Jormar - Reservoir Performance and Numerical Simulation of a Classic Denver-Julesburg Basin Oil Field

Abstract

American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc. This paper was prepared for the Improved Oil Recovery Symposium of the Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME, to be held in Tulsa, Okla., March 22–24, 1976. Permission to copy is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words. Illustrations may not be copied. The abstract should contain conspicuous acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL paper is presented. Publication elsewhere after publication in the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or the SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is usually granted upon request to the Editor of the appropriate journal provided agreement to give proper credit is made. provided agreement to give proper credit is made. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and with the paper, may be considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines. Abstract This paper summarizes a reservoir analysis and numerical simulation of the Jormar field in Cheyenne County, south-western Nebraska. The Jormar field is in a Cretaceous "J" sand channel in the Denver-Julesburg Basin and is one of the most unique oil fields in the Rocky mountain area. The reservoir is in pressure communication with several older pressure communication with several older fields within the same channel. Twenty years of production from the older fields prior to Jormar's discovery in 1971 created prior to Jormar's discovery in 1971 created a tilted oil-water contact. Also, a permeability variation across the width permeability variation across the width of the channel at Jormar resulted in the oil-water contact being tilted perpendicular to the axis of the channel. The result was a non-planar oil-water contact tilted in two directions. Pressure maintenance and future infill drilling appear necessary for Jormar to perform to its fullest potential. Introduction For a two year period beginning in the spring of 1974, the Jormar field was analyzed in several phases, outlined as follows:Complete petrophysical and geological analyses defined the conditions o the field upon discovery.Conventional reservoir engineering analyses were used to study the past performance of the field and to determine the performance of the field and to determine the benefits of unitized operations.A detailed three-dimensional numerical simulation provided insight into the past behavior of the field and predictions of future performance, waterflood predictions of future performance, waterflood feasibility, and the optimal future waterflood plan. The Jormar field is in the northeastern portion of the Denver-Julesburg Basin in a portion of the Denver-Julesburg Basin in a "J" sand channel which covers parts of Cheyenne and Morrill Counties, Nebraska, as shown in Fig. 1. The field was discovered in July 1971 when TOM JORDAN completed the Cruise 1 well in Section 35 of T16N/R50W. The field has been developed by 2 operators with the completion of 8 producing wells.