Reservoir characterization and steam flood monitoring with crosshole EM
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
- Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Crosshole electromagnetic (EM) imaging is applied to reservoir characterization and steam flood monitoring in a central California oil field. Steam was injected into three stacked eastward-dipping, unconsolidated oil sands within the upper 200 m. The steam plume is expected to develop as an ellipse aligned with the regional northwest-southeast strike. EM measurements were made from two fiberglass-cased observation wells straddling the steam injector on a northeast-southwest profile using the LLNL frequency domain crosshole EM system. Field data were collected before the initiation of a steam drive to map the distribution of the oil sands and then 6 and 12 months later to monitor the progress of the steam chest. Resistivity images derived from the EM data before steam injection clearly delineate the distribution and dipping structure on the target oil sands. Difference images, from data collected before and after steam flooding, show resistivity changes that indicate that the steam chest has developed only in the deeper oil sands although steam injection occurred in all three sand layers.
- OSTI ID:
- 86686
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9507131--
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin, Journal Name: AAPG Bulletin Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 79; ISSN 0149-1423; ISSN AABUD2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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