Aquifer Influx and Reservoir Connectivity Evaluation through Surveillance Data Analysis for a Large Sandstone Multi-Layered Reservoir

Abstract M1 reservoir is a large multi-layered sandstone reservoir in Middle East, which is under primary depletion and edge aquifer drive. There are lots of sources of water production data in M1, and water production data are one of the most important and invaluable surveillance data to understand reservoir connectivity. This paper proposes a method to show how to integrate all sources of aquifer influx surveillance data to evaluate reservoir connectivity of M1. There are four types of aquifer influx identification data in M1 reservoir, and different type of surveillance data are analyzed in detail. Through aquifer influx analysis, it can be confirmed if wells are aquifer flooded in some zones. Then, combined geological understanding with well aquifer breakthrough time and well water cut change characteristic analysis, the possible aquifer influx zone is determined. Finally, aquifer support and sand body connectivity around water flooded wells are better understood, which is helpful and useful for next waterflooding development. M1 reservoir is a large multi-layered sandstone reservoir of deltaic environment with oil bearing area around 500Km2 in Middle East. And M1 is influenced by fluvial, tide and wave, which results in great variations of sand bodies' distribution, reservoir quality and connectivity. Furthermore, M1 reservoir is still under primary depletion with reservoir pressure close to saturation pressure, so waterflooding should be applied urgently. Four types of data were analyzed to study the aquifer influx, which including measured water cut data, flowtest data, saturation logging data and SGS data. Through data analysis, the confirmed aquifer-influx wells and possible aquifer -influx wells are determined, and water breakthrough time and water cut change characteristic are also determined. And based on the characteristic, four areas with different characteristic are classified. Combined with the geological understanding, it is found that the connectivity within each area are similar, but there are barriers among different areas which results in poor communication among different areas. Also the water breakthrough zone of each area are different, and it is useful to understanding aquifer support and reservoir lateral heterogeneity of different zones. Furthermore, aquifer influx has preferred direction, which mainly moves along with the channels axis. This phenomenon should be considered in well pattern decision making during the following waterflooding study. This paper offers a case study of reservoir connectivity analysis based on different types of aquifer influx surveillance data analysis. And the understanding is also much valuable and useful for depositional facies mapping and the next waterflooding well pattern selection and decision. It also provide a reference for the related study on other similar field.