Visualization showing oil tracers applied to well_13 and produced from the wells the vectors point at. Vector heads are sized to sample values. Nearby well (well_31) showing ellipses representing cumulative flowback tracer production from a previous tracer job.
Tracer technology for the oil and gas industry has become an increasingly important tool for reservoir surveying and monitoring. Tracers can help portray reservoir characteristics more clearly, depict fluid pathways, reveal communication—planned or unexpected—between wells, and provide better estimates of remaining oil saturation. Tracer technology in oil and gas has become indispensable for showing fluid transmission paths and connectivity within a reservoir, as well as identifying the relative contribution of oil, gas, and water within the reservoir.
An Essential Component of a Reservoir Engineer’s Toolkit
Tracer Technology in Oil and Gas Finds Multiple Uses
Reservoir engineers are continually discovering new ways to use tracers to better understand reservoir characteristics and performance. Tracer measurements can be obtained from oil, gas, and water production via surface sampling using techniques such as gas chromatography (chemicals in water), pressure cylinders (for gas), or Geiger-Muller tubes(radioactive). A few examples help to show the versatility and value of tracer technology in reservoir surveillance.
- Obtain a clearer definition of an oil well’s fracture pattern by injecting natural gas with tracers into a central well over the course of four months and measuring tracer diffusion.
- Determine the most efficient waterflooding strategy by using tracers to monitor the effects of water and gas injection.
- Monitor the inter-well movement of both injected solvent and water, and use that information to redesign the injection program to achieve better sweep efficiency.
- Determine which, if any, nearby wells intersect the same fracture plane as the injection well using radioactive gas.
- Obtain a better estimate regarding sweep area and relative fluid velocities based on the time it takes tracers to diffuse from the injection site to nearby wells.
- Monitor the evolution of fluid-migration patterns using gas tracers to show which injection rates should be modified to yield additional oil recovery.
The Value in Visualizing Tracer Data for Reservoir Surveillance
CoViz 4D enables reservoir engineers to combine tracer data with relevant reservoir detail to visualize the results of tracer surveys.
CoViz 4D, a data visualization analytics software from Dynamic Graphics Inc., gives oil and gas professionals the ability to easily access and combine all relevant data associated with petroleum assets. Powerful visualization capabilities enable you to incorporate tracer survey data, explore relationships with other reservoir data, and analyze changing reservoir conditions to confidently make decisions that improve recovery and profitability. To learn more about CoViz 4D, contact our team.