Much recent work on automatic history matching and data assimilation has focused on the adjustment of simulator gridblock permeabilities and porosities. Here, we show that when production data are assimilated into reservoir models with the ensemble Kalman filter, it is relatively easy to account for uncertainty in the depths of the initial fluid contacts and provide estimates of these depths in...

Steam-Assistant-Gravity-Drainage (SAGD) has become one of the most commonly used thermal recovery processes to extract heavy oil from oil sand reservoirs, especially in Northern Alberta, Canada. However, due to geological history, interbedded shales (IBS) in the reservoir act as barriers due to their low permeability and as such hinder the progression of the steam chamber. Cap-rock integrity al...

A three-dimensional poroelastic model is developed to investigate the poroelastic effect of fluid injection into a geothermal reservoir. In the model, the fluid flow in the fracture is assumed to be lubrication flow and modeled by the finite element method. The threedimensional pore fluid diffusion in the reservoir and the induced stresses are modeled by the boundary integral equation method. T...

Abstract Steam-water capillary pressure is often either ignored or determined artificially in geothermal reservoir engineering. However steam-water capillary pressure plays an important role in geothermal reservoir performance and may not be substituted by air-water capillary pressure. To this end, preliminary mathematical models have been developed to calculate drainage and imbibition steam-wa...

Particle Scale Reservoir Mechanics — This paper summarizes some developments and applications of discrete particle modelling based on the commercial code PFC (Particle Flow Code). The following examples with relevance to geomechanical reservoir behaviour are described: – Numerical and experimental results are shown illustrating nonlinear evolution of depletion-induced compaction and stress path...

We develop a case study planning process by using a strategy for balancing reservoir uncertainties (rock properties), optimum field development scenario (rate schedule and start time) and associated risks in the capital expenditures (price inflation and discount factor). The objective of this development is to recover dry gas reserves from five recently discovered fields in the most cost-effici...

Fluid pressure inside a borehole produces hydraulic fracture and damage zones in the vicinity of the borehole. These fractures result from stress concentrations around the borehole. The results of numerical simulation of a borehole subjected to fluid pressure using a micromechanical damage model [2] are presented in this paper. It is observed that tensional concentrated stresses are generated a...

The main challenge facing the oil industry is to reduce development costs while accelerating recovery with maximizing reserves. One of the key enabling technologies in this area is intelligent well completions. Intelligent well technology (IWT) is a relatively new technology that has been adopted by many operators in recent years to improve oil and gas recovery. Intelligent well completions emp...