Reservoir Characterization of the Giant Hugoton Gas Field, Kansas

Abstract

Hugoton field in Kansas is the largest gas field in North America, with cumulative production over 23 Tcf. Infill and deep drilling activity over the last 10 yr have made it possible to build an extensive database of modern wireline log and core data. Such data formed the basis for a wide-ranging reservoir characterization done to obtain critical information for optimum reservoir management of the field. Reservoir heterogeneity and formation-evaluation problems made it difficult to characterize fluid distribution, estimate gas in place, and determine permeability from wireline log data, but few of the problems in this reservoir characterization study are unique to Hugoton. The techniques described here may be applicable to other reservoirs. Technologies employed to solve the formation-evaluation and lateral-variability problems included artificial neural networks, resistivity modeling, geostatistics, and three-dimensional grid manipulation. ©Copyright 1997. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.1Manuscript received April 29, 1996; revised manuscript received October 21, 1996; final acceptance June 10, 1997. 2Amoco Production Co., 1670 Broadway, Denver, Colorado 80202. 3Amoco Production Co., 501 WestLake Park Blvd., Houston, Texas 77253. Current address: Altura Energy Ltd., P.O. Box 4294, Houston, Texas 77210. 4Amoco Production Co., 501 WestLake Park Blvd., Houston, Texas 77253. 5Amoco Production Co., 4502 E. 41st St., Tulsa, Oklahoma 74102. 6Amoco Production Co., 501 WestLake Park Blvd., Houston, Texas 77253. Current address: PGS Reservoir, 10550 Richmond Ave., Houston, Texas 77042. 7Amoco Production Co., 1670 Broadway, Denver, Colorado 80202. Current address: Rocky Mountain Petrophysics, P.O. Box 470337, Aurora, Colorado 80047. We thank the Hugoton JOMT of Amoco Production Company for permission to publish this study. We are grateful to Mobil Exploration and Production, U.S., especially W. H. Jamieson, Jr., for permission to use and publish additional core and log data. We also thank David Reese from Amoco (Denver) for his work on equations relating water saturation to permeability, porosity, and height in the gas column. 3-D seismic interpretation by Mike Bahorich (formerly with Amoco, currently with Apache) is appreciated. Thanks go to Amoco operations and reservoir engineers too numerous to mention for teamwork and testing of the ideas herein. Ann Pettit and Stefan Nowina provided invaluable technical support. This paper benefited from constructive reviews by Robert Raynolds, Joyce Budai, N. C. Wardlaw, Salman Bloch, and Virginia Riggert.*Tcf = trillion cubic feet; Gcf = billion cubic feet.