US 6,886,632 B2 · Estimating formation properties in inter-well regions by monitoring saturation and salinity front arrivals

Abstract

A method and system of monitoring the movement of at least one front in an inter-well region is comprised of: providing a first well representing the origination of at least one front (such as a saturation front or a salinity front); providing one or more monitoring locations, each equipped with at least one sensor; and monitoring the arrival of at least one front at one or more monitoring locations. The origination well may be any type of permanent or temporary well, but is preferably an injector well. Likewise, the monitoring location(s) may be any type of permanent or temporary well such as an observation well, a production well, an exploratory well, and an appraisal well. Information regarding front arrival times may be used to characterize or appraise the formation. Front arrivals may be monitored as a function of time to develop their respective time evolution and shape.

Claims39

Dependent claims

A method of estimating formation characteristics of an inter-well region, comprising:

a. providing a first well representing the origination of at least one salinity front and at least one saturation front;
b. providing one or more monitoring locations, each equipped with at least one electrical resistivity array (ERA);
and
c. monitoring the arrival of said at least one salinity front and said at least one saturation front at one or more monitoring locations using said ERA as a function of time;
and
d. determining at least one formation characteristic of the inter-well region based on the joint inversion of the relative arrival times of said at least one salinity front and said at least one saturation front measured in (c), wherein said at least one formation characteristic is selected from the group consisting of effective porosity, residual oil saturation, and connate water saturation, and wherein said at least one salinity front and said at least one salinity front are monitored at at least one common monitoring location.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Estimating formation properties in inter-well regions by monitoring saturation and salinity front arrivals

Life of this patent

Estimating formation properties in inter-well regions by monitoring saturation and salinity front arrivals

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims39