화학공학소재연구정보센터
SPE Reservoir Engineering, Vol.12, No.3, 157-161, 1997
New tools target oil-quality sweetspots in viscous-oil accumulations
Shallow oil fields frequently contain oils that not only have low oil gravity and high viscosities, but are also highly variable in terms of these properties. It is thus crucial to gather sufficient oil-quality data to sample a statistical cross section of the oil population This paper describes how oil gravity and dead-oil viscosity can be predicted from geochemical parameters that can be measured on core or sidewall core samples, thus allowing oil samples to be accessed with greater spatial coverage than could reasonably be achieved with conventional fluid sampling. This technique is demonstrated on cored wells from the large Schrader Bluff viscous oil accumulation in Milne Point, Alaska. An oil can inherit a particular oil gravity or viscosity for a variety of causes. Consequently, spatial variations in such bulk-oil properties can be difficult to map empirically simply by contouring data because more than one controlling factor may be operative. A major step forward in fluid mapping is to identify and quantify these controls and map the controls. In Schrader Bluff the controls were discovered to be the degree of biodegradation and the presence of an in-mixed second charge of (Light) oil. Variations in these processes can be tracked with geochemical parameters and mapped with a much greater degree of certainty than the bulk-ail properties. The resulting individual maps may then be combined to predict oil gravity and viscosity. Conceptual models exist for these processes, opening the possibility of model-driven prediction of oil properties and sweetspots in areas away from well control.