Sensitivity Analysis of Reservoir Simulated Production Changes Caused by While-Drilling Updates

The prediction stage in reservoir simulation is quite important to evaluate production life and thus select future alternatives to improve hydrocarbon recovery. In order to generate appropriate results at this stage, a study of the impact on the dynamic behavior when the static model is updated was developed. The main focus was on a high angle producer well located in one of the compartments of the full field reservoir model, with the purpose of analyzing water breakthrough coming from the injection well and how subsurface data acquired while-drilling can help reduce model uncertainty. This thesis is focused on the modification of static petrophysical properties, namely porosity, and permeability, using tools provided by the Petrel E&P software. Initially, well log data from some of the wells in the compartment was analyzed. Subsequently, a refinement of the grid along the selected production well was introduced, followed by a property update within the refined grid based on the log data acquired. A forecast was carried out mainly focusing on a newly drilled producer (high angle well) within the compartment for a selected simulation period of eight years. This prediction was based on field development strategy in which some individual constraints were set up for each well. At the same time, some group controls were defined in relation to reservoir volume production and injection rates. Sensitivity analysis was performed using INTERSECT, for each of the property updates individually and for all property updates combined. Furthermore, the impact of varying the properties with a smaller region just around the wellbore was considered. A final analysis was carried out by closing one of the perforations of the producer well to evaluate the potential for improving production given the estimated water breakthrough characteristics within the simulated period. Results showed that decreasing the porosity and increasing the permeability around the producer well, slightly anticipates the effect of water breakthrough. When the two properties were added simultaneously, the water influx comes a year and a half earlier with respect to the Base case, which is expected considering the overall impact. Moreover, it was concluded that the waterfront moves from the injection well towards the north of the producer, reaching all the perforations more or less on the same date. Consequently, advanced technologies for controlling water influx, like inflow control devices (ICD), located at different segments of the producer well would be appropriate.