Integrated Wellbore Suveillance Techniques for Effective Reservoir Management Plan

Production optimization and improved recovery efficiency while reducing operating and capital expenditure has been the main goal of the operators, and makes it imperative under the current oil prices. Reservoir Management Programme (RMP) is a comprehensive and integrated process of establishing control over hydrocarbons appraisal, extraction, voidage replacement, and optimizing production and reservoir performance, and it is the key to achieving maximum recovery. Monitoring well and reservoir performance from initial completion to abandonment is critical to ensure efficient operation, optimum economics, and safe environment. Tracking production rates, water cut, wellhead pressure, casing pressure, well integrity, and planning recompletion, workovers, sidetracks, in-fill drilling, enhanced oil recovery etc. will require close watch, accurate analysis, and timely execution at considerable cost and effort. Therefore, it is critical to stay up-to-date on the latest developments in technological advancements in this area, be judicious in the methods used in acquiring the right data at the right time, and more importantly, integrating all acquired data to discern performance patterns, predict future behavior, and avert any problems. More detailed understanding of reservoir characterization and reservoir physics are the need of the hour to be efficient and successful in the various stages of the exploitation of the reservoir.

Furthermore, advances in horizontal drilling, smart well completions, deep-sea drilling, and highly complex operation, have changed the playing field and rendered many old conventional tools inadequate to meet the new challenges. For example, rates from some intervals along a horizontal well can be too low to be measured by a typical flowmeter. The cost of measuring reservoir pressure in individual layers can be cost prohibitive, especially once the completion is in place. Reservoir characterization, understanding lateral continuity, and permeability anisotropy can be time consuming and expensive. Locating the source of a casing pressure accurately, quickly, and without having to mobilize special equipment (rig-less) is critical.

This paper illustrates the application of the above principles by showing actual cases, methodology of data acquisition and processing, focusing on the added value from the new information.