Seismic monitoring to assist heavy oil production - Questions to Olivier Lerat, IFPEN Project Manager

From 2007 to 2010, IFP Energies nouvelles conducted the Hangingstone project, named after a heavy oil field located in the Fort McMurray region in Canada. Working in partnership with the industrial player CGGVeritas, and for the first time in a real scenario, researchers successfully coupled a reservoir model with a geomechanical model to model field production.

Questions to...   Olivier Lerat, Hangingstone Project Manager

What does the Hangingstone project consist of?

O. L.: The objective of the project was to validate the value of SeisMovie™ continuous seismic monitoring technology. This success is contributing to the studies currently underway at IFP Energies nouvelles and is in line with the ambition to support the development and production of unconventional oils.

The Hangingstone field contains heavy oil, which is difficult to recover. The reservoir is highly heterogeneous, with successions of different rocks, making oil circulation difficult. The reservoir parts consist of unconsolidated sands, which are particularly difficult to produce. What's more, the region's climate limits access to the field during the winter. This is a major drawback for the conduct of repeated seismic studies, which are nonetheless essential for reservoir characterization.

Finally, the production system, which uses the steam injection process SAGD - Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage - , is very costly and requires close monitoring of steam chamber development. This is the theme that we have worked on over the past three years, along with our partner CGGVeritas and SeisMovie™ continuous seismic monitoring technology.

What specific tools did you use?

O. L.: We started the project by constructing a geological model on the basis of data and cores taken from the field. We then developed the reservoir model to simulate flows - saturation, temperature, pressure, etc. The new aspect resides in coupling with geomechanical modeling to take into account effects related to the significant temperature and pressure variations encountered in the reservoir following steam injection.

This simulation is followed by petroelastic modeling to generate seismic images, as would be acquired using a SeisMovie™ system. After interpretation, we therefore had information relating to the monitoring of fluid movements during production. These results can be used by oil companies to optimize production and the siting of injection and production wells.

Is the research continuing even though the project has now come to an end?

O. L.: Absolutely. The results obtained are used by CGGVeritas to promote SeisMovie™ as a seismic monitoring system for heavy oil reservoirs. Furthermore, they have made it possible to validate a number of thermal options in our PumaFlow™ reservoir modeling software. Several theses have also been initiated at IFP Energies nouvelles, including one on reservoir and geomechanical model coupling..

The SAGD process is used for heavy oil production - (c) IFP Energies nouvelles

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