CHARACTERIZING THE ARCHITECTURAL BASIS OF THE SLOW GAS EFFECT

J. Mullins, C. Pierce, H. Rieke, J. Howell

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingPublished conference contribution

Abstract

Aeolian deposits are typically considered to act as homogeneous tanks of sand, which do not contain significant heterogeneities that impact the production of hydrocarbons. However, a succession of deeply buried aeolian gas reservoirs from the Permian Rotliegend exhibit a production decline profile that is typified by high initial flow rates that decline rapidly but then continue at very low rates for an extended period. The effect has been termed the slow-gas effect and has previously been attributed to structural compartmentalisation. This paper presents an alternative, sedimentological-based hypothesis for the cause of slow-gas effect based upon facies differences within aeolian dune troughs. Three inter-well scale reservoir models from aeolian reservoir analogues from Utah and Arizona were populated with properties from Rotliegend reservoirs from onshore Germany and dynamically simulated to measure flow rates and production behaviour. We find that the slow-gas effect results from minor heterogeneities and bounding surfaces created by the complex interaction of deposition, accumulation and erosion within aeolian strata as opposed to structural compartmentalisation of homogeneous tanks of sand. These results have significant implications on optimizing reservoir depletion strategies, performance, modelling and simulation.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication82nd EAGE Conference and Exhibition 2021
PublisherEuropean Association of Geoscientists and Engineers, EAGE
Pages1697-1701
Number of pages5
ISBN (Electronic)9781713841449
Publication statusPublished - 18 Oct 2021
Event82nd EAGE Conference and Exhibition 2021 - Amsterdam, Virtual, Netherlands
Duration: 18 Oct 202121 Oct 2021

Publication series

Name82nd EAGE Conference and Exhibition 2021
Volume3

Conference

Conference82nd EAGE Conference and Exhibition 2021
Country/TerritoryNetherlands
CityAmsterdam, Virtual
Period18/10/2121/10/21

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank members of the FORCE consortium (AkerBP, BP, ConocoPhillips, WintershallDea, ENGIE, ENI Norge, Equinor, INEOS, Lundin Norway, Point Resources, Repsol, Spirit Energy, Suncor Energy, Total and VNG Norge), the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) and the Research Council of Norway’s Petromaks 2 project (project number 234111/E30) for funding through the SAFARI Phase 3 programme.

Keywords

  • Reservoir analogues
  • Reservoir models
  • Aeolian deposits
  • Dunes troughs
  • Gas effects
  • Gas reservoir
  • Initial flow
  • Low rates
  • Permian
  • Production declines

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