What are the best practices for optimizing petroleum reservoir performance?

2 Reservoir management

Reservoir management is the application of engineering, geoscience, and economic principles to plan and implement the optimal development and production strategy for a reservoir. It involves defining the objectives, constraints, and uncertainties of the project, evaluating the technical and economic feasibility of different scenarios, and selecting the best option based on the expected value and risk. Reservoir management also requires continuous monitoring, evaluation, and adjustment of the reservoir performance and the production operations, using various tools, such as well testing, production logging, tracer tests, and surveillance systems.

3 Well placement and completion

Well placement and completion are the processes of locating and designing the wells that will produce or inject fluids into the reservoir. Well placement aims to optimize the contact between the wellbore and the reservoir, taking into account the reservoir geometry, heterogeneity, fluid distribution, and drainage area. Well completion refers to the configuration and installation of the equipment and devices that control the flow of fluids in and out of the wellbore, such as casing, tubing, packers, valves, screens, and pumps. Well placement and completion affect the productivity, injectivity, and recovery efficiency of the wells, as well as the operational costs and risks.

4 Enhanced oil recovery

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is the use of various techniques to increase the amount of oil that can be extracted from a reservoir beyond the primary and secondary recovery methods. Primary recovery relies on the natural energy of the reservoir, such as pressure, gravity, and gas expansion, to drive the oil to the wells. Secondary recovery involves injecting water or gas into the reservoir to maintain the pressure and displace the oil. EOR methods include injecting chemicals, such as polymers, surfactants, or alkaline agents, to improve the mobility and displacement of the oil; injecting gases, such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, or hydrocarbon gases, to dissolve or vaporize in the oil and reduce its viscosity and density; and injecting heat, such as steam or hot water, to lower the viscosity and increase the flow of the oil.

5 Reservoir modeling and simulation

Reservoir modeling and simulation are the processes of creating and running numerical models that represent the reservoir behavior and performance under different conditions and scenarios. Reservoir models are based on the reservoir characterization data and incorporate the physical, chemical, and thermodynamic equations that govern the fluid flow and interactions in the reservoir. Reservoir simulations are used to predict the future production and recovery of the reservoir, evaluate the impact of different development and production strategies, and optimize the reservoir management decisions. Reservoir modeling and simulation require high-quality data, advanced software, and powerful computing resources.

6 Reservoir optimization

Reservoir optimization is the ultimate goal of petroleum reservoir engineering, which is to maximize the value of the reservoir by finding the optimal balance between the technical, economic, and environmental factors. Reservoir optimization involves applying various methods and tools, such as optimization algorithms, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics, to analyze the reservoir data and model outputs, identify the key performance indicators and constraints, and generate and compare the optimal solutions. Reservoir optimization can be applied at different levels, such as well, field, or portfolio, and can address different aspects, such as production, recovery, costs, or risks.