Streamlining & Standardizing Formation Evaluation Workflows for the Largest Siliciclastic Reservoir in the World

The Burgan-Wara formation reservoirs in South & East Kuwait Greater Burgan field is the world's largest siliciclastic reservoir. More than 1500 wells have been drilled to date. KOC's database of log data collected over 7 decades has significant variability in interpretation processes and results owing to continuous change in personnel and technology. This resulted in significant time being spent in data retrieval and validation before the data could be used for development planning or reservoir management. To overcome this challenge a major project was undertaken to standardize the log database and petrophysical workflows for the existing and future wells. The study entailed four objectives which were set as qualifiers for it to be considered successful. They were: To enable South and East Kuwait directorate in establishing a comprehensive well log database for the Greater Burgan clastic reservoirs of the Cretaceous age To establish standardized and auditable log processing and normalization procedures Build a core calibrated formation evaluation model for the multiple stacked reservoirs from Ahmadi to Shuaiba To propose a consistent process and workflows to extend the petrophysical evaluation on newly drilled wells in the field To consider the study as benchmark standard for other KOC directorates to follow Prior to the project startup, significant emphasis was given to project scoping, identification of the right personnel (internal and external), cost, software platform selection and timelines. The project was divided into four distinct phases with defined timelines and deliverables mutually agreed among the KOC team and vendors. The progress of each of the phases was evaluated through regular milestone meetings to assess the progress of the project. The streamlined workflow based on a comprehensive key well study with extensive log and core data spread aerially across the field resulted in a core calibrated, consistent, integrated and ready to use formation evaluation model for existing and future formation evaluation tasks. The task was critical as subsequent population of the workflow and parameters was dependent on the robustness of the key well study. The project served as a benchmark within KOC for similar future projects utilizing multiple service companies in different locations. The project management guidelines and quality control steps put forth for successful execution are described in the final presentation.