Reservoir Performance Analysis of Eighty-Four Years of Immiscible Gas Injection in a Matured Carbonate Reservoir, Bahrain Field

Abstract The Bahrain Oil Field ("Bahrain Field"), wherein the first oil discovery was made in the Gulf region in 1932, is now in a mature stage of development. Mauddud is the major oil-producing reservoir in the Bahrain Field, situated in an anticlinal feature of the middle cretaceous period. This is a highly undersaturated, low-dip, layered, heavily faulted, and preferentially oil-wet reservoir. Crestal gas injection (GI) in Mauddud has continued to be the dominant drive mechanism since 1938, making it the first improved recovery project in the Arabian Gulf region. This paper summarizes the performance of nearly 84 years of gas injection in Mauddud reservoir. Performance-based analysis is carried out using different analytical techniques to determine voidage replacement and maximum gas-cap expansion rate to avoid gas overrunning and injection requirements. Volumetric sweep is estimated using volume of gas injected and gas cycled. Recovery is calculated based on material balance analysis using hydrocarbon pore volume (HCPV), gas injected, free gas-cap volume, and volume of residual oil in gas-cap (VOR). Semilog analysis of free gas/oil ratio (GOR) versus cumulative oil (Np) yields swept pore volume and moveable oil in different areas. Gas management strategy is devised based on wells to be shut-in, cut-off GOR, oil deferred, gas cycling limit, and remediation of high GOR wells with gas shut-off workovers. Optimum number of infill wells is evaluated based on NPV (net present value) for both vertical and horizontal completion. Gas injection gravity drainage is an efficient mechanism in the Mauddud reservoir. Based on gas expansion rate to avoid gas overrunning, maximum GI rate is 652 MMscf/D. The volumetric sweep by gas is around 80%, giving a 50% recovery in gas-invaded areas. Critical gravity drainage oil rate per well is 383 STB/D. The average cycling of gas was 60% initially during 1970's, declined to 50% during 1986 to 2000, and currently increased to over 80%. The cumulative gas cycling is around 70%. Areas B, D, G, and H have the highest remaining mobile oil and should be the focus for infill drilling. A GOR cut-off of 80,000 scf/STB involves 97 wells, resulting in a gas reduction of 200 MMscf/D and an oil rate of 1,600 STB/D. A curtailment of free gas production of 100 MMscf/D will reduce the gas cycling from 87% to 70%. Cased hole horizontal well trial is promising based on workovers of open-hole horizontal well and newly drilled horizontal well trial with cemented liner. The development of Mauddud with a mix of both deviated/vertical and horizontal wells will reduce the number of wells in the tight spacing drilling campaign and provide robust economics. The methodology and analytical techniques described in this paper can be used for performance-based analysis of a large immiscible gas injection project.