Integrating New SCAL Technology into Reservoir Management Decisions

By

R. M. M. Smits¹, I. Abu-Shiekah¹, H. Haas¹, X. D. Jing¹, B. A. Schipper¹

(1) Shell E&P Technology and Applied Research, 2280 AB Rijswijk, Netherlands

 In the recent years, several new developments have occurred in the area of Special Core Analysis. We will especially discuss some recent developments impacting dynamic reservoir behaviour.

First, laboratory measurement conditions nowadays are much closer to those of the reservoir. Here, a combination of good quality laboratory measurement techniques is often required to overcome the physical limitations of individual SCAL methods. Moreover, history matching of experimental SCAL data with a reservoir simulator generates more confidence in the measured relative permeability measurements and hence the subsequent reservoir simulation and planning.

Next, measurement and interpretation capabilities are continuously upgraded, to meet the challenges of the continuously changing EP world. Recently, a fully automated steady state set-up capable of handling four samples at the same time (called “Skyscraper”) has been developed and deployed. It simultaneously measures the oil and water relative permeabilities in addition to the resistivity index enabling measurement of Archie’s saturation exponent. The water saturation is continuously monitored by X-ray scanning to check the steady state conditions and enhance the reliability of the technique. A more sophisticated version of the Skyscraper capable of measuring core samples under reservoir conditions (high pressure, high temperature and with crude oil) is being developed.

In the past few years, abovementioned and other new SCAL techniques have been used in the study of complex reservoirs, e.g. gas condensates, oil transition zones and enhanced oil recovery projects. The impact of these studies has been several hundred of millions US$.

Currently, the relationship is being studied between SCAL properties (like relative permeability and capillary pressure) and other rock parameters, to investigate in how far such properties can be obtained from downhole log measurements.