Modeling Underperforming or

Orphan Wells to Promote

Candidacy for Enhanced Oil

RecoveryDr. Stacey Lyle, Jacob Maggard, and James Walker

2 Part Solution

Part 1: Practicum Research

Part 2: GIS Modeling

Part 1: Practicum Research

Initial Research Question

Can we use GIS to locate an area that might benefit from low salinity Enhanced

Oil Recovery (EOR) methods to increase productivity?

● Spraberry Dean Fields in Borden County, Texas

○ Jo-Mills Sand inside the Spraberry formation has coarse feldspathic sands which is a

good indicator for positive EOR implementation

● Production began in 1954 and many wells are producing to this day

● Data for over 2000 wells in Borden and surrounding counties

Part 1: Why? J. Walker

Data● The data used came from the Texas Railroad Commission and IHS Enerdeq

● Used both sources to create a geodatabase with the following data

○ Well location (Lat, Long)

○ API Number (Primary Key)

○ Dates

○ Cumulative oil by well

○ Cumulative gas by well

○ Cumulative water by well

○ Producing Formations

○ Total Vertical Depth

○ Lower Perforation

○ Upper Perforation

Part 1: Data J. Walker

Formation Tops in AOI

Part 1: Background J. Walker

Type Log for AOI

● Log shows the upper Spraberry and Lower Spraberry

○ Highlighted Jo-Mill Sand and a potential bench

Potential area for production.

Part 1: Background J. Walker

Methods

1. Create Virtual Server with SQL Database using Microsoft SQL Server

2. Loaded production data to narrow the area of interest

3. Use ArcMap to create cumulative production maps

4. Use Power BI to perform statistical analysis of the data

5. Use PHDWin to calculate EUR (Estimated Ultimate Recovery) for Horizontals in Jo-

Mills sands

6. Determine which areas may benefit from low salinity EOR in the Spraberry

formation

Part 1: Methods J. Walker

Remote Server with SQL Geodatabase

Part 1: Results J. Walker

All Production Maps

Part 1: Results J. Walker

Spraberry Production maps

Part 1: Results J. Walker

Part 1: Results J. Walker

Using Power BI for Analysis

EUR (Estimated Ultimate Recovery) for Vintage

Horizontals in the Area

● Oil EUR: 185.99 MBO

● Gas EUR: 109.68 MMCF

Part 1: Results J. Walker

EOR Potential

● Production hasn’t peaked since 1980, when vintage EOR methods were less effective

than modern EOR methods

● Geologic makeup of the Jo-Mills sands (coarse feldspathic) is porous and permeable

● Practical for both active and inactive wells

● The use of low salinity water makes EOR more effective than the use of fresh water or

regular brine water

Low salinity EOR would likely increase production but whether or not it is economical is a

different question

Part 1: Discussion J. Walker

Part 2: GeoDB Connections

Most Desirable: User Driven Decisions

● Users Driven Decisions:

○ Models

○ Tools

■ Databases

■ WebGIS

■ Business Intelligence

● Orphan Wells and Underperforming

Part 2: Why? S. Lyle

GeoDB

Part 2: Methods S. Lyle

MSSQL

PowerBI

ArcGIS Pro

● ETL

○ Loading

○ Cleaning

○ Analysis

○ Writing

○ Sharing

Models: MSSQL or Automated

Part 2: Results S. Lyle

● Shared

● Automated

Visualization: PowerBI & WebGIS

● Shared

● Automated

Part 2: Discussion S. Lyle

Discussion: GeoServices and GeoInnovations

Group Projects

Learning Module

Real World Problems

Shared Solutions

Group: Discussion S. Lyle

Questions