as readily as sunlight, some of it is trapped, and the temperature inside the greenhouse rises, providing an articially warm environment to stimulate plant growth (right). In the natural greenhouse effect, the Earths atmosphere behaves like panes of glass. Energy coming from the sun as visible short-wavelength radiation passes through the atmosphere, just as it does through greenhouse glass, and is absorbed by the surface of the earth, which then reemits it as long-wavelength infrared radiation. Infrared radiation is absorbed by naturally occurring gases in the atmospherewater vapor, carbon dioxide [CO2], methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and othersand reradiated. While some energy goes into outer space, most is reradiated back to earth, heating its surface.2 An enhanced greenhouse effect occurs when human activities increase the levels of certain naturally occurring gases. If the atmosphere is pictured as a translucent blanket that insulates the earth, adding to the concentration of these greenhouse gases is analogous to increasing the thickness of the blanket, improving its insulating qualities (below).

Visible energy from the sun passes through the glass, heating the ground.

Some reemitted infrared radiation is reflected by the glass and trapped inside.

> The greenhouse analogy. A greenhouse effectively traps a portion of the suns energy impinging on it, raising the interior temperature and creating an articially warm growing environment.

Natural Greenhouse Effect Absorption of outgoing radiation by indigenous atmospheric gases

Enhanced Greenhouse Effect Enhanced absorption by greenhouse gases

Reradiation into space Outgoing long-wavelength radiation

Reradiation into space Outgoing long-wavelength radiation

Incoming short-wavelength radiation Reradiation to earth

Incoming short-wavelength radiation Reradiation to earth

> Natural and enhanced greenhouse effects. In the natural greenhouse effect (left), indigenous atmospheric gases contribute to heating of the Earths surface by absorbing and reradiating back some of the infrared energy coming from the surface. In the enhanced greenhouse effect (right), increased gas concentrations, resulting from human activity, improve the atmospheres insulating qualities.

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Atmospheric constituent Carbon dioxide

Source Combustion of fossil fuels and woods Land-use changes Production and transport of fossil fuels Decomposing waste Agriculture Dissociation of gas hydrates Combustion of fossil fuels Combustion of waste Production Transport Industrial emissions Power generation Transport

Lifetime 100 years

Methane

10 years

Methane 24%

Nitrous oxide 10%

150 years

Nitrous oxide

Carbon dioxide 63%

Others 3%
100 years 3 months 2 weeks

Chlorofluorocarbons Ground-level ozone Aerosols

> Man-made emission sources and lifetimes for greenhouse gases. Various gases and aerosols are emitted daily in commercial, industrial and residential activities. Carbon dioxide is the most important, because of its abundance and effective lifetime in the atmosphere of about 100 years.

> Relative warming projected from different greenhouse gases during this century. Of the various greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide is predicted to have the greatest capacity for causing additional global warming, followed by methane and nitrous oxide.

Man-made emissions of greenhouse gases occur in a number of ways. For example, carbon dioxide is released to the atmosphere when solid waste, wood and fossil fuelsoil, natural gas and coalare burned. Methane is emitted by decomposing organic wastes in landll sites, during production and transportation of fossil fuels, by agricultural activity and by dissociation of gas hydrates. Nitrous oxide is vented during the combustion of solid wastes and fossil fuels (above left). Carbon dioxide is the most important, due principally to the fact that it has an effective lifetime in the atmosphere of about 100 years, and is the most abundant. Every year, more than 20 billion tons are emitted when fossil fuels are burned in commercial, residential, transportation and power-station applications. Another 5.5 billion tons are released during land-use changes, such as deforestation.3 The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased by more than 30% since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

Analysis of air trapped in antarctic ice caps shows that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in pre-industrial days was about 270 parts per million (ppm). Today, readings taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii, USA, place the concentration at about 370 ppm.4 Concentrations of methane and nitrous oxide, which have effective lifetimes of 10 and 150 years, respectively, also have increased methane more than doubling and nitrous oxide rising by about 15% over the same time span. Both are at much lower levels than CO2 methane at 1.72 ppm and nitrous oxide at 0.3 ppmbut they exert a signicant inuence because of their effectiveness in trapping heat. Methane is 21 times more effective in this regard than CO2, while nitrous oxide is 310 times more effective, molecule for molecule.5 The global-warming potential of a gas is a measure of its capacity to cause global warming over the next 100 years. The warming effect of an additional 1-kg [2.2-lbm] emission of a greenhouse gas discharged todayrelative to 1 kg of

CO2will depend on its effective lifetime, the amount of extra infrared radiation it will absorb, and its density. On this basis, experts calculate that, during this century, CO2 will be responsible for about two-thirds of predicted future warming, methane a quarter and nitrous oxide around a tenth (above right).6
2. The description above is a simplication. In fact, about 25% of solar radiation is reected back into space before reaching the Earths surface by clouds, molecules and particles, and another 5% is reected back by the Earths surface. A further 20% is absorbed before it reaches the earth by water vapor, dust and clouds. It is the remainderjust over half of the incoming solar radiationthat is absorbed by the Earths surface. The greenhouse analogy, although widely used, is also only partly accurate. Greenhouses work mainly by preventing the natural process of convection. 3. Jenkins G, Mitchell JFB and Folland CK: The Greenhouse Effect and Climate Change: A Review, The Royal Society (1999): 9-10. 4. Reference 1: 12. 5. The Greenhouse Effect and Climate Change: A Brieng from the Hadley Centre, Berkshire, England: Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research (October 1999): 7. 6. Reference 5: 7.

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Observed behavior

Comparison and validation

Climate-system model Computer simulation Predicted behavior

Update and refine model

> Climate simulations. Scientists use sophisticated models and computer simulations of the Earths climate system to conrm historical, and predict future, temperature changes. Results are validated by comparison with actual temperature measurements. Such analyses form a basis for updating and rening the reliability of simulations.

1.0

Temperature anomalies, C

Model Observations

1.0 0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 2000 1850 Model Observations

Model Observations

0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1850

Natural factors only 1900 1.0 1950

Human factors only 1900 1950 2000

0.5 0.0 0.5 1.0 1850

Human and natural factors 1900 1950 2000

> Observed and simulated global warming. Neither natural nor man-made effects alone account for the evolution of the Earths climate during the 20th century. By combining the two, however, the observed pattern is reproduced with reasonable accuracy.

Measuring and Modeling Climate Change IPCC scientists believe that we are already experiencing an enhanced greenhouse effect. According to their ndings, the Earths global average surface temperature increased by about 0.6C [1.1F] during the last century. They maintain that this increase is greater than can be explained by natural climatic variations. The panel believes there is only a 1 to 10% probability that inherent variability alone accounts for this extent of warming. Most studies suggest that, over the past 50 years, the estimated rate and magnitude of warming due to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases alone are comparable to, or larger than, the observed warming.7 To better understand the physical, chemical and biological processes involved, scientists investigating climate variations construct complex mathematical models of the Earths weather system. These models are then used to simulate past changes and predict future variations. The more closely that simulations match historical climate records built from direct observations, the more condent scientists become in their predictive capabilities (left). Greater emphasis on diagnosing and predicting the impact of global warming has resulted in increasingly sophisticated simulations. For example, a state-of-the-art, three-dimensional (3D) ocean-atmosphere model developed at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Berkshire, England, appears to replicatewith reasonable precisionthe evolution of global climate during the late 19th and 20th centuries. This simulation matches records that clearly show that the global mean surface air temperature has increased by 0.6C 0.2C [1.1F 0.4F] since 1860, but that the progression has not been steady. Most of the warming occurred in two distinct periodsfrom 1910 to 1945, and since 1976with little change in the intervening three decades. When factors that impact the Earths climate varyconcentrations of greenhouse gases, but also heat output from the sun, for example they exert a forcing on climate (see Increases in Greenhouse Forcing, next page). A positive forcing causes warming, a negative one results in cooling. When researchers at the Hadley Centre and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, near Oxford, England, simulated the evolution of 20th century climate, they concluded that, by themselves, natural forcingschanges in volcanic aerosols, solar output and other phenomenacould not account for warming

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Temperature anomalies, C

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Observed 90 N 45 N

Increases in Greenhouse Forcing

Early this year, scientists at the Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London, England, provided the rst experimental observation of a change in the greenhouse effect. Previous studies had been largely limited to theoretical simulations.1 Changes in the Earths greenhouse effect can be detected from variations in the spectrum of outgoing longwavelength radiation, a measure of how the earth gives off heat into space that also carries an imprint of the gases responsible for the greenhouse effect. From October 1996 until July 1997, an instrument on board the Japanese ADEOS satellite measured the spectra of long-wavelength radiation leaving the earth. The Imperial College group compared the ADEOS data with data obtained 27 years earlier by a similar instrument aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Nimbus 4 meteorological satellite. The comparison of the two sets of clear-sky infrared spectra provided direct evidence of a signicant increase in the atmospheric levels of methane, carbon dioxide, ozone and chlorouorocarbons since 1970. Simulations show that these increases are responsible for the observed spectra.
1. Harries JE, Brindley HE, Sagoo PJ and Bantges RJ: Increases in Greenhouse Forcing Inferred from the Outgoing Longwave Radiation Spectra of the Earth in 1970 and 1997, Nature 410, no. 6832 (March 15, 2001): 355-357.

45 S 90 S 180 W

90 W

90 E

180 E

1 Simulated 90 N 45 N

0.5

0.5

1.5

45 S

90 S 180 W

90 W

90 E

180 E

0.5

0.5

1.5

> Observed (top) and simulated (bottom) surface air temperature changes. Computer models closely resemble the global temperature signature produced by measurements of the change in air temperature. Values increase from negative to positive as the color scale moves from blue to red.

in recent decades. They also concluded that anthropogenic, or man-made, forcings alone were insufcient to explain the warming from 1910 to 1945, but were necessary to reproduce the warming since 1976. However, by combining the two simulations, researchers were able to reproduce the pattern of temperature change with reasonable accuracy. Agreement between observed and simulated temperature variations supports the contention that 20th century warming resulted from a combination of natural and external factors (previous page, bottom).8 In addition to examining the global mean temperature, researchers at the Hadley Centre also

compared geographic patterns of temperature change across the surface of the earth. They used models to simulate climate variations driven by changes in greenhouse-gas concentrations and compared the ngerprint produced with patterns of change that emerge from observation. Striking similarities are evident between the ngerprint generated by a simulation of the last 100 years of temperature changes and the patterns actually observed over that period (above). Despite many advances, climate modeling remains an inexact science. There is concern that, at present, simulations may not adequately represent certain feedback mechanisms, especially those involving clouds. Researchers, like

those at Hadley, do not claim that close agreement between observed and simulated temperature changes implies a perfect climatic model, but if todays sophisticated simulations of climate-change patterns continue to closely match observations, scientists will rely to a greater extent on their predictive capabilities.
7. Reference 1: 10. 8. Stott PA, Tett SFB, Jones GS, Allen MR, Mitchell JFB and Jenkins GJ: External Control of 20th Century Temperature by Natural and Anthropogenic Forcings, Science 290, no. 5499 (December 15, 2000): 2133-2137.

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Radiation into space

Soot Aerosol

Radiation into space

Coalesced state

Radiation from Earth's surface

Separate soot and aerosol constituents (external mixing)

Radiation from Earth's surface

Coalesced soot and aerosol constituents (internal mixing)

> Impact of aerosols and soot. Temperature simulations that take into account an internally mixed, or coalesced, accumulation of aerosols and soot (right) are more consistent with observations than separate, or externally mixed, accumulations (left).

Global-average surface temperature change (1900 to 2000)

+ 0.6 C

Results: 10% decrease in snow cover (since the late 1960s) 2-week shorter annual ice cover 0.1- to 0.2-m sea-level rise 0.5 to 1% increase in precipitation per decade (Northern Hemisphere)

> Observed impact of global warming. The 0.6C temperature rise observed during the last 100 years has been postulated as the cause of decreased snow and ice cover, higher sea levels and increased precipitation.

The Opposing View Not all scientists accept the IPCC findings. Many distinguished researchers argue that the panels approach is too simplistic. For instance, Dr Richard Lindzen, Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Meteorology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, USA, suggests that clouds over the tropics act as an effective thermostat and that any future warming because of increased carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere could be signicantly less than current models predict. Scientists have voiced strong objections that even sophisticated circulation models do not adequately describe the complexity of the mechanisms at work. A group of researchers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, for example, claims there are too many unknowns and uncertainties in climate modeling to have condence in the accuracy of todays predictions. The group argues that even if society had complete control over how much CO2 was introduced into the atmosphere, other variables within the climate system are not sufciently well-dened to produce reliable forecasts. The researchers are not trying to disprove a signicant man-made contribution, but rather contend that scientists do not know enough about the complexity of climate systems, and should be careful in ascribing too much relevance to existing models.9 New scientic studies are shedding more light on the problem. For example, previous investigations have concluded that the Earths climate balance is upset not only by emissions of man-made greenhouse gases during processes such as the combustion of fossil fuels, but also by small particles called aerosols, such as those formed from sulfur dioxide, which cool the Earths surface by bouncing sunlight back into space. But, new ndings suggest that things may not be that simple. A researcher at Stanford University, California, USA, states that black carbon, or soot, emissions from the burning of biomass and fossil fuels are interfering with the reflectivity of aerosols, darkening their color so that they absorb more radiation. This reduces the cooling effect, and could mean that black carbon is a major cause of global warming, along with carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Atmospheric computer simulations usually assume that aerosols and soot particles are separate, or externally mixed. An internally mixed statein which aerosols and soot coalesce also exists, but no one has yet successfully determined the relative proportions of the two states. The Stanford researcher ran a simulation in which black carbon was substantially coalesced with aerosols. His results were more consistent with observations than simulations that assumed mainly external mixing. Although this could mean that black carbon is a signicant contributor to warming, there is a bright side to the discovery. Unlike the extended lifetime of carbon dioxide, black carbon disappears much more rapidly. If such emissions were stopped, the atmosphere would be clear of black carbon in only a matter of weeks (left).10
9. Soon W, Baliunas S, Idso SB, Kondratyev KY and Postmentier ES: Modelling Climatic Effects of Anthropogenic Carbon Dioxide Emissions: Unknowns and Uncertainties. A Center for Astrophysics preprint. Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (January 10, 2001): to appear as a review paper in Climate Research. 10. Jacobson M: Strong Radiative Heating due to the Mixing State of Black Carbon in Atmospheric Aerosol, Nature 409, no. 6821 (2001): 695-697. 11. Reference 1: 2-4. 12. Reference 1: 12-13. 13. Climate Change 2001: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability: Contribution of Working Group II to the Third Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. New York, New York, USA: Cambridge University Press (2001): 5.

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Greater exposure to disease Increase in frequency and intensity of severe weather

Decreased food supply

Water shortages

Increased flooding

> Future impact of global warming. IPCC scientists predict a number of consequences if climate changes track the latest simulations, ranging from water shortages to ooding and decreased food supply.

Predicting the Future Impact of Global Warming The IPCC has described the current state of scientic understanding of the global climate system, and has suggested how this system may evolve in the future. As discussed, the panel conrmed that the global-average surface temperature of the earth increased by about 0.6C during the last 100 years. Analyses of proxy data from the Northern Hemisphere indicate that it is likely the increase was the largest of any century in the past millennium. Because of limited data, less is known about annual averages prior to the year 1000, and for conditions prevailing in most of the Southern Hemisphere prior to 1861. The IPCC report states that temperatures have risen during the past four decades in the lowest 8 km [5 miles] of the atmosphere; snow cover has decreased by 10% since the late 1960s; the annual period during which rivers and lakes are covered by ice is nearly two weeks

shorter than at the start of the century; and average sea levels rose by 0.1 to 0.2 m [0.3 to 0.7 ft] during the 1900s. The report further states that, during the last century, precipitation increased by 0.5 to 1% per decade over most middle and high latitudes of Northern Hemisphere continents, and by 0.2 to 0.3% per decade over tropical land areas (previous page, bottom).11 While these changes may appear to be modest, predicted changes for this century are much larger. Simulations of future atmospheric levels of greenhouse gases and aerosols suggest that the concentration of CO2 could rise to between 540 and 970 ppm. For all scenarios considered by the IPCC, both global-average temperature and sea level will rise by the year 2100temperature by 1.4C to 5.8C [2.5F to 10.4F] and sea level by 0.09 to 0.9 m [0.3 to 2.7 ft]. The predicted temperature rise is signicantly greater than the 1C to 3.5C [1.8F to 6.3F] estimated by the IPCC ve years ago. Precipitation is also forecasted to increase. Northern Hemisphere snow cover is

expected to decrease further, and both glaciers and ice caps are expected to continue to retreat.12 If climate changes occur as predicted, serious consequences could result, both with respect to natural phenomena, such as hurricane frequency and severity, and to human-support systems. The IPCC Working Group II, which assessed impacts, adaptation and vulnerability, stated that if the world continues to warm, we could expect water shortages in heavily populated areas, particularly in subtropical regions; a widespread increase in the risk of ooding as a result of heavier rainfall and rising sea levels; greater threats to health from insect-borne diseases, such as malaria, and water-borne diseases, such as cholera; and decreased food supply as grain yields drop because of heat stress. Even minimal increases in temperature could cause problems in tropical locations where some crops are already near their maximum temperature tolerance (above).13

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Sea-level rises could threaten ve parts of Africa that have large coastal population centersthe Gulf of Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, Egypt and the southeastern African coast. Even a somewhat conservative scenario of a 40-cm [15.8-in.] sea-level rise by the 2080s would add 75 to 200 million people to the number currently at risk of being ooded by coastal storm surges, with associated tens of billions of dollars in property loss per country.14 Africa, Latin America and the developing countries of Asia may have a two-fold problem, being both more susceptible to the adverse effects of climate change and lacking the infrastructure to adjust to the potential social and economic impacts. The IPCC Working Group II has high condence that: Increases in droughts, floods and other extreme events in Africa would add to stresses on water resources, food-supply security, human health and infrastructures, and constrain further development. Sea-level rise and an increase in the intensity of tropical cyclones in temperate and tropical Asia would displace tens of millions of people in low-lying coastal areas, while increased rainfall intensity would heighten ood risks. Floods and droughts would become more frequent in Latin America, and flooding would increase sediment loads and degrade water quality. The Working Group has medium condence that: Reductions in average annual rainfall, runoff and soil moisture would increase the creation of deserts in Africa, especially in southern, northern and western Africa. Decreases in agricultural productivity and aquaculture due to thermal and water stress, sea-level rise, oods, droughts and tropical cyclones would diminish the stability of food supplies in many countries in the arid, tropical and temperate parts of Asia. Exposure to diseases such as malaria, dengue fever and cholera would increase in Latin America.15 Not all impacts would be negative, however. Among projected benecial effects are higher crop yields in some mid-latitude regions; an increase in global timber supply; increased water availability for people in some regions, like parts of Southeast Asia, which currently experience water shortages; and lower winter death rates in mid- to high-latitude countries.16

Thawing of permafrost Melting of sea ice

Retreating glaciers

Floods Increased rainfall Intense cyclones Decreased food supply

Rising sea levels Higher heat index

Hotter summers Reduced water supply Increase in forest fires Deteriorating air quality Droughts Floods Decreased food supply Expanding deserts Sea-level rise

Floods Droughts Degraded water quality

> Impact of global warming by region. All continents will be affected signicantly if global warming continues. The type and severity of specic impacts will vary, as will each continents or countrys capacity to use infrastructure and technology to cope with change.

Other studiessuch as the US Global Research Programs report Climate Change Impacts on the United States, and the European Community-funded ACACIA (A Consortium for the Application of Climate Impact Assessments) Project reportare consistent with future IPCC forecasts, and provide a more detailed picture for particular regions. According to the US study, assuming there are no major interventions to reduce continued growth of world greenhouse-gas emissions, temperatures in the USA can be expected to rise by about 3C to 5C [5.4F to 9F] over the next 100 years, compared with the worldwide range of 1.4C to 5.8C [2.5F to 10.4F] suggested by the IPCC.17 Assuming there are no major interventions, other predictions include the following: Rising sea levels could put coastal areas at greater risk of storm surges, particularly in the southeast USA. Large increases in the heat index, the combination of temperature and humidity, and in the frequency of heat waves could occur, particularly in major metropolitan cities. Continued thawing of permafrost and melting of sea ice in Alaska could further damage forests, buildings, roads and coastlines. In Europe, negative climate changes are expected to impact the south more than the north. Sectors such as agriculture and forestry

will be affected to a greater extent than sectors such as manufacturing and retailing, and marginal and poorer regions will suffer more adverse effects than wealthy ones. The ACACIA report, which provided the basis for the IPCC ndings on impacts in Europe, makes the following predictions for southern Europe: Longer, hotter summers will double in frequency by 2020, with a ve-fold increase in southern Spain, increasing the demand for air conditioning. Available water volumes will decrease by 25%, reducing agricultural potential. Careful planning will be essential to satisfy future urban water needs. Desertication and forest res will increase. Deteriorating air quality in cities and excessive temperatures at beaches could reduce recreational use and associated tourist income. Predictions for northern Europe include the following: Cold winters will be half as frequent by 2020. Northern tundra will retreat and there could be a loss of up to 90% of alpine glaciers by the end of the century. Conversely, climate changes could increase agricultural and forest productivity and water availability, although the risk of ooding could increase (above).18

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The Sociopolitical Debate and Its Impact on Process and Technology On balance, the potential dangers and adverse effects of global warming far outweigh any possible benets. Both legislative and technical options are being explored to mitigate the impacts of future climate change. With its 100-year effective lifetime, CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is slow to respond to any cut in emissions. If nothing is done to reduce emissions, the concentration would more than double over the next century. If emissions are lowered to 1990 levels, the concentration would still rise, probably to more than 500 ppm. Even if emissions were slashed to half that level and held there for 100 years, there would still be a slow rise in concentration. Best estimates suggest it would take a reduction of 60 to 70% of the 1990 emission levels to stabilize the concentration of CO2 at the 1990 levels.19 Against this backdrop, there have been political attempts to grapple with the problem for nearly a decade. These have achieved, at best, modest results. Although an in-depth discussion of global-warming politics is beyond the scope of this technically focused article, conferences held to date and their resulting protocols illustrate the challenges that will be faced by new-generation oileld processes and technologies, and by business and industry in general (above). The political movement toward global consensus began in 1992 at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. This conference resulted in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), a statement of intent on the control of greenhousegas emissions, signed by an overwhelming majority of world leaders. Article II of the convention, which came into force in 1994, said the signatories had agreed to achieve stabilization of greenhouse-gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate systemwithin a time frame sufcient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate change, to ensure that food production is not threatened, and to enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable manner. The developed nations taking part also committed themselves to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases in the year 2000 to 1990 levels. A more ambitious target was set in 1997 in the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement designed to

1992 Conference _____ Outcome Rio de Janeiro, Brazil _________ Statement of intent on control of greenhouse gases

1997 Kyoto, Japan _________ Protocol on reduction levels for specific commitment period

2000 The Hague, The Netherlands _________ Collapse of implementation plan for Kyoto Protocol

2001 Bonn, Germany _________ Broad agreement on rulebook for implementing Kyoto protocol (except USA)

> Major international global warming conferences. A concerted effort at addressing the sociopolitical implications of global warming in a forum of nations began in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The most recent conference, held in July 2001 in Bonn, Germany, was the latest attempt to reach some type of formalized agreement on reducing greenhouse-gas emissions.

commit the worlds 38 richest nations to reduce their greenhouse-gas emissions by an average of at least 5% below 1990 levels in the period from 2008 to 2012.20 The Kyoto Protocol put most of the burden on developed countries, which, as a group, had been responsible for the majority of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It excluded more than 130 developing countries, even though many poorer nations were adding to the problem in their rush to catch up with the developed world. European Union (EU) countries agreed to a reduction of 8%, and the USA promised a 7% cutback, based on 1990 levels. To take effect, it was agreed that the Protocol must be ratied by at least 55 countries, including those responsible for at least 55% of 1990 CO2 emissions from developed countries. The targets set in Kyoto are more rigorous than they might rst appear since many developed economies have, until very recently, been growing rapidly and are emitting greater volumes of greenhouse gases. In 1998, for example, the US Department of Energy forecasted that US emissions in the year 2010 would exceed the Kyoto target by 43%. The November 2000 talks in The Hague on implementing the Kyoto Protocol collapsed when the EU rejected a request that the estimated 310 million tons of CO2 soaked up by forests in the USA be set against its 7% commitment. The EU suggested instead that the USA be allocated a 7.5-million ton offset. In July 2001, 180 members of the UNFCCC nally reached broad agreement on an operational rulebook for the Kyoto Protocol at a meeting in Bonn, Germany. The USA rejected the agreement. If the Protocol is to go forward, the next step would be for developed-country

governments to ratify it so that measures could be brought into force as soon as possible, possibly by 2002. One issue resolved at the Bonn meeting was how much credit developed countries could receive towards their Kyoto targets through the use of sinks that absorb carbon from the atmosphere. There was agreement that activities that could be included under this heading included revegetation and management of forests, croplands and grazing lands. Individual country quotas were set so that, in practice, sinks will account only for a fraction of the emission reductions that can be counted towards the target levels. Similarly, storage options exist for carbon dioxide that offer attractive alternatives to sinks under certain conditions (see Mitigating the Impact of Carbon Dioxide: Sinks and Storage, page 54). The conference also adopted rules governing the so-called Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) through which developed countries can invest in climate-friendly projects in developing countries and receive credit for emissions thereby avoided.
(continued on page 56)
14. Reference 13: 13-14. 15. Reference 13: 14-15. 16. Reference 13: 6. 17. Climate Change Impacts on the United States, The Potential Consequences of Climate Variability and Change: Foundation Report, US Global Change Research Program Staff. New York, New York, USA: Cambridge University Press (2001): 6-10. 18. Parry ML (ed): Assessment of Potential Effects and Adaptations for Climate Change in Europe. Norwich, England: Jackson Environment Institute, University of East Anglia, 2000. 19. Jenkins et al, reference 3: 10. 20. Kyoto Protocol, Article 31, available at Web site: http://www.unfccc.de/resource/docs/convkp/kpeng.html

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Mitigating the Impact of Carbon Dioxide: Sinks and Storage

In the short to medium term, the world will continue to depend upon fossil fuels as cheap energy sources, so there is growing interest in methods to control carbon dioxide emissions for example, the creation of carbon sinks and storage in natural reservoirs underground or in the oceans.1 Carbon sinksCarbon sinks are newly planted forests where trees take CO2 from the atmosphere as they grow and store it in their branches, trunks and roots. If too much CO2 is being pumped into the atmosphere by burning fossil fuels, discharge levels can be compensated for, to some extent, by planting new trees that soak up and store CO2. In 1995, the IPCC estimated that some 345 million hectares [852 million acres] of new forests could be planted between 1995 and 2050 that would sequester nearly 38 gigatons of carbon. These actions would offset about 7.5% of fossil-fuel emissions. The IPCC added that other measures, like slowing tropical deforestation, could sequester another 20 to 50 gigatons. Taken together, new forests, agroforestry, regeneration and slower deforestation might offset 12 to 15% of fossil-fuel emissions by the year 2050. An attractive feature of this approach is that, if implemented globally, it buys time during which longer term solutions can be sought to meet world energy needs without endangering the climate system. There are, however, other factors that must be considered, such as how to quantify the amount of carbon being sequestered, how to verify sequestration claims and how to deal with leakage. Leakage occurs when actions to increase carbon storage in one place promote activities elsewhere that cause either a decrease in carbon storage (negative leak) or an increase in carbon storage (positive leak). Preserving a forest for carbon storage may, for instance, produce deforestation elsewhere (negative leakage) or stimulate tree planting elsewhere to provide timber (positive leakage). The carbon-sink process is reversible. At some future date, some forests could become unsustainable, leading to a rise in CO2 levels. Carbon storageCarbon dioxide is produced as a by-product in many industrial processes,

Sleipner West Sleipner East Statfjord Gullfaks NORWAY Frigg Heimdal Sleipner Stavanger

Ula Ekofisk NORTH SEA DENMARK

UNITED KINGDOM GERMANY

> Sleipner eld location.

usually in combination with other gases. If the CO2 can be separated from the other gasesat present, an expensive processit can be stored rather than released to the atmosphere. Storage could be provided in the oceans, deep saline aquifers, depleted oil and gas reservoirs, or on land as a solid. Oceans probably have the greatest potential storage capacity. While there are no real engineering obstacles to overcome, the environmental implications are not adequately understood. For years, carbon dioxide has been injected into operating oil elds to enhance recovery, and normally remains in the formation. The use of depleted oil or gas reservoirs for CO2 storage, however, has a further advantage in that the geology is well-known, so disposal takes place in areas where formation seals can contain the gas.

The rst commercial-scale storage of CO2 in an aquifer began in 1996 in the Sleipner natural gas eld belonging to the Norwegian oil company Statoil. The project is named SACS (Saline Aquifer CO2 Storage) and is sponsored by the EU research program Thermie. A million tons, a year of CO2 production, are removed from the natural gas stream using a solvent-absorption process and then reinjected into the Utsira reservoir, 900 m [2950 ft] below the oor of the North Sea (above). According to a report by the Norwegian Ministry of Petroleum and Energy, the Utsira formation is widespread and about 200 m [660 ft] thick, so it can theoretically accommodate 800 billion tons of CO2equivalent to the emissions from all northern European power stations and major industrial establishments for centuries to come (next page, bottom).

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To monitor the CO2-injection area, Schlumberger is conducting four-dimensional (4D), or time-lapse, seismic studies that compare seismic surveys performed before and during injection. A survey acquired in 1994, two years before injection began, served as the baseline for comparison with a 1999 survey acquired after about 2 million tons of CO2 had been injected. Higher seismic amplitudes in the 1999 survey show the location where gas has displaced brine in the Utsira formation. Another 4D survey is scheduled for late 2001 (right). The Sleipner CO2 sequestration project already has inspired other oil and gas companies to consider or plan similar efforts in southeast Asia, Australia and Alaska.
1. Cannell M: Outlook on Agriculture 28, no. 3: 171-177.

Sleipner CO2 injection siesmic monitoring E-W section preliminary raw stack 1994 1999 after injecting 2 millIon tons of CO2 since 1996 no change above this level
Top Utsira formation

250 m
Injection point 500 m Velocity push-down beneath CO2 cloud

> Seismic responses due to carbon dioxide injection. A 1994 seismic survey (left) served as a baseline for a 1999 survey (right) that showed the pattern of brine displacement by carbon dioxide following injection of 2 million tons of the gas.

Depth, m

Sleipner T 0

Sleipner A

500 CO2 injection well 1000 Utsira formation 1500 CO2

Sleipner East production and injection wells

2000 0 2500 0 Heimdal formation 500 1640 1000 3280 1500 m 4920 ft

> Carbon dioxide injection well in Utsira. The Utsira formation is about 200 m [660 ft] thick and can hold the equivalent of all carbon dioxide emissions from all northern European power stations and industrial facilities for centuries to come.

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BP Emissions-Reduction Program _________ Capture and reuse emissions. Stop deliberate venting of carbon dioxide and methane. Improve energy efficiency. Eliminate routine flaring. Develop technologies to separate carbon dioxide from gas mixtures.

> Cutting emission levels. BP has undertaken an aggressive, multifaceted program to reduce emissions, ranging from improved energy efciency to elimination of routine gas aring.

The Kyoto Protocol includes a compliance mechanism. For every ton of gas that a country emits over its target, it will be required to reduce an additional 1.3 tons during the Protocols second commitment period, which starts in 2013. Some reports contend that concessions made at the conference reduced emissions cuts required by the Protocol from 5.2% to between 0 and 3% in 2010. The UNFCCC is more cautious in its statements. As of August of this year, its secretariat had not calculated how the Bonn agreements might affect developed-country emission reductions under the Kyoto Protocol, and indicated that this would not be known with any precision until the 2008-2012 target period. E&P Company Initiatives Today, many oil and gas companies are taking global warming seriously, convinced that it is sensible to adopt a precautionary approach. Others have taken a more conservative stance: they agree that climate change may pose a legitimate long-term risk, but argue that there is still insufcient scientic understanding to make reasonable predictions and informed decisions, or to justify drastic measures. All agree that a combination of process changes and advanced technologies will be required within the industry to meet the types of emission standards being proposed. BP and Shell have implemented strategies based on a judgment that while the science of climate change is not yet fully proven, it is prudent to behave as though it was. Both companies have established ambitious internal targets for reduction of their own emissions. The Kyoto Protocol calls for an overall reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions of at least 5% by 2008 to 2012, compared with 1990. BP has undertaken to

reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions by 10% by the year 2010, against the 1990 baseline. Shell intends to reduce emissions by 10%, against the same baseline, by 2002. Companies are choosing to cut emissions in several different ways. The BP emissions reduction program, for instance, includes ambitious commitments: Ensure that nothing escapes into the environment that can be captured and, ideally, used elsewhere. BP intends to stop the deliberate venting of methane and carbon dioxide wherever possible. This may involve redesigning or replacing equipment, and identifying and eliminating leaks. Improve energy efciency. Engineers are examining all energy-generating equipment to ensure that the company is making the best possible use of hydrocarbon fuels and the heat that is a by-product of energy generation. Eliminate routine aring. It is better to are gas than vent it directly to the atmosphere, but it is still a waste of hydrocarbonsalthough some flaring may still be necessary for safety reasons. Develop technology to separate carbon dioxide from gas mixtures, then reuse it for enhanced oil recovery or store it in oil and gas reservoirs that are no longer in use, or in saline formations (above). Integrated oil companies also are trying to help customers reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by increasing the availability of fuels with lower carbon content and offering renewable energy alternatives, like solar and wind-driven power. Some companies, including BP and Shell, have introduced internal greenhouse-gas emissions trading systems. The attraction of emissions trading is that it allows reductions to be achieved at the lowest cost; companies for whom emissions reductions are cheap can lower their

emissions and sell emission rights to rms that would have to pay more to decrease emissions. The BP emissions trading system is based on a cap-and-trade concept, and was primarily designed to provide BP with practical experience dealing with an emissions trading market and to learn about its complexities. At its simplest level, a cap is set each year to steer the group toward the most efcient use of capital to meet its 2010 target of 10%. Say, for example, increased production is planned from an offshore platform, thereby causing emissions above its allocated allowance. If the platforms on-site abatement costs are higher than the market price of CO2, the company may decide to purchase CO2 allowances for that unit. Similarly, if a downstream unit has upgraded its renery and emits less CO2 than its allowances cover, it is economically desirable to both companies if the latter sells its allowances to the former (below). The operation of these systems will be closely followed not only by other oil and gas companies but also by governments, since the principles behind emissions trading are broadly the same whether trading takes place within a single company, among companies within a single country, among companies internationally or between nations. Oileld Technology Development and Application Working with oil and gas companies, major oileld service suppliers have been at the forefront in addressing a range of health, safety and environmental issuesfrom reducing personnel exposure to risks at the wellsite, to application of green chemicals that provide equal or enhanced performance while decreasing ecological impact, and to methods for cutting or eliminating emissions resulting from processes such as burning oil and aring gas during well-testing operations.
Emission limit after trading

Units bought
Carbon dioxide emissions

+10

10

Units sold

Emission limit before trading

40

Each company initially is allocated 50 permits to emit 50 tons

50

Company A

Company B

> Emissions trading system. This process strives to reduce emissions at the lowest cost by permitting the buying and selling of emissions rights between various units within a given company or between companies.

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Gas Series of pumps Produced fluid Separator Oil Water and oil emulsion

Flaring

Pipeline Disposal

Stage 1

Gas Produced fluid Neutralizer and emulsion breaker Gas and oil Separator Oil Series of pumps

Flaring

Pipeline

Stage 2

Broken emulsion

Skimmer

Oil

Surge tank Clean water Disposal

Produced fluid Neutralizer and emulsion breaker

Gas and oil Multiphase flowmeter Multiphase pump

Gas and oil Pipeline

Stage 3

Broken emulsion

Skimmer

Oil

Surge tank Clean water Disposal

> Three-stage program to eliminate aring. A Schlumberger team in the Middle East committed to rst reduce and then fully eliminate aring of gas and burning of oil and, at the same time, generate greater revenue for the operator by increasing pipeline throughput.

Solutions to eliminate aringBurning oil and aring natural gas during testing operations not only are costly due to lost revenue, but also produce large quantities of carbon dioxide. Small amounts of toxic gases, soot and unburned hydrocarbons are also released. Eliminating oil burning and, ultimately, gas aring not only creates a safer working environment, but also helps reduce the key constituent, carbon dioxide, thought to be associated with global warming. Recently, a Schlumberger team in the Middle East, working closely with a major operator in the region, addressed the aring problem for production testing where an existing export pipeline was available. Considering the nature of the testing program, there were several key challenges that had to be overcome. Wells are typically highly deviated or horizontal, and penetrate massive carbonate formations. Large quantities of acid are used to treat the zones, giving rise to long cleanup periods and an erratic initial ow of mixtures of spent acid, emulsions, oil and gas.

Traditionally, the wells were owed until sufcient oil was produced at sufcient pressure to go directly into the production pipeline, requiring burning of oil in the interim. Care had to be taken that the uids pH was high enough so as not to cause corrosion problems. A three-stage program to eliminate aring and simultaneously solve associated well-testing problems was undertaken. In the rst stage, beginning in 1998, the goal was to pump separated oil into the pipeline from the outset, instead of burning it. This required the design of specialized, dual-packing centrifugal pumps that were run in series to achieve the required pressure for oil injection into the pipeline. Natural gas was still ared, and separated water discarded. Residual oil and water emulsions remained a problem, since a single separator was insufcient to break them. In the second stage of the project, a neutralizer and breaker system was designed for treatment of the emulsion phase prior to entering the

main separator. Remaining gas and oil were then owed through the separator. A skimmer and chemical injection system were employed to reduce the oil content in the water underow stream from 3000 ppm to less than 80 ppm, allowing safe disposal of all residual water. Oil produced through emulsion breaking was pumped into a surge tank and then into the production pipeline, saving additional oil that would have otherwise been discarded. In the third stage, currently under way, the goal is for complete elimination of aring by using advanced multiphase pumping technology with multiphase metering. When the wellhead pressure is insufcient to route gas back through the line after the multiphase meter, a variabledrive multiphase pumpthat can handle a variety of flow rates and pressureswould be introduced so that both oil and gas can be injected into the production pipeline (above).

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In the rst year of implementation of the initial stages of the project, the operator was able to sell an additional 375,000 barrels [59,600 m3] of oil that otherwise would have been burned, generating more than $11 million in increased revenues.21 Zero-emission testingThe next frontier is a generalized solution for zero-emission testing for exploration and appraisal wells where an export pipeline is not available. Here, the challenge is to take a quantum step beyond improved burner technology. The goal is elimination of all emissions by keeping produced hydrocarbons contained either below surface or the mudline, or in special offshore storage vessels. Through the use of advanced downhole measurements and tools, high-quality test data and samples could still be captured. There are several approaches to downhole containment. In particular, three options are

currently undergoing intensive investigation. The rst is closed-chamber testing. Here, test uids ow from the formation into an enclosed portion of a tool or pipestring. A short ow period is achieved as the chamber lls and its original contents become compressed. Flow stops as the chamber reaches equilibrium, allowing analysis of the subsequent buildup. This method, applicable to both oil and gas wells, is simple, and the short test duration limits rig time compared with a conventional test. But, there are drawbacks. With only a small owed volume due to capacity limitations of the test string or wellbore, only a limited radius of investigation near the wellbore can be evaluated. Lack of thorough cleanup after perforating can potentially affect the quality of collected samples. If the formation is not wellconsolidated, hole damage or collapse may occur because of high inow rates (below left).

A second method is production from one zone and reinjection into the same zone, known as harmonic testing. Here, uid is alternately withdrawn into a test string and then pumped back into the reservoir at a given periodic frequency. The reservoir signature is determined point-bypoint as a function of frequency by varying the frequency during testing. The advantage is that a
21. The team that spearheaded this project won the Performed by Schlumberger Chairmans Award 2000, the top award in a company-wide program to strengthen the Schlumberger culture of excellence. Client team members included Abdullah Faddaq, Suishi Kikuchi, Mahmoud Hassan, Eyad Al-Assi, Jean Cabillic, Graham Beadie, Ameer El-Messiri and Simon Cossy. Schlumberger team members included Jean-Francois Pithon, Abdul Hameed Mohsen, Mansour Shaheen, Thomas F. Wilson, Nashat Mohammed, Aouni El Sadek, Karim Mohi El Din Malash, Akram Arawi, Jamal Al Najjar, Basem Al Ashab, Mohammed Eyad Allouch, Jacob Kurien, Alp Tengirsek, Mohamed Gamad and Thomas Koshy.

Surface valve

Tubing

Circulating valve Barrier valve

Upper packer

Circulating valve Ball valve

Gas-liquid interface

Downhole pump assembly

Produced fluid and initial liquid cushion

Test valve

Packer Pressure gauge

Lower packer

Sand screen and gravel pack

Flow direction

> Closed-chamber testing. Test uids from the formation enter an enclosed space until the contents compress and reach equilibrium. This brief ow period is then followed by a second stage of pressure buildup.

> Continuous production and reinjection. A specially designed tool allows produced uid from one zone to be continuously injected into another using a downhole pump to provide a prolonged testing period. Samples can be retrieved, and ow and pressure data are measured downhole for subsequent analysis.

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Drilling and production unit

Storage modules and processing facilities

Dynamically positioned storage or shuttle tanker Rigid production riser Export flowline

BOP or subsea test tree

> Offshore storage-module concept. A vessel for storing and ofoading uids collected in closed modules during testing operations might offer an approach to eliminate the need for aring while generating increased revenues.

separate zone for disposal of the produced uid is not needed, but dening the pressure-response curve would require more time than for a conventional test and may not be cost-effective. Advanced signal processing may be able to reduce the time required, but still may not make the process economically viable. The third method is to continually produce from one zone and inject the produced uid into another zone. Reservoir uids are never brought to surface, but are reinjected using a downhole pump. Drawdown is achieved by pumping from the production zone into the disposal zone. Buildup is provided by simultaneously shutting in the production zone and stopping the downhole pump. If injectivity can be maintained, this continuous process emulates a full-scale well test. A larger radius of investigation is possible due to larger ow volumes, with the potential to investigate compartmentalization or even reservoir limits. A longer ow period improves cleanup prior to sampling. Flow and pressure are measured downhole and analyzed with conventional methods for radial ow. It is possible to capture small pressure-volume-temperature (PVT)-quality samples and larger dead-oil samples downhole. Drawbacks include a somewhat complex tool string, an inability to handle signicant quantities of gas and no time-saving over a conventional well test. The key factor is having a suitable injection zone that provides sufcient isolation (previous page, bottom right). Two joint industry programs have been established to investigate each of the three methods in detail, with participation by BP, Chevron, Norsk Hydro and Schlumberger. The rst, conducted by Schlumberger, is assessing downhole tool design

and capability requirements. The second, a threeyear program at Imperial College in London, England, is dening the interpretation packages and procedures that would be required to capture the maximum amount of reliable information from the data. Once the selection of the preferred method is nalized, the next step will be a proof-of-concept eld experiment that mirrors the requirements of a variety of well-test conditions. Currently, the continuous production-reinjection option looks most promising. Modules mounted on the deck or in the hold of a suitable oating vessel are being investigated for storing uids collected offshore during testing. Fluid-processing facilities also would be provided onboard. Large discoveries, marginal elds and deepwater prospects are targeted applications. Equipment would be designed to handle a broad range of testing conditions and durations. The vessel would receive and store gas and liquids, and ofoad the contents at the end of the well test or at intervals during the test. This concept could completely eliminate the need for aring, and generate revenues from sale of produced uids that would otherwise be lost. The procedures for handling and storing liquids have already been successfully demonstrated in extended well tests in fields such as BPs Macharproving both the feasibility and nancial viability of the approach. Gas handling and storage, however, pose additional challenges that would probably require compression and transfer facilities to create compressed natural gas. This is a costly proposition and may not be economically viable at current gas prices (above).

With growing emphasis on eliminating all types of gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide, these areas of investigation are expected to continue to receive close attention and signicant industry funding. Future Challenges In the near future, governments around the world will receive the IPCC Synthesis Report which will attempt to answer, as clearly and simply as possible, 10 policy-relevant scientific questions. Perhaps the pivotal question, as stated by the IPCC, is: How does the extent and timing of the introduction of a range of emissions-reduction actions determine and affect the rate, magnitude and impacts of climate change, and affect global and regional economies, taking into account historical and current emissions? In another ve years, the IPCC is expected to publish its Fourth Assessment Report. By then, climatologists may have resolved some of the uncertainties that limit todays climate models. They should, for example, be able to provide a better description of the many feedback systems associated with climatic phenomena, particularly clouds. Greater understanding could lead to reduced uncertainty about a causal connection between increased greenhouse-gas concentrations and global warming. This would be a major step forward. In the interim, oil and gas companies, working closely with oileld service companies, will continue to be proactive in developing technologies and operational procedures for reducing emissions. MB/DEO

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Isolate and Stimulate Individual Pay Zones

Coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing is a cost-effective alternative to conventional reservoir-stimulation techniques. This innovative approach improves hydrocarbon production rates and recovery factors by providing precise, reliable placement of treatment uids and proppants. What began as a fracturing service is evolving into broad technical solutions for new completions, as well as workovers in mature elds.

Kalon F. Degenhardt Jack Stevenson PT. Caltex Indonesia Riau, Duri, Indonesia Byron Gale Tom Brown Inc. Denver, Colorado, USA Duane Gonzalez Samedan Oil Corporation Houston, Texas, USA Scott Hall Texaco Exploration and Production Inc. (a ChevronTexaco company) Denver, Colorado Jack Marsh Olympia Energy Inc. Calgary, Alberta, Canada Warren Zemlak Sugar Land, Texas
ClearFRAC, CoilFRAC, CT Express, DepthLOG, FMI (Fullbore Formation MicroImager), Mojave, NODAL, PowerJet, PowerSTIM, PropNET, SCMT (Slim Cement Mapping Tool) and StimCADE are marks of Schlumberger. For help in preparation of this article, thanks to Taryn Frenzel and Bernie Paoli, Englewood, Colorado; Badar Zia Malik, Duri, Indonesia; and Eddie Martinez, Houston, Texas.

Operators traditionally rely on drilling programs to achieve peak productivity, maintain desired production levels and optimize hydrocarbon recovery. As oil and gas developments mature, however, reservoir depletion reduces eld output and fewer opportunities exist to drill new wells. Drilling programs alone may not effectively stem the natural decline of production. In addition, inll and reentry drilling often become less protable and present greater operational and economic risks relative to their higher capital investments. In many elds, operators intentionally and unintentionally bypass some pay zones during initial phases of eld development by focusing only on the most prolic producing horizons. Cumulatively, these marginal pay intervals contain substantial hydrocarbon volumes that can be produced, especially from laminated formations and low-permeability reservoirs. Accessing bypassed pay zones is economically attractive to enhance production and increase reserve recovery, but poses several challenges. Typically, bypassed zones have lower permeabilities and require fracturing treatments to achieve sustainable commercial production. Conventional well-intervention and stimulation methods involve extensive remedial operations, such as mechanically isolating existing perforations or squeezing them with cement and utilizing multiple runs to perforate bypassed pay.

These procedures are expensive and cannot be justied for zones with limited production potential. In the past, fracture stimulations were not commonly attempted on bypassed pay, especially when multiple stringers were involved. The mechanical condition of wellbores can be a limitation as well. If fracture stimulations are not anticipated during well planning, completion tubulars may not be designed to withstand highpressure pumping operations. Also, scale buildup and corrosion from prolonged exposure to formation uids at reservoir temperatures and pressures can compromise tubular integrity in older wells. In slimhole wells, workover options are further limited by small tubulars. These operational and economic constraints often mean that bypassed or marginal pay remains untapped. Ultimately, hydrocarbons in these intervals are left behind when wells are plugged and abandoned. Integration of coiled tubing with fracturing operations overcomes many of the constraints associated with stimulating bypassed or marginal pay zones using conventional techniques, allowing additional reserves to be tapped economically. High-strength continuous coiled tubing strings transport treatment uids and proppants to target intervals and protect existing wellbore tubulars from high-pressure pumping operations, while specialized downhole tools selectively isolate existing perforations with increased precision.

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> A t-for-purpose CT Express coiled tubing unit performing a selective fracturing treatment in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.

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This article describes operational and design aspects of coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing treatments, including enabling technologies such as surface equipment improvements, high-pressure coiled tubing, low-friction fracturing uids and new downhole isolation tools. Case histories demonstrate how this technique reduces completion time and cost, improves post-treatment cleanup, increases production and helps tap reserves bypassed by conventional completion and fracturing methods. Conventional Stimulations Average recovery factors for most reservoirs from primary- and secondary-drive mechanisms are just 25 to 35% of original hydrocarbons in place. Producible reserves also are left behind in thin, lower permeability zones of many mature reservoirs. One North Sea study, for example, determined that more than 25% of recoverable reserves lie in the low-permeability, laminated horizons of Brent sandstone reservoirs.1 Matrix acidizing and hydraulic fracturing are common reservoir-stimulation techniques used to enhance well productivity, increase recovery efciency and improve well economics.2 However, effectively completing and stimulating heteroge-

neous reservoirs and discontinuous pay zones among numerous shale intervals are challenging, particularly when fracture stimulations are required. Reservoir pay thickness, quality, pressure and stage of depletion, and cost to treat an entire productive horizon all must be considered when choosing completion strategies. Conventional fracture stimulations attempt to connect as many producing zones as possible with single or multiple treatments performed during separate operations. Historically, net pay zones over several hundred feet of gross interval are grouped into stages, with each stage stimulated by a separate fracturing treatment. These massive hydraulic fracturing jobs, pumped directly down casing or through standard jointed tubing, are designed to maximize fracture height while attempting to optimize fracture length. However, uncertainty associated with predicting height growth often compromises the stimulation objectives of large treatments and precludes creation of the fracture lengths required to optimize effective wellbore radius and reserve drainage. Proppant placement in individual zones is difcult to achieve when a single treatment is performed across numerous perforated zones (below). Thin or low-permeability zones grouped

> Single-stage treatment diversion: radioactive tracers and production logs. With limited-entry techniques, some zones are not stimulated effectively and others may remain untreated. In this example, six pay zones over a 300-ft [90-m] gross interval were fractured through 24 perforations. A radioactivetracer survey shows that the three upper zones received most of the treatment uids and proppant, while the three lower zones were not adequately stimulated (left). If an interval did not take uid at the beginning of a treatment, perforation erosion in other sands eliminated the backpressure necessary for diversion. The lowest zone contributes no production; the other two contribute very little ow on the production log spinner survey (right).

with thicker zones may remain untreated or may not be stimulated effectively, and some zones are occasionally bypassed intentionally to ensure effective stimulation of more prolific pay. Limited-entry perforations and ball sealers distribute uid efciently during pad injection, but less effectively during proppant placement as perforations are enlarged by erosion or treatment uids ow preferentially into higher permeability zones.3 Unintentionally bypassed and untreated zones also are attributed to variable in-situ stresses. In past conventional fracturing designs, the fracture gradient, or stress profile, was assumed to be linear and to increase gradually with depth. In reality, formation stresses often are not uniform across an entire geologic horizon, and again, some zones may be difcult to treat and stimulate effectively (next page, top). Grouping pay zones in smaller stages overcomes some of these limitations and helps ensure sufcient fracture coverage, but multistage treatments usually require several perforating and fracturing operations in succession. Isolating individual zones for conventional fracture stimulations with workover rigs and jointed tubing is problematic as well, requiring additional equipment and workover procedures. There are xed costs associated with each stage of multistage fracturing operations. Conventional fracturing operations add redundancy to stimulation operations and increase overhead costs. Every time wireline units and pumping equipment are moved onto a wellsite for perforating and stimulation operations there are separate mobilization and setup charges. There are also separate coiled tubing or slickline costs to wash out sand plugs or set and retrieve bridge plugs, which have to be purchased or rented. Hauling, handling and storing stimulation and displacement uids for each nonconsecutive fracturing operation involve additional costs. Testing each individual stage in a well again requires multiple setups and signicantly increases completion time. Some gas wells with several large treatment stages may take weeks to complete. Redundant charges accumulate quickly on wells with more than three or four stages and signicantly affect the economics of stimulation procedures. These higher costs typically become a major inuence on completion or workover decisions and strategies and may limit development of marginal pay zones that cumulatively contain sizeable volumes of oil and gas. To stimulate bypassed zones in existing wells, conventional fracturing requires that lower producing zones be isolated by a sand plug or

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> Variations in formation stress. In single, multizone treatments, pressure changes are assumed to be linear with depth (far left). Depleted zones cause pressure to decrease abruptly (middle left). Excessively depleted sands also reduce pressure over extensive intervals (middle right). In some cases, formations have pressure and stress variations that make diversion of treatment uids and stimulation coverage during a single-stage treatment extremely difcult (far right).

downhole mechanical tool such as a retrievable or drillable bridge plug. Upper perforations are sealed off by cement squeezes that are often difcult to achieve, require additional rig time and add to completion costs. There also is a risk that squeezed perforations will break down during high-pressure pumping operations. These limitations, inherent in conventional fracturing techniques, reduce stimulation effectiveness. Unconventional well intervention and stimulation techniques are needed to ensure hydrocarbon production from as many intervals as possible, especially from zones that previously could not be completed economically. Coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing techniques overcome many of the limitations associated with conventional fracturing treatments (below left).4 Selective Stimulations Combining coiled tubing and stimulation services is not new. In 1992, coiled tubing was used to fracture wells in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, USA. The 312-in. coiled tubing was connected into the wellhead and left in the well as production tubing to help maintain flow velocity. This technique never gained wide acceptance because it was limited to smaller intervals and lower treating pressures in wells where a single zone was targeted for completion.
1. Hatzignatiou DG and Olsen TN: Innovative Production Enhancement Interventions Through Existing Wellbores, paper SPE 54632, presented at the SPE Western regional Meeting, Anchorage, Alaska, USA, May 26-28, 1999. 2. In matrix treatments, acid is injected below fracturing pressures to dissolve natural or induced damage that plugs pore throats. Hydraulic fracturing uses specialized uids injected at pressures above formation breakdown stress to create two fracture wings, or 180-degree opposed cracks, extending away from a wellbore. These fracture wings propagate perpendicular to the least rock stress in a preferred fracture plane (PFP). Held open by a proppant, these conductive pathways increase effective well radius, allowing linear ow into the fractures and to the well. Common proppants are naturally occurring or resin-coated sand and high-strength bauxite or ceramic synthetics, sized by screening according to standard US mesh sieves. Acid fracturing without proppants establishes conductivity by differentially etching uneven fracture-wing surfaces in carbonate rocks that keep fractures from closing completely after a treatment. 3. Limited entry involves low shot densities1 shot per foot or lessacross one or more zones with different rock stresses and permeabilities to ensure uniform acid or proppant placement by creating backpressure and limiting pressure differentials between perforated intervals. The objective is to maximize stimulation efciency and results without mechanical isolation like drillable bridge plugs and retrievable packers. Rubber ball sealers can be used to seal open perforations and isolate intervals once they are stimulated so that the next interval can be treated. Because perforations must seal completely, hole diameter and uniformity are important. The pad stage of a hydraulic fracturing treatment is the volume of uid that creates and propagates the fracture and does not contain proppant. 4. Zemlak W: CT-Conveyed Fracturing Expands Production Capabilities, The American Oil & Gas Reporter 43, no. 9 (September 2000): 88-97.

> Conventional and selective stimulations. Fracturing several zones grouped in large intervals, or stages, is a widely used technique. However, uid diversion and proppant placement are problematic in discontinuous and heterogeneous formations. Conventional treatments, like this four-stage example, maximize fracture height, often at the expense of fracture length and complete interval coverage (left). Some zones remain untreated or may not be stimulated adequately; others are bypassed intentionally to ensure effective treatment of more permeable zones. Selective isolation and stimulation with coiled tubing, in this case nine stages, overcome these limitations, allowing engineers to design optimal fractures for each pay zone of a productive interval (right).

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> Coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing with a single tension-set packer and sand plugs.

By 1996, coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing was identied as a preferred completion strategy for shallow gas elds in southeastern Alberta, Canada.5 Selective placement of proppant in all the productive intervals of a wellbore reduced completion time and enhanced productivity. The best candidates were wells with multiple lowpermeability zones where gas production was commingled after fracturing. Previously, these wells were stimulated by fracturing one interval per well and then moving to the next well. While a fracturing crew treated the rst interval of the next well, a rig crew prepared previous wells for fracturing of subsequent intervals. Extensive rig-up and rig-down times were required to treat as many as four wells a day. In terms of number of treatments performed, this process was efcient, but moving equipment from one location to another took more time than actually pumping the fracturing treatments. Operators evaluated the possibility of grouping zones into stages for conventional multizone stimulations using limited-entry perforating, ball sealers or other diversion techniques to individually isolate zones, but could not justify these standard industry practices economically. One solution was to use a coiled tubing tension-set packer and sand plugs for zonal isolation. The lowest zones were treated rst by setting the

packer above the interval to be fractured. Proppant schedules for each zone included extra sand to leave a sand plug across fractured intervals after pumping stopped and before treating the next zone. Each treatment was underdisplaced, and wells were shut in to allow the extra sand to settle into a plug. A pressure test veried sand-plug integrity and the packer was reset above the next interval. This procedure was repeated until all pay intervals were stimulated (above). The larger coiled tubing string was rigged down and smaller coiled tubing was brought in to wash out sand and initiate well ow. Coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing has since expanded to slimhole wells238-, 278- and 312-in. tubulars cemented as production casingand to wells with open perforations or questionable tubular integrity that prevented fracturing down casing. Conventional workovers and stimulations that require cement squeezes to isolate open perforations are expensive and risky under these conditions. Shallow gas and deeper coiled tubing stimulations in mature oil and gas regions of the continental region of the United States formed the basis for CoilFRAC selective isolation and stimulation services. In east Texas, USA, coiled tubing was used to stimulate wells with open perforations above bypassed zones and wells with low-strength 278-in. production casing weakened further by

corrosion. After the target zone was perforated, a tension-set packer on coiled tubing isolated the wellbore and upper perforations (next page, top left). In south Texas, bypassed pay zones between open perforations in wells with casing damage near the surface were stimulated successfully by setting a bridge plug below the target zone and then running a tension-set packer on coiled tubing (next page, top right). These fracture stimulations were performed without cementing existing perforations or exposing production casing to high pressures. Early CoilFRAC techniques with tension-set packers improved stimulation results, but were still time-consuming and limited by having to set and remove plugs. The next step was to develop a coiled tubing straddle-isolation tool that sealed above and below an interval to eliminate separate operations for spotting sand or setting bridge plugs with a wireline unit (next page, bottom). This modication allowed coiled tubing strings to be moved quickly from one zone to the next without pulling out of the well.
5. Lemp S, Zemlak W and McCollum R: An Economical Shallow-Gas Fracturing Technique Utilizing a Coiled Tubing Conduit, paper SPE 46031, presented at the SPE/ICOTA Coiled Tubing Roundtable, Houston, Texas, USA, April 15-16, 1998. Zemlak W, Lemp S and McCollum R: Selective Hydraulic Fracturing of Multiple Perforated Intervals with a Coiled Tubing Conduit: A Case History of the Unique Process, Economic Impact and Related Production Improvements, paper SPE 54474, presented at the SPE/ICOTA Coiled Tubing Roundtable, Houston, Texas, USA, May 25-26, 1999.

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> Coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing with a single tension-set packer for casing and tubing protection.

> Coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing with a single packer and mechanical bridge plugs. In south Texas, a well with casing damage near the surface and a bypassed zone between existing open perforations was stimulated successfully with coiled tubing. The operator set a bridge plug to isolate the lower zone before running a tensionset packer on coiled tubing to isolate the upper zone and protect the casing. This technique eliminated a costly workover and remedial cementsqueeze operations.

> Multistage coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing operation with early straddle-isolation tools.

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Elastomer cup-type seals were added above a tension-set packer to isolate perforated intervals and eliminate separate plug-setting operations. However, additional modications were required to further reduce time and cost. In Canada, an isolation tool with elastomer cups above and below an adjustable ported spacer assembly, or mandrel, was developed to allow multiple zones to be treated in one trip (right). This version of the straddle-isolation tool, which had no mechanical slips to facilitate quick moves and shing, carried shallow-gas projects in Canada through more than 200 wells and 1000 individual CoilFRAC treatments. Continuing improvements to this tool allow bypassed and marginal zones to be stimulated at nominal incremental cost. Efcient isolation and stimulation of individual sands maximized completed net pay and made zones previously considered marginal economically viable. More Experience in Canada Wildcat Hills eld is located west of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains in a protected grassland area.6 This area has produced natural gas from deep Mississippian discoveries since 1958. During the early 1990s, two Olympia Energy wells tested shallower Viking sands. The wells initially produced about 900 Mcf/D [25,485 m3/d], but declined rapidly to 400 Mcf/D [11,330 m3/d]. Although pressure-buildup and production tests indicated substantial reserves, the low reservoir pressure, poor deliverability and high completion costs precluded development of marginal Viking zones. A 1998 seismic survey identied a third Viking target in an area where the formation was uplifted by more than 3000 ft [914 m], potentially creating natural fractures that might enhance gas deliverability. The 3-3-27-5W5M well encountered about 45 ft [14 m] of pay in ve zones across 82 ft [25 m] of gross interval (next page, top). An FMI Fullbore Formation MicroImager microresistivity log veried existing natural fractures in the reservoir, but drillstem testing indicated a low pressure of 1100 psi [7.6 MPa]. Pressure-buildup tests before setting 412-in. casing and after perforating indicated drilling-uid invasion into natural fractures and additional formation damage from completion uids. A mud-solvent treatment failed to remove the damage, so a fracturing treatment was selected
6. Marsh J, Zemlak WM and Pipchuk P: Economic Fracturing of Bypassed Pay: A Direct Comparison of Conventional and Coiled Tubing Placement Techniques, paper SPE 60313, presented at the SPE Rocky Mountain Regional/Low Permeability Reservoirs Symposium, Denver, Colorado, USA, March 12-15, 2000.

> Coiled tubing isolation tools. The rst CoilFRAC operations used a single tension-set packer above a zone with sand plugs or bridge plugs to isolate below the zone (left). Subsequent versions were modied to include an upper elastomer seal cup above the zone and a lower packer to isolate below (middle). This second-generation tool was followed by a straddle design with elastomer seal cups on the top and bottom of a ported spacer, which increased the speed of packer moves, and reduced execution time as well as operational costs (right). These specialty tools eliminated rig and wireline operations because sand plugs and bridge plugs were not needed. Coiled tubing could be moved quickly from one zone to the next without pulling out of the well.

to increase gas deliverability. Fracturing down casing with limited-entry diversion was not an option because the well had already been perforated. The operator evaluated diversion with ball sealers as well as mechanical zonal isolation with sand plugs, bridge plugs or coiled tubing. Ball-sealer effectiveness is questionable, especially during fracturing treatments, so mechanical diversion was deemed the most reliable method to ensure stimulation of all pay zones.

With only 13 to 16 ft [4 to 5 m] between four zones, engineers eliminated use of sand plugs because close spacing made it difcult to accurately place the correct sand volumes. Conventional jointed tubing with packers and bridge plugs for isolation involved separate operations to treat individual zones one at a time from the bottom up. This required repeated equipment mobilization and demobilization, redundant services for each zone and retrieving or moving bridge plugs after each treatmentall of these made the costs prohibitive.

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> Well 3-3-27-5W5M, Wildcat Hills eld. Previous attempts to stimulate the Viking formation as a continuous interval were not successful because of difculty in intersecting multiple zones with conventional single-stage fracture treatments. Closely spaced perforated intervals prohibited isolation with a packer and sand or bridge plugs. Selective CoilFRAC treatment placement simulated four zones individually to increase recovery by isolating and fracturing pay that often is bypassed or left untreated. Secondary goals were to simplify several days of completion operations into a single day and reduce cost.

> Comparison of conventional and CoilFRAC Viking completions. Coiled tubing-conveyed fracture stimulations required 58% less total proppant, reduced overall completion operations from 19 days to 4, and improved well cleanup and fracturing uid recovery. CoilFRAC treatment placement and simultaneous owback improved uid recovery and saved Olympia Energy about $300,000 per well in the Wildcat Hills eld, which reduced cost per Mcf/D by about 78%.

The operator selected CoilFRAC services to stimulate each zone separately and treat several zones in a single day. On the rst day, the jointed tubing string used to perform production tests and the solvent treatment was pulled from the well. Coiled tubing, fracturing and testing equipment was moved to location on the second day while a wireline unit set a bridge plug to isolate the lower Viking formation. The maximum recommended interval that the isolation tool could straddle at that time was 12 ft [3.7 m], which was less than the length of the lowest interval, so a tension-set packer was used to fracture the rst zone. Three fracture stimulations were attempted on the third day. Sticking problems required the straddle-isolation tool to be pulled for repair of the elastomer seal cups. A casing scraper run smoothed the rough casing. This step is now performed routinely before CoilFRAC treatments as part of wellbore preparation. Annulus pressure increased while pumping pad uids in the second interval, indicating possible communication behind pipe or fracturing into an adjacent zone. This treatment was cancelled before initiating proppant, and the tool was moved to the third interval. After the fourth interval was stimulated, the straddle-isolation tool was pulled, so that openended coiled tubing could be used to clean out sand and unload uids. On the fourth day, a snubbing unit ran jointed production tubing in the well under pressure to avoid formation damage from completion-uid invasion. To eliminate the snubbing unit, coiled tubing now is used to run a packer with an isolation plug. After the packer is set, coiled tubing is released and removed from the well. The packer plug controls reservoir pressure until jointed production tubing is run. A slickline unit then retrieves the isolation plug, initiating well ow. Before stimulation, the 3-3-27-5W5M well owed 3.5 MMcf/D [99,120 m3/d] of gas at 350-psi [2.4-MPa] surface pressure. After three of the upper four zones were fractured successfully, the well produced 6 MMcf/D [171,818 m3/d] at 350 psi. The well continued to produce at 5 MMcf/D [143,182 m3/d] and 450 psi [3.1 MPa] for several months. The CoilFRAC treatment delivered an economic production gain in addition to reducing cleanup time and simplifying completion operations (left). Minimal operations and faster cleanup helped bring production on line sooner by reducing completion cycle time from 19 to 4 days.

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Olympia Energy drilled six more wells in the Wildcat Hills eld after completion of the 3-3-275W5M well. Because the Viking formation varies from well to well, the operator selected fracturing techniques based on sand thickness, fracture containment barriers, vertical spacing between sands and required number of treatments. Three of these wells contained two or three thick Viking sands that were fractured down casing. The larger zones required higher pump rates to optimize fracture height and length, which ruled out use of coiled tubing because of potentially excessive surface treating pressures. Like the 3-3-27-5W5M well, the other three wells had similar interbedded sand-shale sequences and 6- to 13-ft [2- to 4-m] pay zones, so Olympia Energy used CoilFRAC selective stimulations. This approach increased productivity and recovery by selectively treating pay that had been bypassed or not stimulated effectively, and it ultimately decreased operational costs. Pre- and post-treatment production logs were run on the 4-21-27-5W5M well to evaluate increased production from zones in one of the

wells that was fractured using coiled tubing (below). Prior to fracturing, the well produced 2 MMcf/d [57,300 m3/d] with flow from two intervals. After CoilFRAC treatments on five intervals, gas production increased to 4.5 MMcf/D [128,900 m3/d] with ow from four of the five intervals. Olympia Energy saved $300,000 per well on fracturing operations alone by using CoilFRAC techniques to stimulate Wildcat Hills Viking wells. One of the original Viking gas wells has been reevaluated and identied as a candidate for stimulation with coiled tubing. At a depth of 8200 ft [2500 m], this coiled tubing-conveyed application demonstrated the impact of combining coiled tubing and stimulation technologies on well productivity and reserve recovery. The smaller surface footprint, less time on location and fewer wellsite visits combined with less gas emissions and aring as a result of owing, testing and cleaning up all the pay zones at one time make CoilFRAC treatments particularly attractive in environmentally sensitive areas like the grasslands around Wildcat Hills eld.

> Pre- (left) and post-stimulation (right) evaluation. Production log spinner surveys in Viking Well 4-2127-5W5M conrmed that CoilFRAC selective fracturing treatments in each Viking sand improved the production prole and total gas rate (right).

Fracturing Designs and Operations Coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing is constrained by restrictions on uid and proppant volumes related primarily to smaller tubular sizes and pressure limitations. The application of CoilFRAC services requires alternative fracture designs, specialized uids, high-pressure coiled tubing equipment, and integrated fracturing and coiled tubing service teams to ensure effective stimulations and safe operations.7 Injection rates, uid parameters, treatment volumes, in-situ stresses and formation characteristics determine the net pressure available downhole to create a specific fracture geometrywidth, height and length. Minimum pump rates are required to generate the desired fracture height and to transport proppant along the length of a fracture. Minimum proppant concentrations are needed to attain adequate fracture conductivity. Coiled tubing strings have a smaller internal diameter (ID) than the standard jointed workstrings used in conventional fracturing operations. At the injection rates required for hydraulic fracturing, frictional pressure losses associated with proppant-laden slurries can lead to high treating pressures that exceed surface equipment and coiled tubing safety limits. Using larger coiled tubing reduces friction pressures, but increases equipment, logistics and maintenance costs, and may not be practical for small-diameter slimhole and monobore wells. This means that treatment rates and proppant volumes for coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing must be reduced compared with those of conventional fracturing. The challenge is to achieve injection rates and proppant concentrations that transport proppant effectively and create the required fracture geometry. Coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing requires alternative equipment and treatment designs to ensure acceptable surface treating pressures without compromising stimulation results. Reservoir characterization is the key to any successful stimulation treatment. Like conventional fracturing jobs, coiled tubing treatments must generate a fracture geometry consistent with optimal reservoir stimulation. The preferred approach is to design CoilFRAC pumping schedules that balance required injection rates and optimal proppant concentrations with coiled tubing treating-pressure constraints. Fracturing uid selection depends on reservoir characteristics and uid leakoff, downhole conditions, required fracture geometry and proppant transport. Fluids

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for CoilFRAC treatments include water-base linear or low-polymer systems and polymer-free ClearFRAC viscoelastic surfactant (VES) uids.8 In the past, polymers provided uid viscosity to transport proppant. However, residue from these uids can damage proppant packs and reduce retained permeability. Engineers often increase proppant volumes to compensate for any reduced fracture conductivity, but slurry friction increases exponentially with higher proppant concentrations and can limit the effectiveness of CoilFRAC treatments. Increased surface treating pressure from frictional pressure losses is the dominant factor in coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing, so reducing surface pump pressures is critical in CoilFRAC applications, particularly in deeper reservoirs. Because of their unique molecular structure, VES fluids exhibit as much as two-thirds lower frictional pressures than polymer uids (right). Nondamaging ClearFRAC uids may provide adequate fracture conductivity with lower proppant concentrations at acceptable surface treating pressures. This facilitates optimized fracture designs. These uid characteristics make coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing feasible at commonly encountered well depths. Another advantage of ClearFRAC uids is reduced sensitivity of fracture geometry to uid injection rate. Height growth is better contained, resulting in longer effective fracture lengths, which is particularly important when treating thin, closely spaced zones. Fluids based on a VES also are less sensitive at downhole temperatures and conditions that cause fracturing uids to break prematurely. If pumping stops because of an operational problem or fracture screenout, the stable suspension and transport characteristics of ClearFRAC uids prevent proppants from settling too quickly, especially between the seal cups of straddle-isolation tools. This allows time to clean out remaining proppant and decreases the risk of stuck pipe. In addition, these uids provide a backup contingency in high-risk environments, such as highangle or horizontal wells, where proppant settling also can be a problem. Recovering treatment uids is critical when target zones have low permeability or low bottomhole pressure. Another benet of VES fracturing fluids is more effective post-stimulation cleanup. Field experience has shown that VES uids break down completely in contact with reservoir hydrocarbons, through extended dilution by formation water or under prolonged exposure to reservoir temperature, and are transported easily into wellbores by produced uids. Retained permeability is close to 100% of

> Effect of friction-reducing uids. As CoilFRAC applications expand to include deeper wells, low-friction uids will be a key to future success. This plot compares surface-treating pressure versus depth for 2-in. coiled tubing using a polymer-based fracturing uid and a ClearFRAC viscoelastic surfactant (VES) uid, both with 4 ppa proppant concentrations.

original permeability with VES uids. In addition, treating and owing back all the zones at one time improve uid recovery and fracture cleanup. High-strength, 134- to 278-in. coiled tubing is used to accommodate higher injection pressures. Coiled tubing for fracturing operations is fabricated from high yield-strength, premium-grade steels with high burst pressure. For example, 134-in., 90,000-psi [621-MPa] yield strength coiled tubing has a burst-pressure rating of 20,700 psi [143 MPa] and can withstand collapse pressures of 18,700 psi [129 MPa]. Coiled tubing is hydrostatically tested to about 80% of its burst-pressure rating, 16,700 psi [115 MPa] for this 134-in. string prior to pumping operations, and maximum pump pressure is set at 60% of the design burst pressure, or about 12,500 psi [86 MPa], for this example. Because the entire coiled tubing string contributes to friction pressure, regardless of how much is inserted in a well, the length of coiled tubing on a reel should be minimized relative to the deepest interval. There has been concern that centrifugal forces on the proppant would erode the inner wall of spooled coiled tubing. However, visual and ultrasonic inspection before and after fracturing found no erosion inside the coiled tubing and detected only minor erosion at coiled tubing connectors after pumping as many as nine treatments. Operational safety is critical at the high pressures required for hydraulic fracturing treatments. For example, personnel should not be permitted near wellheads or coiled tubing equipment during pumping operations. Coiled tubingconveyed fracturing requires specialized surface equipment and innovative modifications to

ensure safe operations and to deal with contingencies in the event of a screenout.9 On the surface, coiled tubing equipment, such as quickresponse, gas-operated relief valves, remotely operated fracturing manifolds and modications to coiled tubing reels and manifolds, allow highrate pumping of abrasive slurries. Precise depth control also is important for selective stimulations. Inaccurate positioning of coiled tubing results in serious and costly problemsperforating off-depth, placing a sand plug in the wrong place, problems positioning straddleisolation tools or stimulating the wrong zone. Straddle-isolation tools must be positioned accurately across perforated intervals. Five types of depth measurements are used: standard levelwind pipe measurements as coiled tubing comes off the reel, a depth-monitoring system in the injector head, mechanical casing-collar locators and two new independent systems used by Schlumbergerthe Universal Tubing-Length Monitor (UTLM) surface measurement and the DepthLOG downhole casing-collar locator.
7. Olejniczak SJ, Swaren JA, Gulrajani SN and Olmstead CC: Fracturing Bypassed Pay in Tubingless Completions, paper SPE 56467, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, USA, October 3-6, 1999. Gulrajani SN and Olmstead CC: Coiled Tubing Conveyed Fracture Treatments: Evolution, Methodology and Field Application, paper SPE 57432, presented at the SPE Eastern Regional Meeting, Charleston, West Virginia, USA, October 20-22, 1999. 8. Chase B, Chmilowski W, Marcinew R, Mitchell C, Dang Y, Krauss K, Nelson E, Lantz T, Parham C and Plummer J: Clear Fracturing Fluids for Increased Well Productivity, Oileld Review 9, no. 3 (Autumn 1997): 20-33. 9. A screenout is caused by proppant bridging in the fracture, which halts uid entry and fracture propagation. If a screenout occurs early in a treatment, pumping pressure may become too high and the job may be terminated before an optimal fracture can be created.

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In the past, the accuracy of standard coiled tubing depth measurements was about 30 ft [9.1 m] per 10,000 ft [3048 m] under the best conditions and as much as 200 ft [61 m] per 10,000 ft in the worst cases. The dual-wheel UTLM surface measurement is self-aligning on the coiled tubing, minimizes slippage, offers improved wear resistance and measures unstretched pipe (below).10 Two measuring wheels constructed of wear-resistant materials, on-site data processing and routine calibration eliminate the effects of wheel wear on surface measurement repeatability and provide automatic redundancy in addition to slippage detection. The remaining factors that affect measurement accuracy and reliability are contaminants and buildup on wheel surfaces, and thermal effects that change wheel dimensions. An antibuildup system prevents contamination of wheel surfaces. Downhole coiled tubing pipe deformation is evaluated using computer simulation. For thermal pipe deformation modeling, a wellbore simulator provides a temperature prole. The total deformation can be estimated with an accuracy of about 5 ft [1.5 m] per 10,000 ft. The combination of more accurate surface measurements with modeling and improved operational procedures result in about a 11 ft [3.4 m] per 10,000 ft accuracy, and a repeatability of about 4 ft [1.2 m]. In most cases, a value of less than 2 ft [0.6 m] is achieved.

> The UTLM dual-wheel surface depthmeasurement device.

> Hiawatha eld producing horizons. In the Hiawatha eld of northwest Colorado (insert), pay zones historically were grouped in intervals, or stages, of 150 to 200 ft [46 to 61 m] and stimulated with a single fracture treatment. Thin sands were grouped with thick sands, and occasionally thin sands were bypassed to avoid less effective stimulation of more prolic sands. Multiple hydraulic fracture stages were still required to treat the entire wellbore. Each fracture stage was isolated with a sand plug or mechanical bridge plug. Justifying completion of thin sands capable of 100 to 200 Mcf/D [2832 to 5663 m3/d] was difcult.

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Previously, depth correction with wireline inside coiled tubing or memory gamma ray logging tools, ags painted directly on the coiled tubing and mechanical casing-collar locators often were inaccurate, costly and time-consuming. Schlumberger now uses a wireless DepthLOG tool, which detects magnetic variations at joint casing collars as tools are run into a well and sends a signal to surface through changes in hydraulic pressure. Subsurface depths are determined quickly and accurately by comparison with baseline gamma ray correlation logs. The use of wireless technology decreases the number of coiled tubing trips into a well and saves up to 12 hours per operation on typical coiled tubing-conveyed perforating and stimulation operations. In the past, separate coiled tubing services, if required, followed fracturing operations to clean out excess proppant. Coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing, however, requires the combined efforts of fracturing and coiled tubing personnel. Initially, service crews faced a steep learning curve as they began working together to reduce the time required for various operations. Subsequent CoilFRAC projects increased operational efciency and reduced completion time. To further increase efciency, Schlumberger has formed dedicated CoilFRAC teams to integrate coiled tubing and fracturing expertise. Revitalizing a Mature Field Texaco Exploration and Production Inc. (TEPI), now a ChevronTexaco company, extended the productive life of West Hiawatha eld in Moffat county, Colorado, USA, with CoilFRAC techniques.11 Discovered in the 1930s, this eld has 18 pay sands over 3500 ft [1067 m] of gross interval. Gas production comes from the Wasatch, Fort Union, Fox Hills, Lewis and Mesaverde formations (previous page, right). Previously, wells were completed with 412-, 5- or 7-in. casing and stimulated using conventional staged fracturing treatments. A common practice was to stimulate zones from the bottom upward until production rates were satisfactory. As a result, thin zones often were ignored and undeveloped uphole potential existed throughout the eld. In 1999, TEPI evaluated bypassed pay in the eld to identify and rank workover potential based on reservoir quality, cement integrity, completion age and wellbore integrity. New drilling locations were identied after a successful workover on Duncan Unit 1 Well 3, but the challenge was to develop a strategy that could effectively stimulate all of the pay zones during initial completion operations.

> Evaluating single-stage Hiawatha eld fracture stimulations. Without selective isolation of individual sands, variations in fracture gradients make it difcult to optimize fracture lengths with a single conventional treatment and limited-entry perforating. For two Wasatch zones that would be grouped when stimulating multiple intervals with a single treatment, StimCADE hydraulic fracturing simulator plots indicate that about two-thirds of the proppant is placed in the upper interval (top). This results in a wider, more conductive fracture and a half-length almost 50% greater than in the lower interval (bottom). If there are more than two zones, this problem is further compounded by variations in discontinuous sands from wellbore to wellbore.

The operator chose CoilFRAC services to selectively stimulate Wasatch and Fort Union sands, which comprise multiple sands from 5 to 60 ft [1.5 to 18 m] thick from 2000 to 4000 ft [600 to 1200 m] deep. This approach provided exibility to design optimal fracture treatments for each zone rather than large jobs to intersect multiple zones over longer intervals. In the rst drill well, individual CoilFRAC treatments were performed on 13 zones in three days. Seven zones were treated in a single day. This wells average rst month production was 2.3 MMcf/D [65,900 m3/d]. The second drill well involved eight treatments in one day. Average production from the second well during the rst month was 2 MMcf/D. Treating pressures ranged from 3200 psi [22 MPa] to the maximum allowable 7000 psi [48 MPa].

Zones separated by 10 to 15 ft [3 to 4.6 m] were fractured with no communication between stages. Pump-in tests veried that fracture gradients between zones varied from 0.73 to 1 psi/ft [16.5 to 22.6 kPa/m]. The variation in fracture gradient for each zone conrmed the difculty of stimulating multiple zones with conventional stage treatments (above). In addition to eight workovers with mixed success, nine successful
10. Pessin JL and Boyle BW: Accuracy and Reliability of Coiled Tubing Depth Measurement, paper SPE 38422, presented at the 2nd North American Coiled Tubing Roundtable, Montgomery, Texas, USA, April 1-3, 1997. 11. DeWitt M, Peonio J, Hall S and Dickinson R: Revitalization of West Hiawatha Field Using CoiledTubing Technology, paper SPE 71656, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, September 30-October 3, 2001.

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wells were drilled in Hiawatha eld from May 2000 through July 2001. These new wells were completed with CoilFRAC stimulations in the Wasatch and Fort Union formations, and conventional fracture treatments for the more continuous Fox Hills, Lewis and Mesaverde intervals below 4000 ft [1220 m]. To quantify coiled tubing stimulation results, the CoilFRAC completions were compared with wells fractured conventionally between 1992 and 1996 (right). Average production from CoilFRAC completions increased 787 Mcf/D [22,500 m3/d], or 114%, above historical rates. However, production from individual wells may be misleading if reserves are drained from offset wells. Field output will not increase as expected when there is interference between wells; natural pressure depletion should result in new wells producing less, not more. From 1993 to 1996, Hiawatha eld output increased from 7 to 16 MMcf/D [200,500 to 460,000 m3/d] as a result of the 12-well drilling program. Production doubled again from 11 to 22 MMcf/D [315,000 to 630,000 m3/d] as a result of workovers and new wells completed mostly with coiled tubing-conveyed stimulations. Field production is at the highest level in 80 years. Stimulating each zone individually during initial completion operations is believed to be the key to improving production and increasing reserve recovery in this mature eld. State-of-the-Art Downhole Tools Isolation tools have evolved along with CoilFRAC treatments and specic requirements generated by various stimulation applications. Coiled tubingconveyed fracturing operations are performed under the most dynamic reservoir stimulation conditions. Treatments take place in live wells at formation temperatures and pressures, and with the completion of each selective stimulation, these conditions change. As a result, increasingly demanding applications in deeper wells require more reliable, multiple-set isolation tools. Driven by a need to minimize operational and financial risks and reduce the impact of unplanned events, like proppant screenout, Schlumberger developed the CoilFRAC Mojave line of downhole tools (next page). This improved straddle system consists of three technologies the pressure-balanced disconnect, the modular straddle assembly with ported sub, and the slurry dump valve. In combination, these components provide selective placement of sequential acid or proppant fracture stimulations, and matrix acid,

> Analyzing Hiawatha eld coiled tubing fracturing results. Production from wells completed with CoilFRAC selective isolation and simulation treatments (red) was compared with production from wells that were previously fractured conventionally (black). Average daily well rates for each month was normalized to time zero and plotted for the rst six months. Initial production from the CoilFRAC completions was about 787 Mcf/D [22,500 m3/d], or 114%, more than historical rates.

screenless sand-control or scale-inhibitor treatments in a single trip with coiled tubing. The pressure-balanced disconnect features a mechanical shear disconnect that is pressurebalanced to coiled tubing treating pressure. Only mechanical coiled tubing loads are transferred to the shear-release pins; treating pressure does not affect the shear-pin release function. This reduces the likelihood of leaving the tool in a well as a result of unexpectedly high downhole treating pressures during CoilFRAC stimulations, such as a screenout. The pressure-balanced disconnect allows coiled tubing to be run deep because the disconnect does not require extra shear pins to account for pressure loads during treatments. If the tool becomes stuck, it can be shed by overshot or internal shing neck. The CoilFRAC Mojave isolation tool has opposing elastomer cups for 412- to 7-in. casing. The tool functions in vertical or horizontal wells and has no mechanical slips and no moving parts. An internal uid bypass in the tool body permits running to deeper depth10,000 ft instead of less than 4000 ft. This feature lightens coiled tubing loads during trips in and out of wells to reduce elastomer wear, minimize swab and surge forces on formations and decrease the risk of a tool sticking between zones. A modular design and special 2-ft [0.6-m] ported fracturing sub allow 4-ft sections to be assembled for spacing elastomer cups up to 30 ft apart.

The CoilFRAC fracturing sub also includes a uid bypass and resists erosion when pumping up to 300,000 lbm [136,100 kg] of sand. It is possible to pump up to 500,000 lbm [226,800 kg] of less erosive resin-coated and man-made ceramic proppants. Reverse circulation is required to clean the coiled tubing and CoilFRAC Mojave isolation tool when run without a slurry dump valve. A lower reversed bottom cup seals during reverse circulation to improve post-treatment cleanup. A gauge port is built into the tool for downhole pressure and temperature measurements. Since the slurry dump valve (SDV) is owoperated, no coiled tubing movement is required. One SDV design in two sizes is compatible with standard 412- to 7-in. CoilFRAC Mojave tools and functions in vertical or horizontal wells. Incorporating a SDV allows slurry to be dumped from the coiled tubing between zones and facilitates stimulations in low-pressure reservoirs and formations with fracture gradients of less than a full water gradient, or 0.4 psi/ft [9 kPa/m]. The SDV is closed and acts as a ll valve when running in a well. It also reduces formation damage during multizone well treatments. Reverse circulation is not required for coiled tubing cleanup, which reduces total stimulation uid requirements, eliminates the environmental impact of slurry returned to surface, reduces elastomer wear by equalizing pressure across elastomer seal cups, and reduces abrasive wear on coiled tubing and surface equipment.

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> CoilFRAC Mojave isolation tools. From single mechanical packers to elastomer cup and packer combinations and the earliest versions of opposing elastomer-cup straddle tools, the suite of CoilFRAC tools has expanded to include specially designed straddle assemblies. The effectiveness of CoilFRAC straddle assemblies for zonal isolation has been aided by more reliable sealing technologies. An annular ow path within the assembly allows for easy deployment and retrieval.
12. Al-Qarni AO, Ault B, Heckman R, McClure S, Denoo S, Rowe W, Fairhurst D, Kaiser B, Logan D, McNally AC, Norville MA, Seim MR and Ramsey L: From Reservoir Specics to Stimulation Solutions, Oileld Review 12, no. 4 (Winter 2000/2001): 42-60. 13. NODAL analysis couples the capability of a reservoir to produce uids into a wellbore with tubular capacity to conduct ow to surface. The technique name reects discrete locationsnodeswhere independent equations describe inow and outow by relating pressure losses and uid rates from outer reservoir boundaries across the completion face, up production tubing and through surface facility piping to stock tanks. This method allows calculation of rates that wells are capable of delivering and helps determine the effects of damage, or skin, perforations, stimulations, wellhead or separator pressure and tubular or choke sizes. Future production also can be estimated based on anticipated reservoir and well parameters.

Optimizing Recovery in South Texas Samedan Oil Corporation operates North Rincon eld in south Texas, producing gas from various zones of the Vicksburg formation at 6000 to 7000 ft [1800 to 2100 m]. The Martinez B54 well, completed in a single 25-ft [7.6-m] zone, had an initial production rate of 4.5 MMcf/D before declining to 1 MMcf/D. In December 2000, Samedan evaluated fracturing this zone for the rst time as well as completing deeper pay in the Martinez B54 well. Openhole logs had identied several other productive zones that had been intentionally bypassed because of marginal economics. In February 2001, Schlumberger assembled a multidisciplinary team to integrate petrophysical and reservoir knowledge with completion design, execution and evaluation services using the PowerSTIM stimulation optimization initiative.12 Samedan and the PowerSTIM team analyzed well data to determine reservoir size and remaining reserves for the current producing zone. These calculations indicated a 19-acre [7700-m2] drainage area and conrmed that a nearby geologic unconformity acted as a seal. Production and NODAL analyses matched the 1-MMcf/D production and indicated that, based on a limited drainage area and low formation damage, remaining reserves could be recovered in a few months.13 This interval was not a candidate for stimulation. Samedan decided to deplete the existing zone before completing the most attractive bypassed zones. Reinterpreted logs indicated 77 ft [23 m] of high-quality net pay with signicant recoverable reserves in ve deeper zones over 700 ft [213 m] of gross interval. Conventional stimulation techniques required limited-entry perforating for diversion of large uid and proppant volumes pumped at high rates to cover and fracture this entire interval. The operator considered setting production tubing and a packer below existing perforations and completing only one or two of the uppermost bypassed zones. This approach, however, would leave a signicant volume of additional reserves untapped behind pipe. The PowerSTIM team recommended CoilFRAC selective isolation services with optimized fracture designs to complete and individually stimulate all ve bypassed zones. A 2-in. coiled tubing string was selected to convey fracturing uids and proppant at the required rates. An SCMT Slim Cement Mapping Tool log conrmed cement integrity and adequate zonal isolation behind pipe across the proposed completion intervals. The existing perforations were sealed with a cement squeeze prior to CoilFRAC operations.

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< Martinez B54 well CoilFRAC treatment stimulation results for ve zones.

In May 2001, Samedan and Schlumberger performed a five-stage CoilFRAC selective stimulation (next page, top). On the rst day, the ve zones were perforated with deep-penetrating PowerJet premium charges to maximize perforation entry-hole size and reservoir penetration. After perforating, the commingled zones produced 1.1 MMcf/D [31,500 m3/d] during a prestimulation test. On the second day, each zone was isolated sequentially with a 5-in. CoilFRAC Mojave straddle tool and fracture-stimulated with a nondamaging ClearFRAC fluid and 136,000 lbm [61,700 kg] of man-made ceramic proppant. All ve zones were treated within a 24-hour period. Pump rates ranged from 8 to 10 bbl/min [1.3 to 1.6 m3/min] with treating pressures up to 11,000 psi [76 MPa]. Because of potentially high gas production rates, PropNET ber additives were incorporated at the end of the pumping schedules to prevent proppant owback.14 When all the zones were commingled and tested, the well owed more than 5.1 MMcf/D [146,000 m3/d] and 120 B/D [19 m3/d] of condensate, which closely matched production predictions. A production log spinner survey indicated that four of the ve Vicksburg zones had been stimulated successfully (above and left). One month later, the well was still producing about 5 Mcf/D, which did not follow the expected decline. Estimated payout was three months. Samedan engineers evaluated the next three drill wells, but none of these new wells were viable candidates for coiled tubing-conveyed fracture stimulation. Completing ve zones in a single trip mitigated the risk of formation damage from multiple well interventions, and risk of uid swabbing associated with conventional fracturing operations, jointed tubing and standard downhole tools. This CoilFRAC treatment took only two days, while a conventional ve-stage fracturing job might have taken up to two weeks.

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Accurate CoilFRAC selective placement allows scale inhibitors to be conveyed deeper into the formation during fracturing or acidizing stimulation treatments. Integrating scale inhibitors and stimulation treatment uids into a single step ensures that the entire productive intervalincluding the proppant packis treated. Performing multiple, smaller fracture treatments is another approach to reduce scale buildup and sand production. This method reduces the pressure drop across the formation face, which decreases or, in some cases, prevents scale and asphaltene formation. During production, pressure drawdown increases the vertical stress on producing intervals and exacerbates sand production. An alternative is to treat smaller intervals and reduce the pressure drop across the formation face. Screenless Sand-Control Completions Innovative screenless completions provide sand control without the need for downhole mechanical screens and gravel packing by using technologies such as resin-coated proppants and PropNET bers to control proppant owback and sand production. The primary challenge of applying screenless technology is ensuring coverage of all perforated pay zones. In general, interval length is the controlling factor. Thicker intervals typically reduce treatment success rates. Coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing, with the capability of treating numerous zones, increases screenless completion effectiveness and reduces overall costs while increasing net pay potential. Treatments in North America have reduced proppant owback by ve-fold. PT. Caltex Pacic Indonesia, a ChevronTexaco afliate, operates the Duri eld in the Central Sumatra basin.15 Primary recovery is low, so steam injection is used to achieve higher recovery factors. This multibillion-barrel steamood covers 35,000 acres [14 million m2] and produces 280,000 B/D [44,500 m3/d] of high-viscosity crude oil. Oil-bearing sands are highly unconsolidated, Miocene-age formations with permeability
14. Armstrong K, Card R, Navarrete R, Nelson E, Nimerick K, Samuelson M, Collins J, Dumont G, Priaro M, Wasylycia N and Slusher G: Advanced Fracturing Fluids Improve Well Economics, Oileld Review 7, no. 3 (Autumn 1995): 34-51. 15. Kesumah S, Lee W and Marmin N: Startup of Screenless Sand Control Coiled Tubing Fracturing in Shallow, Unconsolidated Steamooded Reservoir, paper SPE 74848, prepared for presentation at the SPE/ICOTA Coiled Tubing Conference and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, USA, April 9-10, 2002.

> Martinez B54 well in the North Rincon eld, south Texas (Courtesy of Samedan Oil Corporation).

> Unconventional coiled tubing-conveyed treatments. CoilFRAC treatments also are applicable for chemical scale inhibition and sand-control methods. Coiled tubing places scale inhibitors included in a preush before fracturing or proppant impregnated with scale inhibitors more effectively than conventional treatment techniques (left). Novel screenless completions provide sand control without downhole mechanical screens and gravel packing by using technology like resin-coated proppants and PropNET bers to control proppant owback and sand production (right). The primary challenge of applying these techniques is ensuring coverage of all perforated pay zones.

Additional Applications The combination of reservoir-stimulation and well-treatment technologies with coiled tubing conveyance is expanding selective CoilFRAC techniques to include applications, like acid fracturing, and specialized completion techniques such as scale inhibition, controlling proppant owback and screenless sand control (above). With advances in friction-reducing fluids, injection rates are sufcient for coiled tubing and CoilFRAC tools to be used as mechanical

diversion during acid fracturing. This capability is increasingly important in mature carbonate reservoirs when small zones within larger producing intervals require stimulation. CoilFRAC stimulations help operators deplete reserves uniformly across an entire hydrocarbon-bearing interval and facilitate reservoir management. The downhole buildup of scales, asphaltenes or migrating nes and the plugging of perforations and completion equipment impair permeability and can restrict or prevent production altogether.

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as high as 4000 mD (right). Combined pay thickness is about 140 ft [43 m] over an interval from X430 to X700 ft. In addition to 3600 producing wells, the operator maintains about 1600 steaminjection and temperature-observation wells. Heat requirements are lower in temperaturemature areas where the steamood has been in operation for an extended period of time. Steam injection can be reduced, allowing the operator to convert injectors and observation wells into producers. Low reservoir pressure causes drilling, completion and production problems including lost circulation, hole collapse and sand production. Severe sanding leads to frequent well servicing to replace worn or stuck articiallift equipment. The marginal nature of these wells, initially completed with 4-, 7-, or 958-in. OD monobore casing, limits conventional gravelpacked screens for sand control. In most wells, screens are not installed because of restricted wellbore access, smaller pump sizes and, consequently, unfavorable production rates. In a recent eld test on several wells, the operator in Duri eld used CoilFRAC techniques to perform screenless completions using curable resin-coated sand and tip-screenout fracture designs to prevent proppant owback and migration of formation grains.16 After resin-coated sand is placed and cured, proppant packs are locked in place to create a stable lter against the formation in perforation tunnels and nearwellbore regions. Using resin-coated proppant to control sand without mechanical screens is not new. In 1995, a Duri eld pilot project used conventional fracturing with resin-coated sand to complete Rindu sands at about X450 ft. Single-stage tip-screenout treatments attempted to place resin-coated proppant in multiple zones across 50 to 100 ft [15 to 30 m] of gross interval. This technique failed to achieve acceptable results because the gross intervals were too long and not all perforations received resin-coated sand. In addition, produced formation sand covered some lower zones and steam injection did not cure the resin-coated sand across the entire section. The primary objectives of the most recent eld test were to ensure complete treatment coverage of all perforations and achieve tipscreenout fractures for proper proppant packing. Grain-to-grain contact and closure stress improve the curing process and ensure a strong compacted lter medium. Heat or alcohol-base uids cure phenolic resins. The operator uses both methods to ensure a complete resin set. CoilFRAC selective isolation and treatment placement provided accurate and complete perforation coverage, which made screenless completions a viable alternative to gravel
76

> Duri eld, Indonesia, producing horizons and typical well completion.

packing or frac packing with screens, and previous screenless completions that were attempted conventionally. Fracture treatments and pumping schedules were designed to achieve required fracture halflength and conductivity. Relatively low pumping rates control vertical coverage, while higher proppant concentrations are needed to ensure fracture conductivity and achieve tip screenout. The maximum rate is usually about 6 bbl/min [1 m3/min] with proppant concentrations of 8 pounds of proppant added (ppa). The number of treatment stages in a given well was determined by evaluating perforated interval length and spacing between zones. Interval length needed to be less than 25 ft to ensure complete coverage with a minimum of 7 ft [2 m] between intervals to allow the isolation tool to set properly. The operator veried cement bond and quality to ensure isolation behind the pipe and avoid proppant channeling. Extra resincoated sand deposited after each treatment isolated that interval from subsequent treatment intervals. After all zones were treated, the oper-

ator left the well undisturbed for about 12 hours to allow the resin to set and obtain adequate strength. Partially cured resin-coated sand in the wellbore was drilled out prior to production. With the exception of one well, screenless completions signicantly increased cumulative oil production during nine months of evaluation (next page, left). Average failure frequency before CoilFRAC screenless completions was 0.5 per well per month. The operator allocated 36 rig days and 32,000 bbl [5080 m3] of deferred oil production for all four wells to clean out sand. After CoilFRAC screenless treatments were performed, failure frequency dropped to 0.14 per well per month, resulting in an extra ve months of oil production per well per year. Screenless
16. In standard fracturing, the fracture tip is the nal area to be packed with proppant. A tip-screenout design causes proppant to pack, or bridge, near the end of the fractures in early stages of a treatment. As additional proppant-laden uid is pumped, the fractures can no longer propagate deeper into a formation and begin to widen or balloon. This technique creates a wider, more conductive pathway as proppant is packed back toward the wellbore.

Oileld Review

> Ongoing CoilFRAC operations in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.

> CoilFRAC screenless completion results in Duri eld, Indonesia.

CoilFRAC treatments paid out in 35 to 59 days. However, the use of resin-coated sand in extremely hot steamood conditions was found to have limitations. Early in the application of screenless completions, the operator recognized a need to use inert proppant owback control. The resin coating used initially in CoilFRAC screenless completions was thermally stable to 375F [191C], but could fail in steam environments of 400F [204C]. As a result, periodic steam injection and owback to stimulate oil output could cause stress cycling and proppant-pack failure that resulted in sand production. Proppant owback control using PropNET bers rated to 450F [232C] is proving to be a solution to this problem. The operator selected a local sand combined with PropNET bers in place of resin-coated sand for eight recent screenless completions in Duri eld. The PropNET bers were added throughout

sand-laden treatment stages to ensure complete interval coverage. Optimized perforating techniques also has been introduced for screenless sand control. These wells have minimal production data, but early production results are encouraging. Milestones in Selective Stimulations Selective coiled tubing-conveyed isolation and stimulation have established a template for future workovers on existing wells and new well completions. The CoilFRAC methodology allows controlled delivery and accurate placement of treatment uids and proppant in existing or bypassed pay intervals at little or no additional cost because decreased uid volumes and elimination of redundant operations reduce mobilization, equipment and material charges. CoilFRAC treatments are useful for fracturing bypassed single or multiple zones, protection of casing and completion equipment, and for

development of coalbed methane reserves. This technique is also valuable in settings where chemical inhibition, reservoir ow-conformance modifications, water-control or sand-control methods may be required. Schlumberger has pumped more than 12,000 CoilFRAC fracture stimulations in more than 2000 wells. Coiled tubing-conveyed treatments can now be performed in vertical, high-angle and horizontal wells with measured vertical depths up to 12,200 ft [3720 m]. Pumping rates can range from 8 to 25 bbl/min [1.3 to 4 m3/min] with 5 to 12 ppa of proppant. Coiled tubing-conveyed fracturing was originally developed for multilayered shallow-gas reservoirs in Canada and further developed in the USA (above). These CoilFRAC treatments, however, are being rened in applications around the world, from Indonesia, Argentina and Venezuela to Mexico and now Algeria. The largest total volume of proppant placed in a single wellbore was 850,000 lbm [385,555 kg] for a well treatment in northern Mexico. A well in southeast New Mexico, USA, was the rst horizontal well to be fracture stimulated using a CoilFRAC Mojave tool. Two separate zones at 9123 and 9464 ft [2781 and 2885 m] measured depth were treated. The deepest CoilFRAC job to date was recently performed at 10,990 ft [3350 m] for Sonatrach in Algeria. The progress to date in selective stimulations has been impressive. Continued research and eld experience are expected to further extend the range of applications and reach of this innovative technique. MET

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Contributors
R. John Andrews is currently a senior staff reservoir engineer with Husky Energy Inc. in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada. He provides reservoir engineering technical expertise to support development planning in relation to Huskys East Coast assets. His key responsibilities include monitoring Terra Nova eld operations, reserves evaluation and management, and assistance in the development of a dataacquisition strategy for the White Rose eld. Other responsibilities involve detailed reservoir-uid analysis, equation-of-state modeling and reservoir simulation. John spent his rst eight years in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, on reservoir engineering assignments involving conventional oil and gas, and heavyoil and oil-sands projects. After returning to Newfoundland in 1989, John spent seven years as a reservoir-conservation engineer with the CanadaNewfoundland Offshore Petroleum Board, and ve years as a senior reservoir engineer with Hibernia Management and Development Company Ltd. (HMDC) before accepting his current position with Husky Energy Inc. in May 2001. A Committee member for the SPE Atlantic Canada Section for six years, John received a BS degree in mathematics from the Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. Johns, and a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering degree at Technical University of Nova Scotia in Halifax, Canada. Cosan Ayan, Account Manager and Principal Reservoir Engineer for the UK, is based in Aberdeen, Scotland, where he works on interpretation and development such as transient well tests, wireline formation testers, production logging and reservoir monitoring. Previously, he held similar responsibilities as division reservoir engineer for Schlumberger Central Gulf division based in Abu Dhabi, covering UAE, Qatar, Iran and Yemen. Cosan was also division reservoir engineer for Schlumberger East Mediterranean division in Cairo, Egypt (1991 to 1993). He joined the company in 1990 to work with Schlumberger Reservoir Characterization Services in Dubai, UAE. During this assignment, he worked on geological modeling and developed scaling-up algorithms for reservoir-simulation grid blocks. Before joining Schlumberger, he was an assistant professor at the Middle East Technical University in Ankara, Turkey. Cosan holds a BS degree from Middle East Technical University, and MS and PhD degrees from Texas A&M University in College Station, USA, all in petroleum engineering. The author of papers on well testing and reservoir engineering, he is currently a technical editor for SPE Formation Evaluation. Gary Beck received his BS degree in geology from Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, USA, and his MS degree in geology from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, USA. He then joined Chevron in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, where he worked in development geology before moving into formation evaluation in 1988. In 1997 Gary moved to Vastar Resources in Houston, Texas, where he was principal petrophysicist, Deepwater Special Projects. After BP acquired Vastar in 2000, he became a staff petrophysicist for BP in the North American Exploration Deepwater Appraisal Group in Houston, Texas. There he is involved in all aspects of petrophysics with a special interest in mineral-based log analysis, capillary pressure, formation sampling, measurementswhile-drilling and nuclear magnetic resonance. Gary has written and presented numerous papers on various topics at SPWLA symposia and chapter meetings and at SPE conferences, and was awarded the Best Paper Award at the 1996 SPWLA Annual Symposium. He is a past-president of the SPWLA and has served multiple positions on the SPWLA Board of Directors during the past seven years. Melvin Cannell has been Director of the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) at Edinburgh, Scotland, since 1987. CEH is a component of the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). He began his career in 1966 as a research scientist, and worked for the Coffee Research Foundation in Kenya, Africa. In 1971 he joined NERC as a research scientist at the Institute of Tree Biology in Edinburgh. Three years later he became a senior scientist at the NERC Institute of Terrestrial Ecology in Edinburgh. Professor Cannell holds BS, PhD and DSc degrees in agricultural botany from University of Reading in England. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and a Fellow of the UK Institute of Chartered Foresters. Kees Castelijns manages the Schlumberger Data Services Center in London, England. He joined Schlumberger in 1977 as a wireline eld engineer and spent four years in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Philippines, Dubai, Yemen and Egypt. In 1982 he became wireline location manager in Kirkuk, Iraq. After Wireline sales and marketing assignments in Oman, India, Malaysia, Norway and The Netherlands, he became manager of the Data Services Center in The Hague, The Netherlands. He transferred to the Sugar Land Product Center as domain expert for the development of a thin-bed evaluation program in 1994. From 1994 to 1997, he was section manager of petrophysics, in charge of developing and sustaining petrophysical interpretation products, such as PrePlus*, ELAN* Elemental Log Analysis and PetroViewPlus* software. Prior to his current assignment, he was Schlumberger interpretation development manager, responsible for interpretation support and new technology introduction. Kees obtained an engineering degree in applied physics from Eindhoven Technical University in The Netherlands. Andy Chen has been a Calgary, Alberta, Canada-based reservoir engineer with Schlumberger of Canada since 1996. He earned a BS degree in 1983 and an MS degree in 1986, both in petroleum engineering, from East China Petroleum Institute, and a PhD degree in mechanical engineering in 1995 from University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. Myrt E. Cribbs is a senior reservoir engineer for Texaco Exploration in Bellaire, Texas. After receiving his BS degree in petroleum engineering from Mississippi State University, he joined Getty Oil in New Orleans, Louisiana. He worked as a production and reservoir engineer until the merger with Texaco in 1984. For Texaco, he continued to work as a reservoir engineer on shelf and deepwater properties in the Gulf and participated in several early DeepStar subcommittees. He also had international experience working on carbonates. For the last four years, he has been Texaco Exploration's deepwater Gulf of Mexico reservoir engineering specialist, responsible for datacollection plans and reservoir evaluation, while developing a keen interest in downhole uid sampling and well testing. Recently, he has been responsible for the design and execution of several international deepwater well tests. Finn H. Fadnes is principal research engineer at Norsk Hydro Petroleum Research Centre, in Sandsli, Bergen, Norway. He has been involved in supervising pressure-volume-temperature and uid characterization since 1987. Prior to this (1983 to 1987), he was a research engineer and then manager of the Fluid Properties department at Rogaland Research in Stavanger, Norway. He has also been a visiting research associate in chemical engineering at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Finn obtained a BS degree in chemical engineering and an MS degree in physical chemistry from the University of Bergen. Jim Filas, Well Testing Joint Industry Projects (JIP) Coordinator at Schlumberger Reservoir Completions Center in Rosharon, Texas, is responsible for coordinating various joint industry projects with clients (including the development of zero-emission welltesting technology). He is also involved in technical coordination between Schlumberger business segments, client business development, and contract and license negotiation. He began his career in 1977 as a project engineer for a manufacturing subsidiary of Sonat Offshore Drilling, where he worked on design, analysis and manufacturing management of oileld equipment and drilling rigs. In 1982 he became a research associate for Getty Oil Exploration and Production Research Center in Houston, Texas. Two years later he moved to Texaco Central Offshore Engineering in New Orleans, Louisiana, as an advanced petroleum engineer. He joined Schlumberger in 1984 as a senior development engineer for logging vehicle and hydraulic system design, structural analysis and strain gauge testing. From 1992 to 1998, he was section manager for Wireline Engineering units in Houston and Austin, Texas. Prior to his current position, he was product champion for ber-optic sensing in Paris, France. Jim earned a BS degree in engineering science at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, and an MS degree in mechanical engineering at University of Houston.

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Byron Gale is currently a senior production and operations engineer for Tom Brown, Inc. in Denver, Colorado, USA. His main responsibilities involve new well completions, workovers and recompletions, and production operations in the Paradox and Piceance basins, in Colorado and Utah (USA). He joined ARCO Oil and Gas Company in 1986 and spent the next decade with them and with Vastar Resources, working in operations and analytical engineering projects in Bakerseld, California, USA, and in Midland and Houston, Texas. Before joining Tom Brown in 1997, he spent a year with WhitMar Exploration Company in Denver. Byron has a BS degree in petroleum engineering from Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology in Butte, USA. Duane Gonzalez, a production engineer for Samedan Oil Corporation in Houston, Texas, works in south and west Texas. He joined Schlumberger Dowell in 1993 as a eld engineer in Laredo, Texas and moved to their production enhancement group three years later. From 1996 to 1998, he was a DESC* Design and Evaluation Services for Clients engineer in Midland, Texas, working with Mobil and Texaco. He performed the same function for Mobil and Conoco in Houston from 1998 to 2000. Duane earned a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Texas A&M University in College Station. Hafez Hafez, Senior Reservoir Engineer with Abu Dhabi Oil Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO) in the United Arab Emirates, deals with reservoir modeling, performance and management. Previously, he spent ve years with the Gulf of Suez Oil Company in Egypt as an operations and reservoir engineer involved in different aspects of reservoir engineering. Hafez received a BS degree from University of Cairo in Egypt and has written several SPE papers on waterooding and permeability distribution. Scott Hall, Team Leader, ChevronTexaco, is based in Denver, Colorado, where he manages new drilling and workover opportunities in Wyoming, USA. He joined the company in 1981 as a eld engineer. He became production supervisor in 1984, and a production engineer in 1985. From 1986 to 1987, he was a reservoir engineer, and then became assistant to the vice president of exploration (1988 to 1990). For the next two years he was a drilling engineer before moving to production engineering (1993 to 1994). He spent four years as an asset-team engineer, before assuming his current position as team leader for Wyoming in 1999. Scott holds a BS degree in civil engineering from University of Colorado in Boulder. He served as an SPE Distinguished Lecturer in 1997. John Harries, Professor and Chair of Earth Observation at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine in London, England, has held his current position since 1994. As a teacher and researcher, he heads the Space and Atmospheric Physics research group. In 1972, after receiving a BS degree (Hons) in physics from University of Birmingham, England, and a PhD degree from Kings College in London, he was appointed senior scientic ofcer at the National Physical Laboratory (NPL). Three years later he became principal scientic ofcer and head of the Environmental Standards group at NPL. In 1980 he was appointed senior principal scientic ofcer and head of the Remote Sounding division at Appleton Laboratory. Four years later he became

deputy chief scientic ofcer and head of the Geophysics and Radio division, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, becoming the laboratorys associate director and head of the space science department in 1986. Since 1985 he has been a member of the HALOE International Science team, and since 1995 has been principal Investigator for the Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget (GERB) experiment. Author of many books and papers, he has also served as president of the International Radiation Commission (1992 to 1996), president of the Royal Meteorological Society (1994 to 1996), and as a member of NERC Council and chair of Earth Observation Science & Technology Board (1995 to 1997). Mohamed Hashem, Global Consultant and Staff Petrophysical Engineer for Shell Deepwater Services, is based in New Orleans, Louisiana. His projects span the globe and involve advising on uid sampling and pressure testing for Shell's projects worldwide, with more than 100 sampling jobs and eight years of MDT* Modular Formation Dynamics Tester development experience. He joined Shell in 1990, and worked ve years in exploration and production as a petrophysical engineer for the Shelf Division. Following that, he worked on Gulf of Mexico deepwater exploration, development and production projects. He worked extensively in the Garden Banks area of the Auger basin, with three major developments and three discoveries. Previously, he worked for Schlumberger in various Middle Eastern and European locations as well as in California; he also taught formation evaluation at University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Author of numerous publications, he received the SPWLA Best Paper Award in 1998. Mohamed earned a BS degree in mechanical engineering from Ain Shams University in Cairo, Egypt; an MS degree in petroleum engineering from University of Southern California in Los Angeles; and an engineers degree in petroleum engineering from Stanford University in California. Sharon Hurst, Senior Reservoir Project Development Engineer, Bohai Commercial Group, Phillips China Inc., is responsible for engineering support of exploration activities in Bohai Bay, China, including project evaluation and economics, as well as cased-hole logging and well-testing design, supervision and analysis. She joined Phillips in Houston, Texas, in 1987 as a reservoir and production engineer in the Gulf Coast and areas across the USA (1987 to 1992). From 1994 to 1997, she was a reservoir and operations engineer for the eastern Gulf of Mexico. She then served two years as company well-test specialist at Phillips Research Center in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, USA. Prior to her current position, she was an international exploration engineer, based in Bartlesville (1999 to 2000). In addition to her other assignments, she has served as exploration and well-test engineer and supervisor in Alaska (USA), the Gulf of Mexico, Venezuela and China (1992 to 2000). Sharon obtained a BS degree from the University of Texas at Austin, and an MS degree from the University of Houston, both in petroleum engineering. Jamie Irvine-Fortescue, Norsk Hydro ASA Production Technology Discipline Manager for Njord eld, is based in Bergen, Norway. There he is responsible for all production technology work including production optimization. He began his career with BP Exploration in 1984 and for the next eight years held various positions including petroleum engineer, eld production

engineer, commissioning engineer and production engineer in Scotland, England and Norway. Since 1993 he has been with Norsk Hydro as a completion technologist and production technologist in Oslo, Norway, and as manager and advisor for well testing in Bergen. Jamie received a degree in mechanical engineering from Robert Gordon's Institute of Technology in Aberdeen, Scotland, and a BS degree in petroleum engineering from Imperial College in London, England. Author of many papers, he has served as membership chairman and director of the Bergen Section of the SPE. A. (Jamal) Jamaluddin, Fluid Analysis Business Manager-Worldwide, works at Oilphase, a division of Schlumberger in Houston, Texas. His main responsibility is developing the companys reservoir-uid analysis business globally. He began his career as a research scientist at Noranda Technology Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in 1990. For the next six years he served as project leader and then program leader on projects related to oil and gas research and technology development. Prior to assuming his current position in 1998, he was director of technical services at Hycal Energy Research Laboratories in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Jamal earned a BS degree in petroleum engineering from King Fahad University of Petroleum and Minerals, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and MS and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from the University of Calgary. He is a coinventor of ve patented processes related to petroleum production and optimization and has coauthored more than 70 technical papers on various subjects. Geoff Jenkins, Head of the Climate Prediction Programme at the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Berkshire, England, has held his current position since 1995. Previously, he held another post at the center and at the UK Department of the Environment. Dr. Jenkins obtained BS and PhD degrees in physics from University of Southampton in England. Fikri Kuchuk, Schlumberger Fellow, is chief reservoir engineer for Schlumberger Oileld Services in the Middle East and Asia. Previously, he was senior scientist and program manager at Schlumberger-Doll Research, Ridgeeld, Connecticut, USA. From 1988 to 1994, he was a consulting professor in the Petroleum Engineering department of Stanford University in California. Before joining Schlumberger in 1982, he worked on reservoir performance and management for BP/Sohio Petroleum Company. He has an MS degree from Technical University of Istanbul, and MS and PhD degrees from Stanford University, all in petroleum engineering. Fikri received the SPE 1994 Reservoir Engineering, SPE 2000 Formation Evaluation, and SPE 2001 Regional Service Awards. In 1995, he was elected to the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences and received the Nobel Laureate Physicist Kapitsa Gold Medal. In 1996, he was named SPE Distinguished Member and received Henri G. Doll Award in 1997 and 1999. He is currently SPE International Director-atLarge, SPE Northern Emirates Section Director and a member of many SPE committees. A prolic author, he has been associate editor of Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering since 1994, Turkish Journal of Oil and Gas since 1996, and editor of Middle East Reservoir Review since 1996.

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Andrew Kurkjian, Schlumberger Customer Needs and Product Strategy Manager in Sugar Land, Texas, assesses client needs to determine an appropriate product development strategy. In 1982 he joined Schlumberger-Doll Research in Ridgeeld, Connecticut, as a research scientist. There he was principal inventor of the DSI* Dipole Shear Sonic Imager tool. From 1988 to 1990, he was engineering manager for cross-well seismic development at Schlumberger Riboud Product Center in Clamart, France. He then moved to Schlumberger Cambridge Research in England where he headed borehole seismic research. Since 1993 he has been involved with the MDT tool as principal authority on uid sampling and is also a coinventor of the CHDT* Cased Hole Dynamics Tester tool. Andrew earned a BS degree in electrical engineering from Catholic University in Washington, DC, USA, and MS and PhD degrees, also in electrical engineering, from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, USA. Larry W. Lake is a professor in the Department of Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas (UT) at Austin. He holds BSE and PhD degrees in chemical engineering from Arizona State University in Tempe, USA, and Rice University in Houston, respectively. Dr. Lake has published widely; he is the author or coauthor of more than 100 technical papers, the editor of three bound volumes and author or coauthor of two textbooks. He has been teaching at UT for 22 years prior to which he worked for the Shell Development Company in Houston, Texas. He has served on the Board of Directors for the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) as well as on several of its committees; he has also been an SPE distinguished lecturer. Among his many honors and awards are the Shell Distinguished Chair, 1996 Anthony F. Lucas Gold Medal of the SPE, 1998 Election to the National Academy of Engineers and the 2000 IOR Pioneer Award from the SPE. Jack Marsh, Vice President of Engineering and Business for Olympia Energy Inc. in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, has been with the company since 1994. He is responsible for all facets of production and reservoir engineering as well as business development, asset management and evaluation. Previously, from 1976 to 1994, he worked for Imperial Oil (an Exxon afliate) in Calgary, in positions such as wellsite geological technologist, production and drillstem testing technologist, business development engineer and eld production engineer. He earned a diploma in earth sciences from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and a BS degree in chemical engineering from the University of Calgary. A director of the Canadian Gas Processors Association, Jack is also a registered member of the Alberta Professional Engineers Geologist and Geophysicist Association.

Oliver C. Mullins received a BS degree in biology from Beloit College in Wisconsin, USA, and MS and PhD degrees in chemistry from Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. After holding a research position in chemistry at the University of Chicago, Illinois, USA, and in physics at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, USA, he joined Schlumberger-Doll Research (SDR), Ridgeeld, Connecticut in 1986. He is a principal contributor to the OFA* Optical Fluid Analyzer, the SAS Spectral Analysis System, the LFA* Live Fluid Analyzer and to other projects currently in eld testing. Oliver is currently a principal research scientist, manager of the MDT program at SDR and Flow Assurance Theme champion. He has coauthored about 50 articles in refereed journals, is coholder of 14 US patents and has coedited two books on asphaltenes. Aubrey OCallaghan, Principal Reservoir Engineer with Schlumberger GeoQuest in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela, provides technical support for reservoir studies. His current interests include dynamic reservoir characterization through numerical simulation and well testing. He also maintains an interest in horizontal well evaluation and advances in production logging. Since joining Schlumberger in 1979 as a eld engineer in Norway, he has held many technical positions during his 22 years with the company. He has managed the Schlumberger Training Center in Parma, Italy. In Nigeria and later Algeria, he was in charge of dynamic reservoir studies and reservoir simulation. Aubrey obtained a BS degree in engineering science and an MS degree in mathematics from The University of Dublin, Trinity College, Ireland. He also holds an MS degree in petroleum engineering from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. Martin Parry was appointed professor of Environmental Science and director, Jackson Environment Institute at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England in 1999. From 1995 to 1999, he was professor of Environmental Management at University College in London; professor of Environmental Management, and director of the Environmental Change unit at the University of Oxford (1992 to 1995); and professor of Environmental Management, University of Birmingham, England (1990 to 1992). He received a BA degree from University of Durham, England; an MS degree from University of the West Indies; and a PhD degree from University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1998 for services to the environment and to climate change. He was also awarded the World Meteorological Organization's Gerbier-Mumm International Award in 1993, and the Royal Geographical Society's Cuthbert Peek Award in 1991, both for contributions to research on climate change. John Peffer, Reservoir Manager, Groupement Berkine (Sonatrach/Anadarko Association), is based in Hassi Messaoud, Algeria. Since joining Anadarko in 1985, he has held various reservoir engineering positions with the company in Midland, Texas (1985 to 1989, and

1994 to 1996); Algiers, Algeria (1990 to 1993); and London, England (1997 to 1998). He has been based in Hassi Messaoud since 1999 in a management role. John earned BS and MS degrees in petroleum engineering at University of Texas at Austin. Julian Pop, an engineering advisor with Schlumberger Oileld Services in Sugar Land, Texas, is involved in algorithm development for the MDT tool and design and specication of wireline formation tester interpretation-software products. Since joining the company in 1979, he has had technical and managerial involvement in interpretation development projects for completion and formation testers and management of tool and interpretation software. He also has taught at University of Texas at Austin and at Rice University in Houston. Julian holds a BS degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and an MS degree from the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, and a PhD degree from Rice University. Paul Rutter, BP Group Senior Advisor on Environmental Technology at the BP Technology Centre in Sunbury on Thames, Middlesex, England, has held his current post since 2000. He maintains strong links with Imperial College in London, and Princeton University in New Jersey, USA, and has been involved in a number of UK government research committees and advisory panels. He received a BS degree (Hons) in chemistry and a PhD degree at University of Leeds in England in 1972. After that he worked mainly in industrial research on various projects centered on physical chemistry: toiletries development with Boots, oral microbiology with Unilever, and biocompatible materials as a research fellow at the London Hospital Medical School. He joined BP in 1981 to develop alternative fuels using coal. He then worked in minerals processing and became manager of the BP Mineral Processing R&D group in 1987. In 1990 he moved to BP Exploration technology as manager of the Production Operations branch. He started BPs produced water network in 1992. In 1998 he combined the groups environmental technology programs into Green Operations. This technology network and research program covers the three BP group strategic areas of climate change, water and biodiversity, as well as technology programs specic to the individual business streams. The network now has over 1200 active members throughout the companys global operations. Erik Rylander, MDT Field Service Manager, Schlumberger Gulf Coast Special Services, is based in Belle Chasse, Louisiana. He joined the company in 1995 as a junior eld engineer in Duncan, Oklahoma, and then moved to Equatorial Guinea and Nigeria as a eld engineer (1996 to 1997). He spent the next four years as a MDT specialist eld engineer with Gulf Coast Special Services before taking his current position in 2001. Erik holds a BS degree in engineering with an electrical specialty from Colorado School of Mines in Golden.

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Bill Sass has been a software engineer at the Schlumberger Sugar Land Product Center in Texas since 1995. He has worked on wellsite MDT interpretation software and is responsible for the development of the OCM* Oil-Base Contamination Monitor product. He joined Schlumberger as a eld engineer in 1981, after receiving a BS degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, Canada in 1981. Lars Sonneland is research director at Schlumberger Stavanger Research in Norway, where the focus is on geophysical reservoir characterization and monitoring. After receiving a degree in mathematics, computer science and physics and a PhD degree in applied mathematics from the University of Bergen, Norway, he joined GECO in 1974. He had various technical assignments in geophysical applications until 1989 when he transferred to Schlumberger-Doll Research, Ridgeeld, Connecticut. From 1990 to 1998, he had several technical management positions within Schlumberger. He transferred to Schlumberger Cambridge Research (1999 to 2000). At the same time, he helped establish Schlumberger Stavanger Research. Lars has published more than 70 scientic papers and holds a number of patents. Recipient of the Norwegian Association of Chartered Engineers' Technical Award and the Norwegian Geophysical Award, Lars has played a major role in the development of 3D seismic technology, the Charisma* seismic interpretation software system and seismic reservoir characterization and monitoring. Alexandra Van Dusen is currently pursuing a PhD degree in geochemical oceanography in the Department of Earth and Planetary Science at Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prior to this, from 1997 to 2000, she worked for Schlumberger Oileld Services as a wireline logging engineer rst in Bakerseld, California, and then in Bergen, Norway. She is a graduate of Princeton University, New Jersey, with a BA degree in geological sciences. Jeremy Walker, Schlumberger Well Completions and Productivity, Testing & Completions Marketing Manager, is based in Houston, Texas. There he has been responsible for development of the marketing plan and strategy for testing services since 1999. He began his career in 1980 as a eld engineer with Flopetrol International in The Netherlands. From 1982 to 1984, he was eld service manager for well testing in Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Subsequent assignments included location manager for well testing in Aberdeen, Scotland; sales engineer for well testing in West Africa; staff technical engineer, testing and production services for Africa and the Mediterranean region; district manager, Schlumberger Wireline & Testing in Hassi Messaoud, Algeria and in Port Harcourt, Nigeria; business manager for production services in Paris, France; district manager, testing in Aberdeen, Scotland; and business development manager for testing in Aberdeen. Jeremy earned a BS degree (Hons) in mechanical engineering from the City University of London, England.

Stephen Williams works for Norsk Hydro ASA in Bergen, Norway, as technical advisor for logging. He is responsible for planning, execution and follow-up of formation evaluation programs on Norsk Hydro wells as well as related contracts. He has held this position since he joined the company in 1998. Prior to this, he spent 14 years with Schlumberger in various assignments in operations, technical management, training, and management in North and South America, Europe, Scandinavia and the Middle East. Stephen earned BA and MA degrees in natural sciences from University of Cambridge in England. Warren Zemlak earned associate degrees from Robertson and Kelsey Institutes in Saskatchewan, Canada. He began his oileld experience with a major drilling contractor prior to joining Schlumberger in 1989. His career has included both eld and technical assignments throughout Canada in well cementing, stimulation and coiled tubing. He was project leader in several of the rst directional underbalanced coiled tubing drilling applications and was a member of the team that installed the rst high-pressure coiled tubing offshore the east coast of Canada. In 1996 he pioneered the rst application of multizone fracturing through coiled tubing. Currently based in Sugar Land, Texas, Warren is CoilFRAC* business development manager, responsible for the worldwide implementation and development of multizone stimulation techniques. The author of several SPE papers, he holds patents specic to multizone stimulation and isolation tools. Murat Zeybek, Senior Reservoir Interpretation and Development Engineer for Schlumberger Oileld Services in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, works on interpretation of wireline formation testers, pressure-transient analysis, numerical modeling, water control, production logging and reservoir monitoring. Before this, he was the Schlumberger district reservoir engineer in Doha, Qatar. He was a research associate in the Petroleum Engineering department of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles from 1991 to 1992 and also worked for Intera West Consulting in California. Before joining Schlumberger, he worked as an assistant professor at Technical University of Istanbul in Turkey. He served as a committee member for 1999-2001 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition and has written many papers about uid ow through porous media and pressure-transient analysis. Murat holds a BS degree from Technical University of Istanbul, and MS and PhD degrees from University of Southern California, all in petroleum engineering.
An asterisk (*) is used to denote a mark of Schlumberger.

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Coming in Oilfield Review

NEW BOOKS

Advances in Borehole Imaging. Operating environments for E&P companies have become more demanding. Oil-base and syntheticbase muds have addressed many of the challenges endemic to these areas. But because these muds are nonconductive, borehole-imaging options are limited. A new tool that combines innovative technology with the time-honored principle of resistivity logging provides microresistivity images in these difficult environments. Well and Platform Abandonment. As abandonment of aging wells and fields becomes more frequent, responsible operators must balance environmental and financial objectives. Remediation of deficient plugging and abandonment (P&A) operations exacts a toll on both the environment and the companys financial performance. Many operators are revising their P&A procedures to ensure that abandoned reservoirs are permanently sealed. In this article, we review P&A and decommissioning practices and new technologies that bring new meaning to the permanent aspects of P&A work. Seismic Depth Imaging. In many of todays hot exploration areas, especially where faulting and salt structures lead to complex seismic velocities, traditional time-domain processing gives misleading results; only depth imaging reveals the true location and shape of subsurface features. This article explains depth imaging and presents examples showing how oil and gas companies use it to improve their success rates. Lifelong Reservoir Management Using the Web. In the new internet-enabled economy, the ability to act quickly with up-to-the-minute information provides a business advantage. Web-based tools assist in portfolio management, including acquisition and divestiture activities. Collaboration among multidisciplinary teams and with partners, service providers and governmental bodies is possible with data stored on secure servers. Accessing applications across the net allows work to be done from anywhere, at any time, and creates new ways for teams to accomplish tasks. This article describes tools that improve reservoir management throughout its life. 82 GeoComputation
Stan Openshaw and Robert J. Abrahart Taylor & Francis 29 West 35th Street New York, New York 10001 USA 2000. 413 pages. $85.00
ISBN 0-7484-0900-9

Combustion and Gasification of Coal

A. Williams, M. Pourkashanian, J.M. Jones and N. Skorupska Taylor & Francis 29 West 35th Street New York, New York 10001 USA 2000. 263 pages. $115.00
ISBN 1-56032-549-6

Sedimentology and Sedimentary Basins: From Turbulence to Tectonics

Mike Leeder Blackwell Science, Inc. 350 Main Street Malden, Massachusetts 02148 USA 1999. 620 pages. $56.00
ISBN 0-632-04976-6

The book is a compilation of essays on the specialties that geocomputation comprises: computer technology, leading-edge mathematics, visual analysis and modeling. Contents: GeoComputation GeoComputation Analysis and Modern Spatial Data Parallel Processing in Geography Evaluating High Performance Computer Systems from a GeoComputation Perspective GeoComputation Using Cellular Automata Geospatial Expert Systems Fuzzy Modelling NeurocomputingTools for Geographers Genetic Programming: A New Approach to Spatial Model Building Visualization as a Tool for GeoComputation Spatial Multimedia Fractal Analysis of Digital Spatial Data Cyberspatial Analysis: Appropriate Methods and Metrics for a New Geography Integrating Models and Geographical Informations Systems Limits to Modelling in the Earth and Environmental Sciences GeoComputation Research Agendas and Futures Index this book provides a complete map to the road that geocomputation is taking to mature into a full-fledged discipline.
Spencer LT: Choice 38, no. 5 (January 2001): 936.

The text provides information on new technology that may impact the environmental effects of coal generation. Other topics are pollution and its control and coal-gasification technology. Contents: An Overview of the Energy Contribution of Coal Properties of Coal Pollutant Formation and Methods of Control Combustion Mechanism of Pulverized Coal Combustion Mechanism of Coal Particles in a Fixed, Moving, or Fluidized Bed Industrial Applications of Coal Combustion Two-Component Coal Combustion Coal Gasification Processes References, Appendices, Index Throughout, the writing is at a level that should be understandable by general readers with modest backgrounds in chemistry. It is amply illustrated with tables and charts.Extensive reference list. A very good introduction to the field.
Wenzel LA: Choice 38, no. 5 (January 2001): 937.

The book provides explanation of the physical and chemical processes that control the deposition of sediments. An introductory chapter gives perspective on how the discipline of sedimentology fits into general earth science study. Contents: Introduction Origin and Types of Sediment Grains Users Guide to Sedimentological Fluid Dynamics Sediment Transport and Sedimentary Structures External Controls on Sediment Derivation, Transport and Deposition Sediment Deposition, Environments and Facies in Continental Environments Sediment Deposition, Environments and Facies in Marine Environments Sedimentology in Sedimentary Basins References, Index If you need an up-to-date, comprehensive overview of depositional processes and the resulting sediments... [the book] is an excellent value and a good buy for its price. ...my fundamental criticism: it contains a fantastic amount of knowledge...but the book provides the reader with neither the tools nor the perspective on how to use that knowledge for a clear, practical purpose.
Van De Graaff WJE: Journal of Sedimentary Research 70, no. 4 (July 2000): 970-971.

Oilfield Review

Gas MigrationEvents Preceding Earthquakes

Leonid F. Khilyuk, George V. Chilingar, Bernard Endres and John O. Robertson, Jr. Gulf Publishing Company P.O. Box 2608 Houston, Texas 77252 USA 2000. 389 pages. $125.00
ISBN 0-88415-430-0

Applied Sedimentology, 2nd Edition

Richard C. Selley Academic Press 525 B Street, Suite 1900 San Diego, California 92101 USA 2000. 523 pages. $82.50
ISBN 0-12-636375-7

Advances in Hydrogen Energy

Catherine E. Grgoire Padr and Francis Lau (eds) Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers 233 Spring Street New York, New York 10013 USA 2000. 192 pages. $90.00
ISBN 0-306-46429-2

The Application of a Hydrogen Risk Assessment Method to Vented Spaces Modeling of Integrated Renewable Hydrogen Energy Systems for Remote Applications Index In general, Advances in Hydrogen Energy presents a very useful and readable collection of articles. This book potentially is very helpful to researchers, students, and engineers of the field of hydrogen energy systems.
Yrm Y: Energy and Fuels 15, no. 3 (May/June 2001): 767.

The 27 chapters in this volume cover key themes on gas migration and its relation to seismic events. Included are origins and sources of gas, migration of natural gas from petroleum reservoirs, and prediction of land subsidence and earthquakes based on information about the rates and contents of migrating gases. Contents: Tectonics and Gas Migration Events Preceding Earthquakes Principles of Gas Migration Interrelationships Among Subsidence, Gas Migration, and Seismic Activity References, Indexes The book provides a powerful conceptual basis and methodologies for understanding and predicting natural disasters and environmental hazards. It is very important for environmental engineers and scientists, civil engineers, petroleum geologists and engineers, seismologists, urban planners and students of related specialties.
Islam R: Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 29, no. 1 (January 2001): 83-84.

The book has a strong emphasis on the applications of sedimentology, especially in the search for natural resources. The three main sections discuss the generation of sediments, sedimentary processes and structures, and the transformation of sediment into rock. Contents: Introduction Weathering and the Sedimentary Cycle Particles, Pores, and Permeability Transportation and Sedimentation Sedimentary Structures Depositional Systems The Subsurface Environment Allochthonous Sediments Autochthonous Sediments Sedimentary Basins Index Its descriptions of the industrial applications of sedimentology and stratigraphy are found in few other books and will have considerable value for undergraduate and graduate students in the earth sciences. With its emphasis on the practical, there is considerably more material on issues such as porosity and permeability and far less on historical patterns of sedimentation. The writing is unnecessarily curmudgeonly, bordering on rude, with remote sensing geologists termed mouse-masters, interpretive diagrams geophantasmograms, and even an imaginary trace fossil called an orgasmoglyph.Nevertheless, an important contribution.
Wilson MA: Choice 38, no. 5 (January 2001): 936.

The book contains 14 papers presented at the 1999 American Chemical Society Symposium on Hydrogen Production, Storage and Utilization, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. An introduction includes discussion of the problem of carbon dioxide emission and potential methods of mitigation. Contents: Hydrogen from Fossil Fuels Without CO2 Emissions Hydrogen Production from Western Coal Including CO2 Sequestration and Coalbed Methane Recovery: Economics, CO2 Emissions, and Energy Balance Unmixed Reforming: A Novel Autothermal Cyclic Steam Reforming Process Fuel Flexible Reforming of Hydrocarbons for Automotive Applications The Production of Hydrogen from Methane Using Tubular Plasma Reactors A Novel Catalytic Process for Generating Hydrogen Gas from Aqueous Borohydride Solutions Production of Hydrogen from Biomass by Pyrolysis/Steam Reforming Evaluation and Modeling of a HighTemperature, High-Pressure, Hydrogen Separation Membrane for Enhanced Hydrogen Production from the WaterGas Shift Reaction A First-Principles Study of Hydrogen Dissolution in Various Metals and Palladium-Silver Alloys Investigation of a Novel Metal Hydride Electrode for Ni-MH Batteries Hydrogen Storage Using Slurries of Chemical Hydrides Advances in Low Cost Hydrogen Sensor Technology

Autumn 2001

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