Role of Geochemistry and Real-Time Advanced Gas Interpretation in Development Strategies of Depleted Reservoirs

Abstract The Minagish Oolite is one of the main reservoirs in the Minagish Field, Southwest Kuwait. The field is a large 4-way dip closure anticline structure, covering an area of about 90 square kilometers and with around 900feet of carbonates of the Minagish formation. The Middle Minagish member is the main reservoir, consisting of oolitic limestone with high permeability in the range of 10 to 1000 mD. The Lower Minagish member contains dense fine grained wackestones to packstones with low permeability. The Middle Minagish and Lower Minagish oil reservoirs contain highly undersaturated oil with API gravities of 28-34 °API and share a common FWL at 9950feet TVDSS. The dynamic model built along with time lapsed historical (production/injection) and well surveillance (PLT, TDT, well test) data are used for tracking the movement of injected water and gas, monitoring fluid contacts and changes in saturation with time, optimizing production and planning of new wells. Nonetheless, due high density of producers existing around the field causes mutual interference amongst the neighboring wells and surprises arise while drilling new wells. Real-time Geochemical analysis on elemental and mineral concentrations within drill cuttings/core chips, integrated with advanced mud gas data, can provide an additional analytical dataset to assess reservoir depletion and water encroachment. This advanced surface logging technology can give a better indication on water bearing zones and water encroachment when MWD/WL logs have resolution issues. When geochemical and mud gas proxies are integrated with other data sets (viz. logs, and dynamic data), they provide a better control on lithological changes and water bearing zones, throughout the entire reservoir. Integrated geochemical and advance mud gas analysis in depleted Minagish reservoir has helped to confirm zones of interest and to determine leading edge of water aquifer. Ultimately this enabled for a unique completion design. The well MN-X, object of the study, represents a valuable case where it has been possible to identify water encroachment through geochemical proxies, aiding the completion strategy.