Evaluate Oil Well Potential
A reservoir team can achieve a more complete understanding of oil well and field potential by integrating all relevant information such as 3D geologic models, seismic, well tests, reservoir simulations, and cellular grids into a single, visualization and analysis environment that facilitates collaboration among disciplines. CoViz 4D provides an integrated view of reservoir data, sophisticated 4D workflows, and a set of analytic tools tailored to the needs of geoscientists and petroleum engineers, providing a powerful platform for assessing production anomalies and highlighting where intervention is required. Some of the key capabilities available in DGI’s CoViz 4D include:
- Workflows that use flow/saturation models to develop petroelastic (velocity and density) models, which are then used to create synthetic 3D seismic volumes
- Visualizing formation testing data alongside a cellular grid to help quantify pressure, permeability, oil chemistry, porosity, and other data to help estimate ultimate recovery
- Three-dimensional property (stratigraphy, lithology, porosity, permeability, fluid saturations, seismic) distributions depicted within fault blocks to better understand reservoir dynamics
- Analysis of a nearby wells’ geologic, petrophysical, and production data to provide insight to understand a well’s production and decline curve
Integrate seismic data with reservoir simulation results to give engineers a clearer understanding of reservoir characteristics that influence the production strategy.
The results of these analyses provide a more complete and accurate assessment of a well’s potential and can guide the initial development strategy in the following ways:
- Design well geometries to maximize wellbore exposure within a formation as well as avoid collisions with existing wells.
- Evaluate the pros and cons of various completion and artificial lift options, based on historical data from similar wells in the reservoir.
- Plan a multilateral completion sequence to minimize the risk of well interference or thief zones.
- Use microseismic data to monitor the development of a fracture network and adjust the completion strategy stage-by-stage to optimize results.
A reservoir team that employs CoViz 4D’s data integration and visualization capabilities in the initial stages of oil well analysis can gain a more detailed and complete understanding of reservoir characteristics. This level of shared understanding leads to the development of more accurate production forecasts and updating during drilling. Teams can then use this information as a baseline for further optimizing production.
Oil Well Performance Analysis to Optimize Production
Initial oil well performance analysis needs to be revised throughout the production cycle. As engineers acquire production data on a regular basis, these data are used to help further optimize production. Operators accustomed to spreadsheet analysis of production data will find they can more easily identify factors that influence production when oil well performance data is visually presented within the context of a 3/4D geospatial model of the subsurface conditions. Visualization of oil well performance enables engineers and geoscientists to:
- Easily compare a well’s production rate relative to nearby wells, depicting oil-gas-water as 3D towers that quantify cumulative volumes.
- Assess how the addition of a new lateral is affecting pressure in nearby wells.
- Understand how rock type, production depth, pump type, casing diameter, and reservoir pressure in a specific wellbore are impacting production rates.
- Monitor changes in water cut in response to secondary recovery methods.
- Evaluate “sanding out” probability by seeing which formation the well was landed in and compare with other wells in that zone.
- Plot the production curves of different wells together to compare the IP’s and decline curves to see which production strategy has worked better.
Reservoir engineers gain a detailed understanding of how development decisions impact production when multi-disciplinary data, including reservoir simulations, 4D seismic, seismic attributes, structure models, and production data are integrated and visualized.
Oil Well Performance Analysis With CoViz 4D
CoViz 4D, a data visualization and analytics software from Dynamic Graphics, Inc., gives oil and gas professionals the ability to easily access and analyze relevant data associated with HPHT reservoirs. Powerful visualization capabilities enable reservoir teams to explore data relationships, calculate gradients, and more accurately analyze how subsurface conditions influence drilling and completion methods. To learn more about CoViz 4D, contact our team.
