Print this pageAAPG GEO 2010 Middle East
Geoscience Conference & Exhibition
Innovative Geoscience Solutions – Meeting Hydrocarbon Demand in Changing Times
March 7-10, 2010 – Manama, Bahrain
Jurassic Carbonate Tight Gas in North Kuwait: Exploration through Initial Production
(1) FD-Gas, Kuwait Oil Company, Ahmadi, Kuwait.
(2) DCS, Schlumberger, Ahmadi, Kuwait.
Kuwait Oil Company (KOC), as part of the strategy to meet the domestic gas demand, is currently developing the six North Kuwait Jurassic age tight gas reservoirs. Till early 1990s majority of the exploration and production activity in Kuwait was focused on the shallow conventional Cretaceous targets. A paradigm shift in exploration activity with focus on unconventional reservoirs, driven by detailed seismic studies and revised depositional models, led to the discovery of six North Kuwait Jurassic gas fields. These reservoirs, Najmah-Sarjelu and Middle Marrat, are characterized by low porosity (average < 5pu), low permeability (average <0.1mD) and in deep (> 13500f t depth) HP/HT (average 11000psi/280F) sour conditions. Sub-vertical natural fractures are the main contributors for production for the Najmah-Sarjelu reservoir. Though Dolomitization improved reservoir characteristics of Middle Marrat in part of the area, natural fractures play a dominant role in aiding production from this reservoir. A dual porosity Geocellular model, encompassing this large area (~1800sq km) having large gross reservoir thickness (~2200ft), with limited 39 well control is built to understand the HCIP and as an input for the simulation model. A detailed interpretation of log, core, and seismic data helped in refining the depositional model. The Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) models are constrained by seismic attributes for realistic fracture population in the inter-well space. This paper presents the journey from exploration to early production with focus on challenges being faced and the mitigation strategies adopted in modeling and developing these fields.