Time-Lapse Integration at FWU: Fluids, Rock Physics, Numerical Model Integration, and Field Data Comparison

Robert Will, Tom Bratton, William Ampomah, Samuel Acheampong, Martha Cather and Robert Balch
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Robert Will: New Mexico Tech/PRRC, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
Tom Bratton: Tom Bratton LLC, Littleton, CO 80127, USA
William Ampomah: New Mexico Tech/PRRC, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
Samuel Acheampong: New Mexico Tech/PRRC, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
Martha Cather: New Mexico Tech/PRRC, Socorro, NM 87801, USA
Robert Balch: New Mexico Tech/PRRC, Socorro, NM 87801, USA

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 17, 1-24

Abstract: We present the current status of time-lapse seismic integration at the Farnsworth (FWU) CO 2 WAG (water-alternating-gas) EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) project at Ochiltree County, northwest Texas. As a potential carbon sequestration mechanism, CO 2 WAG projects will be subject to some degree of monitoring and verification, either as a regulatory requirement or to qualify for economic incentives. In order to evaluate the viability of time-lapse seismic as a monitoring method the Southwest Partnership (SWP) has conducted time-lapse seismic monitoring at FWU using the 3D Vertical Seismic Profiling (VSP) method. The efficacy of seismic time-lapse depends on a number of key factors, which vary widely from one application to another. Most important among these are the thermophysical properties of the original fluid in place and the displacing fluid, followed by the petrophysical properties of the rock matrix, which together determine the effective elastic properties of the rock fluid system. We present systematic analysis of fluid thermodynamics and resulting thermophysical properties, petrophysics and rock frame elastic properties, and elastic property modeling through fluid substitution using data collected at FWU. These analyses will be framed in realistic scenarios presented by the FWU CO 2 WAG development. The resulting fluid/rock physics models will be applied to output from the calibrated FWU compositional reservoir simulation model to forward model the time-lapse seismic response. Modeled results are compared with field time-lapse seismic measurements and strategies for numerical model feedback/update are discussed. While mechanical effects are neglected in the work presented here, complementary parallel studies are underway in which laboratory measurements are introduced to introduce stress dependence of matrix elastic moduli.

Keywords: 4D; time lapse; CO 2; EOR; WAG; sequestration; monitoring (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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