Ways to increase the resource base of the Volga-Ural oil and gas province

Abstract

In the conditions of one of the most representative groups of facilities containing significant oil reserves, confined to the Tournaisian stage of the Volga-Ural oil and gas province, and characterized by low rates of putting into active development, low recoverable reserves, low profitability of oil production, a study was made of the process of developing reserves under various modes operation. The reservoir energy depletion mode and the use of various in-loop waterflooding systems were considered. The parameters of waterflooding techniques have been established, which determine the oil recovery efficiency, by adjusting which, taking into account the peculiarities of the geological structure of the facilities under study, it would be possible to achieve an increase in the reserve’s depletion degree and a reduction in the cost of production. It is proposed to justify the decisions made to improve the process of developing these low-productive deposits with hard-to-recover reserves based on the obtained geological and statistical models and algorithms by using parameters, determined with minimum permissible errors at the stage of putting facilities into operation as well as using the full range of information at the stage of full drilling of the deposits. Keywords: oil recovery factor; hard-to-recover reserves; carbonate reservoirs; reservoir flooding; development profitability; reserves management.