Exploratory Impact of Early Identification of Compartmentalized Reservoir in the Travi Area. North of Monagas, Venezuela. Case of Study

Jesus A. Reyes, Angel P. Gonzalez, Ylliannis J. Guevara, and Roberto A. Falcon
Exploration, PDVSA, Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela

The present work comprises a procedure for the early detection and characterization of a compartmentalized reservoir during the exploratory stage and its importance for the optimal design of the exploratory plan and future development of the field.

The recently discovered Travi field, located north of the prolific Furrial Field in Norte de Monagas area, Venezuela, was reached by well A in 2004.The success of this well motivated the increase of the exploratory activity in the area. Two more wells were drilled and a 3D seismic survey was acquired. The exploratory campaign allowed quantifying a reserve volume of 600 million barrels of 33° API of oil and 2.5 TCF of gas.

A detailed seismic interpretation using the new seismic volume incorporated local modifications that lead to the redefinition of the structural model. The existence of multiple faults in reservoir, such as, dextral transpressives faults, and high angle reverse faults were proposed. In addition, collected data from formation tester, DST results, PVT properties comparison and an extended well test were analyzed to confirm the presence of the faults previously interpreted. Data integration and interpretation revealed the presence of sealing faults, thus enable the field to be described in terms of its likely lateral and vertical compartmentalization, which each block exhibits their own characteristic pressure trend and fluid properties.

Early compartments identification will encourage the beginning of the production operations in those blocks already identified like different compartments two years in advance, meanwhile appraisal and exploratory wells are still planned in others unexplored compartments in Travi. Later will surely increase the efficiency of the future development plans, secondary recovery schemes and surfaces facilities design.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90078©2008 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas