Strategies for reservoir characterization and identification of incremental recovery opportunities in mature reservoirs in Frio Fluvial-Deltaic sandstones, south Texas: An example from Rincon Field, Starr County. Topical report

Abstract

Fluvial-deltaic sandstone reservoirs in the United States are being abandoned at high rates, yet they still contain more than 34 billion barrels of unrecovered oil. The mature Oligocene-age fluvial-deltaic reservoirs of the Frio Formation along the Vicksburg Fault Zone in South Texas are typical of this class in that, after more than three decades of production, they still contain 61 percent of the original mobile oil in place, or 1.6 billion barrels. This resource represents a tremendous target for advanced reservoir characterization studies that integrate geological and engineering analysis to locate untapped and incompletely drained reservoir compartments isolated by stratigraphic heterogeneities. The D and E reservoir intervals of Rincon field, Starr County, South Texas, were selected for detailed study to demonstrate the ability of advanced characterization techniques to identify reservoir compartmentalization and locate specific infield reserve-growth opportunities. Reservoir architecture, determined through high-frequency genetic stratigraphy and facies analysis, was integrated with production history and facies-based petrophysical analysis of individual flow units to identify recompletion and geologically targeted infill drilling opportunities. Estimates of original oil in place versus cumulative production in D and E reservoirs suggest that potential reserve growth exceeds 4.5 million barrels. Comparison of reservoir architecture and the distribution of completions in each flow unit indicates a large number of reserve-growth opportunities. Potential reserves can be assigned to each opportunity by constructing an Sooh map of remaining mobile oil, which is the difference between original oil in place and the volumes drained by past completions.