Unlocking Tight Gas Volume with Integrated Multidisciplinary Diagnostic Approach

Abstract Miqrat is a complex clastic deep tight gas reservoir in the North of the Sultanate of Oman. The Lower unit of the Miqrat formation is feldspatic sand characterized by low permeability not exceeding 0.1 mD and porosity up to 12 %. Based on results of the appraisal campaign of Field X, it contains significant volume of gas. However the production test data after fraccing showed mixed results. The objective of this study to explain the production behavior in relation to the frac geometry. Understanding the reason of possible overestimation of log derived Hydrocarbon saturation is important. Thus the interpretation of conventional and special logs was revisited. In parallel, all the available core data including SCAL and thin sections were dissected. Besides, the analysis of hydraulic fracture propagation, well tests, cement quality, PLT including Spectral Noise Log was performed. The wells were subdivided into categories according to their production. –wells producing no water–wells with water channeling from the water leg of Middle Miqrat–wells with transition zone intervals with two-phase inflow of water and gas. There are three main challenges that needed to be overcome. First challenge is to identify the high uncertainty in hydrocarbon saturation from the resistivity logs. Petrophysical evaluation shows that porosity profile derived from logs looks very similar in all wells with insignificant lateral variations. Hydrocarbon saturation estimated from logs looks also similar regardless of how deep or shallow the well is. However, production tests show different results, e.g. different flow rates and high water-cut are observed in some wells. The second challenge to keep the frac height below the boundary between Lower Miqrat and Middle Miqrat, which consist of around 3 to 7 meters of shale and in most of the field it is bound with water. The third one is to cover the upper part of the zone below the shale since it is the best part of Lower Miqrat without breaking to the water leg of Middle Miqrat. A geomechanical model was created and several frac model iterations were run since in the early appraisal well that boundary was broken. Investigation through multidisciplinary integrated team led to unlock the tight gas reserves in Lower Miqrat. Based on open hole log interpretation to create a geomechanical model. That model is being calibrated with DFIT, 3 different case hole logs and confirmed with production.