ABSTRACT: A GIS Case Study of a Petroleum Production Problem in Lea and Eddy Counties, New Mexico

GALLAHER, DAVID W., Petroleum Information Corporation, Littleton, CO

A practical demonstration of GIS technology to evaluate petroleum production problems is illustrated through the graphical integration of several spatial databases: lease, well, wireline log, seismic, and production. This study is notable in demonstrating how a GIS can resolve difficulties in mapping lease and production data.

The map series within a story board progression allows one to visualize issues in the evaluation of land use, drilling history, reservoir characteristics, and secondary recovery. In this sample, the absence of drilling within Sec. 12, T17S, R31E was immediately apparent and became the focal point of the evaluation. The leases in the area were held by production in another section. Seismic information did not reveal any structural features that would have made the acreage unattractive for drilling. Most of the drilling was done in the 1970s with some infill during the 1990s. A waterflood project southeast of the undrilled acreage led to speculation concerning possible reservoir damage and flushing. The Greyburg/San Andres reservoirs are the dominant producers in the area. Cumulative pr duction maps on these reservoirs indicated a concentration of high cumulative oil volumes for producing wells in the waterflood project. Water injection may have flushed the reservoir, making the adjacent acreage uneconomic for drilling.

Because it integrates a large volume of uncorrelated information into an easily interpreted form, a GIS can be invaluable for evaluating petroleum production problems.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91012©1992 AAPG Annual Meeting, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, June 22-25, 1992 (2009)