--> Abstract: Revisiting Judy Creek: Uncovering 100 Million Barrels of In-Place Oil, by Yuan Z. Ma, Andrew Seto, Dan Edwards, and Ernest Gomez; #90078 (2008)

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Revisiting Judy Creek: Uncovering 100 Million Barrels of In-Place Oil

Yuan Z. Ma1, Andrew Seto2, Dan Edwards3, and Ernest Gomez1
1Data and Consulting Services, Schlumberger, Greenwood Vlg., CO
2Pengrowth Corporation, Calgary, AB, Canada
3Krishelle Enterprises Ltd, Calgary, AB, Canada

Judy Creek Beaverhill Lake ‘A’ Pool is a Devonian reef complex. The pool is one of the largest reservoirs in the giant Swan Hills oil field in northwestern Alberta. A previous reservoir study was conducted more than a decade ago. The recent infill drilling for EOR and by-passed pay required revisiting the field for a new integrated study, incorporating 40 new wells. A more accurate in-place oil estimate using a thorough reservoir modeling approach helped uncover more than 100 million barrels of previously unrecognized oil in this carbonate complex.

A workflow based on 3D reservoir modeling was developed for an integrated reservoir characterization study. Based on detailed petrophysical analysis, it was found that the previous models significantly underestimated reservoir pore volume because of a serious bias in changing scales of well-log porosity with a skewed distribution. The new workflow allowed the model not only to honor the depositional characteristics of the reef complex, but also to honor the intrinsic statistical distribution of well-log porosity, significantly improving subsurface pore space estimation and its 3D distribution. Furthermore, an uncertainty evaluation of stock tank oil initially in-place (STOIIP), based on rigorous geologic and petrophysical analyses, was implemented to provide a probability distribution of STOIIP estimates.

The new STOIIP estimate, with additional 100 million barrels, has significant implications on field development planning to target unswept oil in the reservoir.

 

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90078©2008 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas