Reservoir characterization and process monitoring with EM methods. 1994 Annual report

摘要

During the past five years at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) the authors have applied the EM induction method to the problem of petroleum reservoir characterization and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) monitoring. The goal is to develop practical tools for determining the electrical resistivity distribution between boreholes at a useful scale for reservoir characterization. During FY94 the authors conducted their largest field test to date. They applied crosshole and surface-to-borehole EM techniques to reservoir characterization at the Los Hills No. 3 oil field making three sets of measurements during the initial phase of the steam drive. From these data, they were able to determine the resistivity and configuration of the oil sands, between the observation wells, and provide an image of the subsurface resistivity changes due to the steam drive. They also conducted a waterflood experiment at the Richmond Field Station facility using the borehole-to-surface EM technique. For this test they injected a small quantity of saltwater, and applied the Em technique to monitor the progress of the injected plume. Data collection for this experiment is complete but the results are yet to be interpreted. Finally, a project to understand EM propagation through steel casing was initiated in 1994. The goals of the experiment are to determine the limits and applications for crosswell EM surveys through steel well casing.