Case Study: OilWat™/GasWat™ Software Provides Quick, Yet Comprehensive Method of Reserve Analysis for PetroSolutions, Ltd.

Customer Profile
PetroSolutions, Ltd. (PSL) is a Houston-based E&P consulting firm working with clients worldwide to help them in depletion planning and reservoir management.

Business Needs
PetroSolutions helps clients worldwide enhance profitability by advising them on ways to optimize asset depletion and identify opportunities. Tom Harris, a founding partner, uses reservoir characterization to quantify and assess original oil-in-place (OOIP) and original gas-in-place (OGIP), flow rates and fluid distribution. For PSL, using sophisticated analysis methods and tools is essential for helping clients identify ways to optimize recovery.

The IHS OilWat/GasWat Advantage
For the past five years, Harris has employed OilWat/GasWat, powerful, easy-to-use, reserve analysis software from IHS. OilWat/GasWat utilizes the material balance approach, which Harris considers a fundamentally thorough means of resource assessment. Using sophisticated data analysis models, the software calculates OOIP and OGIP for reservoirs with or without water influx, as well as projects future flow streams and matches that data with historical trends.

One of Harris' favorite features is the ability to model multiple aquifer types at once, which helps him determine the best fit to the data.

OilWat/GasWat applies two aquifer methods and handles many types of aquifers. "OilWat/GasWat gives me a wide range of aquifer models to choose from," Harris said.

Additionally, Harris values the forward modeling capabilities in OilWat/GasWat to predict future flow streams, along with the software's history matching capabilities. "It's not good enough to say, 'this is how much is there.' You can't just give a client an answer of OOIP or OGIP," he explained. "You have to show that your solution matches historical performance as well as pragmatic future production performance." The new version also helps users estimate future production schedules by using the Fetkovich et. al. decline curve method.

"Optimizing effort is THE challenge in today's business environment since it's tied directly to the bottom line. We believe that using simple analyses that are associated with the fundamentals is both a starting point for all work and many times is the optimal answer. That's why material balance, and thus OilWat/GasWat, is a staple in our work process. We find that limited data sometimes makes material balance the right tool for the job."

— Tom Harris, Founding Partner

Harris employs OilWat/GasWat to help determine various drive mechanisms, including full and partial water drive, depletion drive, gas cap expansion drive and combination drives.

Harris saves time by importing pressure, volume and temperature properties for gas, oil and water from IHS's PVTLIB™ tool directly into OilWat/GasWat. PVTLIB allows users to calculate fluid properties using compositional and over 140 black-oil correlations from around the world.

Using material balance analysis with OilWat/GasWat, Harris is able to confirm the need for, and then guide the work if costlier, more time-consuming analyses are needed. "Why take on the costlier and more time-consuming methods like reservoir simulation if you can get the information you need from material balance?" Harris said.

"Optimizing effort is THE challenge in today's business environment since it's tied directly to the bottom line," Harris added. "Having people use overkill in the tools they use, or to do nothing because effective tools and work processes are ignored are a real cost in today's world of tough problems, limited data, elusive opportunities, and diminished profit margins. We believe that using simple analyses that are associated with the fundamentals is both a starting point for all work and many times is the optimal answer. That's why material balance, and thus OilWat/GasWat, is a staple in our work process. We find that limited data sometimes makes material balance the right tool for the job. Even if the required outcomes, and data quality and availability justify simulation, we guide the effort with data from more fundamental investigations."

In their recent Gulf of Mexico deepwater production performance analysis, Harris and his firm used OilWat/GasWat, other applications of the Producing Systems Group such as PERFORM™, IHS's PowerTools® and comprehensive Gulf of Mexico well, production and log data. The survey analyzed production performance in most deepwater Gulf of Mexico completions. Using these tools, PetroSolutions extracted basic E&P information on 40 reservoirs in two months, and assembled an unprecedented level of information.

"Not many people expected us to provide so much basic diagnostic analysis," Harris said. "Using OilWat/GasWat and material balance, decline curve and nodal analyses, production data analysis, it IS surprising what can be learned from limited information."

Contact us now for more information on how OilWat/GasWat can help you.