Reservoir fluids are rarely found in homogeneous structures having homogeneous properties. The various elements and processes of the petroleum system result in complex fluid distributions and compositions. A sound understanding of these complexities can avoid disappointing results and costly mistakes when designing the completion and production of the reservoir. The earlier these complexities are understood in the exploration phase, the better are the chances of a successful decision making process in the design phase of the project. Assessing reservoir compartment connectivity is of paramount importance for a optimal field development. Recent technological advances in wireline formation testing and sampling provide asset teams with a new methodology to evaluate in situ fluid properties and reservoir connectivity.
After a review of the technology of downhole fluid analysis (DFA), the currently available methods of modeling equilibrated fluid gradients are presented. Fluid composition equilibrium is a stationary state where all components have reached zero mass flux. A reservoir model is designed to simulate numerically equilibration processes over geologic timescales at isothermal conditions where diffusion and gravity are the active mechanisms. A variety of initial conditions and reservoir fluid types is considered. Non-equilibrium fluid gradients and their transient behavior as they evolve towards fluid composition equilibrium are the main interest of this study. The results are compared in case studies, that are available in published literature. The modeling methods allow modeling of vertical and lateral fluid gradients.
After a discussion of the cases, this thesis gives recommendations on 1) what fluid properties should be assessed and 2) how many data points are needed to reduce the chance of misinterpretation of non-equilibrium gradients in the presence of faults. To make best use DFA data, the property that exhibits the largest gradient needs to be investigated, as it yields the greatest potential to assess connectivity. The shape of the distribution of fluid composition within a compartment is found to be an important part in investigating reservoir connectivity. During data acquisition efforts should be made to acquire enough data points to reveal this shape. In combination with the presented techniques to identify non-equilibrium conditions, this will optimize DFA data acquisition and maximize the value of the data.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:tamu.edu/oai:repository.tamu.edu:1969.1/ETD-TAMU-2010-12-8742 |
| Date | 2010 December 1900 |
| Creators | Pfeiffer, Thomas |
| Contributors | Schechter, David S. |
| Source Sets | Texas A and M University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Book, Thesis, Electronic Thesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
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