SPE-170702-MS

Optimizing the Selection of Lateral Re-Entry Wells through Data-Driven

Analytics
Andrei S. Popa, Chevron Corporation

Copyright 2014, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2729 October 2014.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
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Abstract
A new intelligent model that successfully learns from high-dimensional data and effectively identifies
high production areas and optimum Lateral Re-Entry well candidates is presented. The model is entirely
data-driven and uses WM rules extraction, fuzzy logic, pattern recognition and Voronoi mapping. We
applied our model to a large field with thousands of wells and multiple production layers. We found that
it significantly outperforms the previous methodologies, not only by identifying new production areas but
also returning a two fold production increase in 2013 compared to prior approach.
The paper showcases a successful project focused on revitalizing poor performing vertical producers
by sidetracking and drilling lateral sections into zones with remaining opportunity in order to improve
margins and drain reserves more efficiently. The approach uses artificial intelligence technology tools to
screen reservoir targets and generate potential candidates. In the first step WM rules extraction algorithms
were run for each one of the main reservoir attributes (permeability, thickness, saturation, temperature,
etc.) in the nine formations. The results were used to build a fuzzy decision system to generate a
confidence index for each grid block in the 155 million cell full field earth model. Confidence index maps
were created to pinpoint prime productive areas and help evaluate optimum directional paths. Lastly,
Voronoi delineation were used to estimates a drainage area per well, remaining reserves and movable oil
in place.
Applying analytics has breathed life into an asset previously thought to have limited growth potential.
The future looks bright with a queue of hundreds of well candidates identified and awaiting execution over
the next years.

Introduction
Data-driven modeling is finding a growing number of significant applications in a variety of fields ranging
from pattern recognition, classification, prediction, system approximation, and process control [Chiu
1997]. The extent of the application covers almost every engineering domain from chemical, mechanical,
civil, electrical, and biological engineering to name a few. This paper demonstrates the application of the
technology to a relative new domain, petroleum engineering, and particularly for production opportunity
identification and wellwork optimization.

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Kern River Field is the single largest producing onshore heavy oil asset in North America. The
structure is a homoclinal, dipping southwest into the basin, with nine distinctive productive formations.
The field has been produced with vertical wells through a combination of primary and thermal enhanced
recovery. A detail geological description and production history is presented in the work completed by
Beeson, [Beeson, 2012].
With more than 100 years production and more than 20,000 wells drilled since its discovery in 1899,
the field presents a great opportunity for application of data driven analytics. In spite of the large number
of wells and the age of the field, the data is very accurate and complete. The large number of logs recorded
in the wells, together with the information collected from the observation wells allowed the development
of a state-of-art full field 3D earth model consisting of 155 million cells [Swartz, 2008].
The horizontal well program was re-initiated in the Kern River field in 2007, and due to its success the
program witnessed a significant growth year after year. An intelligent approach using fuzzy logic was
introduced in 2012, which allowed identification of new horizontal well opportunities previously missed
by the conventional methodology, [Popa, 2013]. More than 500 horizontal wells were drilled in the field
today. This large number of wells provided a great data set for extracting reservoir related knowledge for
future optimization.
The work presented in this study proposes a practical, easy-to-use methodology for identification of
high production areas and optimizes the workover program. The methodology extracts fuzzy rules from
high-dimensional, nonlinear input-output relationships existing between reservoir and production data and
feeds a fuzzy inference system which is applied on the full field 3D earth model to identify and rank
production improvement opportunities.
The the paper is organized as follows: Section II provides the project opportunity; Section III
introduces the lateral re-entry workover program, Section IV provides the theoretical background of rules
extraction, fuzzy logic and Voronoi diagrams; Section V explains step by step the methodology and shows
the results, and lastly Section VI draws the conclusion and discuss future opportunities.

Observation and Project Opportunity

The average Kern River production per vertical well is currently just below 7 bopd. Analytics run on
production data showed that more than 3,900 wells produce less than 3 bopd, while about 2,200 produce
anywhere below 1 bopd, Figure 1. This observation creates a significant opportunity for production
improvement. The large amount of poor performing vertical wells contrasted with the success of the
horizontal wells led to the idea of re-utilizing the existing wellbores by drilling lateral sections into zones
with remaining opportunity. If successful these new lateral drills would not only improve production
output but also help drain remaining reserves more efficiently. These sidetracks were named Re-entry
Laterals wells.

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Figure 1Distribution of Well Production, bopd

The Re-entry Laterals sidetracks are directionally drilled high angle sections (15 degree/100= DLS)
aiming at maximizing reservoir contact area. The wells are completed with slotted liners and penetrate
several target sands offering higher well exposure to each formation intersected. In contrast with the
horizontal wells which can reach horizontal sections of 2,000ft or more, the Re-entry Laterals would
extend no more than 400-500 ft at very high angle (85) into formations. Figure 2 shows an example of
a Re-entry Lateral. The vertical line represents the original wellbore while the directional curve shows the
high angle Lateral Re-entry. The cross section presented in Figure 2 is described as follows; the pale blue
color indicates siltstones and clays; the white areas indicate reservoir rock that is has very low or no oil
saturation; the legend on the right side shows the color gradation for the oil saturation in the sands; and
the black curve is normalized resistivity. The shaded yellow curve is an indicator of potential air or steam
depending on what the temperature existing at that depth.

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Figure 2Cross-Section showing the original completion and the Lateral Re-Entry well

Similar to the horizontal well placement, the Lateral Re-Entry wells are intended to target the
remaining hot oil existing at the base of high quality sand formations. Thus the horizontal sections of the
wells could penetrate multiple formations for a significantly longer section compared to vertical entries,
thus maximizing the formation exposure to the well.

Technology Background
The model proposed in this study is entirely data-driven and employs tools for rules and knowledge
extraction which feed a fuzzy logic system. Finally Voronoi diagrams are generated to identify remaining
reserves and help with well orientation. This section is structured as follows: the Wang-Mendel (WM)
method for rules extraction is reviewed first, a brief overview of fuzzy logic systems is provided, and
lastly the Voronoi diagrams are introduces and discussed.
Wang-Mendel (WM) Method
Wang and Mendel [Wang and Mendel, 1992] proposed a method, now known as the Wang-Mendel (WM)
method, for combining both numerical and linguistic information into a fuzzy rule base. The WM method
was originally proposed to address a control problem. A human controller was an essential component and

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the environment facing this human controller was so complicated that no mathematical model existed for
it. The rules generated using the WM method are if-then rules, e.g., IF x1 is A AND x2 is B, THEN
y is C, where x1 and x2 are input variables, y is the output variable, and, A, B and C are linguistic terms.
Several methods for extracting fuzzy rules have been developed over the years. However, WM method
was the first method to extract fuzzy rules from numerical data. It has been applied to a variety of different
problems [Cox, 1999, Wang, 1994], and is one of the benchmark methods in the field [Hao, 2012]. Given
is relative simplicity and stability the method was selected for this study. A brief review of the original
WM method is provided in this section.
The WM as presented in the original work [Wang Mendel, 1992], can be summarized as five simple
steps:
1. Divide the input and output spaces into fuzzy regions. In this study, this step is done by applying
the Fuzzy c-Mean algorithm separately to input and output data.
2. Generate fuzzy rules from given data pairs. Suppose we divide both input and output spaces into
three regions using linguistic terms Small, Medium and Large (Figure 3). For the given inputoutput pair (x1,x2;y), observe that Large(x1)1.0, Small(x2)1.0 and Medium(y)0.5; therefore,
the rule generated from this data pair is:

Figure 3Divisions of the input and output spaces into fuzzy regions and the corresponding membership functions, Small(x), Medium(x) and
Large(x). [Hao, 2012]

3. Assign a degree to each rule. According to (Wang and Mendel, 1992), since there are usually lots
of data pairs and each data pair generates one rule, it is highly probable that there will be some
conflicting rules, e.g., rules have the same IF part but a different THEN part. To resolve this
conflict, the WM method also assigns a degree to each rule, namely, the product of all the
membership function values involved in a rule. Using the same example as in Step 2, the degree
of the generated rule is (x1)(x2)(y)1.01.00.50.5.
4. Create a combined fuzzy rule base. This step takes care of the conflicting rules by only keeping
the rule with the highest degree computed in Step 3 and ignoring all others.
5. Determine a formula for the combined fuzzy rule base. This step is not the emphasis of this paper.
Additional information and details are presented in the original article [Wang and Mendel, 1992].
Fuzzy Logic Systems
The fuzzy inference system (FIS) is a computing system which is based on the concepts of fuzzy set
theory, fuzzy if-then rules, and fuzzy reasoning [Ross, 1995]. Several fuzzy inference systems have
been developed and employed in different applications along the years. The most commonly known
models are the Mamdani fuzzy model, Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) fuzzy model, Tsukamoto fuzzy model
and Singlenton fuzzy model [El-Shayeb, 1997]. Among all, the Mamdani model is one of the most

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common algorithms used in fuzzy systems. A detail overview of Fuzzy Logic system can be found in the
work done by El-Shayeb, [El-Shayeb, 2013].
Voronoi Diagrams
Engineering analysis often require algorithms able of dividing space into a number of regions. Further
these regions or zones can be characterized by their inherit attributes. One of the most popular algorithms
used in computational geometry is the Voronoi diagrams. Given a set of points (called seeds) in the
planar space there is a corresponding region consisting of all points closer to that seed than to any other,
[Wikipedia, 2014]. The regions are called Voronoi cells. A simpler definition of the Voronoi diagram is
the division of space into regions around each point that are shaped so that the borders of the regions are
equidistant from the two nearest points. Consequently, the Voronoi cells are a visual way of showing the
boundaries of influence from each data point.
Voronoi diagrams can be found in a large number of fields in science and technology, even in art, and
they have found numerous practical and theoretical applications. Examples of its application can be found
in health care, where Voronoi diagrams are used to correlate sources of infections in epidemics, nearest
neighbor queries where one might want to find the nearest hospital, hotel, airport, etc. or the most similar
object in a database; in climatology, where they are used to calculate the rainfall of an area based on a
series of point measurements; in chemistry, Voronoi cells defined by the positions of the nuclei in a
molecule are used to compute atomic charges; in machine learning, used in one-dimension classification
problems, [Atsuyuki, 2000]. Lastly, of a particular interest is the use of Voronoi diagrams in the mining
industry, where polygons are used to estimate the reserves of valuable materials, minerals, or other
resources. In this particular case the exploratory drillholes are used as the set of points to generate the
Voronoi polygons.
The application of Voronoi diagrams in the oil industry is very similar. The existing wells act and the
seeds given their location coordinates and the field is divided in regions corresponding to each one of
the wells. Figure 4a shows an example of Voronoi diagram for a section of the field, where the black dots
represent the producing wells. Figure 4b shows the same diagram, however this time the Voronoi cells
were colored using one the well attributes, in this case wellhead temperature.

Figure 4aClassic Voronoi Diagram

Figure 4bVoronoi Diagrams - Temperature Distribution

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History of the Lateral Re-Reentry Wells

The Laterel Re-Entry well program started as a Pilot project in 2012 with a ten well package designed to
test the lateral sidetrack concept and build upon drilling and completion best practices. The Pilot project
addressed mainly two components; first the candidate selection practice and second the well design,
completion and capital stewardship. The latter will not be discussed here.
Candidates Selection processs Conventional Approach
The initial candidate selection process followed closely the conventional approach used for horizontal
wells. Individual layer maps using strict cut-offs were created for the main attributes involved in the
selection criteria. The experience and field knowledge showed that temperature, thickness, permeability
index and saturation, are among the most important when selecting high potential areas. Therefore a good
target sand should have higher than 160F temperature, minimum of 30 ft of sand and good oil saturation.
Additionally, the target well should have low production and good mechanical integrity, such as no
downhole issues and preferable larger casing size. This will allow a successful sidetrack at high angle
build sections to target the undrained reservoir.
The methodology was time consuming and burdensome with engineers and earth scientists trying to
find first the poor producing wells, and then visualy analyze the temperature, saturation and thickness
maps sand by sand in order to decide whether or not to re-entry the wells. A total number of 10 wells were
selected and sidetracked as part of the Pilot. The results were encouraging and the Pilot provided a lot of
learnings and best practices as well as a lot of opportunities.

Data-Driven Methodology - Intelligent Approach

By the end of 2012, a new approach using Fuzzy Logic (FL) technologies was introduced for identification and selection of horizontal well candidates, [Popa, 2013]. The process employs so called fuzzy
confidence maps generated using all critical attributes considered in the conventional approach. Additionally, it eliminates the rigid hard cut-off boundaries and allows the use of entire attribute range interval,
however overridden by expert developed knowledge domain rules.
In the initial work both the fuzzy sets and rules were developed in a group exercise with a large team
of engineers and earth scientists. The approach seems to be working and provided good validation when
tested on the existing wells. However, the large number of horizontal wells drilled in the field (more than
500) presented a great opportunity for a data driven approach. The WM method was selected and used as
a rules extraction technology. The methodology applied four input attributes x1, x2, x3 and x4, one output
variable y respectively. We will define the x1, x2, x3 and x4, as the temperature, thickness, permeability
index and saturation respectively while the output variable y defines the output production. To apply the
, representing the reservoir
WM methodology a set of historical data pairs
relative to the production output is required. This data set is compiled from all the existing horizontal wells
drilled so far.
The first step of the methodology is to extract the membership function for the input variables. Since
the reservoir has nine production layers, each layer with different rock properties, the workflow for one
sand only is presented here. The approach is identical for the remaining eight sands.
The following process was employed to derive the membership functions. First, the Fuzzy c-Mean
(FCM) algorithm was used to define three clusters for each one of the four reservoir attributes as well as
for the production output. The state-of-art full field 3D earth model was used to extract all grid blocks in
each layer. More than 10 million grid blocks were thus used in the clustering algorithm for each attribute.
In contrast to the input attributes which come from the model, we used the three months peak production
for each well as the system output. A graphical representation of the Fuzzy c-Mean algorithm results are
shown in Figures 5a, 6a and 7a. Using this representation the shapes of the MFs of words such as Small,
Medium and Large are not the same for the different variables. Although the MFs look like continuous

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curves, in practice, they are not. Each point on the curve represents one of the reservoir grid blocks for
the specific productive layer. The FCM algorithm assigns a membership value to each measurement for
each of the three clusters, i.e., Small, Medium and Large. In this example the graphical representation of
the membership functions look continuous given that more than 10 million grid blocks per layer are used
in the computations.
The membership functions obtained from Fuzzy c-Mean algorithm cannot be used yet in the WM
method since they do not accurately represent the behavior of the attribute and do not make linguistic
sense. A methodology named Linguistic Modified FCM (LM-FCM) [Korjani and Mendel, 2012] was
adopted and used to derive the representation used in rule extraction. A simplification of the approach is
presented by Hao, [Hao, 2012] and is summarized below.
Given three linguistic membership functions: left-shoulder (Small), right-shoulder (Large) and interior
(Medium). Each FCM cluster has to be assigned to one of the three linguistic terms. First, maximum
breakpoint is defined as the maximum of the membership functions (namely, 1) and the minimum
breakpoint as the nearest local minimum point to the maximum breakpoint. Then:
1. For a right-shoulder cluster, all membership values to the right of the maximum breakpoint are set
to one and membership values to the left of the minimum breakpoint are set to zero. Membership
values between the breakpoints are kept as is.
2. For a left-shoulder cluster, all membership values to the left of the maximum breakpoint are set
to one and membership values to the left of the minimum breakpoint are set to zero. Membership
values between the breakpoints are kept as is.
3. For an interior cluster there are two minimum breakpoints, one to the left and one to the right of
the maximum membership. Membership values between the breakpoints are kept as is, and all
others are set to zero.
Using the Linguistic Modified FCM methodology described above, the final representation of the
membership functions for each one of the attributes was derived. The representations for temperature,
permeability index and formation thickness are shown in Figures 5b, 6b and 7b respectively. The
production output representation is shown in Figure 8a and 8b.

Figure 5aFCM Algorithm Temperature

Figure 5bModified Membership Functions Temperature

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Figure 6aFCM Algorithm Permeability Index

Figure 6bModified Membership Functions Permeability Index

Figure 7aFCM Algorithm Thickness

Figure 7bModified Membership Functions Thickness

Figure 8aFCM Algorithm Production

Figure 8bModified Membership Functions Production

The second step of the methodology is to extract the data driven rules. With the membership functions
for the reservoir attributes and production defined, Wang-Mendel method is applied as described above.
An example of a rule extracted using WM method is presented below:
If (Temperature) is High AND (Saturation) is Medium AND (Permeability) is High AND (thickness)
is Low THEN (Production) is Low
The third step of the methodology is to develop the fuzzy logic system with the set of rules extracted from
data and apply it to each of the productive formations. However, prior to imbedding the sets and the rules in
the system a quick assessment was conducted on both the fuzzy sets and the rules extracted. It was observed

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that initial rules defined with the subject matter experts (reservoir engineers and earth scientists) were more
conservative in some cases. In terms of the rules, in a few cases it was not possible to extract all the rules since
not enough cases representing that rule were available. This was solved by generating expert rules with the
engineers. Additionally, it was also observed that a few rules initially derived by the experts seemed to lean
more conservative whereby the data showed that high production could still be achieved in those cases.
Modification to rules (i.e., from High to Medium and from Medium to Low) was done when warranted to
conserve the experts knowledge.
The fuzzy models were used to generate confidence maps by applying the system for each grid block of
each layer. Since most Lateral Re-Entry wells have maximum efficiency targeting no more than three sands at
a time the need for a composite map was noted. Thus the fuzzy confidence maps for each of the bottom three
target sands were aggregated into one confidence map. In this new format this map shows the areas across the
fields where all three sands would contribute in somewhat equal capabilities to the Re-entry well output. This
map was very revealing, as it defined the sweet spots around the field driven mainly by the main reservoir
attributes provided by the 3D earth model. Figure 9 shows an example of the aggregated fuzzy confidence map
for the deepest three sands. The map clearly outlines high potential areas across the reservoir (red and orange)
for Lateral Re-Entry target. Additionally, a high contrast color (red) reveals high potential in all three sands
whereby a lighter color (orange/yellow) might very well have a strong sand and the other two medium to high
potential. It should be noted that before using the confidence map the area identify by the black rectangle on
the map was not a primary Lateral Re-Entry target, mainly due to relatively low offset production. Wells
completed in that area realized significant production output.

Figure 9 Aggregated Confidence Index Map

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The fourth step of the methodology was to generate the Voronoi diagram for all producing and shut-in
wells in the field. With almost no pressure existing in the reservoir the recovery mechanism is gravity
drainage. Therefore, the polygons generated and assigned to active and shut-in producers using Voronoi
algorithm are a good approximation of the wells drainage area. The remaining oil reserves in each
draining cell as well as normalized remaining oil were calculated using information from the full field 3D
earth model and polygons areas. Voronoi diagrams were computed for all nine layers as well as total
aggregated sum. The aggregated diagram represents the remaining oil reserve for each well. However, of
most interest are the remaining reserves in the two or three sands the Lateral Re-entry would intersect, thus
these aggregated maps are generated as well. Moreover, a Lateral Re-entry could intercept two or three
Voronoi cells; therefore the sum of the polygons needs to be considered. These computations are part of
the candidate selection criteria since the search for the best candidates should ensure sufficient reserves
availabe to drain.

Field Application and Results

Building upon the successful field Pilot in 2012, the new methodology was used for candidate well
identification and selection. The screening process starts with identification of poor performance wells,
generally lower than 3 bopd. Once a potential well was identified the aggregate fuzzy and Voronoi
remaining reserves maps are analyzed. The process is illustrated in Figures 10 and 11 respectively. The
black dot indicated on both maps represents the original vertical completion while the sloped black line
represents the new completion after Later Re-entry section was drilled. The aggregated confidence map
for three deeper layers in the reservoir is shown in Figure 10. The highest red contrast grid blocks
represent the higher reservoir capabilities. Similarly, the aggregated Voronoi polygons map for the same
three layers is shown in Figure 11. The highest red contrast grid cells represent the larger remaining
reserves. The integration of the two approaches showed the Lateral Re-drilled well (black line on both)
being placed such as intersects as many grid blocks exhibiting the higher confidence and also being
confined within high reserves Voronoi polygons.

Figure 10 Aggregated fuzzy confidence map

Figure 11Aggregated Voronoi map

The production profile realized by this well is presented in Figure 12. The plot shows that initial well
production was about 25 bopd in 2002, and declined to below 3 bopd by 2006. Between 2008 and 2013

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the well was barely making any oil (less than 1 bopd) until was selected for Lateral Re-entry. The
production realized after Lateral Re-entry is significant, the well reaching a peak of 51 bopd and still
maintaining above 20 bopd after one year.

Figure 12Lateral Re-entry well Production Profile example

It should be noted that, once a well is identified additional engineering is required to be included in the
final drilling program. For example the individual fuzzy confidence maps at layer level are used for
sensitivity analysis and also to as a tool for placing the toe of the Lateral Re-entry section. The goal is to
target the longest high angle section in the sand with the greatest potential. Additionaly, the final well
trajectory is validated in the full field 3D earth model and is vetted with the drilling and completion group
for final validation.
The new workflow has been used by the asset development team since early 2013 as part of the main
Lateral Re-entry program. Since its deployment multiple development packages were executed. The
production response of the initial Pilot as well as the main program is presented in Figure 13, 14, 15 and
16 respectively. In contrast to the original Pilot which resulted in an average 9 bopd per well (Figure 13)
the main program using the intelligent approach realized an average of 18-25 bopd per well. A few
examples of development packages executed throughout 2013 and 2014 are shown in Figures 14, 15 and
16. This program delivered significant business impact and demonstrated the efficiency of a data driven
analytics approach.

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Figure 13Pilot Program 2012

Figure 14 Package 1 2014 Intelligent Workflow

Figure 15Package 2 2012 Intelligent Workflow

Figure 16 Package 1 2013 Intelligent Workflow

The 2014 program is using updated fuzzy maps accounting for the changes in temperature, saturation
and liquid thickness. The future looks bright with a significant queue of opportunities awaiting execution
over the next couple of years. Best practices developed during execution have led to additional cost
reduction which makes these Lateral Re-entries even more attractive.

Conclusions
The strengths and capabilities of data-driven analytics were introduced and demonstrated in this study.
The intelligent approach integrates technologies such as WM rules extraction, fuzzy logic modeling and
Voronoi diagram for optimization of Lateral Re-entry identification, selection and placement. The model
successfully learns from high-dimensional data, effectively identifies prime productive areas and guides
optimum directional paths as demostrated in the realized production increase.
We applied the model to a large field with thousands of wells and multiple production layers. We
proved that aggregated confidence maps identified new target areas in the reservoir which were previously
or not even considered. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the intelligent model significantly outperforms
the prior approaches by returning a two fold production increase (18 25 bopd well average) in 2013 and
2014, as compared to 9 bopd average from prior year.
The inclusion of new artificial intelligence technologies such as fuzzy logic in day to day engineering
workflows not only demonstrates the commitment of leadership to encourage ingenuity but also the
business impact and value creation achieved. The Lateral Re-entry project clearly validates that the

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intelligent approach is more realistic, flexible and focused on the high potential areas, maximizing
production outcome of the field.

Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Chevron North America Exploration and Production for allow the
publication of this work. Additional gratitude is expressed to Eli Grijalva, Carlos Matheus, Juan Medel,
Rob Jaecks, and Brian Scott for their assistance and input.

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