Joint Industry Project: Sustainable Hydrocarbon Recovery in Unconventional
Reservoirs
Thrust Area 4: Reservoir Characterization and Simulation under Uncertainty
The
University of Kansas’ (KU) Chemical
and Petroleum Engineering (C&PE), Tertiary Oil Recovery Program (TORP),
Department of Geology (GEOL), and Kansas Geological Survey have started
a collaborative work dedicated to
developing novel reservoir characterization and simulation models. Part of
this investigation will focus on reuse of produced water to prepare
hydraulic fracturing fluids.
Principal Investigator (PI):
Dr. Reza Barati
(C&PE, reza.barati@ku.edu, 785-312-4442)
Co-PIs:
Dr. Jyun-Syung Tsau (TORP, tsau@ku.edu),
Dr. GeorgiosTsoflias (GEOL, tsoflias@ku.edu)
Dr. John Doveton (KGS, doveton@kgs.ku.edu)
Dr. Lynn Watney (KGS, lwatney@kgs.ku.edu)
Dr. Tandis Bidgoli (KGS, tbidgoli@kgs.ku.edu)
Dr. Hajar Aghababa (IPSR, hajara@ku.edu)
Mr. Yevhen Holubnyak (KGS, eugene@kgs.ku.edu)
Team:
Graduate research assistant (2)
Projects
1.
Improved
reservoir characterization
Using improved correlations between seismic data and fracture
properties, a more representative fracture network/property model
for shale reservoirs capable of adjusting the fracture spacing based
on the fracture characteristics of the reservoir is developed.
Regional and local stresses-fields and reservoir structural elements
and critically stressed surfaces will be applied to identify and
develop comprehensive geomechanical models. A full model including
all the geomechanical, geochemical, petrophysical and geophysical
aspects will be prepared and a “fracability” index will be mapped.
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2.
Reservoir modeling
Developing a small scale model for production from a naturally
fissured shale block that captures the full physics behind the shale
gas/oil production. This model will then be extended to reservoir
scale models and gas injection applications using unstructured grid
simulation schemes. |
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3.
Production optimization under uncertainty- shale oil/shale gas reservoirs
Various drilling, fracturing and injection scenarios to improve production from
ultra-tight, organic rich unconventional reservoirs are investigated and
optimized subsurface locations and drainage strategies under uncertainty will be
recommended. Investigation of optimal completion strategies, including partial
open-hole completions will be performed. Productivity indexes have been
developed for shale reservoirs and will be used to optimize production.
4.
Seismic methods for production optimization
Develop seismic technology for optimizing production of unconventional
reservoirs. Assess surface seismic methods, multi-component, time-lapse
and borehole micro seismic monitoring. Conduct pilot characterization
study of organic-rich shale plays.
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5.
Characterization to shales and associated tight rocks.
Characterize the full spectrum of tight rocks that are associated with shales in
the context of their depositional and post depositional history. Construct
refined stratigraphic and petrophysical models to improve prediction of the
spatial distribution of geomechanical properties.
Benefits to industry
·
Strong track
record with industry-focused research.
·
Access to
faculty and researchers who are experts in their field.
·
Opportunity to
meet students actively engaged in research, trained from a solid community of
faculty that have industry training and value industry sponsored projects.
·
Extensive
experience working with oil producers to perform field tests.
·
Fully equipped
laboratories and computational capabilities.
Experience
By bringing
together C&PE and GEOL faculty members as well as TORP and KGS researchers, KU
has created a cross-disciplinary team that understands both water quality issues
and the needs of the oil and gas industry.
The project
team includes C&PE, GEOL, TORP, and KGS researchers and faculty members with
extensive experience in the areas of reservoir characterization, reservoir
simulation, and seismic interpretation. Specific areas of expertise include:
·
Reservoir
stimulation expertise in the areas of fracture conductivity, API static fluid
loss, dynamic fluid loss, shear loop studies under wellbore and fracture
conditions, HPHT rheology, foam rheology capabilities, acid fracturing and
matrix acidizing.
·
Interpretation
of seismic data, 3-C, AVO analysis and inversion, anisotropy analysis and
fracture mapping. Prediction of reservoir properties using multi-attribute
seismic analysis
·
Regional,
field, and reservoir scale characterization, including petrophysics, water and
rock geochemistry, reservoir properties, geomechanics, and reservoir systems
·
Characterization of reservoir structural elements, natural fractures, and
geomechanical regional and local stress-field analysis
·
Petrophysics
and mathematical geoscience applications to both conventional reservoirs and
resource plays.
·
Fracture
cleanup and propagation software
·
Application of
nanoparticles to improve conductivity of hydraulically-induced fractures
With an
experienced crew in serving the needs of the oil and gas industry in Kansas and
beyond, performing research in the lab with close ties to the field application
is the main objective of our JIP. Our abilities in responding to the need of oil
and gas industry have resulted in several successful field trials in the past.
Key Personnel
Dr.
Reza Barati,
the Principal Investigator, is a Petroleum Engineering Assistant
Professor in the Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering (C&PE)
at the University of Kansas (KU). Reza is experienced in managing
successful research projects that have been conducted in conjunction
with industry and the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE). He managed
two industry projects in the area of core characterization and chemical
flooding of the Minnelusa formation while working at the Enhanced Oil
Recovery Institute (EORI) in Wyoming as a member of the Minnelusa
Consortium. He has been the PI of two projects funded by SPE and Kansas
Interdisciplinary Consortium (KICC) since he started his new position at
KU. |
Dr. Jyun-Syung Tsau, a Co-Principal Investigator, is an Associate Scientist and Director of CO2 Flooding & Sequestration/Reservoir Management & Simulation for the Tertiary Oil Recovery Program at the University of Kansas (KU). He has twenty-plus years of experience in conducting research on oil recovery techniques and has worked on projects related to CO2 miscible/near miscible injection, CO2 foam for mobility control, and reservoir simulation. He has a record of successfully conducting research projects for the Department of Energy and other agencies. His research interests are in carbon dioxide application for IOR in conventional and unconventional plays, phase behavior, foam mobility control/stimulation and numerical simulation. |
Dr. GeorgiosTsoflias, a Co-Principal Investigator, is an Associate Professor of Geophysics in the Department of Geology at KU. George has ten years of industry and government experience in seismic interpretation for development of hydrocarbon resources in offshore Gulf of Mexico, Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma. His research at KU over the last eleven years has focused on high-resolution geophysical methods for imaging flow in fractured rocks, and exploration seismic methods for the study of unconventional resources in the midcontinent. |
Dr. Lynn Watney, a Co-Principal Investigator, is a Senior Scientific Fellow with the Kansas Geological Survey and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Geology at the University of Kansas. He has over 38 years of experience in regional and field-scale petroleum geology. He has conducted collaborative research since the late 80’s funded by Department of Energy and the petroleum industry including recent efforts in the utilization of CO2 for EOR. |
Dr. John Doveton a Co-Principal Investigator, is a Senior Scientist with the Kansas Geological Survey and Adjunct Professor in the Departments of Geology and Chemical and Petroleum Engineering (C&PE) at the University of Kansas (KU). He has over forty years of experience in petrophysics and mathematical geoscience applications to reservoir characterization. He has published four books on petrophysics including the recent (2014) “Principles of Mathematical Petrophysics”. |
Dr. Tandis Bidgoli, a Co-Principal Investigator, has contributed to a number of industry projects as a structural geologist for ExxonMobil. She has also participated in a several externally funded research projects focused on faults in Nevada. She recently joined the KGS (January 2014), but brings significant petroleum geology and structural analysis expertise to the project. Tandis serves as a Co-Investigator for several DOE sponsored projects at KGS. |
Dr. Hajar Aghababa, a Co-Principal Investigator, is an economist and a research associate in Institute for Policy and Social Research (IPSR) at the University of Kansas. Her primary research focus is energy market. She has also taught courses in the area of uncertainty and decision analysis in the unconventional reservoirs for well-known service companies. Hajar has a strong statistics background and worked on collaborative projects in the area of optimization of oil and gas production from unconventional reservoirs under uncertainty. |
Mr. Yevhen Holubnyak, the Co-Investigator, is a Petroleum Engineer at Kansas Geological Survey (KGS) at the University of Kansas (KU). Yevhen managed and worked on numerous projects which were performed in conjunction with Department of Energy (DOE) and industry partners, for instance, he managed Souring of Bakken Reservoirs study and performed reservoir modeling and characterization on several CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery projects while working at Energy and Environmental Research Center in North Dakota. Currently, Yevhen is a Co-Investigator for several DOE sponsored projects at KGS. |
Facilities
Our labs
are equipped with high performance computers equipped with 8 cores 512 GB
RAM , 12 cores 48 GB of RAM and high performance graphics card for large scale
reservoir simulations. Commercial softwares available in the lab include Ocean,
PetroMod, PipeSim, Techlog, Eclipse and Petrel from Schlumberger, Winprop, IMEX,
GEM, STAR, CMOST from Computer Modeling Group, Inc. Seismic data interpretation
and analysis software includes IHS Kingdom, CGG Hampson-Russell, ikon Science,
and VISTA for in-house seismic data processing. Moreover, in-house modeling
capabilities will be used for this thrust area.