3 research outputs found
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Characterization of Facies and Permeability Patterns in Carbonate Reservoirs Based in Outcrop Analogs
More than 13 billion barrels (Bbbl) of mobile oil and 17 Bbbl of residual oil will remain in San Andres and Grayburg reservoirs at abandonment under current development practices. Through the development and application of new recovery technology, a large part of this resource can be recovered. This report focuses on research for the development and testing of new techniques for improving the recovery of this resource. Outcrop and subsurface geologic and engineering data are utilized to develop new methodologies through the integration of geologic observations and engineering data for improving numerical models that predict reservoir performance more accurately.
Extensive regional mapping of the 14-mile by 1,200-foot San Andres outcrop, located on the Algerita Escarpment, Guadalupe Mountains, New Mexico, demonstrates that the San Andres carbonate-ramp complex is composed of multiple depositional sequences that have significant basinward shifts in reservoir-quality facies tracts occurring across sequence boundaries. Detailed geologic and petrophysical mapping of three reservoir-quality facies tracts demonstrates that the fundamental scale of geologic description for reservoir characterization is the parasequence and its component rock-fabric-based facies. Descriptions of cores from the Seminole San Andres Unit illustrate that the parasequence is also the fundamental geologic scale for reservoir mapping in the subsurface.Bureau of Economic Geolog
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Characterization of Reservoir Heterogenity in Carbonate-Ramp Systems, San Andres/Grayburg Permian Basin
This report summarizes research carried out by the Bureau of Economic Geology's San Andres/Grayburg Reservoir Characterization Research Laboratory (RCRL) from September 1988 through September 1990. The goal of the RCRL program was to develop advanced approaches to reservoir characterization for improved recovery of the substantial remaining mobile oil in San Andres and Grayburg reservoirs. Emphasis was placed on developing an outcrop analog for San Andres strata that could be used as (1) a guide to interpreting the regional and local geologic framework of the subsurface reservoirs and (2) a data source illustrating the scales and patterns of variability of rock-fabric facies and petrophysical properties, particularly in lateral dimensions, and on scales that cannot be studied during subsurface reservoir characterization.
Areas selected for study were the San Andres exposures of the Algerita Escarpment in the northern Guadalupe Mountains and the Seminole San Andres Unit on the northern margin of the Central Basin Platform. The outcrop-analog research was emphasized because it had received little attention before this study by either industry or academe.
Reports in this summary involve (1) outcrop and subsurface geological characterization of the Algerita Escarpment San Andres and the Seminole San Andres Unit (Kerans), (2) correlation of detailed outcrop mapping in order to research cored wells at Lawyer Canyon, Algerita Escarpment (Nance), (3) diagenetic/petrographic analysis of selected upper San Andres facies focusing on the origin of moldic porosity (Hovorka), (4) geologic engineering description of the upper San Andres carbonates at Lawyer Canyon and the upper producing interval at Seminole (Lucia), (5) geostatistical analysis of permeability patterns and stochastic-based finite-difference modeling of the upper San Andres parasequence window (Senger and Fogg), and (6) deterministic finite element modeling of the upper San Andres parasequence window (Kasap).
Availability of basic data for these studies is summarized in the appendix.Bureau of Economic Geolog
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Opportunities for Additional Recovery in University Lands Reservoirs -- Characterization of University Lands Reservoirs, Final Report
In 1984, The University of Texas System funded a Bureau of Economic Geology project, "Characterization of University Lands Reservoirs," to assess in detail the potential for incremental recovery of oil from University Lands reservoirs by extended conventional methods. The objectives of the 5-year project were to quantify the volumes of unrecovered mobile oil remaining in reservoirs on University Lands, to determine whether the specific location of the unrecovered mobile oil could be delineated through integrated geoscience characterization of individual reservoirs, and to develop strategies to optimize recovery of this resource. Unrecovered mobile oil is mobile at reservoir conditions but is prevented from migrating to the wellbore by geologic complexities or heterogeneities. This final report describes results of the 5 years of research conducted on University Lands reservoirs.
One hundred and one reservoirs, each of which has produced more than 1 million stock tank barrels (MMSTB) of oil, were included in a resource assessment and play analysis undertaken (1) to determine the volumes and distribution of all components of the University Lands resource base and (2) to select reservoirs for detailed analysis. These reservoirs collectively contained 7.25 billion barrels (BSTB) of oil at discovery, have produced 1.5 BSTB, and contain 200 MMSTB of reserves. Ultimate recovery at implemented technology is projected to be 24 percent of the original oil in place; thus, 5.5 BSTB of oil will remain after recovery of existing reserves. Unrecovered mobile oil (exclusive of reserves) amounts to 2.2 BSTB, and immobile, or residual, oil totals 3.3 BSTB.Bureau of Economic Geolog