American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2015 - 69

SpecialReport: Horizontal Well Operations
We do anticipate using more microseismic data to calibrate results from 3D seismic, continuous and DFN models,
and flow simulation predictions. Instead
of the usual practice of using a constant
permeability enhancement near the wellbore to simulate hydraulic fracturing in
flow simulation, for instance, we may
use the variable density of microseismic
events along the well path to iteratively
constrain the effective stimulated rock
volume. Faster simulators also will allow
preserving more details of the original
geological model, and allow running
more cases to test sensitivities and calibrate
with historical production data.
Moment tensor inversion of microseismic data will be used to better calibrate
orientations in fracture models along with
orientations from image logs and 3-D
conventional/3-C seismic data. The joint
use of microseismic data and 3-D seismic
data will help design future horizontal
wells based on information recorded on
existing wells.
More research is needed to understand
the relation between data-driven approaches to characterize natural fractures from
statistical analyses (from post-stack-derived orientations) and model-driven approaches based on estimating azimuthal
velocity anisotropy (from azimuthal amplitude-variation-with-offset or birefringence analysis of 3-C data) in cases
where multiple families with different
orientations and dips are present. These
approaches are complementary, and both
should be used and compared whenever
possible. Data-driven approaches based
on structural attributes may fail in areas
where the presence of natural fractures

Royale Energy To Delay
Working Additional Zones

SAN DIEGO-Royale Energy Inc. says
its Nugget well has discovered five natural
gas-filled formations. One of the zones
was perforated and tested with a stabilized
rate of 1.108 million cubic feet a day on a
12
⁄64-inch choke.
Royale Energy says the additional zones
will remain behind pipe and completed
after the initial zone is produced out.
The Nugget's multiple pay zones
give the company several developmental
follow-up wells that will be drilled to
increase production and reserves in the
surrounding area, the company adds.
r

is not related to faulting.
In any case, careful data analyses, more
data integration, local calibration and con-

REINALDO J.
MICHELENA

Reinaldo J. Michelena is director of
geophysical technology at iReservoir.com
Inc. He has 30 years of experience in
researching, developing and applying
innovative seismic methods to help reservoir delineation and characterization.
He worked 18 years for PDVSA-Intevep.
Since joining iReservoir in 2003, Michelena has worked in a variety of geological
settings to use seismic data analysis to
constrain geological and flow simulation
models. He served as associate editor
of the Society of Exploration Geophysicists' "Geophysics" journal and was
editorial board chairman of "The Leading Edge." Michelena holds a B.S. in
physics from Universidad Simón Bolívar,
and an M.S. and Ph.D. in geophysics
from Stanford University.

sistency among different data types will
remain the keys to unlocking the difficulties
of unconventional reservoirs.
r

HAI-ZUI (HAI-RAY)
MENG

Hai-Zui (Hai-Ray) Meng is founder
and president of iReservoir.com. He
worked in various technical positions
with Marathon Oil Company, Dowell
Schlumberger and Flopetrol-Johnston
Schlumberger
before
founding
iReservoir.com. Meng has conducted numerous integrated reservoir characterization, reservoir simulation and reservoir
management studies using both black oil
and compositional fluid flow simulation
models constrained to honor existing geological, geophysical, petrophysical, and
engineering data. He holds a B.S. in geology from National Taiwan University,
and an M.S. in geophysics and a Ph.D. in
petroleum engineering from the University
of Tulsa.

JAMES R.
GILMAN

KEVIN S.
GODBEY

Kevin S. Godbey has been an information technology adviser at iReservoir.com since 2001, working with the
company's subject matter experts to
develop software implementing proprietary capabilities in geophysics,
petrophysics, engineering and data
management. Prior to that, he developed
production server applications for the
hospitality industry. Godbey holds a
B.S. in mathematics from the University
of Florida and a Ph.D. in mathematics
from the University of Wisconsin.

James R. Gilman is director of engineering at iReservoir.com, where he is
involved in integrated reservoir characterization, reservoir engineering analysis,
and dynamic modeling. He has been involved in the development, instruction,
and application of flow simulation for a
wide variety of petroleum reservoirs.
Gilman is co-author of the book "Reservoir Simulation: History Matching and
Forecasting," published by the Society
of Petroleum Engineers in 2013. He holds
a B.S. in chemical engineering from Montana State University, and an M.S. in
chemical and petroleum refining engineering from Colorado School of Mines.
JULY 2015 69

American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2015