Saudi Arabian Oil Company

Hsieh Chen

Martin E Poitzsch

Hooisweng Ow

Gawain Thomas

Ivan Cetkovic

A method for monitoring waterfront movement in a subsurface formation involves performing forward modeling of at least one deep electromagnetic survey of the waterfront movement, and determining locations for installing an electrically insulating spacer between well liners to form an on-demand electromagnetic source electrode. Based on the forward modeling, repeat survey time intervals are predicted. The method involves, during well completion, installing the electrically insulating spacer between the well liners in a reservoir to form at least one on-demand electromagnetic source electrode, and installing the electrically insulating spacer between the plurality of well liners in a reservoir to form an on-demand electromagnetic receiver electrode. A waterfront survey is performed by conveying a production logging tool into a well that temporarily converts the well liners into an on-demand electromagnetic source electrode and an on-demand receiver electrode, and inverse modeling of the waterfront survey is performed to produce a water saturation image.

Waterflood front imaging using segmentally insulated well liners as on-demand electrodes

Hydrocarbon flow into multi-lateral wells is analyzed by controlled release of tracers from the surface. Hydrocarbons flow into a lateral formed from a wellbore into a subterranean zone. A wellbore production tubing is installed within the wellbore and extends toward the lateral. The wellbore production tubing defines an annulus between an outer surface of the tubing and an inner wall of the wellbore. Hydrocarbons flowing from the lateral into the annulus flow within an internal volume defined by a body attached to the outer surface of the tubing. The hydrocarbons mix with tracers residing within the internal volume. A mixture of the hydrocarbons with the tracers flow out of the internal volume and towards the surface. At the surface, a concentration of the tracers in the mixture flowed to the surface is analyzed. Based on a result of the analyzing, properties of hydrocarbon flow into the lateral are determined.

Analyzing hydrocarbon flow into multi-lateral wells by releasing tracers from the surface

Methods and systems for determining electrical characteristics of a subsurface formation are disclosed. The method may include installing a first electrically insulating spacer between well liners in the well to form an on-demand electromagnetic source electrode and installing a second electrically insulating spacer between well liners in the well to form an on-demand electromagnetic receiver electrode. The method may further include performing an electrical survey using the on-demand electromagnetic source and receiver electrodes, determining a map of the at least one electrical characteristic in a subsurface region surrounding on-demand electromagnetic source and receiver electrodes based on the electrical survey, determining a map of at least one formation property based on the map of the electrical characteristic, and updating a hydrocarbon reservoir production plan based on the map of at least one formation property.

Concurrent oil saturation and porosity imaging using completion-based on-demand electrodes

A wellbore that supplies production fluid from a first production zone and a second production zone is produced. Production fluids from the first and second production zone are comingled within a same production tubular. A first tracer is pulsed into the first production zone. A second tracer is pulsed into the second production zone. The first tracer and the second tracer are barcoded such that the first tracer and the second tracer can be differentiated from one another. A first tracer decay is measured at a topside facility. A second tracer decay is measured at the topside facility. A water cut of the first production zone and the second production zone is determined based upon the first tracer decay and the second tracer decay.

Determining oil and water production rates in multiple production zones from a single production well

A method for mapping inter-well porosity includes injecting a Type 1 tracer into a hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir via an injector well, wherein the Type 1 tracer is a passive tracer, injecting a Type 2 tracer into the hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir via the injector well, wherein the Type 2 tracer is a porosity-sensitive tracer, detecting a breakthrough of the Type 1 tracer and a breakthrough of the Type 2 tracer in produced fluid at a producer well, and comparing the breakthrough of the Type 1 tracer with the breakthrough of the Type 2 tracer to provide a map of inter-well porosity.

Mapping inter-well porosity using tracers with different transport properties

Historical production data associated with production of a hydrocarbon product in a reservoir is obtained. Historical tracer test data associated with the production is obtained. History matching is performed using the historical production data and the historical tracer test data to generate improved geological models. Production optimization is performed using the improved geological models, including predicting optimized controls and updating, using the predicted optimized controls, water injection rates and fluid production rates for individual injectors and producers. The predicted optimized controls are applied to the reservoir to optimize future production.

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Cambridge, MA, United States of America

Hsieh Chen