Integrated Reservoir Characterization of the Wattenberg Unconventional Field, Colorado, USA

Abstract

Summary Increased hydrocarbon recovery is essential for continued economic development of unconventional reservoirs. Our project focuses on dynamic characterization of the Niobrara and Codell formations in the Wattenberg field through the development and analysis of a full integrated reservoir model. The ultimate goal is to optimize the exploration and exploitation of the reservoir and this paper discusses our progress. Our work on hydraulic fracture simulations that include input from both 1D and 3D geomechanical models presents insight into how to properly incorporate reservoir heterogeneity. The hydraulic fracture simulation results are history matched and then input into a flow simulator and ran for 2 years of production. The results are then integrated with both microseismic and time-lapse multicomponent seismic. In addition, a seismic based facies inversion gives insight into future well planning.