SPE 94915
Key High-Quality Technologies as Pivots for Hydrocarbon-Reserves Expansion
J.B. Navarro, Delta Are & Capillary Services Ltd.
Copyright 2005, Society of Petroleum Engineers
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum
Engineering Conference held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 20 23 June 2005.
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Abstract
The digital technology trends to transform the hydrocarbons
production dynamic and can potentially increase world oil
reserves. Several inherents systems and techniques are right
now commercially availables, although the support of
specialized hardware is required for completing truly
integrated projects.
Five key and high quality technologies-remote sensing,
visualization, intelligent drilling and completions, automation
and data integration- are a set of tremendous new tools that
will enable energy companies see reserves more clearly, plan
optimal drilling and production strategies, and manage
operations more efficiently.
The Inter-well seismic imaging, 4D optimized seismic and
other key technologies in coherence cubes are the most recent
advances speciality with great value for reservoir
management.
Crosswell seismic imaging is the first technology that fills
the information gap between surface seismic and well logs and
enhances the profitable management of subsurface
hydrocarbon resources.
Reservoir dynamic simulation models, running in
conjunction with real time sensors and automated controls,
provide high importance information, and the operators can
visualizate efficiently subsurface conditions to maximize
production and manage efficiently field development.
Scalable 3D visualization technology combined with
massive data management capabilities and high-speed
networks are drastically reducing cycle times for prospect
generation, field development planning, well design, drilling
and completion.
This paper shows examples of high resolution crosswell
seismic visualization, downhole sensors systems, massive data
capture with integral systems, and other technologies
supported with digital resources as intelligent drilling and
completions, which are generating an increase in the
productivity in many scenarios and reservoirs in Mexico and
worldwide.
Introduction
Technology is and always has been nothing more than the
application of the human mind to the task of finding a new or
better way. The development and application of a wide array
of sophisticated technologies will be the hallmarks of the
successful of many companies in future decades.
Within intelligent drilling and completions, the industry is
using now multidisciplinary technology such as 3D and 4D
seismic, high propped hydraulic fracturing, tubingless well
designs, multiple completions, high resolutions logging tools,
reservoir numerical simulation, expert systems, and optimized
multiple perforating systems for hard rock, etc.
Just in Mexico North Region wells, the tubingless
completion integers advanced stimulation practices with
reservoir analysis to improve production results from low
permeability formations. Stimulation procedures still depend
on the well completion method utilized.
Propellants use incorporates better results on early
production of the treated wells and improve the benefits before
and after propped frac jobs. The concept of combining the
propellant into a sleeve with the perforating gun is unique and
this technology shows promise of solving many of the inherent
perforating problems for which solutions have been needed.
Gun perforating and well stimulation have been inseparably
entwined from the beginning. Shaped charges have been
established as the most efficient method of obtaining
communication between a cased borehole and the formation of
an oil or gas well.
The most significant problem encountered in high propped
frac jobs has been the presence of fracture entry restrictions
arising from perforation friction, flow tortuosity and fracture
friction. The combination perforating/propellant systems have
met with encouraging results both as a perforation breakdown
method, and as a tortuosity/near-wellbore damage stimulation
method before a propped frac operation.
The industry will employ these excellent technologies to
improve the prospects of locating new reservoirs and then to
enhance the capabilities to produce them most efficiently.
Technology Makes the Difference 4D Seismic
As drilling, completion and workover technology expands the
boundaries of conventional well design, accessibility and
intervention costs become primary factors in effective
reservoir management.1
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Advances in well engineering and completion technology
represent another area of technological development with
major impact on field development capabilities.
The energy industry today faces tough challenges, including
recovering more hydrocarbons from mature reservoirs;
accesing more difficult resources; achieving higher operating
standards; profiting in highly competitive markets; finding
new opportunities to squeeze costs; meeting the environmental
challenge, and coping with volatile prices. Technology will be
the prime means of meeting these challenges and of achieving
competitive advantage and seizing new openings. Recent
advances in several key technologies illustrate this point. Fig.
1 shows the concept.
Technology is about innovation. A successful technology
company must be able to constantly innovate. Having
advanced technologies is just the start. Disseminating new
technologies and new techniques and sharing learning remain
fundamental to upstream success. Its necessary to develop
new processes to use technology more effectively in
worldwide operations. Technology is not a passive actor in
society.
We need to show that that developing and applying
technology in the energy industry offers and exciting and
stimulating way while contributing to the society that relies on
the energy and looks for solutions.
Seismic imaging continues to be driven by technology
advances in migration. Prestack imaging and prestack depth
migration are now applied routinely to entire 3D data sets to
provide much clearer definition. Improving the resolution and
accuracy of seismic images optimizes data quality, helps
ensure that wells dont miss targets, and reveals new and
previously unseen reservoirs.
The evolution of 4D, or time-lapse seismic, is a key enabler
to maximizing production from maturing formations. Multiple
seismic surveys over time not intentionally designed for 4D
evaluation can be used for imaging fluid.
The potential benefits of time-lapse ( or 4D ) seismic
monitoring are well recognized. The emphasis toward
permanent monitoring of the reservoir and the concept of the
instrumented oilfield show the potential of 4D as a tool for
reservoir management. However, many fields began producing
before the recognition of the benefits of 4D. The key elements
consist of feasibility, acquisition, processing, and
interpretation.2
An excellent example of the benefit of using 4D seismic to
track the effects of production on the reservoir is the Draugen
field, where an operator updated a 3D survey that had been
done just before production started. The update revealed that
the expected water displacement process had been disturbed
by a fault. So the planned location was changed and the new
well rewarded by record production of more than 77,000
BOPD.
Integrated subsurface modeling, which combines static
geological and dynamic flow models, is another key enabler to
be considered. The Leman field began producing in 1968 and
was expected to remain productive for 20 years. However,
after applying the latest integrated modeling technologies, the
operator expects it to keep producing until at least 2020.
Integration is also being extended from the subsurface to
surface facilities, from reservoir to point of sale. This ability is
very important when costs are being driven down by
liberalized gas markets.
Interwell ( Crosswell ) Imaging
The availability, resolution, and overall quality of interwell
information can significantly impact reservoir management
and/or optimization, as well as the accuracy of reserves
assessment. Standard reservoir mapping methods are limited
by a lack of data falling between surface and wellbore
measurements.3
While 3D seismic interrogates large subsurface volumes, it
does not provide sufficient resolution for determining
reservoir characterization or for monitoring of fluids within
the reservoir.
Applied in a wide range of environments, crosswell
seismic enhance the profitable management of subsurface
hydrocarbon resources.
By imaging from the reservoir, a number of practical
advantages and improvements results especially in the
following events:
Practical, High-Resolution Reservoir Imaging
Reservoir Description
Production Monitoring
Surface Seismic Support
Fig. 2 ilustrates this technology.
Perforating/Propellants Systems
The primary objective of a perforating program design is to
remove or minimize any impediment to fluid movement from
the reservoir to the cased wellbore. Damage from drilling fluid
contacting the formation is one of the problems that must be
addressed in selecting a perforation technique.
Using propellant-assisted perforation its possible achieve
three to six feet of penetration into formation and obtain zero
skin or less. For this reason, the system is very effective to
stimulate wells with nearby water or gas. The system is an
excellent substitution for a clean-up stimulation in carbonates
and dolomites formations.4
By combining completion and stimulation into one
operation, the well comes on line more quickly with less
expenses, resulting in quicker and greater profits. Case
histories will show the success of this process when used as a
near wellbore clean up tool, for pre-frac preparation, and to
eliminate other service needs. Where available, pressure
transient data will be supplied in addition to offset well
productivity information.
The system could be an excellent alternative for special
completions and the benefits would be advantageous in a wide
range of reservoirs, especially naturally micro-fractured
formations.
Also, the ability to connect natural micro-fractures of the
reservoir with artificial conductivity generated for the system,
achieved the damage penetration, will provide an optimal
productive performance.
Combining the propellant in a sleeve form with the
perforating gun is unique and promising technology recently
introduced to the oil field. When the gun detonates, the heat,
and shock associated with the event ignite the propellant
sleeve creating tremendous amounts of gas. A fluid tamp
SPE 94915
focuses this gas pressure in the perforations and as the
pressure builds, eventual formation breakdown occurs. The
assembly can be run with wireline, TCP and coil tubing.
The propellant/perforating technique has been applied in
both extreme over-as well as underbalanced well conditions in
approximately 1,000 wells. Fig. 3 shows the assembly.
Reservoir Numerical Simulation
Reservoir characterization is the building of a geologic and
engineering model that describes the reservoirs internal
architecture and the distribution of hydrocarbons.
The new approach to identifying and modeling reservoir
characteristics involves several important steps, (Fig.4). These
steps are interrelated although determining geologic reservoir
architecture is the logical starting point. These steps are
general, and the level of depth to which they can be
implemented is heavily dependent on both the time and data
available. The characterization methodology is an iterative
expert process, relying on testing multiple working hypotheses
to determine the most probable reservoir model.5
High Propped Hydraulics Fracs
A unique feature of fracture treatments is the ability to modify
flow conditions and place proppant a significant distance away
from, but in communication with, the wellbore. In this
instance, hydraulic fracturing becomes a reservoir
management tool to enhance production.6
Primary factors governing the choice of a perforating system
for frature stimulation are proppant transport, perforation
friction, and near-wellbore multiple fractures. Production from
the fracture is dominated by the high conductivity of the
proppant pack in the formation and is relatively insensitive to
the damage in the formation immediately adjacent to it.
Computer-based numerical simulation can be used as a tool
for analysis of fracturing treatments and prediction of post-
fracturing well performance.
In Mexico, the development of low-permeability gas
reserves is especially dependent on successful and economical
application of frac technology. The low-permeability gas
sands often have permeability below 1 md and discontinuous
( lenticular ) or dual porosity structure.
Many low permeability gas completions have been made
economical through hydraulic fracs. The depth range of these
completions varies from 7,200 to 9,300 ( 2,200 to 2,800 m )
using tubingless option, with 3 as production casing.
Aggressive proppant placement can be achieved by
increasing the proppant concentration in the fluid. The
hydraulic width before closure would be only slightly larger
than the propped width after closure with multilayer option.
Conceptually, the optimally sized job is the point where the
incremental benefit of the last unit of proppant placed is equal
to the cost of placing that unit. This optimal point is also the
same size job where the net present value ( NPV ) is
maximum, often reaching multilayer condition within the
proppant pumping schedule. ( Fig. 5 ).
Intelligent Completion using Permanent Monitoring
A project started in 1997 developed an intelligent completion
system capable of measuring downhole multiphase flow rates,
pressure and temperature conditions at two or more points
3
along the well, and controlling fluid entry into the well by
downhole flow-controls devices. The flow-control system was
the first to be fully electrical.7
The fully electrical system can establish a secure link
between multiple downhole sensing and flow-control
components, the surface data-acquisition system, and remote
control locations where reservoir engineers and production
specialists can monitor and control well operations ( Fig. 6 )
Other Permanent Downhole Monitoring Applications
Thermal operations
Water influx detection in gas reservoirs
Monitor well skin changes in real time
Identify boundaries and interference
Detect fault barrier and drainage limits
Analize pressure losses
Optimize well tubulars
Develop accurate production profiles
Determine reservoir size and properties
Reservoir model development
Fracture operation real-time monitoring
Optimize jet pumps
Pump performance control
Underbalanced drilling
Conclusions
1. Having advanced technologies is just the start.
Disseminating new technologies and techniques and sharing
learning remain fundamental to upstream success.
2. With crosswell seismic, critical reservoir characteristics
are directly imaged, not statiscally estimated.
3. The use of propellant assisted perforating was effective in
enhancing near wellbore flow conditions in low pressure
reservoirs.
4. Multilayer option in fracture conductivity is the better
way to achieve the mayor production expectatives from a
fraced reservoir.
5. Interpretation of the continuous and production data
provides more accurate information about reservoir
permeability, size, boundaries, and drive mechanism as well as
interwell communication and other reservoir management
applications.
6. Analysis of pressure losses in the completion system,
such as drawdown pressure between the reservoir and
wellbore, and tubing pressure losses provide information to
optimize well production.
7. The flow-control system provides a robust means of
monitoring and measuring fluid flow and reservoir
characteristics during testing.
Acknowledgements
We acknowledge the support and permission of Delta Are &
Capillary Services Ltd. to publish this paper.
Nomenclature
3D = Tridimensional
4D = Fourdimensional
BOPD = Barrels oil per day
md = permeability unit, milidarcy
NPV = Net present value
4 SPE 94915

References

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3 October.

Fig. 1 Technology Meeting Challenges

Fig. 3 Perforating / Propellant Option

SPE 94915 5

Fig. 5 High Propped Hydraulic Frac

Fig. 4 Modeling Reservoir Plattform

Fig. 6 Permanent Monitoring