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Case Studies 

Investigating Enhanced Oil Recovery in a Complex Reservoir

Latin America / 2014 / Reservoir Characterization

Operating an oil field in Latin America, the client needed to assess the technical feasibility of various secondary and tertiary recovery schemes to increase the ultimate recovery factor of the field. Highly faulted with a deformed anticline, large expanses of the reservoir were nearly vertical and required highly skilled geoscience and engineering expertise to conduct the analysis.

Project Highlights

  • Complex geology with near vertical producing zone
  • Highly faulted and heavily fractured reservoir
  • Successfully screened several EOR opportunities
  • Proved valuable forecasts for optimizing field

Challenge

  • The client, who was operating an oil field in Colombia, needed to assess the technical feasibility of various secondary and tertiary recovery schemes to increase the ultimate recovery factor of the field
  • The reservoir was highly faulted with a deformed anticline; large expanses that were once horizontal were now nearly vertical
  • Relatively low oil viscosities had enabled resource development using non-thermal techniques; however, rapid oil rate declines and elevated gas/oil ratios signaled the loss of drive energy, and recovery under primary production was expected to be low

Solution

  • Sproule experts constructed a discrete-fracture geomodel, which was then exported for use in a dual-porosity simulation model
  • The simulation model was history matched to performance data, and a calibrated model was used to run numerous secondary and tertiary recovery forecasts
  • Infill cases, water flooding and various Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) techniques were studied and recovery factors were determined

Value

  • The forecast results provided the necessary information for the client to conduct a detailed economic analysis of the various cases and select the optimal development strategy for the field



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Jim Chisholm, P.Eng.
President and CEO

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