Technology Focus: Formation Evaluation (August 2021)

Abstract

Leading into the third quarter of this year, I am honored to be able to highlight and share three impactful SPE papers that demonstrate integration at its best. In reviewing the papers, five main technical themes emerged. These include * Machine learning and artificial intelligence as applied to formation evaluation * Production analysis methodologies and their effect on understanding rock characterization and behavior * Subsurface characterization primarily focused on rock typing and permeability * Tool advancements (openhole, cased-hole, or laboratory-based tools) * Subsurface-to-production integration across subdisciplines (e.g., geology, geochemistry, petrophysics, and engineering) The latter is the common thread between the three papers recommended and discussed here. In this new decade, the prevalence of integration is at the forefront of the scientific community. Every discipline, scientist, or company has a way in which they define the term “integration.” Regardless of how you define the effort that links disciplines quantitatively, the importance of constraining subsurface characterization to link it to production results and drive toward a predictive model is a critical accomplishment for our industry. As such, I’d like to highlight three papers in this feature (OTC 30644, SPE 201417, and SPE 202683) and the knowledge and workflow applications they define and demonstrate. Sharing these integrated work flows with the community aids in teaching and leads to best-practice components of integrative studies. These efforts also share and demonstrate how to bridge the gap between in-situ characterization and wellhead performance prediction and results—in other words, the static-to-dynamic link between rock and fluid properties as quantified and how they will inevitably produce hydrocarbon through the rock and fluid interactions. Recommended additional reading at OnePetro: www.onepetro.org. SPE 201334 Combined Experimental and Well-Log Evaluation of Anisotropic Mechanical Properties of Shales: An Application to Wellbore Stability in the Bakken Formation by Saeed Rafieepour, The University of Tulsa, et al. SPE 201486 A New Safe and Cost-Effective Approach to Large-Scale Formation Testing by Fluid Injection on a Wireline Formation Tester by Christopher Michael Jones, Halliburton, et al. SPE 201735 Integrated Reservoir Characterization With Spectroscopy, Dielectric, and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance T1-T2 Maps in a Freshwater Environment: Case Studies From Alaska by ZhanGuo Shi, Schlumberger, et al.