Joint optimization of field development and water-alternating-gas recovery strategies

Alternating injection of water and gas (WAG) has been widely applied as an oil recovery strategy since the late 1950s. The expected benefits are improved macroscopic sweep, with the water and gas sweeping lower and upper zones of the reservoir respectively, and improved microscopic sweep due to various effects leading to lowering of the residual...

An overview of the petroleum systems of the northern deep-water Gulf of Mexico

The northern deep-waterGulf ofMexico is one of themost active deep-water petroleum provinces in the world. This paper introduces the regional geologic setting for the northern deep-water Gulf of Mexico and briefly discusses the importance of technology in developing the area's resources. Exploration has focused on four major geologic provinces:...

Risk assessment-led characterisation of the sitechar UK north sea site for the geological storage of CO2 = Caractérisation d’un site de stockage géologique de CO2 situé en Mer du Nord (Royaume-Uni) sur la base d’une analyse de risques

Risk assessment-led characterisation of a site for the geological storage of CO<inf>2</inf> in the UK northern North Sea was performed for the EU SiteChar research project as one of a portfolio of sites. Implementation and testing of the SiteChar project site characterisation workflow has produced a ‘dry-run’ storage permit application that is...

An overview of basin modeling in The Netherlands: New results and applications

The subsurface of the onshore and offshore Netherlands has been studied extensively. In 2006 the first complete maps of the main stratigraphic horizons (down to the Permian) were published. Since then these maps were regularly updated and extended to include also the main reservoir horizons. This detailed stratigraphic information was used to...

Multidisciplinary approach for detailed characterization of shale gas reservoirs, a Netherlands showcase

The success of shale gas exploration and production in the United States has triggered other countries around the world to look into possibilities of producing gas from different shales. As it turns out, one of the main difficulties when looking for shale gas is obtaining an in depth understanding of the shale formations and interpret where the...

ThermoGIS: An integrated web-based information system for geothermal exploration and governmental decision support for mature oil and gas basins

In the recent years the use of geothermal energy through implementation of low enthalpy geothermal production systems for both electricity and heating have been growing rapidly in north-western Europe. Geothermal exploration and production takes largely place in sedimentary basins at depths from 2 to 5 km. Geothermal activities can take...

Downhole multiphase metering in wells by means of soft-sensing

Multiphase flow meters are indispensable tools for achieving optimal operation and control of wells as these meters deliver real-time information about their performance. For example, multiphase flow meters located downhole can improve the production of multilateral and multizone wells by timely allocating the zone where a gas or water cone...

Gas coning control for smart wells using a dynamic coupled well-reservoir simulator

A strong increase in gas inflow due to gas coning and the resulting bean-back because of Gas to Oil Ratio (GOR) constraints can severely limit oil production and reservoir drive energy. In this paper we will use a coupled reservoir-well model to demonstrate that oil production can be increased by using controlled inflow from a gas cone as a...

A Bayesian belief network approach for assessing the impact of exploration prospect interdependency: An application to predict gas discoveries in the Netherlands

Prospect interdependencies, if present and positively correlated, result in a higher standard deviation of the portfolio volumetric expectation curve, compared to a portfolio with independent prospects. This wider uncertainty range offers options for companies to increase the expected cumulative net present value (NPV) of the exploration...