July 29, 2016

Fractured Reservoir Characterization

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Fractured reservoir characterization is vital in oil and gas production and management of fractured reservoirs. Every naturally fractured reservoir is unique, though they share the following general characteristics and challenges:

  • Range from matrix dominated to purely fracture dominated system
  • Typically have high initial productivity followed by rapid decline, early water breakthrough or early gas/water corning, and large variability in well productivities and recoveries
  • Significantly impacted by fractures occurring in a variety of scales and with high degree of heterogeneity
  • Can induce seismic anisotropy and lead to highly directional flow
  • Can cause large mud loss in drilling

Our fractured reservoir characterization and modeling solution includes the following steps generated by utilizing all available geologic, well, seismic and production data.

  • Well electrofacies analysis which integrates reservoir dynamic data that determine the fracture units at wells
  • Creating a 3D discrete fracture network (DFN) model

The key benefits and applications of fractured reservoir characterization include:

  • Identification of 3D fracture network
  • Optimization of new well locations
  • Quantitative understanding of the role of fractures in the fluid flow
  • Defining the most productive and least productive reservoirs
  • Delineating fracture distributions at the reservoir scale
  • Mud loss prediction in drilling
  • Optimization of reservoir management including pressure maintenance, hydraulic fracturing and stimulation
  • Optimization of water injection
  • Control of water-coning
  • And more…

Please contact us with information about your challenges to see how we can help you.