20752-Reservoir Management Training an Lntegrated Approach

7/24/2019 20752-Reservoir Management Training an Lntegrated Approach

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SPE

SPE 20752

Reservoir Management Training: An Integrated Approach

A,Satter,exaco Inc.

SPE Member

z

Co py ri gh t 19S0, So ci et y o f Pet ro leu m En gi neer s In c.

Th is pap er w as pr ep ar ed f or p res en tat io n at l he 651h A nnu al Tec hn ic ai Co nf er en ce an d Ex hi bi ti on of t he So ci el y of Pet rol eu m En gi naar a h ei d m No w Or lean s, LA , Sapl em ber 23- 26, 1SS0.

Thi s papar was ael ec led f or pr es ant al ion by an SPE Pr ogram Commi tt ee f ol lowi ng r ev iew of Inf or mat ion c onl ai nad In an abel racl s ubml ll ad by the author a . Conl ent a of l ie paper ,

as pr es ent ed, hav e not been r ev iewed by the Soc iat y of Pet roleum Engi neer s and ar e s ubj ec t to c or rect ion by Ihe autho s . The mat er ial , aa pr eeent ad, does not nec es sar il y r afl ec t

an y po al ti on of t he So ci et y o f Pat ro lau m En gi naer s, i ta o tf ic er s, or m em bar e. Pap er s p res en ted at SPE m eet in gs ar e s ub jec t t o p ub li cat io n r av iew b y Ed it or ial Co mm it tees of Ih e So ci et y

o f Pet ro leum Enginaara. Permiss ion to copy la real ri ctad toan abst rac t o f not mcfe than 300 words . Il lu st rat io n may nol be cop ied . The abel rac t ahwld con tain c cmplcuous acknow ledgr rmnt

of wher e and by whom t he papar i s pr es enl ed, Wri la Publ ic at ions Manager , SPE, P.0, Sok 833S36, Richardam, TX 760S34S36. Telex , 7S0SS9 SPEDAL.

management

practices are

of paramount

U. S. petroleum reservesare dwindling,and

importance to our domestic energy future.

fewer significantdiscoverieshave been made

Better management will go a long way to

in recent ~;ars.

However, technological

reverse the decliningreservestrend.

advances

all areas

of

petroleum

exploration and exploitation,

along with

Innovative managers and trained personnel

rapidly increasing computing power,

are

are neededto carry out the functionsof the

providing

the tools to better

manage

reservoir management

process.

These

reservoirsto maximize economicrecov=ryof

functions are goal

setting~

planning,

hydrocarbons.

Sound reservoir management

implementing, monitoring, and evaluating.

praoticesare of paramountimportancein the

This paper discusses

training

and

petroleum industry. Innovativemanagersand

professional development using state-of-

trained personnel are needed to carry out

the-art concepts, techniques, and computer

the functions


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2

RESERVOIRMANAGEMENTTRAINING: AN INTEGRATEDAPPROACH

SPE ;0

management training program.

The value of

boundaries of their disciplines, commun

the team concept, and interaction between

cate, cooperate,and work as a team.

engineers,

development

geologists, and

100% commitmentto the tean and the proje

geophysicists

for

successful reservoir

are vital.

managementneeds to be also recognized.

Reservoir

management

has been defined

OFF-

i

ecent y by

Robertson,

Vigginsz, and

Thakur .

Basically,

sound

reservoir

The program should offer:

management practice relies on the utiliza-

tion of available resources (human, tech- 1, Integrated, multi-disciplinary,hig

nological,

and financial)

to maximize

profits from a reservoir by optimizing

technologytraining.

recovery while minimizing capital invest-

2.

Identical

training

for enginee

ments and operatingexpenses (Figure2). We

are managing reservoirs every day, and it

geologists,and geophysicists,lead

to a common overall knowledge of t

can be as easy as pie.

However, what we

reservoir management f ctions, a

really need to do is to examine the quality

working

together reserv

of the pie. In managingreservoirs,we have

to make certain choices.

managementprojects.

Either we let it

happen, or we can make it happen.

We can 3.

Multi-disciplinary

courses,

just pray ~it~~trate some profit from a

prob

session~,

and workshops, relevant

reservoir

careful planning and

the reservoirmanagementprocess.

exploitation, or alternately,we can still

pray, even harder, but also do our part to

4*

look into recovery beyond primary, and

The opportunityto learn state-of-t

art concepts, and techniques and

maximize profits from the same reservoir

through sound

reservoir

management.

gain hands-on

experience with hi

technologycomputer software.

Reservoirmanagement is not synonymouswith 5*

The environment for the trainees

reservoir

engineering and/or reservoir

learn their companystechnologica

geology.

Success requires

lnulti-

well as human resources, foster

disciplinary,int~gratedteam efforts. The

valuable

communication between t

playersare everybodywhcihas anythingto do

technology source and

operating

u

with reservoiroperation: managers,geolo-

staff members.

gists,geophysicists,and engineers,as well

as

research

and development,

service,

YllKL~

environmental, land, and legal personnel.

Too many people are involved to name them

Ideally, everybody who is involvedor w

all.

be involvedin the varioustechnicalaspe

The Crisman Institute for Petroleum Reser-

of reservoir management need this spec

training.

Practically, to be

c

voir Management at Texas A&M University

recently published a manual for petroleum

effective,highly motivatedindividualsw

3-5 years of professional experience

reservoir manag~ment proposing an inte-

grated approach.

The panel talks given by

with leadershippotential are the desira

Wiggins on

llAn

candidates for this training.

Approach

to Reservoir

Experien

Management ,Journel on Geostatisticsfor

professionals

can also benefit from

Reservoir Characterizationto,azaeon Data

advanced

sessionsof

thisprogram,assist

Acquisition

them to update and enhance their capabi

and

Analysisttt Thakur7 on

ties.

The class should include a mix

l~~mplemenkatiO l Of

Reservoir Management

Programl~,

exploitation geologists/geophysicists

and Stileson ~lReservoirManage-

production/reservoirengineers.

ment in Means San Andres Unit provide in-

depth discussions of many aspects of che ~ULD ~

reservoirmanagementprocess.

Professionals with diverse, unique ba

grounds and

expertise

are the

id

instructors to conduct the training.

While technologicaladvanoesand increasing

should be ensured that the instruc

computer

power

are providing

possess good teachingskills. In aase

the

in-housetrainingprogram,aonpanyperson

opportunities for better reservoir should be chosen to teach the traine

management,they also create the problem of

having to train personnel

This way, the traineeewould have aacess

in advanoed

technologyand computer skills so that the

their own company experts

r

consulta

various

functions of

even after the completion their traini

sound

reservoir

However some outside industry expexts

management can be effectivelycarried out.

university

professors

should be a

All personnel involved in one or more

utilized to teach

for

cross-pollination

aspects of reservoir managementshould have

a clear understanding of the rese~oir

management prooess.

Apart from technioal

training, they need to learn how to

aross

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m

SPE 20752

A. StiW3r

3

~

2.

Better

utilization of

company

resources,

human and

technological

Sngineers,

geologists,

and geophysicists,

tools

mought to a common location from the

tarious organizations

of their company,

3. Ensuring

sound reservoir management

flould

learn

together

state-of-the-art

through trained personnel

Zoncepts,techniques,and computer software

.vsedin modern efficientmanagementof oil 4

Improvingcompanyreserves,profitsand

and gas reservoirs.

They should be taught

developmentgeology and geophysics, forma-

net assets through sound reservoir

management

Lion evaluation, production and reservoir

mgineering, enhanced oil recovery, reser-

5.

Enhancing employee motivation and job

/oir simulation, economic evaluation, and

satisfaction.

associatedcomputer techniques.

The method

af training would be

formal classroom

LE

OF

AN

ON GOING

lectures, problem sessions, and workshops

Leadingto a working knowledgeof the latest

~

computer hardware

and proven

software

Texaco

has

been

conducting

packages.

reservoir

management training programs

for their

employees

for almost two decades.

The

En the final phase of the trainingprogram,

teams of engineers geologists, and geo-

company initiatedthis trainingin the early

1970 s for engineers and geologistswith 3

physicistswould work on reservoir manage-

to 5 years of experience.

Training was

rnentprojectsutilizingthe skills acquired

in the previous training sessions.

offered once a year~ starting in September;

Upon

9 months for engineers and 4 months for

returningto their organizations,theywould

geologists.

Much of the training involved

be better prepared

to tackle reservoir

in-houseand outsideclassesand seminarson

management projects and would continue to computer applications, reservoir

enhance their capabilitiesthrough on-the-

job assignments.

engineering,

formation

evaluation,

and

reservoir simulation.

When there were

no

scheduled activities, the traineeshad the

ww SHOULD ~G BE COND~

f

opportunityto work on real life problems,

applying

what they learned in the

Ideally, the training should be conducted classrooms.

in house so that the trainees would learn

the company resources,

both human and

technological,

This training program was made more formal

and be familiar with the

and structured in 1981.

It consisted of

company ways of managing reservoirs and

doing business.

classroominstruction,problemsessions,and

Alternately, a training

hands-ontrainingin computersoftwarepack-

~~d~ could be designed to include formal

ages. All trainees took common courses in

short

courses,

and

on-the-job

computer,

development

geology

and

assignments within the company.

Formal

geophysics,

reservoir

engineering

and

instruction

in

short courses could be

resones determination.

The engineerswere

obtained from universities, professional

offered additional

courses in advanced

societies,and consultants. reservoir engineering, enhanced oil

The in-housetrainingcould be given all at

recovery,reeervoirsimulation,and economic

evaluation. They spent the last fourmonths

one time over a period of months.

Alter-

nately, it could be offered in several

of their 9-month trainingperiod on simula-

tion projects

assigned by their home

sessions,each a month or more in duration?

offices. The geologists and geophysicists

with several month intervals between the

receivedadditionaltrainingin computerized

sessions.

During these intervals, the

trainees

would be assigned to on-going

mapping and had the last two monthsof their

4-month trainingperiod to work on assigned

projects

under the supervision of

projects.

This format of the program was

experiencedreservoirmanagers.

well received by both domestic and foreign

Additionally,

divisions, although the students were not

universities may

consider

developing a

availableto their home organizationsfor an

graduate

level reservoir

extendedperiod

of

time.

xnanagementtraining program utilizingtheir

resources

from geology, petroleum

The 19801s

rWiWW2ir

managementtraining is

engineering, applied mathematics, and now restructuredand shortened to meet the

oomputer saienaesdepartments.

trainingneeds

of

the 1990~s (TableI). The

integrated,multi-disciplinary,high tech-

BE ~

mumu a9-

nology training is being offered in four

sessions, each varying from 4 to 7 weeks,

with several months intervals between the

Many tangib;;o;ndtih.tangibleenefitsaan be

sessions. The sahool is designedto include

obtainad

suggested resemoir

mix of

development geologists and

management training program: ~eophysiaists

along with production and

reservoir engineers.

Prerequisites for

1.

Furtheringprofessionaldevelopmentof

attendanceinaludebasiageologycourseefor

employees the engineers, basia reservoirngineering


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for the geologists and geophysicists,and

for all attendees, basic log analysis and

computer literacy

on PCs and mainframe

computers. An identicalcourse schedulefor

all the students has been developed to

provide a

common

knowledge of reservoir

management functions.

In addition to

attending the courses, students will work

together in teams on reservoir management

projects in the final session.

The author acknowledgesalmost two decades

of contributionsof the students,teachers,

and managersto the developmentof Texacos

reservoir managexnenttraining program.

The

company permissionto publish this paper is

highly appreciated.

1. Robertson, J. D.:

llRe~enoirManage-

ment Using 3D Seismic Data,JPT (July

1989).

2* Wiggins, M. L.: A Manual for Petro-

leum ReservoirManagement,The Crisman

Institute for

Petroleum

Reservoir

Management,

Dept. of Petroleum

Engineering,

Texas

AkH

University,

College Station, Texas, May 1989.

3. Thakur, G. C.:

~~ReservoirManagement

- A SynergifiticApproach ,SPE Paper

20138,

SPE Permian Basin Oil & Gas

Recovery Conferszce, March 8-9, 1990,

Midland,Texas.

4. Wigginst M. L., and Startzman,R. A.:

llAnApproach TO ReservoirManagementtt

SPE Paper 20747, Reservoir Management

Panel Discussion, SPE 65th Ann. Tech.

Conf. & Exb., Sept. 23-26, 1990, New

Orleans, La.

5. Journel,

A. G.:

ltGeoStatiStiCS for

Reeervoir Characterization~t,PE Paper

20750,ReservoirManagementPanel Dis-

cussion, SPE 65th Ann. Tech. Conf. &

Exb., Sept. 23-26, 1990, New Orleans,

La*

6. Raza, S. H.:

Data Acquisition and

Analyaisfl,SPE Paper 20749, Reservoir

Management Panel Discussion, SPE 65th

Ann.

Tech. Conf. & Exb., Sept. 23-26,

1990, New Orleans, La.

7, Thakur, G. C.:

llImplementatiOnOf

Reservoir Management Program , SPE

Paper 20748,ReservoirManagementPanel

Discussion,SPE 65th Ann. Tech. Conf.

& Exb., Sept. 23-26,1990,New Orleans,

La.

8.

Stiles, L.

H.: ReservoirManagement

in the Means San Andres Unitlt,SPE

Paper 20751,ReservoirManagementPanel

Discussion, SPE 65th Ann. Tech,

Conf.

Exb., Sept. 23-26,1990,New Orleans,

La*

4

RESERVOIRMANAGEMENTTRAINING: AN INTEGRATEDAPPROACH SPE 207

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SPEZ07~2

TABLE 1.

EXAMPLE RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT TRAINING PROGRAM

SESSION NO. 1 -

25 Days

Introduction -

1/2 day

Geophysical Methods in Explorat.ion/Exploi.fcation/Production

- 1/2 day

Geological Models Of Depositi~ nal Environments - 4 days

Geostatistics -

4 days

Advanced Well Log Analysis - 5 days

Cornputer-Assi.sted Log Analysis - 5 days

Computer-Assisted Cross-Sections - 5 days

Geostatistics - 5 days

SESSION NO. 2 - 25 Days

Computer-Assisted Mapping - 7 days

Advanced Reservoir Engi.neeri.ng - 5 days

Production Testing and Historical Data - 2 days

Special Core Analysis - 2 days

Production Systems Optini.zati.on - 5 days

Pressure Transient Analysis - 4 days

SESSION No. 3 - 20 I)ays

EOR Recovery Methods - 5 days

Econoni.c Evaluation -

5 days

Geological Reservoir Modeling - 3 days

Field Workshop h Reservoir Modeling - 7 days (2 weekends)

SESSION No. 4 - 35 Days

Reservoir Sirnuliation w 10 days

Reservoir Developxnent Planning - 2 iiays

Reservoir Management Projects - 23 days

373


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1. :

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Wtty Need Reservoir Management Training?

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20752-Reservoir Management Training an Lntegrated Approach