Permeability inhomogeneity accounting in terms of efficient development strategy

Abstract

The main questions concerning flow and permeability anisotropy are: presence of anisotropy (is a reservoir anisotropic or not), orientation and degree of anisotropy. Answers were obtained through the analysis of grain fabric, spatial permeability spread and tracer injection data. The magnitude of permeability was determined to be within a range from 0.5 to 1 and with the azimuth of 48 from the North. Thereafter, the incorporation of new information about field K into the simulation model matched and the comparison of isotropic (the existing model) and anisotropic (the model upgraded with novel information) were performed. This process showed that the simple introduction of obtained anisotropy properties improved the history match, which was interpreted as the proof of anisotropy being present on both the macroscopic and microscopic scale. At the end, general recommendations for the optimal production practice in the anisotropic reservoir were proposed and the potential strategy for further development was suggested. This optimal strategy was created by changing several producing wells into injectors and it resulted in an overall oil production increase and individual well production increase amounting to as much as 20%.