Abstract
Relative permeability is an essential parameter for reservoir description, engineering, and management. Relative permeabilities are typically obtained in the laboratory through evaluation of the dynamic behavior in cores using fluids that are assumed to be representative of those in the reservoir. In-situ measurements of effective permeability can provide valuable information about fluids, rock, pressure, temperature, and their interactions in the evaluated formation at original reservoir conditions. Recent technological advances allow data obtained from formation testers to be analyzed and interpreted for estimating relative permeabilities.
Formation testers are typically run when wells are drilled; therefore, using acquired data for estimating effective permeability can be cost-effective and less time-intensive compared to existing effective permeability estimation methodologies. However, the measurement process, the meaning of the acquired data, the interpretation of the data, and the resulting relative permeability values are affected by the uncertain environment associated with the entire process, which also affects the confidence of the estimated relative permeabilities and their use as an input for reservoir description, engineering, and management.
Although the use of formation testers as a tool to estimate relative permeabilities is promising, it is crucial to understand the environment in which the dynamic events occur and the impact of the uncertainties related to the physical phenomena and interactions associated with the measurement and interpretation processes. Conversion of the acquired information at the oil/gas well into inputs to properly interpret the acquired data, the models available to interpret the phenomena, and the formation tester tool capabilities all require understanding of the uncertainties associated with the entire process. These uncertainties, when properly qualified and quantified, can serve as the decision criteria to estimate the value of information (VOI) of relative permeability determination using in-situ formation tester data.
This work provides a detailed description of the uncertainties related to relative permeability estimation based on in-situ measurements of formation testers and its impact on the interpretation outputs.