Streamline Simulation For Reservoir Management Of A Super Giant: Sabriyah Field (North Kuwait) Case Study

Abstract

Abstract This paper discusses the incorporation of Streamline simulation into the Reservoir Management Processes of the super giant Sabriyah oil field. For the Middle East region, streamline simulation has particular significance due to the magnitude of reserves and scale of development. Streamline simulation brings immediate added value, due to its ability to handle high-resolution full three-dimensional models with hundreds of thousands to millions of cells, incorporating large amounts of field and well events over substantial operation periods, be they historical (i.e. history-matching phase), immediate (i.e. on-going) or in the future (i.e. prediction phase). This technology can be used to guide and optimize development strategy. By incorporating streamline technology into existing and new reservoir development planning, we are able to demonstrate significant benefits and added value. This paper will conclude with an analysis and discussion of some of the results accrued from the incorporation of streamline technology in the case under review. These include: This paper also demonstrates where streamline technology should fit within the overall reservoir management processes: Introduction Reservoir management strategies have evolved over the last sixty years, from the days of purely analytic and analog approaches, to the days when computers started to be employed. Currently, numerical approaches solve the multi-dimensional problems associated with fluid flow in the porous media. One significant breakthrough in that path of evolution has been the development of the technology of streamline simulation. The application of streamline (or streamtube) simulation as a tool to aid in reservoir management, has generally found much favor today, in the areas of waterflood performance analysis, geological model screening or ranking, geological model upscaling, and in field-level history matching exercisesl. The essential or main benefit of streamline simulation is the often very dramatic improvement in simulation turn-around time that generally results from simulating very large, often multimillion cell geological models, incorporating highly variable heterogeneities, and a long production history in very few hours (sometimes minutes)2. Such rapid turn-around times have enabled the performance of numerous strategic analyses on candidate assets, at speeds which had previously been considered inconceivable, and most importantly, within the defined hours of a typical working day. This has resulted in demonstrable productivity increases, wherever the technology is properly positioned and utilized.