Simulation Of High Permeability Viscous Oil Reservoirs In Venezuela, Colombia And Ecuador

Abstract

High-permeability viscous oil reservoirs are common in Venezuela, Colombia,
Ecuador and Peru. They represent a special problem category with respect to subsurface
evaluation and water management. Coning is often the main production problem combined
with sand production. Frequently the reservoirs are well pressure supported by natural
aquifers and early and significant water production is usually observed. The completion
decision is the main decision to take in the development of these fields. This decision has to
be linked to the artificial lift, the reservoir management as well as to the surface facilities.
These fields are often found in fluvial or deltaic depositional env ironments and contain
numerous reservoirs. This paper presents the problems encountered in reservoir simulation
studies of these fields.
The workflow of the reservoir simulation study is often as follows: single well models to
support the understanding of the properties of different rocktypes, simplification of a 3D field
wide property model, choice of a numerical simulator, history match, and production
forecast. The emphasis in this presentation will be put on the initial single well models, the
upscaling of 3D property models to a numerical reservoir simulation model and the choice of
a numerical solver.