Print this pageAbstract: Application
of Geostatistical 
Modeling
and Reservoir Simulation in Management of a
Turbidite Reservoir Waterflood, Elk Hills Oil Field, California
WIGHTMAN, JEFF, MALCOLM E. ALLAN, and MARK L. WILSON
The Elk Hills giant oilfield, located in the southern San Joaquin Valley of California, has produced 1.1 billion barrels of oil from Miocene and shallow Pliocene reservoirs. 65% of the current 60,000 BOPD production is from the pressure-supported, deeper Miocene turbidite sands.
The Main Body B turbidite sands
of the 31S structure have been produced under peripheral waterflood. Large
porosity and permeability variations in the Main Body B have led to early
breakthrough of water in better quality sands and the bypassing of reserves
in lower quality sands. Reservoir descriptions based on deterministic methods
using cross-sections and traditional geologic mapping have not provided
enough detail to capture the shore-scale stratigraphic heterogeneity needed
for adequate reservoir simulation of the waterflood. An improved reservoir
description was developed in this study using geostatistics which incorporated
electric log and core data. This geostatistical description realistically
depicted the sequences and lateral continuity of the sands and shales within
the reservoir.
A reservoir simulation model
with approximately 60,000 cells was constructed from the detailed geostatistical
description to evaluate future waterflood strategies. A history match of
rates and pressure was obtained through the twenty years of production
history. The simulation
model was used to quantify rate and reserve potential
for infill drilling and conversion of the existing peripheral waterflood
to a pattern waterflood.
Search and Discovery Article #90945©1997 AAPG Pacific Section Meeting, Bakersfield, California