Characterization and simulation of an exhumed fractured petroleum reservoir. Final report, March 18, 1996--September 30, 1998
An exhumed fractured reservoir located near Alligator Ridge in central Nevada provides the basis for developing and testing different approaches for simulating fractured petroleum reservoirs. The fractured analog reservoir comprises a 90 m thickness of silty limestone and shaly interbeds within the Devonian Pilot Shale. A period of regional compression followed by ongoing basin and range extension has created faults and fractures that, in tern, have controlled the migration of both oil and gold ore-forming fluids. Open pit gold mines provide access for observing oil seepage, collecting the detailed fracture data needed to map variations in fracture intensity near faults, build discrete fracture network models and create equivalent permeability structures. Fault trace patterns mapped at the ground surface provide a foundation for creating synthetic fault trace maps using a stochastic procedure conditioned by the outcrop data. Conventional simulations of petroleum production from a 900 by 900 m sub-domain within the reservoir analog illustrate the possible influence of faults and fractures on production. The consequences of incorporating the impact of different stress states (e.g., extension, compression or lithostatic) are also explored. Simulating multiphase fluid flow using a discrete fracture, finite element simulator illustrates how faults acting as conduits might be poorly represented by the upscaling procedures used to assign equivalent permeability values within reservoir models. The parallelized reservoir simulators developed during this project provide a vehicle to evaluate when it might be necessary to incorporate very fine scale grid networks in conventional reservoir simulators or to use finely gridded discrete fracture reservoir simulators.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC22-94PC91008
- OSTI ID:
- 307859
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/PC/91008-18; ON: DE98000497; TRN: AHC29905%%36
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Dec 1998
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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