Abstract
As the first of its kind, the Norne field case proposes to use real field data for a comparative case study. The Center for Integrated Operations in the Petroleum Industry (IO Center) at NTNU include four comprehensive research programs. The "Reservoir management and production optimization" program work on the development of methods, technology and work processes for realtime reservoir management and real-time production optimization. One of the program’s objectives is to develop a benchmark data base for research and trial activities. The IO Center states: "The data base should use a real field and in particular promote comparative studies of alternative methods for history matching and ultimately closed loop reservoir management". Statoil’s Norne Field in the Norwegian Sea has been in production for approximately 12 years. The field has high quality 4D seismic data, production data and well logs in addition to a reservoir model (geo model) and seismic model. This data has kindly been made available to the IO Center by the Norne license in general and Statoil in particular. The IO Center will make the data available in packages for IO Center partners and the research community as a whole. At the moment there exist no benchmark cases consisting of real data. The most realistic case present today is probably the Brugge Field (synthetic) presented early in 2008.
The first Norne release considers the Segment E of the Norne field. The reservoir model for this segment consists of 8733 active grids and it has 7 wells (2 injectors and 3 producers with 2 side tracks). This limited starting point was chosen to ensure simplicity and softness at the beginning. Later cases will include the whole field.
The data is accessible via a dedicated web-page where the task at hand is described. It includes a reservoir simulation model in Eclipse format, a geological report describing the stratigraphy of the field consisting 17 zones, and petrophysics reports from three wells which provides data related to permeability, water saturation, net-to-gross, thickness, porosity, capillary pressure, porosity-permeability relationship in all formations.
This paper reports on the preparatory work that included introduction of flux boundary conditions for Norne E – segment separation with a perfect match between the separated E – segment and the E – segment attached to the rest of the field.
