Make Your Hydrocarbon Reservoir Your Best Friend By Getting To Know It Better

A sandstone is made of quartz grains bound together by a silica cement, yes? And if we are lucky, there are pores between the bound grains that are occupied by oil or gas.

‘There you are, nothing difficult in that’.

Okay, some of the sands have rounded grains whereas some of them are angular.

‘So what’.

Actually some of the grains are not quartz at all, some are feldspar and there are some mica rich layers.

‘Well, still not a problem’.

The cement is also varied occasionally – there is a patchy carbonate cement that reduces the porosity below producible cut offs.

‘Okay, you are just making some problems to confuse us’.

The better quality sand is confined to a lobate entity that seems too thin and pinch out towards the basin, a couple of the recent wells drilled missed it altogether.

‘Well that was just bad luck’.

The lobate entity seems to follow a trend that can be related to a  palaeocurrent direction by study of the bedding dips from well logs and core.

‘Ok interesting but how does that help us?’

How much did those dry holes cost you?

‘As I said, that was just bad luck we will get it right with the next well’.

How much?

‘Only a few million dollars, why?’.

How would you like to make friends with your reservoir get to know him better?

‘I suppose there is no harm in that’.

Do you think that it may help if you knew his characteristics, what he is like, how does he vary, where he is thicker and where he is thinner and where he won’t be found at all? How about knowing where he likes to go and where he may be found with others just like him in a group, and also where he can be found just on his own and knowing how far out he can be found on his own? 

Quite often, he will have shaken off his GPS tag and you will not know where he is exactly, but by now you have spent some time getting under his skin and have really got to know him well. So well in fact that you can look at his latest data charts, maps and sections and you can predict where has gone to. You had never thought of looking for him there before but you really know him now and you are sure this is where he has gone. Not 100% sure of course, as nothing is definite in life. But you have a hunch based on data that you have on him that you have looked at and interpreted, plus by getting to know him well as your best friend, you can feel his presence.

‘Funny I don’t believe in luck anymore’.

‘Don’t ever give up on luck it can help you in life but remember load the dice in your favour, make your own luck don’t rely on it’.

‘It is hard work doing that’.

‘Don’t ever be afraid of hard work. Remember, the harder you work and you will see the luckier you will get’.

So you think that you have it all worked out and yet you have had some disappointments recently and now you have some doubts ‘maybe we didn’t really understand our reservoir as much as we thought we did’ but what can you do about it. Well here is a suggestion – get to know your reservoir as your best friend and sign up for the PetroKnowledge training course on Clastic Reservoir Characterization and Sequence Stratigraphy  to be held in Dubai between the 2nd to 6th of July2017. PetroKnowledge offers several training courses for the oil and gas industry at various venues worldwide.

Go on, put your arms around him and listen to what he has to tell you. Maybe he will share with you his deepest secrets and then there will be success and happiness for all.