Final Grade

Stage and Title of Course: MASTERS LEVEL, DRILLING AND WELL ENGINEERING

Module No: ENM200

Module Title: SUBSURFACE

Date: 17.12.20

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2b) Kerogen

Kerogen is the insoluble organic matter in sedimentary rocks. It

composes part of the organic matter in a source rock that can be
changed into petroleum.

Organic matter from dead plants and animals, when in a an

anaerobic environment, decompose to form compounds with
carbon, oxygen and hydrogen. Hydrocarbons are formed from these
organic materials (e.g. amino acids, waxes, lignins etc).

When buried in a low energy anerobic depositional environment,

kerogen is more likely to be preserved. When this matter mixes
with fine grained substances such as clay, this can eventually form
a source rock.

Understanding the conditions the organic matter is

preserved/source rock is form is important to geologists as it helps
to identify possible source rocks and viable reservoirs.

As the organic matter and fine grain sediment is buried deeper, the
organic matter begins to form insoluble high molecular weight
polymers due to increasing temperature and overburden pressure.

Through the catagenic stage, the matter/sediment is compacted

with expulsion of water and reduction in porosity and permeability.
The kerogen produced changes to liquid bitumen to liquid
petroleum.

If the kerogen undergoes extreme burial and heating, it is

converted to graphite and methane.

This helps geologists decide what type of hydrocarbon is available at

given depth. For example, the zone of formation of oil from kerogen
in the catagenetic stages is around 1500-6000ft depth.

Type one kerogen consist most of algal and amporphous kerogen

and are highly probable to develop oil.

Type two kerogen, consists mainly of terrestrial and marine sources

of organic material, which generate waxy oil.

Type three kerogen, from woody terrestrial sources, generally

develop gas.

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This data can help estimate the quality/API/sweetness of the oil
generated for production.

The Green river formation contains oil shale. Oil shale is a fine
grained sedimentary rock, containing kerogen, when heated, forms
crude oil called shale oil. It is source rock that is mature enough but
has not been buried deep enough to have enough heat to generate
oil. The Green river formation has an estimated 3 trillion barrels of
shale oil.

Identification such as this can determine the greatest volume of

hydrocarbons available, and thus revenue.

2c) Turbidites

A turbidite is a layer of sedimentary rocks deposited by a turbidity

current coming to rest on the ocean floor. It is graded with most
coarse grains on the bottom and the finest at the top. There
uniform deposition by multiple turbidity currents. These turbidites
can be oil and gas reservoirs as they have excellent sorting. The
graded bedding forms low porosity sediment on the top layer (like
a cap rock) and courser grains can form reservoir/source rock.

A turbidity current (TC) is a dense mixture of water and suspended

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sediment flowing down a submarine slope, with the contents being
separated by gravity.

For example, when submarine canyons are eroded, material is

transported down submarine canyons by turbidity currents. The TCs
is more dense than the seawater. TC can originate form rivers with
sediment flowing into the ocean.

When a TC stops, the sediment settles out into the water as a

graded bed. Accumulations of TC at the base of a submarine canyon
is a submarine fan. A channel leads out the submarine canyon and
divides into distributary channels on the submarine fan.

Deep water oil production on continental slopes such as the Gulf of

Mexico, western Africa, and Brazil originate from turbidite sands
from fan distributary channels and fans buried in the ocean bottom.
Thus, they usually have high porosities and permeability, making
them good reservoir rocks. They return oil and gas at a high rate,
despite having a high drilling cost in deep water.

For example, the Springs Oil field in the Los Angeles basin, yields oil
and gas from graded bedding of the sandstone, and has an
estimated 622 million bbl.

For example, The Frigg field in the North Sea was produced by a
submarine canyon and fan distributary channel sandstone. The field
was formed by a stratigraphic trap, surrounded by shale (which
acted as both cap rock and source rock). It has been estimated to
produce 7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.

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3ai)

Shale 1 depth: 9880 -9955ft

Sand 1 depth: 9955 -9975ft

Shale 2 depth: 9975 -10020ft

Sand 2 depth: 10020 – 10150ft

Shale 3 depth: 10150-10200ft

Sand 3 depth: 10200-10220ft

Shale 4 depth: 10220 -10320ft

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3aii)

Sand 1 depth: 9955 -9975ft = saturated with oil

Lower fluid contact (oil –water contact) is at 9955ft
Upper fluid conact: (oil –water contact) is at 9975ft

Sand 2 depth: 10020 – 10150ft = saturated with oil

Lower fluid contact (oil –water contact) is at 10150ft
Upper fluid conact: (oil –water contact) is at 10020ft (oil with water
(irreducable)

3b)Using the porosity estimation : sqrt(Porosity(neurton)^2 + Porosity

(density)/ 2) = porosity

For the oil leg of the main sand reservoir:

Porosity (neurton) points: 0.12, 0.09, 0.10

average = 0.10

Porosity density: 0.975, 0.99, 0.98

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Average= 0.98

Using equation, porosity= 0.70

The combination of density and neutron density can detect oil or water
bearing formations, and also determine gas bearing zones, which neutron
logs have difficult, due to the gas effect.

Bulk Density logs measures the electron density of the formation. It can
identify gas bearing zones, evaporate minerals, and complex lithologies
such as shaley sand reservoirs. This is helpful, the relative density of sand
and shale can be compared for estimating net to gross and net pay zone.

The estimating porosity through density requires the density of the matrix
and fluid to be known. This may not be practical as theoretical values for
sandstone may not be accurate, due to diagenetic processes. Fluid density
is difficult to measure until the formation has been drilled, which makes it
difficult to estimate before investing money

Neutron logs measure the hydrogen ion concentration within a formation.

The source of the logging tool collides with nuclei of the formation, losing
energy. The highest loss in energy occurs when colliding with a hydrogen
atom, due to similarity in hydrogen and neutron mass.
Neutron porosity is less in gas zones than in water/oil zones because
there is less concentration of hydrogen in gas than in the mention fluids,
this is known as the hydrogen effect. When used independently, this can
lead to erroneous results for porosity.

3c)

4D seismic data is 3D seismic data obtained over a long period time

across the same area to identify changes in reservoir formation and
production overtime.

Changes such as movement of fluids, saturation, pressure and

temperature.

Technology such as this can add value by predicting plateaus, peaks and
declines in production. Through fluid migration the changing drive
mechanisms can be evaluated and additions made, e.g . injecting gas in a
solution-gas reservoir to maintain reservoir pressure above bubble point,
to ensure more oil is produced rather than gas.

Further water,oil and gas saturation can be predicted.

Changes in overburden pressure can be identified, and shallow gas zones

observed allowing for better safety preparation when drilling.

Gas coning problems can be intercepted, if further perforation occurs, as

the gas cap and bottomwater infiltration zones can be better predicted.

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3d) Twt is two way travel time, meaning the time elapsed for a seismic
wave to travel from a source to a given reflector and return to the
receiver at the Earth’s surface. The minimum TWT is that of a normal-
incidence wave with zero offset (meaning no horizontal distance between
the source and receiver)

An issue that may occur is that stacking seismic data with separated
sources and receivers resembles zero-offset data, which in reality may not
be the case.

The acoustic impedance is a multiplication of density and seismic velocity,

which differs between rock layers. It is difficult to estimate the density of
the large rock section without errors.

The log needs to be adjusted for well deviation and datum level.

An integrated sonic log may be need to provide conversion between

checkshots or VSP points. For calibrated logs will provide time v depth
graph, which TWT relating to any depth can be derived.

4a)

8000x365x5 =14600000 stb (cumulative production)

7000x365x2 = 5110000 stb of water injection after 3rd year (cumulative)
2500x365x5 = 4562500 stb of water since production
Assumptions: Reservoir above bubble point, no free gas, no connate
water exapansion

F = N (Eo + Efw) + WpBw + WiBw + we

Np = N[(Bo – Boi) + Boi ) + WpBw + WiBw + we

N= [55000 x 0.17 x (1-0.2) x 7758/1.25 ] +5110000x1.03

+1.03x4562500

=56386547 stb

4ai) N= [55000 x 0.17 x (1-0.2) x 7758/1.25 ] +5110000x1.03

+1.03x4562500

=56386547 stb

4aii) units of Answer in stb

4aiii) Oil expansion

4bi) The measure of the rate of change of pore volume with change of
reservoir pressure.

4bii) The ability to preferentially flow or transmit a particular fluid when

other immiscible fluids are present in the reservoir (e.g the effective
permeability of oil in an oil-water reservoir)

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4biii) the pressure differential between two immiscible fluid phases
occupying the same pores caused by interfacial tension between the two
phases that must be overcome to initiate flow.

4biv) Fraction of pore volume occupied by oil at the end of oil

displacement that used a specific fluid. Residual oil saturation is the ratio
of the immobile residual oil volume divided by the effective porosity.

4ci) A unit-less factor calculated to find the production efficiency of a well

by contrasting the actual conditions with the ideal conditions. A positive
skin value means damage has occur which is impairing the well
productivity. Damage can be caused by fines migration and invasion,
reducing permeability. A negative skin denotes enhanced productivity, in
which permeability is increased. It is also defined as the zone around the
wellbore influenced by formation damage and mud-filtrate invasion.

4cii) Use clay swelling inhibitors. This increases the absolute permeability
of the formation, reducing the formation of skin between the wellbore and
formation

Acidization can be used to increase permeability

Use water based muds, as most reservoir rocks are water wet, and
wettability reversal can occur if oil is used (reduction in relative
permeability).

Bactericide can be used to reduce growth of sulphur reducing bacteria,

which reduce injectivity and productivity.

5a) Using critical values from data sheet

5ai) specific gravity = Molar mass (gas)/molar mass (air) = 20.5/28.96

=0.71 [no units]

5aii)

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Assuming Z=1 at standard conditions

Density at standard conditions= mass x pressure (standard)/Z(standard)

x R x T (standard) = 20.5*14.7/1*10.73* (60+460) = 0.054 lb/ft^3

Pseudo reduced pressure = 5400/661.46 = 8.16

Pseudo reduced temp = (230+460)/ (-65.4693 +460)=1.75

Using standing-katz chart, Z= 1.3

Gas density at reservoir conditions= average molar mass x P/Z x R x T

=(20.5*5400)/1.3*10.73*(460+230) =11.5 lb/ft^3

5iv)

Gas volume factor (bg)= Zr x Tr x Ps / Zs x Ts x Pr

= (1.13*394.53*14.7)/(1*520*661.46) = 0.019 bbl

0.019/5.615 = 3.38 x10 ^-3 rb/scf

Gas initially inplace : V(bulk) * porosity x (1-swc) x7758/Bgi

=40000*35*0.17*(1-0.13)*7758/3.38 x10 ^-3 = 4.75x10^11 scf

5b)

In the Z chart:

Difficulty in interpreting reduced temp curve with values between lines

Shape of Tr hard to predict, meaning estimated values may not be

accurate.

Only accurate to values of Tr to 1 decimal place.

Difficulty in reduce temperature lines crossing each other, making it

difficult to be certain of the values.

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5c)

Equation of state predicts properties based on individual components.

Correlations are quick to use but require a fixed composition (limited
compositions available).

EOS can be complex to build and match but can be sued if compositions
change

Correlations use a wide database of fluid property laboratory reports, but

are expensive and time consuming to obtain.

Correlations predicts a wide range of properties such as: bubble point, oil
volume factor, GOR and oil viscosity (using oil gravity, gas gravity and
solution GOR as inputs)

5d)

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Compaction drive – withdrawal of fluids from reservoir results in a
reduction in the fluid pressure, increasing the grain pressure. The
increased pressure between the grains, cause the reservoir to compact,
which may cause subsidence at the surface.

Natural water drive – a drop in the reservoir pressure, due to production

fluids, causes the aquifer water to expand and flow into the reservoir.
Water influx = aquifer compressibility x initial volume of water x pressure
drop

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