--> Abstract: Increasing Oil and Gas Recovery in Depositionally Complex Reservoirs, by N. Tyler; #90922 (1999)
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TYLER, NOEL, Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX

Abstract: Increasing Previous HitOilNext Hit and Gas Previous HitRecoveryNext Hit in Depositionally Complex Reservoirs

Reservoir architecture, the internal structure and interrelations of component facies that compose sandstone and carbonate reservoirs, plays a profound role in governing Previous HitrecoveryNext Hit from Previous HitoilNext Hit and gas reservoirs. Facies are the fundamental building blocks of reservoirs and as such either foster or hinder reservoir drainage, impart heterogeneity to the reservoir, and provide the flow units through which the reservoir drains. Reservoirs characterized by complex facies architecture are invariably inefficiently drained as a result of intrareservoir stratigraphic entrapment of recoverable hydrocarbons. These are the reservoirs in which reserve growth will be attained.

Mature, densely drilled fields in Texas are a magnificent natural laboratory to assess the magnitude and residency of the remaining Previous HitoilNext Hit and gas resource. Even in this highly drilled province, Previous HitoilNext Hit reservoirs on secondary production average only 40% Previous HitrecoveryNext Hit, and remaining bypassed and untapped mobile Previous HitoilNext Hit amounts to one-fifth of the original Previous HitoilNext Hit in place. In less densely drilled areas of the United States this remaining mobile Previous HitoilNext Hit resource is even higher.

It is estimated that between 80 and 100 billion barrels of movable Previous HitoilNext Hit will remain at abandonment in heterogeneous reservoirs in the United States. Innovative strategies, such as advanced reservoir imaging, drilling, and completion technologies, are being developed for successfully locating, and producing, this undrained nonresidual Previous HitoilNext Hit. However, critical to the successful deployment of any advanced Previous HitrecoveryNext Hit technology is the detailed knowledge of the internal architecture of the target reservoir. Furthermore, by identifying the geological distribution of moveable Previous HitoilNext Hit, a better understanding of the geological constraints on Previous HitenhancedNext Hit Previous HitoilNext Hit Previous HitrecoveryNext Hit is gained as well. Recent field redevelopment projects in Texas, the Gulf of Mexico, and South America emphasize the importance, and promise, of geologically targeted deployment of Previous HitrecoveryNext Hit technologies in mature, historically low- to moderate-Previous HitrecoveryTop reservoirs. 

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90922©1998-1999 AAPG International Distinguished Lectures