MATURE FIELDS AND WELL REVITALIZATION

Casabe Mature-Field Revitalization Through an Alliance:

A Case Study of Multicompany and Multidiscipline Integration

The achievements of an alli- Fast-Track

Fast-TrackStudies
Studies
ance between Ecopetrol S.A. and
Field
FieldStudy
Studyand
andFRP
FDP
Schlumberger to revitalize the Casabe FDP
field, a mature field in Colombia, are Execution
Executionand Evaluation
&&Evaluation
Evaluation
highlighted. Challenges were multi- Time
Data Gathering
faceted in this mature complex field.
and Database
Some related to the heterogeneous
Construction Phase
PhaseII Phase IV
PhaseIV
nature of the reservoirs, limited sand
Phase II
PhaseII Phase V
PhaseV
continuity, unfavorable mobility for
the ongoing waterfloods, associat- Static
Static
Phase III
PhaseIII Phase VI
PhaseVI
ed sand production, and wells lost Modeling
Modeling
because of collapses. Reservoir Evaluation
Evaluation
Description and&
Res. Descrip.
Introduction Dynamic Modeling
DynamicModeling Well Behavior
Well Behavior
The Casabe field, discovered by Shell
in 1941, is in the Mid-Magdalena Execution
Execution Fast-
Fast-
Track
Valley basin in Colombia and con- Formulation
Formulationof
tains 1,120 wells. Cumulative pro- Forecasting
Forecasting track
Studies
ofStrategies
Strategies
duction was 284 million bbl of oil
FRP Pilots
Pilots
as of December 2007. The produc- FDP KSDs
tive-formation depths range from Economic and Risk
Economic& Risk KSDs
Analyses
Analyses
2,200 to 5,500 ft. The production
peaked at 46,000 BOPD in 1953 and
achieved a primary recovery factor
of 13% under natural mechanisms. Fig. 1—The FRP workflow for the Casabe alliance. KSD=key strategic
Since 1985, the field has been under decision.
waterflood, which increased recovery
to 19.8%. Waterflooding has been
a challenge because of the very het- Since 2004, the alliance has worked Casabe Field: History vs. Future
erogeneous nature of the reservoirs, to revitalize this mature field to Initially, the Casabe field was under-
sand-continuity complexity, oil vis- increase its value by use of field man- saturated and produced under pri-
cosity, sand production, and wells lost agement. A joint team was assembled mary mechanisms (mainly natural
to collapses. to determine key factors related to the depletion) until the mid-1980s when
past behavior. This method provided a waterflood was initiated. Most of
This article, written by Senior Technology the best way to improve future man- the gas had already been produced,
Editor Dennis Denney, contains highlights agement practices and increase pro- and oil rates were down to 10 BOPD/
of paper SPE 122874, “Casabe Mature- duction. Key factors to be managed well. The waterflood tripled the per-
Field Revitalization Through an Alliance: in the Casabe field are the waterflood- well oil production, but many ineffi-
A Case Study of Multicompany and ing behavior, casing-collapse mecha- ciencies remained, which made it dif-
Multidiscipline Integration,” by L. nisms, and sand-production prob- ficult to obtain better performance.
Marquez, SPE, J. Elphick, SPE, and J. lems. The team developed analytical The field had been declining steadily
Peralta, Schlumberger, and M. Amaya and numerical models to understand at 7%/yr since its secondary-production
and E. Lozano, Ecopetrol S.A., prepared these issues. Some of the models were peak of 14,000 BOPD in the early 1990s.
for the 2009 SPE Latin American and complemented with laboratory analy- Water-injection-rate peaks occurred in
Caribbean Petroleum Engineering ses along with well tests. All areas are 1986 and 1991. These peaks corre-
Conference, Cartagena, Colombia, 31 integrated within the reservoir-man- spond to the waterfloods in the north
May–3 June. The paper has not been agement philosophy, which means and south areas, respectively. Common
peer reviewed. they are all interrelated. to each injection peak was a sudden

For a limited time, the full-length paper is available free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt.

52 JPT • JANUARY 2010

production-rate drop that occured 2
to 3 years after the peaks. These drops
corresponded to the end of fill-up peri-
od after the free gas had been mostly
displaced from the injection region.
Injection loss was also a result of chok-
ing back injection because of water
channeling, sand production, and lost
wells from casing collapse. Casabe is
heterogeneous and highly layered, and
water moves preferentially through the
most conductive sands.
Field-Redevelopment Plan (FRP)
The FRP assembled the findings, solu-
tions, and strategy in an organized
manner and planned its implementa-
tion. The FRP was the main product of
the integrated field study. Fig. 1 shows
the general workflow.
For Casabe, fast-track studies were a
key component to prove concept ideas
and enhance the model. Pilot tests
helped accelerate the learning curve
and incorporate knowledge into the
process to advance the project.
The FRP consolidated plans for the
redevelopment of the field in an orga-
nized and sequential fashion. The FRP
encompassed the following.
• Data acquisition (e.g., 3D-seismic
data)
• Analysis and improvement of cur-
rent reservoir-management practices
• Work packages (e.g., drilling new
producers, including appraisal or injec-
tor wells)
• New development (e.g., waterflood-
extension projects)
• Future analyses needed for the field
(e.g., enhanced-oil-recovery screening)
• Solutions to specific problems (e.g.,
selective completions)
• Basis of designs (e.g., new wells
and completions)
• General strategies (e.g., sand con-
trol, artificial lift)
• FRP updates as results are com-
pared against plans
All these aspects were considered
within an economical-project perspec-
tive, aiming at yielding profits for the
alliance.
Key Strategic Decision. Before creat-
ing a final plan, the following strategic
decisions were formulated focusing on
solving the most effective issues of the
field.
• Focus on fields and/or reservoirs
• Waterflooding (reservoir perspec-
tive)
JPT • JANUARY 2010
• Production/injection technology
• Facilities
• Data collection
• Quality, health, safety, and envi-
ronmental
• Economic improvement
FRP Work Packages. After all the deci-
sions were made, field-work packages
were identified. A work package is a set
of activities with common features that
can be treated and evaluated indepen-
dently (e.g., new waterflood projects in
certain areas or appraisal wells).
Forecasts were prepared with ana-
lytical, numerical, or empirical sim-
ulations, depending on the quantity
and quality of the data available. All
simulation output was collected in a
proxy model, which was validated and
adjusted for those areas in which fore-
casts were off match.
New Technologies
for New Reserves
Three concepts were applied by the
alliance to find undeveloped reserves.
These were attic oil, bypassed oil, and
low-resistivity pay. Attic oil is oil that
is not recovered because well locations
did not reach the higher structural posi-
tions. Seismic interpretation enabled
positioning new wells in key positions
to access the attic oil. Bypassed oil is the
result of poor sweep efficiency. New
testing and logging technologies helped
identify and quantify bypassed oil.
Oil quantification was crucial for
the re-evaluation of the mature field.
Resistivities are affected by the lami-
nated formations with dispersed clays,
leading to underestimation of net pay
with conventional tools. Use of a mag-
netic-resonance tool in combination
with the traditional log suite (induc-
tion resistivity and nuclear tools) was
crucial for identifying and estimating
movable-oil volumes in intervals with
low sweep efficiency. A tool that deter-
mines true resistivity was used to evalu-
ate the effect of clay laminations in oil
sands. Results suggested that net pay
is 8 to 10% thicker than estimated
originally by use of only induction/
nuclear tools. The result was a signifi-
cant change in the original-oil-in-place
(OOIP) calculation.
The new resistivity tool was applied
to identify laminated formations in
which conventional horizontal-resis-
tivity measurements are affected by the
shoulder effect (i.e., shales near thin
pay zones mask and reduce the net-pay
quantification that is based on conven-
tional logs).
Results to Date
The main achievements of the alli-
ance through December 2008 were as
follows.
• The OOIP estimate was increased
by more than 20% after a large static
field study that used the latest sedi-
mentological input from cores and by
use of rock typing to link petrophysical
properties and facies.
• The reservoir doubled its produc-
tion rate, peaking at 12,200 BOPD.
Production would have decreased to
3,800 BOPD had the field continued to
decline as it had been before the alli-
ance was formed.
• Determining reservoir saturations
helped identify oil reserves behind pipe
and the remaining oil saturation for
recompletion purposes.
• Nonproductive time was reduced
for drilling and workover rigs.
• Deferred production has decreased
through closer monitoring and imple-
mentation of automated monitoring
in the 50 best producers in the field.
This technique allowed reducing the
deferred production by more than
5,000 BOPD.
• Processes have been standardized.
• The reserves-replacement ratio has
increased. Field reserves incremented
by some 14 million BO, and the expec-
tations raise them to more than 50
million BO.
• New wells were redesigned to avoid
casing collapse.
• The water-injection rate increased
from 24,000 BWPD to more than
60,000 BWPD.
• Seismic data were managed in an
integrated fashion, including all phases:
design, acquisition, processing, inter-
pretation, and inversion. New oil areas
were identified.
• Well-construction challenges (e.g.,
stuck-pipe problems and long tripping
times) were overcome.
• Waterflooding has been re-engi-
neered.
• Improvements for the local com-
munity included improved local job
opportunities, a school for students
from preschool through fifth grade,
and an emergency response plan that
was designed for the local commu-
nity in case of events such as flooding
or fire. JPT
53