AAPG Bulletin; June 2007; v. 91; no. 6;
p. 847-876; DOI: 10.1306/01090706091
© 2007 American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
Compartmentalization and time-lapse geochemical reservoir surveillance of the Horn Mountain oil field, deep-water Gulf of Mexico
Alexei V. Milkov1,
Evvy Goebel2,
Leon Dzou3,
David A. Fisher4,
Allen Kutch5,
Neal McCaslin6 and
David F. Bergman7
1 BP America EPTG, 501 Westlake Park Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77079; alexei.milkov{at}bp.com
2 BP America, 200 Westlake Park Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77079; GoebelEM{at}bp.com
3 BP America, 501 Westlake Park Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77079; dzouip{at}bp.com
4 BP America, 200 Westlake Park Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77079; david.fisher2{at}bp.com
5 BP America, 200 Westlake Park Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77079; Kutchat{at}bp.com
6 BP America, 200 Westlake Park Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77079; mccaslnf{at}bp.com
7 BP America EPTG, 501 Westlake Park Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77079; David.Bergman{at}bp.com
Alexei Milkov is a petroleum systems analyst for BP. He holds degrees (B.Sc. degree, 1996; M.Sc. degree, 1998) in geology from Saint Petersburg State University (Russia) and Texas A&M University (Ph.D., 2001). Alexei uses his basin modeling and organic geochemistry skills to assist in exploration, appraisal, development, production, and environmental projects around the world. He is an adjunct professor at Cornell University.
Evvy Goebel works as a development and production geologist for BP's Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Production business unit. She earned a B.Sc. degree in geology from Marietta College and an M.Sc. degree in geology from the University of Cincinnati. Evvy has more than 20 years of experience in exploration, development, and production in North America. She is a licensed professional geologist in Texas.
Leon Dzou is a geosciences advisor and a member of the Exploration Excellence Team with BP in Houston. He has 20 years of industry experience. After joining BP in 1997, Leon provided petroleum systems support in exploration, appraisal-development, production, and environmental projects globally. Leon received his Ph.D. in organic geochemistry from University of Texas in Dallas (1990).
David Fisher is a geophysicist for BP's Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Production business unit. He earned a B.A. degree in geology from the University of California–Santa Barbara and an M.Sc. degree in geophysics from the University of Houston. David has worked for BP(ARCO) since 1983, specializing in three-dimensional seismic interpretation techniques applied to appraisal, development, and production projects worldwide.
Allen Kutch works as reservoir engineer for BP's Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Production business unit. He earned a B.Sc. degree in petroleum engineering from Texas A&M University and an M.Sc. degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Houston. Allen has 15 years of production and reservoir experience in the Gulf of Mexico and onshore lower 48 states. He is a licensed professional engineer in Texas.
Neal McCaslin is a senior reservoir engineer in BP's Gulf of Mexico Deepwater Production business unit. He earned a B.S. degree from the University of Texas at Austin in 1985 and has more than 20 years of industry experience. Neal has worked exploration, appraisal, development, and production for ARCO Oil and Gas Company, Vastar Resources, and BP America. He has spent most of his career working in the Gulf of Mexico with the last 10 years exclusively in the deep water.
Dave Bergman is a fluid PVT consultant for BP, providing quality assurance and quality control for laboratory studies, developing equation of state descriptions for reservoir and facility modeling, and teaching fluid PVT and equations of state courses. He has a B.S. degree in chemical engineering from Michigan Technological University, and a master's degree and a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of Michigan. He has worked for BP (Amoco) since 1976.
Oil is produced at the Horn Mountain field (Gulf of Mexico, Mississippi Canyon blocks 126 and 127) from middle Miocene reservoirs M and J. Reservoir facies are characterized as sand-filled channels and associated overbank deposits and are positioned in combination structural and stratigraphic traps. Prior to initial production, several barriers and baffles were identified in both reservoirs by integrating geological, geophysical, petrophysical, pressure, PVT (pressure-volume-temperature relationships), and geochemical data and petroleum-filling history. A compartmentalization risk matrix was developed to facilitate and visualize the integrated evaluation of compartmentalization. During production, in addition to traditional surveillance technologies, we applied time-lapse geochemistry (TLG) to visualize petroleum sweep by monitoring changes in fluid composition and fingerprints across reservoirs. In this technology, appraisal and preproduction fluid samples are first analyzed to map fluid types across a static reservoir. Then, a surveillance program in which fluid samples are taken from producing wells at regular time intervals is designed and executed. The obtained production samples are geochemically fingerprinted and compared with preproduction fluids from the same well and surrounding wells. At Horn Mountain, interpretation of geochemical data allowed us to infer oil movement across reservoir M and helped to reevaluate reservoir models and reduce risks in managing reservoir performance. In reservoir J, an untapped compartment was identified, and an additional producer was justified for future drilling. Time-lapse geochemistry results were consistent with and complimentary to other surveillance data available to date. Our study demonstrates that TLG is a safe and cost-effective technology, which reduces uncertainties associated with other reservoir surveillance methods and appears to be valuable for reservoir management.
Copyright © 2009 by American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG)
