Reservoir

Apache's reservoir engineers improve Apache's economics by determining the best way to recover oil or gas from the ground.  They determine the size and scope of reservoirs and how much resource is recoverable, and they recommend the type of well that should be used, where the extraction points are and how long it will take. 

Technology

The reservoir engeering group uses the following technologies:

• Desktop simulation programs (Vertex, Daedalus, Gas 3D);
• RTA (evaluation of well performance data);  
• Decline curve evaluation (curve fitting);
• Well log evaluation;
• Pressure transient evaluation;
• PVT fluid evaluation (correlation programs); and
• Numerical simulation (CMG; Eclipse).

Projects

Examples of projects include: 

• Evaluate potential well performance for an oil shale project in New Zealand.
• Compare desktop simulation to a numerical simulation program (CMG) to evaluate the types of problems that can be solved with desktop simulation and where the numerical simulator should be utilized.  Desktop simulation was recently used in the Horn River basin in Canada.
• Evaluate "what-if" well and fracture spacing completions in a shale reservoir with a numerical simulator.
• Evaluate shale reservoir performance and internal reservoir workings for the Kitimat team. 
• Sponsorship of a study at the University of Houston on gas and water flow in a multi-fracture horizontal well.