IPEGG project results join up the dots to achieve maximum value from reservoirs
By Editor | November 2, 2009
Many people in the upstream oil and gas industry will know that better integration between disciplines such as petroleum engineering, geology, geophysics, and geomechanics is required to achieve maximum value from reservoirs.
An ITF joint industry project that aimed to improve integration of these disciplines was completed earlier this year and the results are now being applied by a number of major operating companiesto address issues such as long-term well bore stability and the impact of fault reactivation on fluid flow.
The project, called 'IPEGG' (Integrated Petroleum Engineering-Geomechanics-Geophysics), received support from four operating companies following submission to an ITF call for proposals. It brought together expertise in reservoir deformation and fluid flow at the University of Leeds, the seismology group at Bristol University, and Rockfield Software Ltd - a Swansea-based company that specialises in advanced numerical analysis for geomechanical applications.
Quentin Fisher, Professor of Petroleum Geoengineering, at the University of Leeds, explains what the project has achieved: "IPEGG was probably the most challenging project that any of the researchers involved have worked on. As well as creating software to couple ELFEN to the various production simulation models, we had to undertake a great deal of background research to fill in many of the knowledge gaps that exist between the various disciplines. By the end of the project we had not only successfully coupled ELFEN to a full field production simulation model, but also used the software to address some exciting research areas".
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