Minutes from Reservoir Characterization SING meeting, April 22’nd 2002 at Shell

Referent:  K. Buer  

Participants: 
 Kjell Buer (BP), Trond Kristensen (DNO),  Anke Wolff (NPD) Adrian White (Shell), Robert Trice (Enterprise) ,  Susan Stømmen (Statoil), Claus Clausen (Philips). In addition an extra delegate from Shell were present most of the time. 

Arild Haugen (NPD), Aasmund Bruland (Fortum) and  Jean-Marc Feroul (TFE) did not meet at this meeting.  

A reminder for this meeting was sent out about more than a week prior to the meeting. The final agenda was just sent out some days before the meeting. 

Agenda:  
1. Info + minutes from last time + feedback (Topic from last meeting: shales and their importance etc)
2. Suggestions of cooperations with other sing groups/FORCE       
- How and Who could take on responsibilities      
- What other group or groups in SING could be of interest      
- What type of topics could be benefitial for us - spesial focus areas or more broad general areas
3. Presentation by SHELL:  DRAUGEN
4. Topic for next meeting
5. AOB

1.  Minutes from last meeting.
Minutes from the last meeting 31’st January 2002 were distributed by mail and as attachment Mid-February 2002. The meeting started with a brief repetition of the minutes. 

This time the meeting also started with a welcome to a new member of the SING group,  Susan K. Strømmen  (Statoil). Then we gave a short presentation around table of the delegates present. This meeting we had no short information update about FORCE this day. Next time it would be nice to have that information.  

2.      Seminars/cooperation with other SING groups.
Since Adrian White had to leave for another meeting for a while the topic for the day was moved latger in the agenda. During his absence we had a presentation from the SING group on Sedimentology about a seminar/core workshop and fieldtrip they are planning this year. 

Their plans are to have a core-workshop combined with a Fieldtrip in June this year. Core and associated logs, field descriptions and models are available from an area of type turbidites. Since reservoir characterization is a natural way forward following an extensive sedimentary description they want to invite our group to participate in a follow up workshop in September/October this year. Without deciding anything we discussed this topic for a while. We agreed that if we are going to participate/arrange the October workshop we need to be very specific on objectives to make it beneficial for the  SING group on reservoir characterization. We also decided that we should try to collect our thoughts and arrive at an view that we could communicate with the SING group on sedimentary processes the next time they have a meeting.  

A possible seminar with a focus on shales are still a possible item for a seminar. It was decided that Bob trice send out a focused description of the shales as topic. It was also suggested that we should send out the final version to other SING groups to find out what their interest would be.  

In general this topic seems to be very interesting, However a question we should answer (at least I think we have to) in our group is the following;  

According to the original aim:  Bridging the gap between G&G and Reservoir engineering and that we should continue the focus on typical reservoir characterization issues, like Upscaling and integration, geomodel vs. simulation model - integration.  

A focus on shales may not change this, but with limited time and resources it is possible that we may not have time to be involved in issues other than distinct reservoir characterization issues like the cooperation with the Sed. Group on trubidites or similar.  

Hovever his proposal of the  agenda are included after the minutes!  

3. Presentation of the Topic of the day  
Adrian White gave a presentation  of the Draugen Field. It was an interesting presentation containing modeling and reservoir characterization aspects.  The presentation resulted in a number of questions and show clearly the value of having presentations at each meeting.  

The theme for the next scheduled meeting will be presented by Anke Wolff (NPD). Exact title will be sendt out later.  

4. AOB  
We had planned also to discuss a request from Aril Haugen related to longterm research topics and Technology. We have also been invited to the organization of the  seminar: New opportunities for monitoring the dynamic processes in the reservoir.  

Contact person: Øystein Tesaker, Statoil        Date:  October 23 - 24, 2002  

We did not have time to comment on these things, but I need input from you!

COPY from Arild Haugen:

Hei!  
Det hadde vært fint om dere kunne lage en liste over Longterm research topics og Technnology needs som vi kunne lagt ut på webben. Jeg har lagt ut fra Recovery og Brønnkomiteen allerede. Det er greit å ha noe som kan gi forskningsmiljøene ideer til prosjektforslag.  

Minner også om at dere er invitert til å bidra ved organiseringen av seminaret:  New opportunities for monitoring the dynamic processes in the reservoir. Contact person: Øystein Tesaker, Statoil        Date:  October 23 - 24, 2002  

Øystein skriver litt mer info om det som blir lagt ut på webben. Hilsen Arild

We have been contacted by the SING group on sedimentary issues. They suggest in their latest minutes that we should plan for a joint seminar later this year (Autumn time). It was thought hat this was a good idea because of the close relationship between reservoir characterization and sedimentary processes/depositional settings. I will follow this up and keep in contact with the SING group on sedimentary processes.    

5. Schedule next meeting.    
Next meeting is scheduled for Thursday June 6’Th 2002, 12:30 – 15.30 at NPD

Kjell Buer will call the meeting    

FROM Robert Trice  

Ladies and Gentlemen,  
Following on from yesterdays meeting I have prepared some provisional text outlining my perspective on the  "Shale seminar". Please feel free to comment critisize and add to this starting document.  

THE SHALE SEMINAR - "Towards an improved understanding of shale in non reservoir successions -  opportunities and challenges for improved exploration and development success".

The Shale Seminar is a FORCE initiative to raise awareness and promote discussion in challenges related to understanding and predicting Shale properties outside the reservoir. The focus of the seminar is concerned with predicting and understanding shale properties within overburden and underburden successions. The seminar is designed to appeal across the subsurface disciplines and attract individuals who face the challenge of predicting or understanding shale properties outside of the reservoir.  

Why outside the reservoir ? Much work has been published on the problem of shales within the reservoir including the subjects of  shale barriers, shale as a contributor to reservoir heterogeneity, calculating water saturation in shaly sands, shale distribution as a function of facies etc. Other workers have concentrated in studying the properties of shale form the perspective of hydrocarbon generation, i.e. the source rocks. What appears to be missing form the industry is an understanding  of shale successions that are described simply as overburden or underburden. The importance of understanding such intervals has long been known to the drilling community from the perspective of hole stability and penetration rate, but has been largely ignored by the subsurface geoscience community. This situation is understandable as our business is built around understanding  reservoir properties, fluid properties and how  valuable  fluids where initially emplaced . However with the advance in seismic techniques such as AVO analysis  there is a need to correctly model shale, as assumptions about shale properties can determine whether we predict oil, water or gas in our forward models. This impacts exploration success and our ability to accurately predict reserves. Our ability to  understanding shale rich successions effects the bottom line. The question is do we know how to correctly measure, evaluate and predict shale properties? What models exist to explain shale property variation within a given basin or across a given structure? Wireline and mwd suites exist through overburden and underburden successions  but there is little ublished on how to predict shale properties away form the well bore. Does shale vary in a predictable manner regionally, stratigraphically or with depth? Do we as an industry need to improve our regional understanding of shale? Perhaps the most important question is can we as an industry afford to ignore our overburden and underburden?  

This seminar intends to help answer some of these questions.

Provisional agenda  

Introduction.  
Fire escapes, breaks etc.  
Purpose of seminar, brief introduction to the agenda  
Format of presentations, questions etc.  
Describe the importance of the  wrap up session.  

Seminar part 1 - Summary of Shale properties

This section of the seminar should consist of well prepared talks aimed at getting the audience on a level playing field with respect to current understanding of  Shale.

Shale properties from cuttings and drilling data. What can we tell from cuttings, what is routinely measured, what can we do to use improve the use of this data. (Should we invite a mud logging contractor to give this talk?).  

Shale properties from the petrophysical perspective (mwd,lwd,wireline,core) How do we detect shale, what are the characteristic physical priorities of shale. What different types of shale can be differentiated, what are the apparent petrophysical relationships and what can be inferred from these relationships. What do we want to know?  

Shale properties from Seismic data. How do we detect shale using seismic what are the characteristic acoustic properties of shale. What are the apparent acoustic properties of shale. What are the key seismic issues related to shale? What do we want to know?  

Shales of the North Sea. A brief overview of where shales occur in the North Sea their age and their geological character.  

Current academic understanding of shale What is the current thinking and research concerning shale. Possible topics of interest. Depositional models for shale. Stratigraphic trends in shale properties, Shale heterogeneity, Shale property changes with burial. This should be an invited speaker(s).    

Seminar part 2 Case studies

Talks should be encouraged that exhibit examples of where shale successions has been specifically studied, modeled or have been demonstrated as being key to understanding a subsurface issue. The talks do not have to be particularly long or polished, the idea being to generate discussion and ideas through exposing the seminar participants to as much variety of experience as possible. A combination of quality invited and volunteered talks will be the key to making this a success.    

Seminar part 3 Wrap up

This should be well organized and will require the seminar committee to have been active during the proceedings talking to attendees and note taking. The object of the wrap up is to distil the key learning from the seminar and to encourage some more participation from the participants. We should perhaps think of doing something simple such as getting the audience to vote on an issue such as a) do we need a regional map of shale properties, b) should more R&D be spent looking into shale deposition etc.                 

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