Integrated Reservoir Modeling for Evaluating Field Development Options in Agua Fria, Coapechaca, and Tajin Fields of Chicontepec Basin

Abstract

Abstract This paper presents a methodology for pixel-based hierarchical geostatistical reservoir characterization and flow simulation of submarine fan turbidite sandstone deposits in the Agua Fria, Coapechaca and Tajin fields of the Chicontepec basin in the Gulf of Mexico. Extreme heterogeneity of rock fabric and petrophysical properties prevails within the multiple stacks of turbidetic sequence events across the fields. Capturing this complex geologic heterogeneity in reservoir characterizations and reservoir simulation models for strategic decision making in field development is a major challenge. We first present a general methodology based on multivariate Gaussian formalism for integrating various sources of data at different scales to build high-resolution geostatistical reservoir characterization models directly at log scale for the Agua Fria, Coapechaca and Tajin fields. Multiple seismic attributes and geological diagenesis information at sequence and subsequence scales are integrated into these models to generate representative reservoir descriptions. Next, we use the constructed geostatistical models to investigate recovery performance of Chicontepec fields under primary and waterflood processes. Sector models and pilots of multi wells in the Tajin and Agua Fria fields are considered for this purpose. The fine-scale and coarse-scale reservoir characterization models are calibrated to dynamic performance data by history matching the primary production and an actual waterflood pilot data in Agua Fria, and then used as predictive tools for other field development scenarios. The viability of waterflooding the very low permeability and highly diagenized Tajin filed is investigated, where large reservoirs are still left in-place because of loss of reservoir energy due to primary depletion.