Integrated Modeling of a Field of Wells—An valuation of Western Shallow Oil Zone Completion Practices in the Elk Hills Field, Kern County, California

摘要

A fresh or different perspective is essential to discovering newopportunity for successful field development. This papersummarizes a new type of analysis applied to reservoir, well,completion, and fracture stimulation information for thewestern shallow oil zone (WSOZ) completions in the Elk HillsField of Kern County, California. The focus of this analysiswas to identify parameters that are indicators of reservoirquality and to evaluate the effectiveness ofstimulation/completion methods.This evaluation used unstructured modeling methodssupported by the use of standard engineering tools. Ofparticular interest was the identification of ways to helpenhance the economic success of WSOZ completions at ElkHills. When the information derived from this study wasapplied to new completions, well economics improvedsignificantly. This improved success has justified additionalinfield development drilling. Specific objectives included:1. Developing a model or tool to predict production forwells in the field2. Identifying parameters that are indicators ofreservoir quality3. Determining which completion/stimulation methods anddesigns have been successful in the past and using thisinformation to improve the success of future completions4. Using the above understandings to improve fracturecandidate selectionA general objective was to test the applicability andbenefits of holistic modeling methods, such as using artificialneural network (ANN) technology to model WSOZ wells atElk Hills. In this instance, ANN modeling was used todifferentiate the contributions of reservoir quality from thestimulation/completion method on a given well productionresult. The understanding derived from this study influenceddecisions about pay selection, perforating practices,operational procedures, and stimulation fluid andproppant selection.