Dr. Mark A McCaffrey presented an oral paper at the 2006 AAPG
Annual convention in Houston Texas. The paper was titled "Reducing
the Cost of Production Allocation by 95% Using a Geochemical
Technique". The abstract of the paper was:
Reducing the Cost of Production Allocation by 95% Using a
Geochemical Technique
Mark A. McCaffrey, David K. Baskin, Mark A. Beeunas, and Brooks A.
Patterson.
OilTracers LLC, 3500 Oak Lawn Ave, Suite 110, Dallas, TX 75219.
A geochemical technique for quantitatively allocating the
contribution of multiple zones to a commingled oil stream, or a
commingled water stream, or a commingled gas stream (or any
combination thereof) is preferable to production logging for
several reasons. The geochemical technique costs <5% as much as
production logging. In addition, the technique can be used in cases
where production logging is not possible or is difficult (e.g., in
wells with electrical submersible pumps, or in highly deviated
wells, or in multi-lateral wells). The geochemical technique also
does not interrupt production and eliminates the risk of sticking a
logging tool. Geochemical allocation of commingled production is
readily achieved by identifying chemical differences between
"end-member" samples (i.e., samples from each of the zones being
commingled). Parameters reflecting these compositional differences
are measured in the end member samples and in the commingled
samples. These data are used to mathematically express the
composition of the commingled samples in terms of contributions
from the respective end-member samples. Using a linear algebra
approach, the concentrations (not ratios) of 30-80 components are
used to simultaneously calculate the contribution of several
discrete pay intervals (typically 2 to 6) to a commingled
production stream. Iterative calculations are used to (1) "look
for" and "delete" contamination in the samples, and (2) "test" the
validity of the allocation results. These calculations are enabled
by a commercially available software package, which is currently in
use in numerous fields. Approaches for geochemically allocating
production WITHOUT the use of end member will also be
discussed.
In addition to the discussions which followed that paper,
OilTracers LLC scientists were available at the OilTracers Exhibit
(booth 852) for discussions throughout the AAPG convention.
Specific items which were highlighted at the OilTracers exhibit
included:
- Characterization of Petroleum Systems
- Use of Mud Gas Isotopes to identify pay zones, and assess
reservoir continuity,
- OilUnmixerTM , a software package that enables geochemical data
to be used to quantitatively allocate commingled production,
- Upcoming geochemistry training sessions to be held in Cairo,
Egypt.
OilTracers LLC is a geochemistry consulting group
(www.oiltracers.com) based in Dallas, Texas. Using geochemical,
geological, and engineering data, OilTracers scientists work with
clients to answer critical prospect charge risk and field
development questions, including:
- Oil-source correlation,
- Missed pay identification,
- Assessment of reservoir continuity,
- Allocation of commingled production, and
- Prediction of fluid API/viscosity.
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About OilTracers
OilTracers is a petroleum consulting company that specializes in
integration of geochemical, geological, and engineering data to
solve various petroleum exploration, development, and production
problems. In addition, OilTracers owns and operates the two premier
petroleum geochemistry web sites (www.oiltracers.com and
www.gaschem.com) The databases on these web sites, such as OilRef
(a database of >14,000 petroleum geochemistry citations), the
Oil Sample Library (a listing of >33,500 oil geological samples
owned by various laboratories), and the Petroleum Geochemistry
Dictionary provide answers to more than 5,000 inquiries a month.
OilTracers is organized very much like a law firm, with our various
scientists having complementary areas of expertise. OilTracers is
not a laboratory. We do no analyses. We only interpret data. All
oil analyses are contracted to one of several laboratories we use
around the world. These laboratories then transfer the data
electronically to OilTracers for interpretation.