Mapping Uncertain Water Contact by High-Definition Reservoir Mapping Technology: A Novel Methodology for Pilot Removal, Umm Ghudair Field in Kuwait

AlHajri, Naser; Al Khaldy, Ali Dawood; Hassan, Jassim; Dashti, Reham; Kader, Mohammed; Gupta, Satya; Zainab	Al-Buloushi, Zainab	Al-Buloushi; Mohamed Siam, Mahmoud; Jma Ramadan, Zeyad; Moustafa Abdelbaset, Shady; Chang, Catherine; Khaled Alhasan, Ahmed

doi:10.21608/jpme.2024.323209.1214

Mapping Uncertain Water Contact by High-Definition Reservoir Mapping Technology: A Novel Methodology for Pilot Removal, Umm Ghudair Field in Kuwait

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Head of the Department Department of Petroleum Engineering PAAET Kuwait

² Team Leader, Drilling Department Kuwait Oil Company

³ Sr. Drilling Engineer Drilling Department Kuwait Oil Company

⁴ Drilling Department Kuwait Oil Company

⁵ Drilling Specialist, Drilling Department Kuwait Oil Company

⁶ Schlumberger Kuwait

10.21608/jpme.2024.323209.1214

Abstract

Umm Ghudair Field, located in West Kuwait, is a significant oil-producing area. The Lower Cretaceous Minagish Oolite Formation developed in 1962, and since then, over 200 wells have been drilled to extract oil from this reservoir. The formation consists of three units: Lower, Middle, and Upper. While the lower and upper units are not reservoirs, the middle unit contains hydrocarbons. However, due to continuous production over the last five decades, the field has experienced a fluctuating increase in its oil water contact (OWC). This uncertain rise in OWC has affected the planning and production of newly drilled deviated and horizontal wells. Several recently drilled wells exhibited water breakthrough much sooner than anticipated.

In an effort to proactively anticipate the current OWC depth in upcoming wells, Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) has decided to experiment with the new High-Definition Reservoir-Mapping-While-Drilling (HD-RMWD) technology in one of their horizontal wells. In this work, the goal is to evaluate the technology's capability to identify and map the current OWC while positioning the well in the desired location. With its detection range of over 200 ft, the technology allows for early proactive adjustments to the landing point to accommodate any unforeseen OWC depth changes in the field.

This paper is considered a road map for mapping the uncertain water contact in general for any field and demonstrates the success of its techniques for mapping out the orientation, thickness and geometry of the sand channels. Deep resistivity images offer data and information able to ...

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