Herboldsheimer Oilfield References

Herboldsheimer Oilfield References

Herboldsheimer Oil Field (Western Nebraska):
Coral Production Corporation, Denver, CO
Project: A quick method to evaluate waterflood success - Coral Production plans to install a waterflood in the Herboldsheimer field, in the western Nebraska section of the Denver-Julesberg Basin. The success rate of waterfloods in the area is mixed, with Basin operators typically failing. Various causes for the failures include the presence of depositional channels and high free-gas saturation at the end of primary production, preventing formation of an oil bank; wettability problems -- the tendency of a fluid to adhere to the pore walls of reservoir rock; and fractures adversely affecting the flow of oil.

Because the D-J Basin comprises mostly small independent operators who lack in-house laboratory facilities and access to special core and fluid analyses, Coral Production will use the new computational intelligence technology to model field information available in the public domain (Nebraska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission). The calibrated simulation model can then be used to predict future performance with a high degree of confidence. A significant use would be calculating the ratio of secondary production to primary production (S/P). An S/P ratio of less than 0.5 is considered an economic failure, so a means of rapidly and inexpensively estimating secondary recovery reserves as a function of primary recovery would provide a gauge of potential success for a waterflood.

Coral Production will use this technology to evaluate the probability of a successful waterflood at the Herboldsheimer field. Operational and oil data from 164 D-J Basin sand units will be analyzed using "fuzzy logic" and neural network techniques to develop correlations of secondary production to primary production performance ratios and the field and oil information. A ranking technique will rate individual parameters such as field location, producing horizon, production and other field and reservoir characteristics. The high-ranking parameters will then be correlated with the secondary production to primary production (S/P) of a portion of the waterfloods in the database. S/P predictions will be made for the remaining waterfloods, and neural network correlations based on the entire data set used to predict the secondary reserves from waterflooding the Herboldsheimer field.

The prediction of the S/P ratio will provide a quick means of evaluating the probable success of waterflooding not only in the Herboldsheimer field but, if successful, can be used to evaluate the many D-J Basin wells that are depleted and temporarily abandoned. Computational intelligence screening of technical merits and estimating secondary reserves would prevent the premature plugging of these potentially valuable assets.

Coral Production's cost share for the 24-month project will be $125,000, and DOE will provide federal funding of $75,000. The project contact is James R. Weber, 303-623-3573.Reference- http://www.fe.doe.gov/techline/techlines/1999/tl_indoil3.html

dead links-
http://www.pttc.org/tech_sum/ts_267.htm
http://www.pttc.org/news/v7n2nn6.htm
http://geology.cr.usgs.gov/crc/data/NE/ne-cotrs.htm