Tutor(s)
Mark Cook: Associate Reservoir Engineer at TRACS International Consultancy and Independent Engineer at Delta-T Energy Consultancy.
Overview
The course examines reservoir engineering processes, techniques and terminology, particularly those that interface with geoscience activities. The material is structured around the three-part process of building a reservoir model: (1) building a static model to identify the main flow units, (2) developing a dynamic model to predict fluid flow in the reservoir, and (3) implementing a life-of-field reservoir management plan to maximize economic recovery. Numerous examples illustrate the use of subsurface data and the techniques employed during the construction of a reservoir model. The focus is on the principles rather than the detailed work of the reservoir engineer; the use of complex mathematics is avoided.
Duration and Logistics
Classroom version: 5 days; a mix of classroom lectures (60%), case studies (20%) and exercises (20%). The manual will be provided in digital format and participants will be required to bring a laptop or tablet computer to follow the lectures and exercises.
Virtual version: Five 4-hour interactive online sessions presented over 5 days, including a mix of lectures (60%), case studies (20%) and exercises (20%). A digital manual and hard-copy exercise materials will be distributed to participants before the course.
Level and Audience
Fundamental. The course is aimed at geoscientists, petrophysicists and others who interface with reservoir engineers on a regular basis, as well as anyone who wishes to obtain an understanding of reservoir engineering techniques.
Objectives
You will learn to:
- Effectively interact with reservoir engineering colleagues.
- Interpret original fluid contacts, understand saturation vs height relationships and estimate original hydrocarbon in-place volumes for oil and gas reservoirs.
- Differentiate the physical and chemical properties of hydrocarbons and their description through phase diagrams.
- Recognize the strengths and weaknesses of well tests and their analysis.
- Analyze production performance and describe production enhancement techniques.
- Contrast static and dynamic reservoir models and assess the merits of reservoir numerical simulation.
- Assess the value of reservoir management for forecasting production profiles and maximizing economic hydrocarbon recovery from a producing field over the complete life cycle.
- Examine the controls on fluid flow in the reservoir and reservoir drive mechanisms.
Course Content
- Controls on fluid flow in the reservoir
- Rock permeability and relationship with porosity
- Reservoir zonation, Darcy’s Law and impact of permeability contrasts
- Defining fluid contacts and estimating volumetrics
- Basic reservoir volumetrics
- Defining fluid contacts – RFT pressure measurements and pressure vs depth relationships, Capillary pressures and saturation–height relationships
- Reservoir fluid properties
- Fluid sampling
- Analysis of fluid samples – chemical properties of hydrocarbons, physical properties of hydrocarbons and phase diagrams
- Making use of the PVT report
- Well test analysis
- Uses of well testing
- Planning a well test
- Well testing operations
- Well test analysis – determining kh, skin, PI, boundary effects. Analysis principles, analysis techniques (semi-log and log-log analysis), the components of total skin and special test types
- Material balance and fluid displacement
- Drive mechanisms – depletion, gas cap drive and water drive
- Material balance for oil reservoirs
- Material balance for gas reservoirs
- Fluid displacement on a macroscopic scale – sweep efficiency
- Fluid displacement on a microscopic scale – relative permeability
- Estimating recovery factors
- Diffuse and segregated flow regimes
- Buckley-Leverett displacement theory
- Dynamic well performance
- The inflow performance relationship
- Tubing performance curves
- Artificial lift
- Coning and cusping
- Well completions
- Horizontal wells
- Well stimulation – fracturing and acidization
- Reservoir simulation
- Gridding
- Simulation principles
- Input, output and visualisation
- Upscaling static and dynamic model properties
- Reservoir monitoring
- Overview of reservoir management
- Monitoring tools – pressure, PLT, TDT, RFT, MDT, XPT pressure data, production and injection data
- Well interventions and workovers
- Production
- Field analogues
- Decline curve analysis
- Analytical models
- Reservoir simulation and history matching
- Probabilistic production forecasting for reserves reporting
- Enhanced oil recovery techniques
- Defining the target oil
- EOR techniques
- Steam and fire flooding
- Miscible gas displacement
- Immiscible gas displacement
- Novel techniques
