Permeability Distribution From Field Pressure Data

Abstract

Abstract Interpreting pressure measurements is one of the fundamental problems in the operation of oil reservoirs. The principal methods and means of study which are currently used are reviewed. Emphasis is placed on the necessity of improving the quality of the information to turn it to the best possible account. One of the important aspects of the problem is the development of a system of automatic interpretation of the pressure measurements. The proposed method aims at this objective: starting from the relation which exists between a local perturbation of permeability and its effect on the velocity potentials in the wells, we determine by successive approximation the modifications to be made to the permeability map by fitting the least squares between the measured pressures and the pressures indicated by the mathematical model. The method has already been successfully employed in the case of heterogeneous reservoirs of radial-circular symmetry. Its application is extended here to the two-dimensional case, and is illustrated by two examples, for which the results are presented. The conditions required for the method to become fully operational are likewise analyzed. I - Introduction One of the basic problems of production and recovery from oil fields is interpreting pressure measurements made in wells in the single-fluid-phase regime. Simplifying assumptions, for example supposing the reservoir to be homogeneous, make it possible to use more or less simple methods which permit the estimation, from these pressure measurements, of a mean value of the permeability around the wells. Considering the actual heterogeneity of the majority of reservoirs, and the phenomena of interference between wells, these methods are only indicative. Much has been published on the studies of different cases of comparatively simple heterogeneity: some have discussed the radial heterogeneity around a single well, or vertical heterogeneity. The results of these works have shown the influence of variations of permeability on the pressure, but unfortunately they are not very useful in practice because they all are concerned with the phenomena around a single well, without interference between wells, and they correspond to relatively simple and theoretical schemes. These studies of reservoirs or parts of reservoirs on a larger scale are made by the electric analyzer or digital model. We define a permeability map and a porosity map, then reproduce the production history of the wells on the wells of the model, and note the corresponding pressures. These pressures are then compared with actuality, and the discrepancies observed are analyzed. From this analysis we deduce the modifications to he made to the maps of permeability and porosity, and repeat until the coincidence between the pressures indicated by the model and the actually observed pressures is considered adequate. We have adjusted the model. Obviously, in this method of investigation, everything depends on the formula which permits the modification of the permeability to approach the adjustment. Considering the complicated nature of the problem, some oversimplified formulas are poorly adapted to reaching a good adjustment. For example, we have shown that the elementary operation of increasing the permeability not far from a producing well to compensate for too low pressures in the well can, in certain cases, express itself by an effect exactly opposite. The project described here is for a system where we begin with the pressure measurements and the several known parameters of the reservoir, and develop the most probable permeability map, taking account of the measurements available and a subdivision of the reservoir fixed a priori. Ideally, this system is conceived as one in which no manual intervention would be necessary. The model simulating the reservoir is only one part of the whole system, and it is neither the longest nor the most complex part. The need to integrate the model into an aggregate of much more extensive processes has led to the adoption of the digital solution, even though a solution combining the digital and the analog is perfectly conceivable. SPEJ P. 281ˆ