Unlocking Unconventional Resources in GUPCO: Case Study from Egypt

Abstract

The lifecycle of any field consists of three main periods; green, plateau and maturity periods. Currently most of GUPCO fields are brown what made us very concerned to sustain and even increase our production. To achieve that, we have looked at new different options to exploit our resources better. Generally, this can be achieved by whether optimizing current system, applying new technology or evaluating unconventional resources. One of the high-potential resources that we do have in GUPCO is unconventional resources with many tight carbonate formations. Nevertheless, we did not try to appraise it before since most of our reservoirs are clastics that can be easily characterized and evaluated. On the other hand, tight carbonate formations cannot be characterized or appraised utilizing conventional logging tools or even classical reservoir engineering concepts. It always requires unique techniques relevant to its unique complexity degree especially in presence of micro-porosity and unknown fluid content. This paper sheds light on Appraisal Unconventional Resource Study that resulted in the first successful producer in the company. GUPCO started to appraise tight carbonate rocks (named Thebes in Lower Eocene) and basaltic intrusion in GoS. This study involved high integration between key disciplines; Petrophysics, Petrology and Reservoir Engineering. To manage uncertainty, we have acquired wide range of data types starting from advanced petrophysical logging tools like Magnetic Resonance, Borehole Imaging and spectroscopy, and full petro-graphic description, reaching to predicting reservoir dynamic performance using measured pressure points (RFT), its analysis and fluid characterization. Ultimately, we have succeeded to completely characterize Thebes formation, and proposing its development plan. The first successful well resulted in 300 BOPD gain as the first successful tight carbonate producer in GUPCO. Development plan is being built to drill new wells targeting unconventional resources including a few possible potential in basalt intrusions, as well. Dealing with unconventional resources is not an easy task. It requires a lot of work and analysis. Having all of your homework done is not always enough, you have to integrate with interrelated disciplines to link dots and complete the picture. In this paper, we have conceived a new approach in evaluating such formations, and it is a very good example of managing uncertainty by integrating different data to convert hypothesis into reality that can be translated ultimately into oil production and revenues.