.

m
SPE 28714 Akal Field (Cantarell Complex) Conditions of Exploration, Analysis, and Prediction
A. G.Rojas
.SPE Member

Sodety of PetroleumEngineers

_..

., .

and A.R. Tomes, Petro[eos

Mexlcsnos

Cwww $w

Socw 0!petroleum Englmrs, Inc. 10,Pcea-ntatinn al

the 3PE 1,,,.,(..! P81;lEum.@nf6?mc9 & ExhlbtUco of M&lw ,,[6 [ Vefaauz, Mexloe, W-13 CCW5W 1994.

This war tifiii.d

This paper .8s Wectec for presentation by a. 8PE Program Camm!& Ialiwing mviwaf as presented, hw @ been @vkued @ tha Sod@Iy o! Petroleum En@wwu and am suwt

[km!bn .wn$aln6d In an abs!rati Sibmlwd by the wtiorls], C4ntets 01 lha paw, to CWWIICO by th. aiiWI@). The mateial, ai wsented, .dcss not nscassrilY vflect

.1 Pettiwn

PoatUmI.t tie SQCkaty .x%-m En@nws, ii%amews, w mwws. PaPms SJffimwd e.tSPE mwwa am wbjaol to FC41kaikc mvw w Edhmid cmrmnws a lh. Scdmy EDgineem Pwmiaion 10ccw ISrewrded 1. an ebs+rad of not MS mm 3c4 wwds. Iltiam!bn. may noms cwded. The aE6!naa shou~ wntal. mnsoiwus Xtiovdndgment 01 where and by whom lha w., k Presented. W,it. Llbrsrl.w SPC P.O. %3x WSB6, FJch81dSO%TX 75C#W3W6, U.S.A. Telex 1SS245 SPE!JT.

SAEsmA

c.

I.mtroduction The AM field lies within the Cantarell Complex, Iccated 49.7 mines northwest of Ciudad del f&rneq in .tbe GrrIf of Mexico, Figure 1. Thk field has one of the highest daily and cumulative pmdmtion records and is vw important to the overall Mexican oil production. The AM reservoir shycture consists of sn ssymme.hic snticliie. .~e snticline isbound&fOn the west by a normal faul~) snd by an inverse fault on the orthem snd eastern sides. The soatb of the ariticlirte is a low porosity and low permeability region which is lititcd by sn water-oil centact, Figure Z The formation is natudy tlacbxed. The se.mndsry w@aI porosity is inter-connected by a complex system of fractures and micro fractures. The hydreoarbon bearing zone consisk of two rnsin intq@s. The upper interval is a Breccii dolomite. of Upper -C@a:eoys P@e~ne origin and is approximakly 950 ft thick. The lower intqvsl is a dolomitk limestone of Me&rn snd Lower .~eta:eous origjn zihdis2700 ft thick approximately. The Cantarell complex was discovered ii 1979 witi the t%st well A@ IA which. produced 340W BOPD of 22 API. The initial produ&on w* &ven by ro@luid expansion which was shortIived ss the reservoir pressure equal to 2375 psi at 3281 ft below sea-level, was dose to the bubblepoint pressure of 2133 psi, Fiigu* 3. The field produc&d 1.2 MMBOPD in 1981 with 40 production wells. Some of these wells produced more than 50 J@OPD each. By mid .1.994 the ye+dy production was 890 ~ L... MBOPD with 140 wells and the cumulative oil production until mayI1993 was 46.47 MMSTB, Fi@ire 4.

This paper pisserits a dctsiled description of .!lr~ current conditbrs of exploitations in the &al Field (the most m@murr prcducer in Ca@eche So.d aud M&ico Co.firy].
The

field, naturally fractured reservoir, began his AM exploitation in jurie/79 wiilr ttie well Akal- 1A and 34,000 BOPD of production about 22 API. The field development wss gadm.lly and i @._tiddle of 198&d &l producer wei~, .nOW the field counts wirh 140 wells and 890,000 BCIPD of production with 7500 BOPD per well in aveFage and cumulative production of 4647 MMSTB; thus we can cltiiify like supergiant reservoir.

This field hm a gocd condition. for the gravity draimge mechmisms like thickness about 23Wl feet, high permeability mound of 3-4 Darcy and top reliev about of 60.CO f&t. It-s important to menticir that ibis field has a g&&p been incmssing from 1981, now it risy/94 the @s-oil at 5719 feet and we establish a continuos monitoring logs. Based in this monitoring is possible to pr.dct and fecomennd infiil - drilling. wbic&h-w contact is with TOT workover

FinsOy, we show the match snd predictioii behavior of the gss.oil contsct through the time and different Gplotation alt.einatives done with volumetic model.

G...++

_.....,,,

References and illustrations at end of paper

,+

2 AKAL Ff6LD (CANTARELL COMPLEX) Conditions

OF EXPLOITATION, ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION SPE 28714

anku

At present there exists a gas cap due to the gravity segregation mechanism present iii the reservoir. The lighter gas, when liberated flows to the top of the reservoir. ?he reservoir condltiois are favouiable to the formation of this secondary gas cap. The large reservoir thickness of 2700 ft, the high permeability of about 3500 md aod the.kigh structural q+ief of 6562 ft, all aid in the forma fioiofthc gas cap. lltc formation of-asecondary &cap it?.cie%cs tie displacement effltiency .The oil recovery witl gravity segregation is apprOximateIy 7Q~ r~d i.sw sen~tiv? to the.modu~on ra!e. A drop in flowing pressure due to the.increase in production rate results in more gas liberation and iis segregation m$e top of the resexvoir. ~ a -0 t

concentration in the formation is high, most of the neutions emitted are decelerated quickly and are captured a short distance from the source. When the hydrogen concentration is low, the neueom may travel ,a larger distance before being captured. The tool uses the readings from tie two detectors tm indicate a porosity index cma linear scale. Liquid hydrocarbons have a hydrogen index similar to water, whereas gas has a. very low index which changes with pressure and temperature. Thus the tool shows a low porosity m gas zones, thus allowing identi~cation of .fbe g--liquid COII~CL
G

Like the Cm tool, ihe TDTtoOl emits high em%y n&utiOnsad measures the number of thermal neutrons present. The detection is done using different timeintwals which iiiow determination of lhe rite of decay of the tbemnal neutron population. Thk decay is exponential and is dependant on the density of c@ure elements present u= of z The tool provides the following parameter.. c. thermal ckcay time constant (W, micrOsec). Z capture cross section (cm, capture units) where Z = 4550/z The following are common VSAISfor fluids found in reservoirs. Water: X=22 -120 c.u Oil :.x= 10:22 C.u Gas : X= 2-10 C.U Use of count rates fromdWerent detectors The spacing of the near and f= detectors mkhizes the effect of fluid in the borehole. The TOT tool provides curves TSCF and TSCN which are the far and near detector count rates. In high oil saturation zones there is a small separation between these two curves which are generally parallel to each other. The two curves separate in gas zones and allow identification of gas-fluid cbntatts. The curves ale also influenced by Iithology of the formation. ~ Use of the fNPD curve This cur?e indicates neutron count rates at the far detector and is vw sensitive totbe presence of gas in the formation. It is less sensitive to Iitho!ogy and porosity and can be used to confirm the presence of gtiiri-combiiiation with other methods. Several examples of the use of TOT logs to determine gas-oil contacts are shown in Figure. 6. Log presentations may differ due to change of the version of softwze used.

There ae several different methods available to define and monitor the advance of a gas-oil contact. Some are. based on direct well observations while others are based on evaluation of fluid properties to indirectly detitilne gas presence in tie reservoir.
G

~~,

T*

figh gzs.oil &ios. ob&edd&ing production well-ret: U: V. indication of the movement of the gas-oil contacts. Table. 1 lists gas-oil ~atios ~huined during production well-tests, that were used .to monitor nmvements. inthe fluid !e.v.elsin .diffemnt parts of the field. Welf-head pressure trends are shown in Figim 5 and Table. 2. The wells having well-head pressures higher than the average wdue and accompanying gas production problems indicated iweas with substantial movement of tie gas-oil contact.
G

we]f.*~

. Neutron Lcu?,%

Newmms are electrically neutral sub:atomic particles which have a mass simka to the. hydrogen atom. The CNT t.fro! bas a radioactive source which emits high energy neutrons. These high energy neutrons collide .tith the nuclei of ,@grna:iOn._glemen~ and lose energy with. each Collision. .~e klrg?st...en%Y 10ss occurs when the neutron collides with a hydrogen atom since the masses of the two particles are similar. Neutrons which have lost energy @er several collision:. re+h a sqble level of @ y?r~ callti w.be~d emxgy , _and, arg_called !!.h~mal neutrons. ?hernwd neutions are..subs.equently captured by oth~, W?ms and the capture releases gamma radiation. TIIC CNT tool detects thermal neutrons with two detectors at dtiferent distances t16m the source, When the hydrogen

.446

SPB28714

ARMANDO GODINA AND ALFON.SO RODMG~

~Q Jiiw

-OiI where,

H =-3796.36 [1 + 7.115X 104 * Np] 1C5W .............(2)

The movement of the gas-oil contact has been monitored by using CNL and TDT base logs and then cornpadng these base logs with logs run at later dates. A summary of the logs analysed to monitor-the advance of the gas-oil contact is shown in Table 3. The most recent logs were recorded. in May, 94 and the results are included in Table 3. ... . Figure 7 shows tie tiiwiment of the gas-oil contact wiffi $me using TDT logs. During the first few yeiwsof field exploitation, the gas-oil contact advanced at 197 ftfyr approximately (Figure 10) and was matched using a hyperbolic curve. The present advance ii 98 ftlyr aWroximitely mid tbe.d+rease in the rate of advance is due to the larger ama available for gas expansion with time. The matched data may be used to predict that the gas-oil contact will be located at 6339 VftBRT by the year 2000.20 production wells were deepened in order to move away frOm.the gas-oil contact. Wells Cantarell71, 28,55 and 69 were deepened after they started to flow gas. The remaining wells were deepend in order to prolong their productive life, Some wills witi high gas-oil ratios were plugged without deepening because of operational factors Elating to the production cdinplexes now in use. Among tiese we have Cant&ell- 1A, 3, 1I, 22, 74, 78, 94 and 1084. Table 4 highlights wells @at were deepened to avoid the gs-s-oil contact and the cumulative production of oil since their workover operations. The cumulative production until Jul, 93 attributed io the wells that were deepened is 4629 MMSl?3, Pred iction of the movement of the Gas-Clil cow
The

H depth of the gas-oil contact fJVtBRT) Np Cumulative Production of oil (MMBbls) JVorkov $rP1mt:

The preceding predictions provide & estimate of the movement of the gas-oil contact until 1996, it which time it will probably be. necessary to change the perforated interval. The results obtained are listed in Table. 5. Gas LiFt SBased on the declining well-bead pressuk.s and the high back. pressures present in operational surface iintallations in the early stage of production, it was concluded that it would be necessary to impkrmnt an artificial pmdction system i order to extend the productive life oftbe fiefd. The system seIected was the use of gas-lift with ah original design of ijectim rate if 0.5 MMSCFD/welI starting in 1986.. At preient -there is a 20 g% pipeline ring; Figure 10 which supplies 128 wells with an injedion pressure of 995. pi and a rate of 0;3.-05 MMSCFD/weO,

data obtained about the gas-oil contacr using TOT logs during the productive history of the field, wti nm.tched sig a hyperbolic curve in Pig=re 8. The equatlm bflthe matched curie wax H = 3892.48/ [1+0.01035 ~lnS..,.,..., .................(l)

The historical pressure and cumulative production were matched using a volumetic simulator i order to study difermt recovery schemes and future pressures trends. The results obtained in Figure 11 indicate a good match with historical pmdwtio rates. The results indicate the ability to maintain a production of 900 MBOPD until 1996 and a decline in production rat% following that year. These results contirm the med to implement enhanced oil recovery methods to increase final oil recovery. Conclusions

,- ...

where, H the depth of the gas-oil contact (VftBRT) T time i~rnbnths since May, 1981. Extrapolating this curve until Dee, 1995 indicates that the gas-oil contact will be located at 595.g VftBRT, a movement of 446 VftBRT.since May3 1992. II - .A match of the gas-oil contact movemem versus the cumulative production of oil is shown in Fi@e 9. The matched curve was well defined ad will help to monitor the advame of tie gas-oil contact using tie pam.meter Np. It will not be mcessaty to male additional periodlcTDT logs in order to monitor the advance of the gas-oil contact. The hyperbolic curve which relates tievalue of Np with the ga.-oil contact is:.

The Akd Field-from C&tareO Complex ha.i favorable conditions to. the .pvity segreg~ion mechanism, This conditions are large reservoir tMckness, high permeability and high structural relief which @d in the fongation of the gas cap presetitkt the reservoir.

2,, Based on hyperbolic curve. match of the movement of the gas-oil contact with time using TDT logs, during the fit years of field exploitation, tbe contact advanced was 197 ft/y~ approximately, at tie current time the @vanm is 98 ftlyear. The rate of advance is due to; ~e larger avdlable area for the gas expansion wiib time.

447

,,

4 AKAL FE3LD (CANTARELL COMPLEX) CONDfllONS

OF EXPLOTATfON, ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION

SPE 28714

3.

One correlation of the gas-oil contact movement versus cumulative production of oil was done. The match of this curve was well defined and helps to- follow monitoring the advance of the contact using the parameter Np and will not be necessary to make TOT logs in frequently way. Extrapolating both curves until 1996. we know at which time any well probably will be invaded and be .PW?SSWYto predict his workcmer for change the perforated interval.

4.

Schlumberger Offshore Service-s Dual-Burst TOT (Tlmmal Decay ?3me Logging), Manual de Interpretaci6n, M4xico. D. F. (1990). Godina, A. and Jim6nez, 0.:. Evaluaci6n del avarice del Contacto Gs,Acei@, Suptcia fngria. de Yacimientos, E!@rol.os Mexi.canes. (F.b. 1990)

5. 4.

Nomenclature CNL DftRRT Dft DT GOR H INFO MMBbls NP NPH1 % Pm RHOB T TDT TSCF TSCN VftBRT Vft x T ..Compensate Neutron Lag .+Developed feet below rotary table : Developed feet = ~ z-Wave sonic velocity, @%lft) =.. <: Gas-Oil Ratio, (ft%i) -. Depti of the gas-oil contact, (ft) = ...c Inelastic Counts Far Detector -. Million Barrels =. Cumulative Production of oil, (MMbls) =Neutron Porosity, (%) =. .WelIhead static pressure, (psi) =. Producer interval middle depth r Rock density, @r/cm) -. Time(rn5ntbs) -7 Thermal Decay llme Log . Total Selected Counts FX detecto~ .... .-Total Selected Counts Near detector -. Vertical feet below rotary table .-VerticZi feet Capturecrasisection (c.u.) - := Thermal decay time constant (ILsec.)

Acknowledgments

We thank to Ing. Abralam D. Jimtnez (Petmleos Mexicanos) for permission to publisb this paper. We would like to thank Urztia Enrique, Rufz OSCX Hern4ndez Gustavo (Pemex) and DISS 13dgar(Schl.) for.many useful cmmnen~ on this study . ..-. ._ -..7...
References 1.

Escalante, S. M. and RosiIlo, A. J.: Estudio del Area CantareO Project D-5101 G&dogfa de Explotaci6n fMP (Sep. 1988). Lee J. et all: A Mathematical Model of the Hawkins Woodbine Reservoir: lourn.al Fetroleum Technology, (D%, 1977). Schlmberger Offshore .S,erViCes:Pririiipios y Aplicaci6n de la fnterpretaci6n de RegiStk6s Geofiii&6s,M&xico, D. F. (1991).

2.

3.

448

.-

.-a

,,.

.i_4
.r

,..

( I

/1

-Q.

Fig. 1.- Akal field location

Fig. 2Wucture map of Akal FieId,top Br?.cciaFormadon 449

SPE28714

1,800

A-cm-alWats (w -)

lW Z,cia -W J..rls$m2Mms+m2m. . . .. . .. ----

3,CW w, --

4.CQ3 w

Fig, 5.- Well-head ,,

pressure behavior

wsus

tl~e

Fig,

3,- Behavior static pressure versus depth

Cumulative PRODUCTION, OIL RATEVERSUS TIME

GOR

VERSUS

TIME

J,,m

JUw,m ,!.3,,

..Am

.w,a,

,.?4

JUw

m.. TIME

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Mm

,,.!4

Ju,no

,,)+9,

,,.,

,..,,

mm

(YEAR)

Npc!o ,, Fig.

4.- ~kal Field, cumulative production, oil rate and GOR versus time
,, 1, ,,,,, !I

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m. . __ . . . w

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,,. :.L.

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Fig. 6.- TDT logs eXaMpleS

.461

0-

0 0. 0

0..

0 0 :.. =

0 .. . . .. . . . ..-

452

. . ,~..=

;TP=

SPE28714

GAS LI~

FACILITIES

Fig. 10.- Configuration 8f gas lift facilities

,,,
1

,.!,

,.

..!

.,.

,.,

,,

1992

1994

1938

1998

2000 Time

2002

2064

2006

2008

2010

Real Prediction + . ..*.. Fig. 1.- Akal field, production profile with volumetric model

453

,.

.-!.

-,

SPE28714

TABLE 1 WELLSW,T!+

H,@l

GOR

W@J

w. Ill
.

~~sw

2 MLL.HEA6

PREs.suP.E

6E.HAWOR

mm

mm

.,

mm

m
-,,4 w.,. =JW. !WAm . 1

Ww,
0 .

IlM4Sc80,
27.!24

.
.-

.
,%

,,,,,,

,,n,

w.

,Wvw

,2s

,o,m4

m,

,*

W.ff

, MU

,,m

,,,72

,* ~,

,,=, .

UW.

,W

21WU4.

, ,

,,$,,

a,=

Cim.

*-

am

,?.!

,C4

W.78

2WW86

,,6X

,,,,2

,*,

W.!4 -,=

WWMS7

,,,,

.-

,.,,

WW87

, m

!,0,$

,2.3ss

94,

,,,

m..,

2W,87

,,,2+

,,m

m.,,

*,U.M

,,.

W,

,.,,

mm

,!6

w.!>

M,?/#13

,,,

,24

,U4,

,,,s

,,0

.Mm-me.

,0,,0, .wm vmw . . . . m,m vmm ffiwm>c

.. . .

-..

I
I I

55 ,, 7A 63

I
,-

SE

E ! H F F F

., !.., -- . .. . .

,.., .. . .

,., . .. .

, .

,,.1

,1.1

, ,.$. L. . . . .

14 ?4

14

37

N
F [ E. ! E.

108?
t4 25 93 25 93

1 JUU93 I m,,-,. ,

1 , AU( t !#t C,., I ,77s 8104 7751 6939 1 598, 57,, 1 ,.. .. .

I MAYn4

I w

5719 I mrm

454

.,-.

WELL

PRCCUCER INTEWAL CEFW @EFORE $nBv . PRESENT 6?4,.7382 ml .7300

WORKCNER

DATE 1(

NP, MMBLS)

N~

[JUU93)

NP

fMMBL31

(MMBLS)

6A

55e4. 5e56 5020- =43S 5872. S489 4557. 474t 5157.54X 6365.6398 S4C0, S571 5823. 5C@8 6K35- 6257 %27 -5676 4M4 -5203 8237-6434 4259. 440% 5,94-5751 5377 :s73s 5630. 58s6 3570.3658 5305. S%4 535t. s548 4+99.4403 %7, .,,88

sEP/33 JUN188 AG0134 AUG163 0cT188 JUU88 JANf87 FEB/34 JUN/90 JUN186 AU(5,82 0EC!90 JUN135 SEP185 SEP189 FEB190 JU!J81 0CT139 AUG186 SEP130 NOV/90

31-309
31.544 31.372 35.332 30.094 60.299 43.075 25.4T9 50.921 37.179 13.0Q5 53.074 17.476 38.8T2 48.936 51.443 10-562 27.919 42,203 8.956 53.056

S2.385
53.616 74.292 62.144 45.400 73.609 626!9 62,324 60.54i S5,892 62,689 59.901 30.535 65.983 58,058 60.543 27.919. 33.163 34.052 52U24 59,714 TOTAL a

52.076
27,072 42,420 26,812 45.309 13..310 19.604 36,905 9.62a 28.703 49,6e4 6.827 13.109 27.111 9.120 9.095 77.357 5244 27.769 43.068 6.055 462.9~3 .. .

7A
8 14 17 19 25 20 28 31 35 39 51 53 55 59 71 71 73A 94A 34

7s85 .77$3 6868.8995 m -6795

7877-7954 725i.73z3 WC. 742i

6509. 66C4 6650.6722 67ffi.6857 65,? .8621 702$.7419 6539 .6s31 ,509.6578 6808.??73 S305 5SS %46 -5755 6539 .C611 5248-5495 64,0 ..$5!6

ANo

= PWUCTlON

lNW.EASE-WZTC

REDW-LW

(ND, -

NP, }

No, = CUMULWVE PROOU~~ AT WRf@J~ ~ No, - TOW CU1.WLKWE w.OCK!rXON .7 J&W . .. XT AG,&S 0 ., AT .0485

TABLE 5 wELL

INVASION

FORECAST_

PRODUCER WELL

lNTERV41

PLATFORM
DRBRT vfiBRT

PROBASLE
INVAS!ON DATE

~@jp~~,o~

LASTrC&G

M~OR
WORKOVER

37

AKAL-D

6670.6969

5790- 5@66

APRlU95

OPEN HOLE

4 3/2

NO

57-A

AKAL-D

5787-

S83D

5187-5330

9FRIU9+

yo~

YES

95..

PJCAL-E

8300-.8399

580.0 .5804

MAW95

cH.&D

4 (/2

NO

46

AKAL-G

676.8..6978

%03

6Q63-

MARCH!96.

;;~

9 5/8

YES

24

AW-F

6926-7090

5892-6027

APRIL%

OPEN HOLE

YES

HO*,ZONTAL WELL

455