Reservoir Surveillance-2022

The papers highlighted in this month’s feature apply forward stratigraphic modeling to improve geological models, classical reservoir engineering techniques to understand interwell connectivity in order to optimize waterflooding operations, and exciting new fiber-optic technology to characterize the performance of individual hydraulic fractures in unconventionals.

Reservoir Surveillance Intro image

When it comes to reservoir surveillance, subsurface professionals have a broad array of tools and techniques to understand what is happening in the reservoir. To ensure valuable information is gathered with surveillance, it’s important to first ask “what problem are we trying to solve?” Depending on the problem’s definition and scale, the appropriate surveillance technology will change significantly.

Zooming far out, particularly if little data is available for a reservoir, we may be interested in tools and techniques to validate and refine the geological concept for a basin, along with the most likely deposition patterns for sediments. Zooming in to the level of interactions between wells, we need to use a different toolbox that often includes finer-resolution geoscience mapping and engineering methods such as analyzing production, pressure, and fluid-property trends from individual wells. But what’s really exciting is that many new approaches are being developed to understand reservoir behavior and well performance at incredibly high resolution—at the fracture scale or even the pore scale.

In this feature, we will examine surveillance technologies that can be applied at the broad scale, midscale, and fine scale. The papers highlighted in this month’s feature apply forward stratigraphic modeling to improve geological models, classical reservoir engineering techniques to understand interwell connectivity in order to optimize waterflooding operations, and exciting new fiber-optic technology to characterize the performance of individual hydraulic fractures in unconventionals. I hope these articles help you to think about “framing” the problem you are trying to solve, like a photographer carefully selecting the right camera settings and lens for a specific shot, in order to select the right tools and methods to add value through surveillance.

This Month’s Technical Papers

Diagnostic Tool for Unconventionals Evaluates Near‑Wellbore Fractures

Pattern-Review Technique Maximizes Hydrocarbon Recovery in Complex Brownfield

Stratigraphic Forward Modeling Assists Carbonate-Reservoir Characterization

Recommended Additional Reading

SPE 202319 Utilizing Surface Microseismic Monitoring To Improve Understanding of Natural Fractures in Sichuan Shale Gas Play by Cui Jing, Sichuan Changning Natural Gas Development Company, et al.

SPE 202837 Modified Technique To Model Volatile Oil Reservoirs: Implications for Modern Software Programs by Mohamed Ibrahim, Shell Egypt, et al.

SPE 201543 Production Optimization Using a 24/7 Distributed Fiber-Optic DFO Sensing-Based Multiphase Inflow Profiling Capability by Teymur Sadigov, BP, et al.


Patrick Miller, SPE, is a senior exploitation engineer in the Unconventional Centre of Excellence at Petronas Canada. With more than 15 years of experience in the energy industry, he spent the majority of his career at Talisman Energy/Repsol but joined Petronas Canada in 2019. Miller has held roles in technical assurance, reservoir engineering, field development, research, operations engineering, pipe-spool fabrication, and downhole tools. He has been an active volunteer on various SPE committees, including in committee chair roles for the 2020 SPE Canada Unconventional Resources Conference and the 2019 SPE Duvernay Workshop. Miller holds BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Alberta. He is a member of the JPT Editorial Review Board.