TYLER, NOEL, and D.S. HAMILTON, Advanced Reservoir Characterization Group, Austin, TX; and ROGER TYLER, and S.D. RODGERS, Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin

Integrated reservoir characterization is a demonstrated low cost, low risk approach to fostering reserve growth in mature, and often `marginal', fields along the Texas Gulf Coast. Immersive virtual reality visualization technologies are now being used to elevate the discovery process during integration of the complex multidisciplinary data sets leading to superior reservoir models that enhance the identification of reserve growth opportunities within Gulf Coast reservoirs. The rewards can be large. Recent experience in the US indicates that two-thirds of all reserve additions come from existing fields, and in Texas, we have seen a 40 percent increase in the reserves added on a per well basis. Moreover, in a Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, field evaluation, integrated reservoir characterization including virtual reality imaging resulted in the identification of the residency of approximately 1.9 BSTB of remaining mobile oil and in the delineation of numerous infill wells and recompletion opportunities. Along the Texas Gulf Coast, 3-D seismic virtual reality images have been processed and interpreted to define bypassed gas compartments in the Frio Formation reservoirs as part of the State of Texas Advanced Resource Recovery Program resulting in significant recovery of gas resources. In the next decade, the volumes of incremental oil and natural gas that will ultimately be recovered will be functions of the style of heterogeneity of the reservoir system, the magnitude of the unrecovered mobile oil and natural gas, and the effectiveness of the deployment of advanced reservoir characterization practices and recovery technologies. Incorporating virtual reality imaging to reservoir characterization along the Texas Gulf Coast is the next step to advanced integrated reservoir characterization in the constantly evolving reservoir characterization practice.

TYLER, NOEL, and D.S. HAMILTON, ROGER TYLER, and S.D. RODGERS

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90908©2000 GCAGS, Houston, Texas