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Article history:
Received 14 August 2013
Accepted 30 September 2014
Available online 28 October 2014
Good waterood performance management requires an understanding of injectorproducer connectivity. In this context, chalk reservoirs present unique challenges. Reservoir compaction, ow in long
horizontal wells with transverse fractures, fracturing above the parting pressure, and water shortcircuiting along the fault planes may not guarantee the expected uid displacement. These reservoir
attributes collectively contribute to ood management challenges.
Real-time surveillance data form the basis of ongoing ood monitoring. This data interpretation
improves the estimates for ultimate recovery by way of on-time well intervention. The data also helps to
better dene the future eld development plan. Besides gathering real-time rate and bottomhole
pressure (BHP) data, this study shows how time-lapse tracer, production logs, and 4D seismic data assists
in gaining a credible history match with numerical-ow simulations.
Before numerical modeling, this study used an array of analytical tools. These computationally
inexpensive tools include both diagnosis and analysis. Amongst the diagnostic tools, the reciprocalproductivity index (RPI) provided crucial information on the degree of pressure support felt at a
producer; the wateroil ratio (WOR) plot gave the clue on uid displacement; and the modied-Hall plot
helped understand matrix injection or the lack thereof. Combined rate/pressure data analysis with the
capacitanceresistance model (CRM) provided quantitative measures of injectorproducer connectivity.
Where feasible, the rate-transient analysis (RTA) provided evolving reservoir pressure and the connected
pore-volume information. The traditional decline-curve analysis (DCA) showed variability of the decline
trend based upon the pressure-support and uid-displacement scenarios.
This study underscores the importance of both real-time and time-lapse measurements in managing
a waterood in a challenging reservoir environment. The proposed workow emphasizes learning from
data diagnosis and analysis with analytical tools before embarking on history matching with numericalow simulations in the South Arne eld, located in the Danish North Sea.
& 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Waterood performance
4D seismic
Tracer surveys
Capacitanceresistance modeling
Rate-transient analysis
Numerical ow simulations
1. Introduction
Real-time monitoring of pressure and rate data has paved the
way to understanding a reservoir's behavior, leading to on-time
management by way of frequent updates to a grid-based model.
Some of the technical benets of surveillance were suggested by
Horne (2007). Many authors reported integrating surveillance data
with full-eld simulation studies. Some of these studies include
those of Hustedt and Snippe (2010), Langaas et al. (2007), Bahar
et al. (2005), and King et al. (2002), among others over the last
decade.
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: Christian.Olsen@hess.com (C. Olsen),
skabir@hess.com (C.S. Kabir).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.petrol.2014.09.031
0920-4105/& 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
C. Olsen, C.S. Kabir / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 124 (2014) 6071
2. Background
Understanding and managing waterood performance is key to
optimizing production and maximizing reserves. Water injection into
chalk has a long and successful track record; good recovery from
this type of rock has been reported (Hallenbeck et al., 1991, Ovens et
al., 1998, Austad et al., 2008). Water injection in low-permeability
chalk generally occurs above the fracture-propagation pressure. The
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C. Olsen, C.S. Kabir / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 124 (2014) 6071
are supported by the SA-8 up-ank injector and the SA-11 downank injector, are identied in Fig. 2.
The following sections discuss the well performance. These sections include (1) performance diagnosis of production data with
analytical tools, (2) analysis of measurements, such as tracers, production logs, and 4D seismic, and, (3) modeling with decline curves, RTA,
CRM, and numerical-ow simulations. Appendix A summarizes the
attributes of various analytical tools used in this study.
Fig. 5. SA-5 well's WOR response suggests a redistribution of the injectors' energy
support.
C. Olsen, C.S. Kabir / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 124 (2014) 6071
63
Fig. 8. SA-16 well's WOR response suggests the lack of oil displacement for about
1000 days.
Fig. 11. Modied-Hall plot shows increasing injection difculty in the SA-8 well.
reduces the water short circuit. Later, when the watercut exceeds
90%, the decline trend becomes hyperbolic, as discussed in the
next section. Initially, a water short circuit dominates the watercut
development, meaning that water ows separately from the oil.
However, at a later stage, matrix breakthrough occurs and the
fractional-ow curves begin to inuence the decline. Deviation
from the exponential decline is observed.
Perhaps the modied-Hall plot of the SA-8 injector sheds some
useful perspective, as shown in Fig. 11. The initial cumulative
injection of 15 MMSTB appears event free, as indicated by the Hallintegral derivative overlaying on the integral curve. Subsequently,
the ever-increasing ow impediment is indicated by the continuous separation of those two curves; the attendant declining
owing-BHP trace simply reafrms that notion. In particular, the
reduced injection around 60 MMSTB cumulative injection coincides with reduced performance of the producers, as shown in
both Figs. 8 and 9.
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C. Olsen, C.S. Kabir / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 124 (2014) 6071
Fig. 12. Depiction of tracer breakthrough times for the injectorproducer pairs.
Fig. 13. Shut-in (a) and owing (b) log passes show contrasting behavior of
water ow.
C. Olsen, C.S. Kabir / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 124 (2014) 6071
65
Fig. 14. Saturation changes support the notion of well connectivity and ow through conductive paths.
Fig. 16. Approximate history matching of the SA-5 well's late-time performance.
Fig. 15. Saturation changes demonstrate the conductive ow path between the SA8 injector and the SA-16 producer.
Freeman et al. (2009), among others. Note that the SRV does not
imply reservoir boundary; rather, the imaginary ellipsoidal ow
geometry, which is a manifestation of fracture stimulation. This
volumetric-SRV response appears to suggest that the water production occurs over limited well length, thereby raising questions
about the volumetric sweep efciency. In fact, this volumetric
response is in harmony with the Arps model where the b value of
zero is calculated, indicating exponential decline behavior.
By considering the rst 3.5-year history, the late-time cumulative
match results in harmonic decline behavior as characterized by the
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C. Olsen, C.S. Kabir / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 124 (2014) 6071
Unlike the SA-5 well, the SA-16 well lent itself to an improved
RTA because the water production was not tied to uid displacement, but channeled along a fault plane. Fig. 19 presents RTA of the
SA-16 well's production analysis, except for the very early part
containing 1.7 year's material-balance time. The primary reason
for neglecting the early data originated from the notion of doing
DCA for the stable owing-BHP period. That way the study could
compare and contrast the RTA and DCA solutions. Another
motivation for avoiding the early-time data for about 500 days
stemmed from the sharp decline of both pressure and rate in
Fig. 19 is attributed to compaction. This point was made earlier
while discussing SA-5 well's response in Fig. 16. The DCA in Fig. 20
indicates an exponential decline with b of 0.0 at late times.
Producer SA-16 was completed with nine transverse-fracture
stages in a 2500-ft lateral. This well is in inferior section of the
reservoir with an estimated formation permeability not exceeding
1 md. As Fig. 21 suggests, the SA-16 well exhibits ow regimes that
are similar to that of the SA-5 well. The unit-slope response
signifying the SRV response indicates lack of oil displacement or
volumetric behavior, a point made earlier by Fig. 8. We surmise
that severe water short-circuiting precipitated this volumetric
response.
Fig. 19. RTA of the SA-16 well suggests a decent overall match after the initial
period.
C. Olsen, C.S. Kabir / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 124 (2014) 6071
67
Fig. 21. SA-16 well's ow regimes suggest volumetric behavior beyond 1000
material-balance days.
Well Pair
fij
SA8Z SA5
SA11 ZSA5
SA8Z SA16
SA11 ZSA16
0.4
0.4
0.1
0.3
5
14
1
Not detected
3
300
1
180
Fig. 22. CRM analysis shows a good overall match and an acceptable oil-rate match at high water-cuts.
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C. Olsen, C.S. Kabir / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 124 (2014) 6071
Fig. 23. Depicting water short-circuits near the SA-16 and SA-5 producers on a saturation map.
C. Olsen, C.S. Kabir / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 124 (2014) 6071
6. Discussion
In traditional methods for evaluating waterood performance,
such as with the 1D BuckleyLeverett model and the 3D numericalow simulator, sweep efciency and breakthrough time are mainly
controlled by the fractional-ow curves, encompassing relative
permeability and uid viscosities. However, in a chalk reservoir
with water injection above the fracture propagation pressure in a
natural fault/fracture system, the extension and connectivity of the
hydraulic and natural fractures control the initial response to water
injection. Only when the waterood reaches a mature state and
matrix breakthrough occurs that the fractional-ow curves begin to
inuence a ood's performance. Therefore, ongoing surveillance
and data interpretation becomes crucial to understanding well
response and on-time reservoir management.
As outlined in this paper, a number of methods are available for
evaluating and optimizing a waterood. Each method has its
relative advantage; however, when used in combination, they can
provide a consistent understanding of the physical mechanisms
controlling a waterood. All the analytical tools are computationally
inexpensive and, therefore, allow for frequent performance updates.
Diagnostic plots, CRM, and DCA belong to this category. Generally,
these tools are good at detecting changes in well performance.
However, understanding the underlying reasons behind those
observations can be difcult. In this context, physical measurements
such as tracers and production logs are expensive, but they add
additional details on what is happening in specic wells and guide
appropriate well interventions. In this context, we explored the
possibility of applying some of Yang's (2012) diagnostic tools. But,
they did not perform well in light of minimal displacement process
that underpins some of the wells discussed here.
Although 4D seismic and tracers have a low-sampling frequency,
they illuminate the interaction between wells. In particular, 4D seismic
corroborates the underlying physical mechanisms for the observations
made from the diagnostic plots and decline curves, thereby enhancing
the value of those diagnoses. Contrary to expectation, grid-based
models are not well suited to predict water breakthrough in these
reservoirs. Although matching the general well behavior is feasible,
efcient methods for ascertaining water short circuits are needed.
Overall, the combination of analytical tools and grid-based models, as
well as periodic surveillance with 4D seismic, has collectively helped
create an understanding of waterood performance. In this regard, it is
a new nding that faults can act as ow conduits for the injection
water and distribute water over large distances. Geomechanics-based
ow simulations with ne grids may be needed to bridge this gap, as
demonstrated by Pettersen and Kristiansen (2009).
The insights gained will guide future development and implementation of water injection in the eld with regard to the positioning of
hydraulic fractures in the future injectors by keeping a safe distance
from the faults. This step potentially minimizes the risk of connecting
an injector directly with a producer, thereby mitigating the water
short-circuiting and increasing the intrinsic value of water injection.
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7. Conclusions
(1) The complexity of uid ow in a chalk reservoir can be
better understood by on-time interpretation of real-time rate/
pressure surveillance data, with support derived from periodic
tracer tests, production logs, and 4D seismic surveys.
(2) This study underscores the importance of the use of
analytical tools, such as RTA, CRM, and DCA for holistic analysis,
with appropriate support derived from diagnostic tools, such as
RPI, WOR, and modied-Hall plots.
(3) Although numerical-ow simulations provide an understanding of the overall reservoir performance, nuances, such as
water short-circuits through the fault planes, must be learned
about independently with surveillance data. In this regard, a
satisfactory history match of watercut, GOR, and BHP remained
elusive on an individual-well basis.
Acknowledgments
The authors express their gratitude to the partners of South
Arne (DONG Energy and Danoil Exploration A/S) and the Hess
management for permission to publish this study.
kh
p pwf
141:3qB i
A 2
0:000264kt
141:3qB
A 3
and
t DA
Eq. (A-1) with real variables suggests that a plot of (pi pwf)/q
versus producing time t yields a straight-line relationship with a
slope of (1 f), where f denotes the degree of pressure support.
When performances of different producers are plotted together, this
tool readily provides clues about the degree of pressure support
received at each producer. This tool has been used with good degree
of success in understanding wateroods, such as that discussed by
Parekh and Kabir (2013), among others. Given its analytical roots, it
appears quite robust and no known limitations have been encountered so long the bottomhole pressure is available.
WOR plot. Yortsos et al. (1999) identied four ow regimes on
the loglog plot of wateroil ratio (W) versus producing time (t), as
shown in Fig. A-1. Depending on reservoir heterogeneity, the rst
ow period (i) may show slow increase in the wateroil ratio, W.
Following the water breakthrough, steep increase in W occurs
during the second ow period (ii), exceeding the unit-slope line.
Ordinarily, the unit-slope line signies very inefcient displacement of oil by water, meaning a high-permeability streak conducts
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C. Olsen, C.S. Kabir / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 124 (2014) 6071
Fig. A-1. Wateroil ratio vs time diagnostic plot for understanding frontal displacement or lack thereof.
b
log t H
b 1
A 4
A 7
DHI 1 W i ln r e =r w sn
This tool was intended for vertical wells. Therefore, the notion
of water/oil interface pressure at the moving boundary pe is invalid
for horizontal wells. Nonetheless, this diagnostic tool is quite
useful because only the quality of injected water is being diagnosed with indication of progressive plugging in this situation.
Decline-curve analysis. The decline-curve analysis is a cornerstone of reservoir-performance prediction tool. Rooted in Arps
relation and shown recently about the tool's effectiveness in
predicting performance in wateroods (Can and Kabir 2014), the
hyperbolic relation is given as
qo
qoi
1 bDi t
1=b
A 8
A 9
j, is dened as
A 10
k1
j e
i1
tn t
k
j
j 1; 2; :::; N p
"
#)
t
Ni
ik pkwf ;j
k
1 e j
f ij i J j
t k
t k
i1
A 11
C. Olsen, C.S. Kabir / Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 124 (2014) 6071
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