SPE APOGCE conference preview – Probabilistic Assessment of Pressure Depletion and Inflation and its Impact on the Drilling Sequence for the Sangomar Field, Senegal

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Abstract

The Sangomar Feld Development, located offshore Senegal, will consist of 23 wells targeting stacked reservoirs, with horizontal lengths up to 1500m. Due to the long drilling campaign wells are likely to be drilled after first production targeted for 2023. At the time of drilling reservoir pressure in these wells will be affected by nearby producers and injectors, which will reduce the mud window in the reservoirs, affecting the drillability.

Vulnerable wells were identified by a deterministic borehole stability assessment based on mud weight windows and a probabilistic well-by-well analysis of reservoir pressure at the time of drilling. The estimated mud weight windows were unique to each well and were a function of completion type, overburden thickness and well azimuth. Capturing all reservoir uncertainties resulted in 216 models which were reduced to a more manageable 20 for simulation using a distance-based K-medoid algorithm. Maps of maximum depletion and inflation were generated for each of the medoids.

The importance of probabilistically assessing reservoir pressures is demonstrated in the context of drill sequence, we show results can vary significantly depending on the reservoir models used. Potential magnitudes of depletion and inflation in some scenarios were significantly greater than initially anticipated. The combination of borehole stability assessment and probabilistic well-by-well analysis of reservoir pressure allowed clear identification of wells at increased risk of borehole stability problems caused by injection or depletion. Subsequently, the drilling sequence was updated to mitigate borehole stability risks by executing potential problem wells prior to first production and prioritising key water injectors, enabling management of post-production depletion while continuing to meet the other objectives such as maximising early production potential.

This paper outlines an innovative workflow which captures the range of subsurface uncertainties to define probabilistic impact of depletion and injection on borehole stability. Within the literature we have not seen any examples of depletion and inflation being assessed probabilistically on multiple models or using a map-based format. Depletion and inflation are also often discussed in the context of producing fields, not during the first phase of drilling, as is the case for the Sangomar Field.