Integrating Geomechanics in SAGD Reservoir Surveillance Programs

• Author / Creator

  Arias Buitrago, Juan Alejandro

• Reservoir and geomechanical monitoring programs are critical to ensuring operational safety in thermal projects. Although many technologies have been applied to monitor thermal operations, most of them aim to measure just a few parameters, such as pressure, temperature, and surface deformation. While monitoring may aid in understanding phenomena in the subsurface, the data obtained from these observations is significantly divergent from what current models predict. This discrepancy is mainly attributable to the inherent uncertainty in the modeling assumptions and in the input parameters. While reservoir and geomechanical monitoring are not sufficient to inform our understanding of the subsurface's behaviour, they are valuable tools for gaining understanding of the actual behaviour.
  Monitoring is a widely used technique in geotechnical projects, where various methodologies and approaches have been proposed to optimize the program's design. These approaches seek to answer fundamental questions such as where to place the instruments, which devices to select, and how the model and the design of the project may be improved through the use of the monitoring results. The present research incorporated knowledge from geotechnical engineering into reservoir engineering to identify an appropriate methodology rooted in engineering principles, which can be followed in thermal operations monitoring planning and deployment. The proposed methodology is logic-based and helps maximize the value of monitoring programs, thereby safely increasing bitumen production in thermal projects.
  Coupled geomechanical and flow simulations were performed using a 3D high-resolution geomechanical model to evaluate the response of subsurface to SAGD. Typical monitored parameters were analyzed from different simulation cases to predict monitored results helping design optimal monitoring programs for SAGD. Finally, a case study was used to demonstrate that designing monitoring programs based on prediction results in cost-effective monitoring programs.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • SAGD Geomechanics
  • SAGD Monitoring
  • Caprock Integrity
  • Reservoir Containment
  • Rservoir Surveillance

• Graduation date

  Spring 2022

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Doctor of Philosophy

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-ddxp-k291

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.