Summary
The North Kuwait Jurassic complex (NKJC) consists of six fields with four
potential reservoirs in a naturally fractured Jurassic carbonate formation.
Current understanding of the complex has led to 12 subdivisions of the area and
potentially 48 separate compartments (segments) in the complex. These
subdivisions are defined by fault boundaries supported by a combination of
variations in fluid composition, initial pressures, and free-water levels
estimated from capillary pressure and log saturation data.
Multiscenario production forecasts based on integrated full-field modeling
were needed in the process of building a field-development plan (FDP) for the
NKJC. An integrated asset modeling (IAM) framework is adopted in which multiple
separate reservoir models are coupled through global constraints to meet
gas-delivery targets.
We present the results of a feasibility study to select the optimal modeling
strategy for the complex. We discuss available options to simulate multiple
reservoirs, which, although isolated based on the current understanding of
compartmentalization, need to meet global production targets. We show that
using multiple-reservoirs integration through a controller to couple the
separate reservoir models through global production targets/limits provides an
optimal simulation framework for the NKJC--the flexibility and computational
efficiency of multiple segment models and the comprehensiveness of full-field
simulation modeling.
The solution uses a black-oil delumping technique to obtain compositional
wellstreams while running black-oil simulation models. The feasibility study
demonstrated that black-oil delumping enables the composition and component
molar rates of a producing well from a black-oil reservoir simulation to be
reconstituted accurately. Comparison of results obtained from a compositional
model to those obtained from a black-oil model using black-oil delumping shows
excellent agreement.
The adopted simulation framework provided us with all the benefits of a
compositional full-field simulation model while adding two advantages (i.e.,
computational speed and flexibility). Full computational advantages of
black-oil modeling are obtained while preserving the reservoir details required
for an accurate prediction of well and reservoir behavior.
© 2011. Society of Petroleum Engineers
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History
- Original manuscript received:
18 August 2010
- Revised manuscript received:
5 November 2010
- Manuscript approved:
17 November 2010
- Published online:
16 May 2011
- Version of record:
7 June 2011
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