An Automated Reservoir Surveillance Planning, Tracking and Optimizing Approach to Enhance Reservoir Management Efficiency in a Giant Offshore Brown Field

Abstract

Abstract Data acquisition is the most fundamental cornerstone to a sound reservoir management and a data driven culture in field development. The quantity and quality of data are undoubtedly essential. The challenges of obtaining timely, accurate and trustworthy data are much more significant in brown fields, where advanced data gathering approaches are generally not available. Efficient planning, tracking and optimizing are mandatory to maximize value of the limited resources. The routine reservoir surveillance activities include flow testing, bottom-hole pressure survey, case-hole logging, and sampling. An automated tool has been developed to plan the annual requirements, track the progress and optimize the resource utilization. As a rule-based model, the approach determines each type of monitoring activities based on the analysis of historical surveillance data and pre-set guidelines. The preliminary planning results are automatically distributed to the responsible engineers for final confirmation and adjustments. The completed tests are timely gathered for analyzing, tracking and reprioritizing future activities. The approach is consist of two main parts: planning part and tracking & optimizing part. During planning part, a complete well list is generated automatically and quality controlled by both automatic and manual examination. Latest flow tests, pressure surveys, and logging history are gathered from database and analyzed to plan and prioritize the requirements for each string. The requirements are determined based on reservoir management guidelines. Priorities for each type of activities are set up based on last survey timing and well status. The plan is then transferred to the tracking and optimizing function as a reference to guide and optimize operation. The tracking and optimizing part enables direct link to the raw data of flow tests and pressure survey results. A dashboard is designed to report the progress on flexible frequencies. Lessons learned are registered by engineers right after validation. Opportunities to do rigless intervention or rig workover can be identified or confirmed efficiently. The timely identification of opportunities could usually save huge costs or generate enormous gain. With this tailored in-house innovated tool, this automated approach has significantly improved the efficiency of reservoir monitoring planning and optimizing in such a giant offshore brown field, which has more than 600 strings. The automatic distribution and gathering have dramatically reduced time and effort comparing to the conventional way. The efficient approach could consolidate the foundation of a data driven culture.