Genesis 4D Project — Design and Execution Overview

Bernard Regel¹, Tom Hudson¹, John Bretches², Phil Inderwiesen³, Pat Condon⁴, James Rickett⁴, and Frank Descant^5
1ChevronTexaco North America Upstream Exploration and Production Company, 935 Gravier St., New Orleans, Louisiana 70112
²ChevronTexaco Energy Technology Company, 1500 Louisiana, Houston, Texas 77002
³ChevronTexaco Energy Technology Company, 4800 Fournace Place, Bellaire, Texas 77401-2324
⁴ChevronTexaco Energy Technology Company, 6001 Bollinger Canyon Rd., San Ramon, California 94583-2324
⁵ChevronTexaco Overseas Petroleum, Avenda Lenine #77, Caixa Postal 2950, Luanda, Angola

The Genesis Field, located in deep-water Gulf of Mexico, 150 miles southwest of New Orleans, is a combination of stacked structural and stratigraphic traps on the east flank of a faulted, salt cored ridge. The field consists of over-pressured, under-consolidated, Pliocene to Pleistocene aged turbidite reservoirs, at sub-sea depths between 11,000 to 15,000 feet. Most of the reservoirs contain under-saturated, moderate GOR (1000:1 to 2000:1) oils. Since first production in 1999, over 100 MMBOE have been produced.

The rock properties and seismic response of the reservoirs make Genesis an excellent field for the application of time-lapse 4D seismic as a tool to exploit reservoir changes over time. The 4D survey goals were to provide a better understanding of reservoir changes with time and optimize the management of the field. Improved management of the field was to be accomplished through identification of by-passed reserves, better selection and positioning of sidetrack targets, and more accurate reserve estimates. Targeted reserves would be lower risk and have lower cost per barrel as a result of the 4D survey.

The history of ChevronTexaco's first 4D survey in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico will be presented chronologically from technical and economic feasibility studies, through survey design, acquisition, and processing. Designing and completing a time-lapse seismic survey for maximum repeatability with real-world constraints was a difficult challenge and the lessons learned are presented.

This project is a technical and economic success made possible by the multi-functional intra- and inter-company personnel working together as a team. Communication was excellent throughout the entire project. The goal to deliver a high quality product in a safe and timely manner was accomplished.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90080©2005 GCAGS 55th Annual Convention, New Orleans, Louisiana