EXPLOITATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF RESERVOIR PERFORMANCE IN HUNTON FORMATION, OKLAHOMA
This report presents the work done so far on Hunton Formation in West Carney Field in Lincoln County, Oklahoma. West Carney Field produces oil and gas from the Hunton Formation. The field was developed starting in 1995. Some of the unique characteristics of the field include decreasing water oil ratio over time, decreasing gas-oil ratio at the beginning of production, inability to calculate oil reserves in the field based on log data, and sustained oil rates over long periods of time. To understand the unique characteristics of the field, an integrated evaluation was undertaken. Production data from the field were meticulously collected, and over forty wells were cored and logged to better understand the petrophysical and engineering characteristics. Based on the work done in this budget period so far, some of the preliminary conclusions can be listed as follows: (1) Based on PVT analysis, the field most likely contains volatile oil with bubble point close to initial reservoir pressure of 1,900 psia. (2) The initial oil in place, which is contact with existing wells, can be determined by newly developed material balance technique. The oil in place, which is in communication, is significantly less than determined by volumetric analysis, indicating heterogeneous nature of the reservoir. The oil in place, determined by material balance, is greater than determined by decline curve analysis. This difference may lead to additional locations for in fill wells. (3) The core and log evaluation indicates that the intermediate pores (porosity between 2 and 6 %) are very important in determining production potential of the reservoir. These intermediate size pores contain high oil saturation. (4) The limestone part of the reservoir, although low in porosity (mostly less than 6 %) is much more prolific in terms of oil production than the dolomite portion of the reservoir. The reason for this difference is the higher oil saturation in low porosity region. As the average porosity increases, the remaining oil saturation decreases. This is evident from log and core analysis. (5) Using a compositional simulator, we are able to reproduce the important reservoir characteristics by assuming a two layer model. One layer is high permeability region containing water and the other layer is low permeability region containing mostly oil. The results are further verified by using a dual porosity model. Assuming that most of the volatile oil is contained in the matrix and the water is contained in the fractures, we are able to reproduce important reservoir performance characteristics. (6) Evaluation of secondary mechanisms indicates that CO{sub 2} flooding is potentially a viable option if CO{sub 2} is available at reasonable price. We have conducted detailed simulation studies to verify the effectiveness of CO{sub 2} huff-n-puff process. We are in the process of conducting additional lab tests to verify the efficacy of the same displacement. (7) Another possibility of improving the oil recovery is to inject surfactants to change the near well bore wettability of the rock from oil wet to water wet. By changing the wettability, we may be able to retard the water flow and hence improve the oil recovery as a percentage of total fluid produced. If surfactant is reasonably priced, other possibility is also to use huff-n-puff process using surfactants. Laboratory experiments are promising, and additional investigation continues. (8) Preliminary economic evaluation indicates that vertical wells outperform horizontal wells. Future work in the project would include: (1) Build multi-well numerical model to reproduce overall reservoir performance rather than individual well performance. Special emphasis will be placed on hydrodynamic connectivity between wells. (2) Collect data from adjacent Hunton reservoirs to validate our understanding of what makes it a productive reservoir. (3) Develop statistical methods to rank various reservoirs in Hunton formation. This will allow us to evaluate other Hunton formations based on old well logs, and determine, apriori, if additional potential exists from these reservoirs. (4) To develop more complex well test model so that we can obtain reservoir parameters based on the well test data (5) To conduct additional laboratory experiments to validate the feasibility of CO{sub 2} huff-n-puff process as well as evaluate surfactant injection as another process of recovering more oil. (6) To collect additional economic data from many vertical and horizontal wells to determine if horizontal wells add value in exploiting Hunton reservoir.
- Research Organization:
- University of Tulsa (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC26-00BC15125
- OSTI ID:
- 823000
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 1 Oct 2003
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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EXPLOITATION AND OPTIMIZATION OF RESERVOIR PERFORMANCE IN HUNTON FORMATION, OKLAHOMA
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