SPE 124315

Technology for Determining Reservoir Pressure From Mud Log Gas

Improves Mature, Tight Gas Asset Performance: A Case Study of Ada Field,
North Louisiana
S.G. Lapierre, B.H. Prine, and H.M. Pickrel, ConocoPhillips

Copyright 2009, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2009 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, 47 October 2009.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
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Abstract
A mature tight gas field in North Louisiana that experienced dwindling performance and erratic predictability spurred the
creation of an alternative technology that boosted production rates and minimized completion costs. An average production
rate uplift of 108% shown on three wells resulted from modifications to mud logging operations; careful interpretation and
integration of data; and the addition of new, proprietary transforms. The resultant technology provided a variety of useful
information with little or no additional cost or mechanical risk.
When conventional wireline technology proved both technically and economically unsuccessful, an alternative
technology was needed to determine reservoir pressure from mud log gas with sufficient resolution to support zone selection,
completion design, and the identification of bypassed pay. This document describes the proprietary technology and a variety
of specific applications employed by the development team. Production logs and conventional pressure measurements
demonstrate the performance increases achieved by incorporating this technology into the development program.

Introduction
Ada field in North Louisiana contains an abundance of stacked, poorly connected, fluvial/shallow marine reservoirs that are
difficult to correlate from well to well and predominantly irresolvable with available 1993 vintage 3D seismic data.
Production began in mid 1960. Currently, the numerous individual reservoirs show pressure gradients ranging from a fully
depleted 0.06 psi/ft to an original pressure of 0.54 psi/ft. Limited-entry fracture stimulation and co-mingling of production
meant that loss of production to thieving by depleted reservoirs and stimulation effectiveness were ever present limitations to
individual well performance.
After going through multiple stages of down-spacing, the field was undergoing a hybrid down-spacing to approximately
20 acres per well, based on detailed mapping of extensive faulting that further compartmentalized the field. A typical well in
this field encounters 600 feet gross sand (300 feet net reservoir) comprised of 20 to 60 individual sandstone layers. Sandstone
thicknesses range from 3 to 50 feet. Typical reservoirs have porosities of 4% to 10% with permeabilities of 0.001 to 0.1 mD.
Wells initially produce dry gas at a rate of 2 MMcf/d with EURs in the range of 1 Bcf.
Formation pressure testing with current wireline technology in up to 60 zones per well proved to be uneconomic. A
program similar to that described by Schrooten, et al.1 was used, but a variety of difficulties resulted in an undesirable
cost/success ratio. Wireline pressure tools were also proven ineffective in the majority of their applications due to (1) low
permeabilities requiring impractical lengths of time on station; (2) supercharging producing unrepresentatively high
pressures; in addition to (3) tool-sticking problems that frequently resulted in fishing operations.
The new technology was based on the common drilling experience that showed relative pressure between the drilling and
formation fluids had a marked effect on the magnitude of gas show observed at the surface. The apparently robust nature of
this gas-reducing effect led the Development and Technology teams to pursue a characterization of the fundamentals
controlling it. Conversion of this phenomenon into a quantifying tool required reconciling discrepancies among uncommon
depth references, inherent error, and vertical resolution. By applying the combined gas laws (relating gas volumes, pressures
and temperatures) to basic elements from drilling engineering, reservoir engineering, mud logging, and petrophysics, the
team transformed the drilling and logging operations themselves into a single, large-scale measurement apparatus. The new
technology for Geobaric Thermal Volume Analysis (GTVA) exploits the gas-reducing effect of increased relative pressure
(i.e. increased over-balance) to (1) quantify pressure, (2) quantify formation gas content, and/or (3) predict mud cut in gas-
bearing formations.