Well tests are completed on a regular basis in the offshore oil and gas industry to gather information from reservoirs about production and available reserves. From the exploration and field development phases through to the field production phase, the results of well tests are used in important decision making processes concerning the future of field operation and optimisation.
New research, conducted on behalf of the UKs Oil and Gas Authority (OGA, formerly a department in the Department of Energy & Climate Change (DECC)), has revealed that current reservoir management procedures in the North Sea are not optimal in terms of maximising the economic recovery of hydrocarbon reserves.
With a focus on maximising economic recovery, NEL has identified the shortcomings in the current model of periodic testing of well production flowrates. For true optimisation, it is clear that periodic measurements are not fit for purpose, and only continuous measurements offer the ability to react to dynamic flows. In the research it was shown that selecting a sub-optimal model caused an average deviation in recovery factor of 5 per cent or £75 million over the life of the well.
Maximising economic recovery of hydrocarbons in the North Sea can only be achieved through complete knowledge of well production rates, alongside accurate models of the reservoirs performance. The continuous measurement of well production rates in conjunction with periodic evaluation against test separator systems delivers this essential data and provides confidence in the results. Without this it is difficult to make informed and accurate decisions on how best to maximise efficiency and production.