Reservoir Management Through Characterization of Smart Fields Using Capacitance-Resistance Models

Abstract

Abstract Use of smart well technologies to improve the recovery has caught significant attention in the oil industry in the last decade. Capacitance-Resistance (CRM) methodology is a robust data-driven technique for reservoir surveillance. Reservoir sweep is a crucial part of efficient recovery, especially where significant investment is done by means of installation of smart wells that feature inflow control valves (ICVs) that are remotely controllable. However, as it is a relatively newer concept, effective use of this new technology has been a challenge. In this study, the objective is to present the efficient use of ICVs in intelligent fields through the integrated use of capacitance-resistance modeling and smart wells with ICVs. A standard realistic SPE reservoir simulation model of a waterflooding process is used in this study where the smart well ICVs are controlled with conditional statements called procedures in a fully commercial full-physics numerical reservoir simulator. The simulation data is utilized to build the CRM model to obtain the inter-well connectivities at the zonal level beyond only the inter-well connectivity data as smart wells provide control and information on the amount of injection into each layer or zone. Thus, after analyzing the CRM model to detect the inter-well connectivities at the zone/layer-level in an iterative way, the optimum injection not only at the well level but also at the perf/zone level is found. The workflow is outlined as well as the improvements in the results. The smart well technology has been challenged with the associated cost component thus, it is important to present the benefits of this technology with applications in more diverse cases with different workflows. It has been observed that a robust reservoir characterization in an intelligent field can provide an insight into the physics of reservoir including smart wells with ICVs. The results are presented in a comparative way against the base case to illustrate the incremental value of the use of ICVs along with key performance indicators. Most importantly, it has been shown that smart well use without a robust reservoir management strategy does not always lead to successful results. In reservoir management, it is not only important to catch the well level details but also see the big picture at the field level to improve the performance of the reservoirs beyond individual well performances taking into account the interference between wells. This method takes the reservoir surveillance to the next level where reservoir characterization is improved using smart field technologies and capacitance-resistance modeling as a robust cost-effective data-driven method.