Reservoir Modeling for Production Management
For both petroleum and geothermal resources, many of the reservoirs are fracture dominated--rather than matrix-permeability controlled. For such reservoirs, a knowledge of the pressure-dependent permeability of the interconnected system of natural joints (i.e., pre-existing fractures) is critical to the efficient exploitation of the resource through proper pressure management. Our experience and that reported by others indicates that a reduction in the reservoir pressure sometimes leads to an overall reduction in production rate due to the ''pinching off'' of the joint network, rather than the anticipated increase in production rate. This effect occurs not just in the vicinity of the wellbore, where proppants are sometimes employed, but throughout much of the reservoir region. This follows from the fact that under certain circumstances, the decline in fracture permeability (or conductivity) with decreasing reservoir pressure exceeds the far-field reservoir ''drainage'' flow rate increase due to the increased pressure gradient. Further, a knowledge of the pressure-dependent joint permeability could aid in designing more appropriate secondary recovery strategies in petroleum reservoirs or reinjection procedures for geothermal reservoirs.
- Research Organization:
- GeoEngineering Group, LANL (Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- OSTI ID:
- 890523
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-890352-25; TRN: US200622%%654
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: DOE Research and Development for the Geothermal Marketplace, Proceedings of the Geothermal Program Review VII; San Francisco, CA, March 21-23, 1989
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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