Abstract

A detailed understanding of the reservoir in the successful operation of mature oil fields is so essential that can be used to determine the optimum recovery method. However, reservoir management and characterization has seldom been carried out by small and medium operators due to lack of reservoir data and technical personnel (Babadagli, 2005). There are thousands of oil and gas fields in mature basins that haven't had the benefit of more detailed study.

In this study, ECLIPSE is used to simulate the South Slattery Field, validated by the history match on primary production. Our goal is to build a general reservoir simulation model for the South Slattery Field, which can be applied for the further recovery process. This study will assist in making decisions on the further recovery scheme and operations.

Based on a satisfactory history match result, it is concluded that the primary drive mechanism is water influx, which accounts for 95%, and other mechanisms, including rock compaction and oil expansion, have a 5% contribution. Since there is very little gas dissolved in the reservoir fluid, the gas drive mechanism can be ignored. After more than 40 years production, the field oil recovery has reached 30%, which implies the reservoir still has plenty of remaining oil in place (10.71MMSTB) that would be suitable for some other form of enhanced oil recovery. It has been determined that the infill-drilling strategy is an effective method that could be taken to enhance oil recovery. The field oil recovery could be enhanced from 34% to almost 40% in the next 10 years. The preliminary result of the polymer flood for the South Slattery Field also draws a promising conclusion: the field oil recovery can be enhanced from 34% to 37% in the next 10 years and the water cut can be greatly reduced within the first several years.

It is recommended that additional reservoir parameters be collected and a more detailed study be implemented because of the large potential for additional oil recovery indicated by this reservoir study.