Advanced reservoir and hydraulic fracture characterization of unconventional light oil reservoirs

预计非常规轻质油(ULO)油藏的成功开发将使加拿大西部的石油产量大幅增长，扭转近年来常规石油产量下降的趋势。多压裂水平井(MFHW)等新技术使加拿大西部的一些ULO油田能够进行商业生产。然而，由于对流体储存和运输机制及其控制的了解不足，这些行动的最佳发展仍然面临重大挑战。 拟议的综合研究计划将旨在改进加拿大西部ULO油田的储集层和水力裂缝表征方法。储集层样品分析将用于获得控制流体流动的关键性质，并建立对这些性质的有机和无机物质控制。这些信息将与测井数据一起被用来通过岩石物理模型的总体“放大”到油井规模。这些岩石物理模型将被用来填充1)新的试井分析工具，用于获得储层物性的现场估计；2)新的水力裂缝模型，然后将用于预测生产和注水井水力裂缝特性；3)用于水力裂缝和油藏特征的新的速率-不稳定分析(RTA)模型；4)用于ULO一次采油和提高采收率过程的三维地质模型；5)分析性油藏连通性研究，以评估大规模流体流动并简化对一次采油和提高采收率项目的分析。这项研究结合了孔隙尺度分析、岩心尺度分析和井/田尺度过程，将由主要调查人员及其地球科学和石油工程专业的学生进行。这项研究的创新之处包括：1)应用新的方法来表征油气藏的孔隙结构和渗流特征、水力裂缝性质和储集层连通性；2)综合运用这些多尺度、多学科的技术来改善储集层特征。

It is expected that successful development of unconventional light oil (ULO) reservoirs will allow for significant growth in oil production in Western Canada, reversing a trend in recent history of declining conventional oil production. New technology, such as multi-fractured horizontal wells (MFHWs), has enabled commercial production from some of Western Canada's ULO plays. There remain, however, significant challenges to the optimal development of these plays related to the poor understanding of fluid storage and transport mechanisms and their controls. The proposed integrated research program will be directed at improving reservoir and hydraulic fracture characterization methods for Western Canadian ULO plays. Reservoir sample analysis will be used to obtain key properties controlling fluid flow and establish both organic and inorganic matter controls on these properties. This information will be used along with well-log data to "scale-up" to the well-scale through population of petrophysical models. These petrophysical models will in turn be used to populate 1) new well-test analysis tools used to obtain in-situ estimates of reservoir properties; 2) new hydraulic fracture models that will then be used in predicting production and injection-well hydraulic fracture properties 3) new rate-transient analysis (RTA) models for hydraulic fracture and reservoir characterization 4) 3D geologic models to be used in reservoir simulation of primary- and enhanced-recovery processes in ULO and 5) analytical reservoir connectivity studies to assess large-scale fluid flow and simplify analysis of primary recovery and EOR projects. The study integrates analyses of pore-scale along with core-scale and well/field scale processes and will be carried out by the principal investigators and their geoscience and petroleum engineering students. The novel aspects of this study include 1) application of new methods for characterizing ULO pore-structure and flow characteristics, hydraulic fracture properties and reservoir connectivity and 2) integration of these multiscale and multidisciplinary techniques to improve reservoir characterization.