Focused on reservior engineering and optimization
Reservoir surveillance allows companies to increase production rates and lower exploitation costs. Optimization of existing waterfloods has to start with the understanding of fluid communication paths and how they change with time. Our analysis is based on the actual injection and production data. A typical study takes from three weeks to three months for fields with hundreds of patterns.
OFM is the main software tool used for the analysis. In addition, statistical analysis tools are employed to quantify strong waterflood anomalies like channeling or conning.
We apply the same methodology to identify the expected communication patterns before a waterflood is implemented. This process is based on communication between producers during the primary production.
Oil and gas operators have taken a holistic approach towards maximizing production and minimizing the cost at the same time. Concepts like Enhanced Oil Recovery now help operators to extract maximum possible resources from the wells (tantamount to increased well-life) is of primary concern, but that should be complemented with improved surface logistics. The methods of optimization have undergone a radical change in past few decades. The operators have graduated from using a graphical method called equal-slope allocation method to advanced lifting systems and computer simulations. The solutions are mainly aimed at reducing the “per barrel” production costs and increasing overall production.
Advanced lifting systems that can be implemented in artificially lifted wells involve high gas handling capacities that prevents the gas from breaking-out from the fluid, and hence increase the production. Lifting systems also have a real-time multi-location well monitoring system in place collecting vital data to facilitate recommendations. The advanced lifting systems score above the ordinary lifting systems mainly because of more efficient utilization of the expensive gas and high compression costs. The gas allocation problems are also addressed to in near real-time because of the continuous monitoring of the well, equipment and pressure. The core advantages lie in the reduced well downtime and identification of the possible operational hazards.
Computer Simulations that are jointly monitored by economic analysts, geoscientists, and engineers provide significant insights into the behavior of the well under changing conditions. The simulations have moved on from their ‘run’ on time consuming and expensive supercomputers to faster and cost effective intel platforms. The intel systems also score higher in terms of the data handling capacities.
Operators prefer systems that take a complete run overnight, and thereby quicken the decision making process. Newer systems provide more accurate results and better understanding of extractable reserves, enabling timely reactions to ever changing market conditions and significantly lower total cost of ownership is the best part of it all.