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Paving the road to real-time reservoir monitoring—The next step? Summary of an ERCH workshop

Energy Research Clearing House (ERCH), The Woodlands, Texas, U.S.

Corresponding author: G. Sparkman, sparkman@erch.org

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

Five years ago the Energy Research Clearing House held a workshop on improved reservoir characterization using time-lapse 3-D seismic data. A few companies at that time had applied this infant technology, but the perceived potential applications were limited. It was found to be useful in very good data areas such as the offshore Gulf of Mexico where bypassed pay in untapped compartments could be identified from repeat streamer cable surveys. Wall Street was talking about this new technology that was labeled as 4-D with time being the fourth dimension of repeated 3-D surveys. Since then, industry has been expanding the use of time-lapse technology cautiously, like an apprehensive swimmer testing the water by dipping a toe before jumping in.

Although far from realizing the technology's full potential, industry has been developing techniques to monitor and control producing wells in the borehole. This is important, as multilateral drilling technology has allowed multiple extended-reach wells to be drilled from a single borehole. Also being developed are ways to manage production from each of the lateral extensions to obtain the maximum production from all of the penetrated zones.

These downhole and seismic recording technologies have been developing somewhat independently, but they must be integrated to meet the needs of future reservoir managers. How will a deepwater 35 000-b/d reservoir need to be managed to produce its maximum potential? If appropriate and timely data are not available, adverse changes in the reservoir could happen before remediation steps can be taken. These and other issues were addressed in an ERCH workshop.

	Technology and business drivers

 
ERCH's two-day workshop in December 2000 attempted to bring downhole and surface . . . [Full Text of this Article]