Defining the Optimum Exploitation Strategy Combining Water Injection, Field Development and Artificial Lift Analysis to a Mature Field through Surface and Sub-surface Coupled Models

Abstract

Abstract Many producing fields worldwide have reached the mature phase of development, these fields have been producing for several years (25 to 40 years or more), which is typically beyond the design life, and at this stage there are several challenges from different perspectives from the reservoir to the surface and there are nevertheless a number of viable options for extending the economic life. Recent studies estimate than hydrocarbon production from mature fields will account for more than one-half of the global energy mix for the next 20 years, and probably munch longer (Syed,2008), hence the importance of apply technologies and methodologies (IAM) capable to capture all the interaction in this complex system. There are several key factors in developing mature oil fields. Reservoir conditions, oil prices, development costs, surrounding pipeline infrastructure, and regulatory frameworks. The recovery and production from these fields can be enhanced by infill drilling, different stimulation and remediation techniques, artificial lift systems, secondary or enhanced recovery, etc. Selecting the optimal strategy requires an integrated approach in the total production system and be able to forecast and evaluate different options of integrated performance, linked to the economic value to support the decision making process. This paper describes a case study where the implementation of an integrated asset model was performed, taking into account the production system elements (well, reservoir, and production network) as part of the reservoir management strategies developed with the purpose of evaluating, designing and optimizing the field exploitation to increase the recovery factor and profitability of the field. Different studies were performed using the reservoir, surface production network and well modeling, under this integrated approach to quantify the possible production rates, identify the potential effect of artificial lift systems, production capacity and all the technical – economical viable options that can help to reach the goals of the asset in terms of investment and production, justify with high level of engineering all the investment vs benefits; and also helping to generate the plans and actions associated in the execution phase. Several challenges shown by this field are due to its extensive previous exploitation activity, which leads to the integrated approach becoming the key factor for predicting the real alternatives previously mentioned. As a result, an integrated field management proposal was developed seeking for production optimization and evaluation of different artificial lift options along with recovery schemes such as water injection for pressure maintenance.