Reserves Evaluation and Field Development Forecast for Unconventional Oil in Western Siberia

Abstract

Abstract

Russia is expected to have world biggest unconventional reserves in the world. There are several major unconventional plays on the territory of Russian Federation. The question of determining reserves in unconventional plays is quite important for project success. Main peculiarities of unconventional reserves evaluation are relates to the following issues: no defined trap, no reservoir with measured properties that can be mapped, short-term test only results in a rate but not meaningful pressure needed to determine commercial feasibility of the project, no known fluid contact, highly variable well performance even within the sweet spots.

The paper is focused on the new method of empirical assessment of estimated ultimate recovery per well that leads to the evaluation of the recoverable reserves of the unconventional project. This method can be used for optimizing of well spacing, well completion and fracturing strategy as well as operator's performance.

Nevertheless, many similarities exist in general for the unconventional plays in North America and Russia, it is not possible to apply American experience straightforward to Russia. It proven to fail many times. Comparison of American and Russian unconventional industry and local specifics is covered in this paper.

The proposed method was used for tight oil field development optimization in Western Siberia. The paper discusses practical aspects of proposed technology and its implementation for unconventional projects evaluation and screening.

AAPG Datapages/Search and Discovery Article #90260 © 2016 AAPG/SEG International Conference & Exhibition, Cancun, Mexico, September 6-9, 2016